Bilstein B14 kit vs. B8/Swift combo

[Dpro]

A member named Koozy had the whiteline springs on his car. I don’t know if he is active anymore. The rake is slight but I think the amount of drop is probably on their website. I think Koozy also mentioned that he was rubbing with the 215/40 setup but I think he had 8 inch wheels. I think he has his build somewhere on the forum.

Koozy had ST springs with Bilsteins and changed them out for MeisterR coilovers because his Konig Dekagrams 16 x8 with Falken ST615’s 215/45 were rubbing.
JAndretti has the Whiteline because I sold them to him . As I bought them and then changed my mind and bought ST XTA Coilovers because height adjustable as well as shock and Camber.

 

[Alkoran]

Koozy had ST springs with Bilsteins and changed them out for MeisterR coilovers because his Konig Dekagrams with Falken ST615’s 215/45 were rubbing.

Any idea where specifically the rubbing occurred?

 

[M-Sport fan]

I had the B6/Swift setup and liked it a lot. I moved to the Fortune Auto 500s because I wanted to be able to do some fine tuning, but probably would have been happy if I stayed with them.
If you run a Pierce lower brace, be aware that clearance will be lower.
View attachment 39095

^^^205/50s or 225/45s in that pic above?

 

[Dpro]

Any idea where specifically the rubbing occurred?

I would have to ask him about the specifics. It was probably close to a year and a half if not two years ago.

 

[Mikey456]

Koozy had ST springs with Bilsteins and changed them out for MeisterR coilovers because his Konig Dekagrams 16 x8 with Falken ST615’s 215/45 were rubbing.
JAndretti has the Whiteline because I sold them to him . As I bought them and then changed my mind and bought ST XTA Coilovers because height adjustable as well as shock and Camber.

Yep. Got the spring brands mixed up. [emoji106]

 

[Mikey456]

Any idea where specifically the rubbing occurred?

I looked it up it in the forum under Koozy’s st. He did a build with pictures and a description of what he did.

 

[TemecFist]

I have the swift springs on oem shocks. There was a debate awhile back about linear vs progressive springs. I’m big about keeping the spring consistency throughout the travel as with the OEM spring does with a 1 inch drop. I’ve heard the Whiteline springs are linear too but the car sits with a little rake. The front sits a little lower than the rear.

As with the ride... let’s just say that tire pressure is important. I run the pressure lower in the front 34/36 rear.

I also noticed someone with a similar setup as mine with just installed bilstein shocks and the car was riding a little higher [he also had poly rear bushing) Someone else posted that gas shocks will make the car sit higher than the oem shocks which I don’t like. When the shocks go bad I will probably replace them with Bilstein B6 or OEM.If the ride bothers me, I will just know that I’m driving not hard enough [emoji41]


2017 Ford Fiesta ST, Shadow Black, Recaro seats, Mountune RMM, Swift springs, 5mm rear spacers, Falken 615+ tires

Out of curiosity, why do you run a lower pressure in the front?

 

[Mikey456]

Out of curiosity, why do you run a lower pressure in the front?

I feel I get better traction with less understeer in turns and a better ride quality to boot. I keep the rear tire pressure up for good rotation. The recommended tire pressure is too uncomfortable for me. It’s also important to note that I run standard wheel/tire sizes with lowering springs.


2017 Ford Fiesta ST, Shadow Black, Recaro seats, Mountune RMM, Swift springs, 5mm rear spacers, Falken 615+ tires

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

^^^205/50s or 225/45s in that pic above?

225/45R15

 

[Fiestig]

Got in some measurements of what has come in thus far and what I had time for:

Bilstein B6:
Strut Length (base to bottom of shaft thread): 20.5"/520.7mm
Strut Casing length: 13"/330.2mm
Strut Casing Diameter: 2"/50.8mm
Strut Shaft Exposed Length: 7.5"/190.5mm
Strut Shaft Diameter: .86"/22mm
Left Strut Weight: 8.75lbs
Right Strut Weight: 8.68lbs


Whiteline Front:
Spring Inner Diamter: 4.25"/107.9mm
Spring Length: 10.5"/266.7
coil diameter: .49"/12.5mm
Front Spring weight: 4.10lbs (Both within .05)

 

[kevinatfms]

You need to run the b6’s. I had the b8‘s with swift springs based on what i read here. The b8’s are shorter causing the springs to be over compressed on the front. It basically bound up the front suspension where the shock couldn’t work properly or the spring. It drove horribly. My personal experience. I know quite a few on here have this setup and i don’t know how they think the car drives good. It felt down right dangerous to me.

Ive posted photos of the Swift, Eibach and OE ST springs and the Swift springs are definitely shorter than Eibach and OE ST springs. The Eibach springs actually measured longer than the factory springs by like a 1/4". The Swift springs were slightly shorter, by maybe a 1/2" than the OE springs.

I run the B8's paired with the Swift springs and the car feels dead planted. No clue what you're experiencing and the 5/8" shorter shaft of the B8 isn't going to effect the Swift spring like a stock set of springs. Feels great on the road and at the track. Times reflect how well the car does with the current setup.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Going by this, do you feel that there is any actual danger of damaging the dampers if one ran the Swifts on the B6es?

 

[Fiestig]

My swifts will be in today so I will get all of the measurements tonight. Ferd service is replacing my stock fronts under warranty so I will go in this progression for testing/pics/etc. Stock-->B6/Stock Springs-->B6/Whiteline-->B6/Swifts.

 

[Mikey456]

Are the Bilstein B6 easy to find now? Last time I checked they were out of stock. That’s probably my future plan for shock replacement.
I enjoy the Swift springs. They are a little stiffer than stock and it takes awhile to break them in. I have lowered my tire pressure too to compensate for the ride.


2017 Ford Fiesta ST, Shadow Black, Recaro seats, Mountune RMM, Swift springs, 5mm rear spacers, Falken 615+ tires

 

[Fiestig]

Are the Bilstein B6 easy to find now? Last time I checked they were out of stock. That’s probably my future plan for shock replacement.
I enjoy the Swift springs. They are a little stiffer than stock and it takes awhile to break them in. I have lowered my tire pressure too to compensate for the ride.


2017 Ford Fiesta ST, Shadow Black, Recaro seats, Mountune RMM, Swift springs, 5mm rear spacers, Falken 615+ tires

Multiple places have them. Rockauto has them in stock at the moment as well

 

[Fiestig]

Swift Front:
Spring Inner Diamter: 4.5"/114.3mm
Spring Length: 11"/279.4mm
coil diameter: .49"/12.5mm
Spring weight : 5.4lbs

 

[kevinatfms]

^^^Going by this, do you feel that there is any actual danger of damaging the dampers if one ran the Swifts on the B6es?

I dont think its that simple....my reasoning:

There isnt that much of a length difference between the B6/B8. From what i remember it was 5/8" in difference in shaft length(i spoke with a Bilstein rep on this for over an hour on the phone). For reference the length of the factory S/SE/Titanium shocks is the same as the ST. The valve stack is different along with the gas charge in the ST damper for the performance characteristics.

The B6 and B8 part numbers cross reference to both the S/SE/Titanium and the ST model. So, until Bilstein gives us a response on which model the dampers were designed for its a crapshoot.

If they are designed after the S/SE/Titanium geometry then a B8 damper would be ideal for anything from OE factory ST springs to the Swifts. The B6 in that case would be a stock upgrade for factory S/SE/Titanium cars.

If they are designed using the ST factory geometry then the B6 would be an upgrade for the S/SE/Titanium along with the OE ST springs while the B8 would be ideal for any lowering spring on the ST.

For a final WTF, the Bilstein B14 kit uses monotube front dampers, B8 rear dampers and a set of progressive springs. At the initial release(back in the Ford Racing catalog days), it was a single part number for S/SE/Titanium and ST models. Recently(with a few years), Bilstein released an ST specific part number for a B14 kit. The springs are the same part number, the rear dampers are the same part number but the front monotube dampers are different part numbers between the two kits. Two different reps stated two differences in the front dampers from information they were reading on their end; one rep told me the ST specific kit was valved differently while the other rep told me the perch threading height was different. So the truth is still a total mystery as to why a specific ST kit was produced.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^I was considering the B14s, but those same reps gave some stern warnings against using not just even slightly taller and/or higher rate springs on them, but also against switching out their standard progressive rate springs, to a linear rate spring, given the valving/damping settings on these coil overs (for the fronts at least, since the backs are B8s, and could be swapped for B6es).

 

[kevinatfms]

^^I was considering the B14s, but those same reps gave some stern warnings against using not just even slightly taller and/or higher rate springs on them, but also against switching out their standard progressive rate springs, to a linear rate spring, given the valving/damping settings on these coil overs (for the fronts at least, since the backs are B8s, and could be swapped for B6es).

There are aftermarket companies that will rebuild/revalve Bilstein dampers/coilovers to whatever specs you need them to be. Including some that will fit coilover sleeves to B6/B8 dampers.

Another option is the B16 kit that Pumaspeed sells. Dont know if we can actually get it but the dampers are both monotube, inverted cartridge along with being adjustable. They are expensive and put them up there with the MCS stuff.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Yeah, once you are up into anything in the MCS price range, my logic is just go with the insanely priced Reiger 3 way adjustable, remote reservoir, R2 tarmac setup already.
Especially since I don't give a flying f**k about conforming to SCCA H/Street rules whatsoever (don't now, and will not ever autocross).

Who besides Ground Control makes coil over conversion kits for our platform??

They flat out refused to make them for our rides when I asked, even though they were considering it at one time. A 'dead' platform now just makes that a never, ever scenario.