mroberte

Coilovers Review: Bilstein B16 Ride Control with electronic Comfort & Sport modes.


Lowered with roughly a 2 finger gap all around.

Price: 5/10
They are pricey, but I think well worth the cost if you are looking for something that gives you the best of both worlds. I have read they are far superior than the mag-ride setup and I’m sure this is true.

Build: 9/10
These are rock solid. Coated so they won’t rust, rubber dust boots seem to be made of plastic that will last a long time. Only fault is the placement of the front coilovers control wires. If you are not careful, you can easily snap/tear/cut the wires. Be best if the wire came out of the middle of the shock, but that would mean far more unnecessary engineering from Bilstein.

Installation: 7/10
The installation actually isn’t that difficult if you have the proper tools and preferably a lift. I initially had a Jaguar dealership install these on my car but they were clearly ignorant and did not install some crucial parts (top strut bushings, bump stops, dust boots) which cause really bad clunking, spring movement.

After yelling at the dealership as I was PISSED, I ended up doing the job myself. Something I should of done in the first place. I took everything off and reinstalling it… knowing now that it is done properly - the directions are pretty clear so reason why I was pretty upset with jaguar. I highly suggest buy all proper tools ahead of time as this will save you a lot of headache.

I used this video as a HUGE help for understanding what I was getting myself into as I'm new to the VW world.
Will take you about 6-8 hours depending on if you have a lift or not. The part that takes the longest was really adjusting the height. Routing the cables actually was easier than I anticipated. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the cables in the cabin, but since America only has automatics, there is a rubber grommet that I fished the two wires through going to the front shocks that the clutch pedal would usually go through. I then put the controller above the fuse box inside of the car so I can easily upgrade if I go the IRC route in the future. Tucked all rear wires on the driver side trim since I had the rear view camera on the passenger side. There are two rubber grommets in the rear boot area to fish the wires through. Zip tying everything up is crucial for a clean job. Power was tapped from the internal fuse box.

Integrated the Bilstein switch into the center switch console, so I press the stock “drive select” button and it turns on/off the Bilsteins. Still have the bilstein switch in the glove box behind/below the cabin filter.


Added center switch block to add the Drive Select button to control Bilstein Ride Control Coilovers.


Some observations about the car and the interior fuses, if the speedo fuse is not functioning or in the wrong spot, burnt out, the car will start and then immediately die. Also there is no “ignition” type of power that turns off or on with the MMI system.

Feel: 9/10
Comfort mode - It is actually decent. Its much firmer than the stock basic setup (did not have the sport or mag-ride), which is expected, but its not harsh at all. If your roads are pretty bad, you will get more bounciness, but that is also because of the short travel of coilovers. Even in comfort mode, the car is flat… extremely minimal body roll. The stock setup, I would have to brake often for many corners/on-ramps since the car just would lose grip and the tires would squeal like crazy. Now in comfort mode, the squealing is gone.

Sport mode - You press the button and you immediately feel EVERYTHING. The car will firm up like crazy, almost like you have rocks for the suspension. The interior noise also get a little louder too since the coilovers aren’t absorbing anything. In this mode, the car comes alive. As many have pointed out with Bilsteins, its truly like you are on rails. I was pleasantly surprised on how well the car can really take a corner at any speed and with such confidence. Even high speeds you will feel far more confident. However, sport mode should not be used in your daily driving as it's too harsh for public roads, that's only if you like that and want to risk breaking something and/or your back/butt. I think I would puke after awhile from how firm/bouncy it can get on certain pavement.

Current Height Adjustments:
From the bottom of the lock nut to the lip of the body of the shock.
Front: 2.375” or 60.325mm
Rear: 2.125” or 53.975mm
Rear is basically at the highest setting it can go which is about 1.5 finger width.

Track Use: 9/10
I took the car out to do a SCCA Autocross Solo event and did 5 laps (videos below). The car did incredibly well! I was on the stock continentals which are not at all anything good for track use, but the suspension really did make sure the car stayed where I wanted it. Body roll with sport mode on is almost zero from what I felt. Because of the way the haldex works, it seems you will always have understeer with this car, however it's minimized now. When I get better tires, that will help A LOT. I don't really feel that I will need to get upgraded sway bars as the Bilsteins have really done their job of keeping the car really in the direction you want it to go. Will purchase stickier rubber in the future for track on the 18's and most likely get aftermarket rims/tires for daily use.

Car overall on the track in sport mode did an excellent job, I didn’t use the paddles at all and let the car do its thing, transmission really surprised me on being in the proper gear.

Overall Impressions: 9/10
These things are amazing. I didn’t think it would make as much of a dramatic change as it did. The stock suspension always made me nervous because of its floaty nature, especially at higher or aggressive speeds. Now I feel very confident that the car will not have a problem at all. The price is high, but if you are looking to purchase an A3, I would just get the Premium car and save yourself a ton of money and just install these. I don’t really have long term experience with cars equipped with drive select or mag-ride, but this blows the stock sport setup out of the water. Bilstein comfort mode is like a tick or two below stock Audi sport dynamic mode, and Bilstein’s sport mode is like 6-8 ticks above Audi’s mag-ride, which should be expected from any aftermarket part.



Delivered!

ndk83

Awesome write up, very detailed, and I 100% agree on everything you said.

Glad to hear you got on well on the AutoX event How were your times compared to everyone else? Did they put u in the modified 2ltr class?
Definitely upgrade the tires, the stock contis are effing terrible. I got the Michlein PSS and am happy with those but would definitely suggest the Michelin Pilot Cup 2 if u can find them in your size and/or are road legal in the US.

BTW i wanted to say something earlier, but serves u right for taking the car to Jaguar. If you live in San Fran, I'm surprised there isn't a ton of great shops that could have installed the coils.

mroberte

But ya, the stock tires are crap. I will be upgrading, but not sure if I will be upgrading soon since the AutoX season is almost done.

The Jaguar situation was a more complex relationship thats why, but it didn't work out. I was basically giving someone the benefit of the doubt, but they failed to pay attention. Its my fault for trying to help someone out. In the long run, I should've just did it myself from the beginning like I usually do and enjoy and had to do in the long run.

rfurball

Hey mroberte, I know you did this install ages ago but I'm particularly interested in this: "Integrated the Bilstein switch into the center switch console, so I press the stock “drive select” button and it turns on/off the Bilsteins" I've installed this system in my 2006 Aston DB9 and I'm trying to wire into the dash button on the Aston. I figured out the power and grd wires on the iRC harness but I'm left with a yellow, gray, and white wire that I'm not too sure about. Any suggestions? Thanks, Rob