Sounds good. Looking forward to your feedback. If I ever swap out the JIC's, the Bilstein's are on my short list.

For the money, the Bilsteins are hard to beat. Definitely a very solid monotube shock which can be set-up to work extremely well. The stainless finish makes the shock bodies very resiliant to corrosion and they are truly a coilover you can live with on a daily basis w/o requiring rebuilds every 20K miles (Ohlins, Koni, etc advise that rebuilds be done every 20K miles).

With that said, the out-of-the-box PSS9's are not a "perfect" competition coilover. The spring rates are somewhat soft (340 F/ 240R), but with adjustable swaybars and/or revalve (and different spring rates), these can be set-up to be right up there with the 3-4K coilovers. Tom Kenna and Rick Jung went 1-2 in STU this year in Jung's Evo that uses PSS9's.

P.S. Speaking of FatCat, I'll probably be going with a set of their bumpstops with my PSS9's. I don't plan to slam my car, but it will be lowered at least 1-1.5" lower than stock, and if I get into my bumpstops, I want to be sure my car will still handle predictably.

Right on. I am in total agreement. For selfish reasons, I would like to see you up the spring rates and daping sooner than later, but I'm sure the factory settings will be a fun upgrade from your stock springs... and a bit more tolerable on the street than a pure STX setup.

On a side note, I used to run against Tom and Rick occasionally in STU back in San Diego (and Max H). Moving the RX8 out of STU was a very good move. :)

For budgetary reasons it definitely won't happen until late 2010/early 2011. A few different people (including Strano) have also recommended that I run these coilovers "box stock" for a season. This way when I do invest in a revalve ($125/shock from Bilstein), I'll have a better understanding of my overall needs and target spring rates.

Even with 600+lbs spring rates, these coilovers are still very daily driver friendly. Rick drove his family in his STU Evo to the SEMA show in Vegas a couple years back.

Yeah, the RX-8 definitely was outgunned in STU. All three drivers are definitely top notch and are always in the trophies or winners circle!

What are the FatCat bumpstops? Where to get them? How much?

http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/

They have a whole range of bump stops available. This can be very helpful in fine-tuning a stock-class autocross car, where you have very little that can be changed. For a car with coilovers, it's perhaps not so important, but I suppose a judiciously chosen bump stop might let you lower the car a smidge more.

BTW, Shaikh typically likes to start with HDs, not PSS9s, for his rebuilds. He uses Ohlins internals. I'm not saying he wouldn't do PSS9s, but when I asked him about this last year he encouraged me to send him some HDs if I wanted his double-adjustable coilover setup.

He's a good guy, and helped setup Jerry Jenkin's ES Miata, '08 and '09 national champ, who is in my region. Jerry speaks very highly of his FCM setup.

George provided some great info. For the PSS9 application, I'll be looking at the 36mm or 46mm bumpstops. They run $64 for a complete set of four (4).

Here's a link to the FatCat bumpstop application guide: http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/FCM....htm#Bumpstops
Correct. Which is why I'll be going with the Bilstein engineer who revalved Jung's PSS9's when I do mine. Not saying Shaikh can't do them, but he prefers to work with HDs.

Never knew bump stops were so complicated:Eyecrazy:

Did not know that. Good info.:icon_tup:

Got mine in last night! Quality looks really good. Better than my old KWs and way better than my old Helix:)
Looking at them, the fronts come with theur own bumpstops and thw rears don't appear to use any at all. Of course the instructions are aweful, so maybe Peppy can confirm this or not.

^ Do you have the ability to accurately measure the length of the front Bilstein bumpstops? The rear uses a tapered progressive rate spring. It'll be interesting to see if the kit uses a bumpstop in the rear.

I heard the instructions are a bit sucky. I think Peppy said they were like the picture instructions you get with Ikea furniture! :lol: :lol: :lol:

the rears are inverted monotube, so the bumpstops are enclosed in the outer lower portion of the tube. I would assume that they are using bumpstops, never heard of a damper that didn't, but the only way you'll know is to disassemble your rear pss9 and find out :eek:

Just replace Sweedish with German. To measure the bumpstops I would have to take apart the adjusters. I'll try to do that some time soon.

This makes sense. I could not see how it would work with the OE one.

Pretty happy with how they look and can't wait to get them on. But, I gotta work this weekend, so Itll have to wait till next thursday.

I'll be ordering my set this coming Monday.

instructions say the bumpstops are 40mm in height and 32mm in diameter for both front and rear.

Thanks. That's good to know. I guess the bump stops come pre-installed on the rears then.

They come installed on both front and rear. The fronts could be changed easily. The rears cannot.

Gotcha. Looking at the lengths that Impulse RS posted from the instructions, the standard bumpstops provided by Bilstein are pretty close to the lengths I was looking to run anyway.

Sounds like Bilstein did their homework with this kit! Looking forward to getting mine. :smoker:

Did you ever get an answer to this question?

If not, I could take pics of a F&R PSS9 side-by-side with a F&R stock shock when mine arrive. I have konis on my car right now, so my stock shocks are off the car and in a box @ home.

never did, and would be appreciated, thanks.

Ya, the instructions are horrible. I had to second guess myself 3 or 4 times before being happy with the way they were assembled. It's all worth it in the end though.

Once I receive my set, I'll be sure to take several pics and post them. Look for pics in the next 2-3 weeks.
Well, I might have a few questions for you during my install weekend... ;)

Ordered a set of PSS9's today. Got one of the last RX-8 sets in the country. Seems like Bilstein USA is out of them and won't get another shipment in until ~2/15. Major thanks to Stranoparts.com for tracking those coilovers down - he made quite a number of calls to locate this set for me! :cool:

Also ordered a set of 17x9 Enkei RPF1's.

I will be installing mine Friday. I'll try to take some pics and do a write up.

That will be greatly appreciated! :)

Install day! Just got done with the fronts. Nothing to it really. About an hour and half of not rushed install time. Took some pics with iPhone, as my wife has the good camera. Will post them up and a mini write up soon.
One question. My before ride heights were 14 1/2" at all 4 corners. This is an 09 with 09 spec konis. Is a rake recomended? How much lower should I be in the front?

^take lots of pics and make a DIY! good luck!

I know Eric Meyer mentioned that in a road race setting the Koni Challenge RX-8's responded very well to rake. Personally, I was going to start off with a 1/2" of rake.

My coilovers arrive this coming Wednesday. :)

Done. Nothing hard at all. Will do a write up tomorow. I still need to mess with camber and alignment.

Being an 09 I start off lowered 15mm in the rear. So I raised the rears to the highest recommended setting and am at 13 1/2". An inch lower than stock with konis. I'm going to set the fronts a little higher than 13". See how that handles.

Sounds like a good starting point. Should be fun!

Agreed. Sounds like a great starting point to me as well.

First of all, is this normal. Oil leaking from the top of th Koni.
Attachment 267103
Pic of all side by side.
Attachment 267104
This is all you will use of the stock parts off the front.
Attachment 267105
Easy. Just use the 2 factory rubbers with the supplied metal insert.
Supplied washer, 1 rubber with supplied insert, stock top mount, then other rubber, and supplied washer and supplied double locking nuts.
Attachment 267106
Attachment 267107
Attachment 267108
Attachment 267109

The rears are not any harder.
This is what you will reuse off the rear.
Attachment 267098
Supplied washer, then rubber with stock insert, then stock topmount, then rubber, then stock washer, with supplied nut on top.
Attachment 267099
Attachment 267100
Attachment 267101
Attachment 267102

Pretty quick and easy if you have power tools, spring compressers, and install juice.

Still have to do the alignment and mess with the ride heights. Took a ride with them set on 3 all around and ride was great. Better than the Konis on hard for sure. Played around in a dirty ass parking lot, but its 25 degrees and the lot is covered in gravel and dirt. So I couldnt really get an idea about grip levels. But it was way easy to drift:)

Yes. It's very common to have a little bit of oil "weeping" from the tops of the front konis. It doesn't seem to have any affect on performance though.

Anyone know when the PSS10 will come out for the RX-8?

Bilstein already has a PSS10 kit available for the NC MX-5. They should be able to adapt that for an RX-8 chassis w/o too much hassle. However, I've been told by 2-3 different people who are very experienced in this sport, that the PSS10's aren't worth the $400-$500 premium over the PSS9's. The PSS10's still adjust rebound and compression together - you just get a 10th adjustment (instead of 9). That's it.

You do get an inverted monotube out front just like the rear though with the MX5 PSS10. If that is of any true benefit to anyone.

Correct - I forgot about that design difference.

Can you do me a favor and list all of the tools you needed for the install? I'm aiming to do the install this coming Saturday at a friend's place and he wants to start stock piling all the tools we'll need. Also, what's a reasonable estimate for how long it took you to do the entire install? TIA!

91 Impulse RS, I'll try to get pics of the stock front & rear shocks next to the PSSS9's to compare travel. I'll hopefully have them up by Friday evening.

-Chike

Sockets and wrenches, 17, 14, 12, 10mm.
extension for the sockets
Spring compressors and tools to use them
Allen wrenches metric, can't remember the sizes, but you will need really small to fairly large.
Adjustable wrench
All I can think of

I had a cordless inpact and ratcheting wrenches, which will help cut time.

With the tools I had and 2 people you should be able to get it done in 3 to 4 hours.

Thanks -- I'll pass this list along to him. We have all of those tools.

Btw, did you have toe plates to adjust your toe settings afterwards?

I use the string method to do alignments.

My PSS9 coilovers arrived yesterday! Big thanks to Stranoparts for hooking me up and to Bret @ Bilstein in CA for putting up with my million-and-one questions over the last few months!!! I must say I'm completely blown away by the build quality of these coilovers. Much better quality than the typical stuff I've seen in the sub 2K price range. :cool:

91 Impulse RS, I took a few pics of a front & rear bilstein shock next to the stock equivalent. I also included a pic with a tape measure to use a guide in determining the amount of travel. NOTE: With the rears it might be hard to determine a value for total travel as the shock is an inverted monotube. Let me know if these pics help. If you need me to take any more specific pics or specific measurements (I have a vernier caliper), I'd be happy to over the next 2 days before I do my install on Saturday.

S0l08, how hard is it to adjust the lower spring plates on yours? Mine came set at the lowest setting and I'd like to raise both my front and rear plates. Is there something I need to loosen before they turn? or should I just hit the threads with some WD-40, and turn the plates with the supplied wrenches? This is my first set of coilovers ever, so everything is kinda new to me. TIA.


PICS-

Front shock comparison
https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1263478092

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1263478092

Rear shock comparison
https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1263478092

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1263478092

The lower spring pearches are easy to move once you get the two keeper unlocked. And they were very tight on mine too. Had to use both wrenches and a hammer to get them unlocked. Once they are unlocked it's cake.

I want!!!

S0l08, can you send me the measurements you used to set the ride height at 13.5" rear and ~13.0" front. I want to tackle the spring plates again this evening and try to get them adjusted before doing my install tomorrow. I'll bring my camera with me, so hopefully I'll remember to take some pics during the process...

I ended up at 14 1/4 rear and 13 7/8 front. But I do not know what the measurements are. Just done by trial and error. And a lot of time.
Anyone know what the stock ride heights are?

I just measured the ride heights on my '06 6spd w/ konis on flat ground with a full tank of gas, and got 14.5" Front, 14.0" Rear. I've been told the low gas pressure konis lower the ride height ~1/2" from stock.

My car sits flat with these ride heights. So I'm thinking I'd like to go with 13.5" front & rear. This way the front will be lowered an additional 1", while the rear will come down just a 1/2". This should give me a 1/2" of rake.

The ride height I posted are not right.
With 1/4 tank of gas, I started at 14 1/2" all around. Now I'm at 13 3/4" in the rear and 13 3/8" in the front. For 3/8" rake.