Bilstein Group N Tarmac Dampers - Best Alternative To Coilovers?

[fatony1 17]

Im having a bit of a refresh of the running gear on my 205 over the winter, rose jointed lower arms with OE bushes, new trackrods, new trackrod ends, VTS steering rack, new droplinks, new hubs/bearings, new discs/pads, rebuilt 309 beam with GTI6 dampers etc. I currently have GTI6 front struts with some 20/25mm lowering springs (believed to be Koni items) but im looking to replace the struts and so far from what i've read the Bilstein Group N Tarmac items from KAM Racing get the thumbs up all round! Are they the best buy within that sort of price range? (£300 ish) Or would 2nd hand coilovers be a better option? The car is my daily driver and does a 40 mile round trip to work. I've had some seriously low VWs in the past so im not a stranger to a bumpy ride, but this on the KAM Racing site...

 

This Bilstein Group N 'Challenge spec' dampers are designed for tarmac race use

 

...does make me wonder hence my asking here!

 

Thanks in advance

[Baz 421]

Coilovers are only worth bothering with if their new price was about £800+ IMO, not because i'm a snob, but because otherwise they're crap tbh! I'd certainly stay clear of used coilovers for that price-range unless you find a bargain. (PTS Billies/AST's/Leda's etc)

 

They're great in many ways for getting a dedicated setup, finding a perfect spring/damping rate that matches the rear end, suits the car itself and it's uses, and then you & your driving style... but that's expensive and time consuming plus there's many other ways coilovers can be a royal PITA; adjustable top mounts giving camber/castor changes needing proper Geo-setups ideally on corner weights etc etc.

 

Given your wants and likely uses i'd go for the billies because i guarantee you'll never want for more unless you change your uses massively towards circuit or off-road use, and tbh they'd still do a fairly good job of that anyway, the damping is well up to scratch for day to day/fast road/occasional track use without being crashy or hard.

[fatony1 17]

Sound advice, Billies it is, ooo yellow.....

 

 

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I tend to offer the billies for ease of use and no maintenance, Like a set of Avo coil overs I removed today, adjuster's locked up as are the spring plastform's which as the billies don;t have any of this they rarely give any problems

[matt.f 16]

Plenty of people who rally 205's use these,I've got them and they are very good for road rallying(night events)