I've finally had a little time to drive the car with Sachs shocks and struts installed, and some time to write about it. So far, I would recommend these for someone looking for a good upgrade from stock or replacement for an SVT--very reasonably priced and likely better quality than a KYB GR2 (On other vehicles I've worn out GR2s in about 30k, while I've seen european cars with OE Sachs dampers still in good shape with around 100k). As for price, I paid $162 with tax for the whole car from a local import parts counter (probably the only place aside from BAT where you will find them).
As for the rest of the car, it is a '05 zx3 SE, with 18mm front bar, 20mm rear bar, and Fuzion 205/55-15 Zri tires mounted on 6.5" width Contour wheels with a 47.5mm offset. All else is stock excep for the one caveat of this review: I changed to SVT springs at the same time as the dampers, so it is not ideal scientific method--2 changes at once. That said, I have about 10 years of suspension tuning experience on a host of vehicles, so I will try to give impression of what differences are the springs, and which are the dampers.
First thing I noticed while doing the work, is by hand compression test, the Sachs dampers actually have noticeable lest compression damping than (or possibly stiction) than the stock units. Rebound is hard to judge by hand, so no real comments. No problems with installation, everything fitting like is should.
Driving: There is definitely less suspension movement than before and the car is closer to neutral (although still a little understeer bias--depending on what I see from the tire wear, I'm fix this with more negative camber--stock now--or a larger rear bar). All this is the springs working as expected. Now for the damper part: while a stiffer ride overall, the chassis is much better composed over ripple bumps and where mid-corner bumps with the suspension already loaded used to really upset the back and, it is dead stable now. The better ripple bump behavior is likely the lower compression damping, and the mid corner bump stability points to better rebound damping.
While I never had much issue with the stock front end, with the Sachs struts, there does seem to be less initial crash to front bump impacts. Again, less compression damping at work.
One thing I suspect: while I keep saying: lower compression damping, these have all been low damper speed situations (small bumps). I have managed to avoid the larger impacts so far, but even on slightly bigger ones, there is no sense that the damper will blow through it's travel all at once. I'm guessing there is a good bit of high damper speed compression damping. This would make sense on a unit with sporting pretentions.
My verdict: I am pleased and would buy them again. If you are looking for a race setup, they are not the best you could get, but I was shopping for a good, sporty street damper with no bad traits, and I don't mind spending less if I can get away with it. For that, these have been ideal. The only thing that might be better is Bilsteins if they ever come through on selling them (the basic shock/struts--yes, I know you can get pss9, but before anyone suggests that, reread the first part of this paragraph) here.
I hope this might help some people.
Cheers.
As for the rest of the car, it is a '05 zx3 SE, with 18mm front bar, 20mm rear bar, and Fuzion 205/55-15 Zri tires mounted on 6.5" width Contour wheels with a 47.5mm offset. All else is stock excep for the one caveat of this review: I changed to SVT springs at the same time as the dampers, so it is not ideal scientific method--2 changes at once. That said, I have about 10 years of suspension tuning experience on a host of vehicles, so I will try to give impression of what differences are the springs, and which are the dampers.
First thing I noticed while doing the work, is by hand compression test, the Sachs dampers actually have noticeable lest compression damping than (or possibly stiction) than the stock units. Rebound is hard to judge by hand, so no real comments. No problems with installation, everything fitting like is should.
Driving: There is definitely less suspension movement than before and the car is closer to neutral (although still a little understeer bias--depending on what I see from the tire wear, I'm fix this with more negative camber--stock now--or a larger rear bar). All this is the springs working as expected. Now for the damper part: while a stiffer ride overall, the chassis is much better composed over ripple bumps and where mid-corner bumps with the suspension already loaded used to really upset the back and, it is dead stable now. The better ripple bump behavior is likely the lower compression damping, and the mid corner bump stability points to better rebound damping.
While I never had much issue with the stock front end, with the Sachs struts, there does seem to be less initial crash to front bump impacts. Again, less compression damping at work.
One thing I suspect: while I keep saying: lower compression damping, these have all been low damper speed situations (small bumps). I have managed to avoid the larger impacts so far, but even on slightly bigger ones, there is no sense that the damper will blow through it's travel all at once. I'm guessing there is a good bit of high damper speed compression damping. This would make sense on a unit with sporting pretentions.
My verdict: I am pleased and would buy them again. If you are looking for a race setup, they are not the best you could get, but I was shopping for a good, sporty street damper with no bad traits, and I don't mind spending less if I can get away with it. For that, these have been ideal. The only thing that might be better is Bilsteins if they ever come through on selling them (the basic shock/struts--yes, I know you can get pss9, but before anyone suggests that, reread the first part of this paragraph) here.
I hope this might help some people.
Cheers.
