Does a Bilstein B16 PSS10 fit a Z4M with CSL wheels?

F

Franzino

Active member
I have a Z4M roadster; I use this car for sun and fun and I do arround 10 trackdays a year (80% Nurburgring, 20% other tracks). The car is equipped with a full AP racing kit, CSL wheels and Supersport tyres.

The oem suspension is feeling to soft on track. The car has to much body movement on track. The better I know the tracks, the more I notice it. On normal roads I have no complaints about the handling.

I want to upgrade my suspension. At first I was thinking about the KW V3. But with CSL wheels you have to fit spacers or the KW dampers touch the CSL wheels. I want to a avoid spacers.

Does any one has some experience with Bilstein B16 PSS10? How good are they? Is this good to use for street and track driving? Do they fit without spacer in combination with CSL wheels?
 
Weirdly i was just looking at the PSS10! I'd also be interested in opinions on them. How do they adjust? Do we need to rip the trim for the rear struts like other kits? I can't tell from the photos and i couldn't find other info online.

Exdos, if you read this, i believe you said your ACS kit is based on the Bilsteins? How do they adjust?
 
I have AC Schnitzer Racing suspension on my Z4MC, which is essentially a Bilstein PSS9 kit made to ACS specifications. How much difference there is between the ACS and Bilstein kits I wouldn't know.
When you say you find the OEM suspension too soft on track, I'm presuming that you're referring to the lifting and pitching at the front of the car on acceleration and braking?

The ACS/Bilstein adjustable suspensions have much stiffer front springs and softer rear springs than OEM, which IMO, provides a much better balance to the suspension than the OEM set up. I've also got KWV3 suspension on my Z3MC which has very similar spring sizes to the ACS kit on my Z4MC and I've done well over 200 laps at The Ring in that car, but not yet managed to take the Z4MC to The Ring. However, from the settings that I use on the ACS and KWV3 on both cars for "fast road" use, I'm sure that the ACS kit will have enough scope for adjustment on track.

The ACS kit fits OEM wheels without spacers, although I've since elected to fit 10mm spacers all round.

The adjusters for KWV3 are individual for rebound (at the top of the dampers) and for bump/compression (at the bottom). The lower rear adjusters are very fiddly to do, and the top adjusters at the rear lie beneath the trim, and so you need to make access to them for adjustment. OTOH, the ACS/Bilstein dampers have combined adjusters for both rebound/bump at the bottom of the dampers, which are simple knobs to turn. With my KWV3, I like to set the rear dampers unequally for rebound and bump for street use, which is possible, but on track I have the settings the same: with the ACS/Bilsteins, you have to adjust rebound/bump equally throughout the range, which I can't say I''ve found a problem.

The ACS kit has made a huge improvement to the ride quality for street use and also the handling is much improved by the considerable reduction in lifting and pitching. I expect the Bilstein kit will be just as good.
 
exdos said:
The ACS kit fits OEM wheels without spacers, although I've since elected to fit 10mm spacers
Click to expand...

I would like to find out if they would also fit without spacer in combination with CSL wheels...
 
I'm on stock wheels with spacers already so not bothered about clearance. My main question was how do you actually change the settings. If the knob is on the bottom of the struts or on top. Exdos says it's on the bottom so i guess that's answered. I'll wait a couple of months to save the necessary money and i'll probably buy a set and a set of camber plates. The understeer is killing me!!! Or maybe i'll buy the camber plates first and install them with stock suspension first.... hmmm....
 
Here are the photos of the adjusters:

FRONT
IMG_8579.jpg


REAR
IMG_8569.jpg


The ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 front dampers for the Z4MC are NOT coilovers; they're the same type as the OEM. So, the lower part of the spring perch on the damper is exactly the same as OEM, which means that any wheels that fit with OEM will also fit with the ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 dampers.
 
exdos said:
The ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 front dampers for the Z4MC are NOT coilovers; they're the same type as the OEM. So, the lower part of the spring perch on the damper is exactly the same as OEM, which means that any wheels that fit with OEM will also fit with the ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 dampers.
Click to expand...
Not 100% true! I know for a fact that a KW V3 does not fit without spacers on CSL wheels. A guy I know has recently fitted a KW V3 on his Z4M (with CSL wheels) and he needed spacers.
 
Franzino said:
exdos said:
The ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 front dampers for the Z4MC are NOT coilovers; they're the same type as the OEM. So, the lower part of the spring perch on the damper is exactly the same as OEM, which means that any wheels that fit with OEM will also fit with the ACS/Bilstein and KWV3 dampers.
Click to expand...
Not 100% true! I know for a fact that a KW V3 does not fit without spacers on CSL wheels. A guy I know has recently fitted a KW V3 on his Z4M (with CSL wheels) and he needed spacers.
Click to expand...
In which case, I stand corrected!
 
fran, i think your usage is very similar to mine... how extreme are you willing to go??? For a track car with ocasional road use ( NOT DD) i think the clubsports are awesome, and on track, they will perform in every area you want, im really pleased with them, They relly change the attitude of the car and imo.... it goes with the raw character well!!
 
Franzino said:
Maybe the front dampers of Bilstein are smaller then the KW V3?
Click to expand...
The ACS/Bilsteins are the "monotube" type whereas the KWV3's are "twin tube", so this probably accounts for a slightly larger diameter.
 
Beedub said:
fran, i think your usage is very similar to mine... how extreme are you willing to go??? For a track car with ocasional road use ( NOT DD) i think the clubsports are awesome, and on track, they will perform in every area you want, im really pleased with them, They relly change the attitude of the car and imo.... it goes with the raw character well!!
Click to expand...
My car is a street car with occasional track use (once a month...not in the winter); so the clubsports are to much for me. It will be either the KW V3 or Bilstein B16 PSS10. The KW V3 does not fit without spacers with CSL wheels...so now I need to find out if the Bilstein fits without spacer? But how will I found out? I still have to find someone with this set-up (Bilstein + CSL wheels) on his Z4M... Zero luck till now.
 
Maybe not specifically someone with CSL wheels? Just someone who has wheels with similar or the same offsets? :? Don't know.
 
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