Dampers and springs replacement – Part 1

The feeling of handling of the Alfa 156 became very weird.  Not only in the corners but also on bumpy roads, the car was not holding itself together as one piece. I felt the front and rear parts were falling apart and each piece behaved on its own. It is just hard to describe.  Because it felt soft and bouncy when I depressed the body cell from the top of front dampers with my weight, I thought it had to be the dampers and springs problem.  Alright, it is time to try something new.

Considered choices

Concluded from suggestions from friends and the Internet, the following suspension sets are highly recommended for Alfa 156 by many:

1. KW V1/V2/V3
2. AP Coil over
3. Bilstein PSS9/PSS10
4. Bilstein B6/B8 + Eibach springs
5. Bilstein B6/B8 + H&R springs
6. Koni FSD + H&R

Indeed, I’m quite happy with the existing set – The Sachs Performance Kit.  However, it is no longer available and all new Performance kits now are coil over setting.

Having checked prices and further studied of comments,

• Item 1 – I took it out because they are of bloody expensive, I’m a poor man

• Item 2 – surprisingly in the online shops I visited, I have never found it but their entry-level kit

• Item 3 again it is too expensive.  And I got a chance to sit in a BMW E36 that is fitted with PSS9.  To be honest, it is too damn hard for roads in HK, the interior of that E36 seemed to fall apart when running over the convex and concave surface.  Well, I don’t think the interior of my 156 would be stronger

• Item 6 Some sources said it was not that durable, the main problem is the leakage from the shock absorbers

Many sources said Bilstein uses springs from Eibach to create their B12 set and I found an on-line store that sells the kit. I chose the Bilstein B8 Sprint + Eibach Prokit Sports spring combination. The set should lower the ride height by 30mm.

However, if you want even lower ride height, Eibach Sportline Sports springs that lower 45-50mm could be the choice.

After 2 weeks, the kit arrived from Germany

The previous dampers and springs – Sachs Performance set

The mechanic told me that the front left damper actually failed completely.  I tried pushing it against the ground; it didn’t shrink at all – not a single mm. woo, no wonder I got the “falling apart” feeling.

After 5 years, the consumable parts became like this:

I also replaced the struts top mount for the front axis too.

Part 2 – Results with the new dampers and springs