My 275 Cup S currently has Ohlins from the factory, but they are knocking and need a rebuild. Handling is brilliant, but I think the car still sits far too high on the lowest setting. Got me thinking if I'm going to plough best part of a grand into rebuilding the Ohlins – what else could I get? Considering Bilstein B14s or KW V3s. Anyone running either and have feedback or even better, experience to compare them against the factory Ohlins?
i have b14,s on the car when i got it. i track it alot and they a little soft.not much.the main problem with the b14 kit is no bounce/rebound adjustment. but im happy with them and not harsh on our roads. drove my mates rs with std cup shocks and grams spring when we were at blyton and it felt almost the same.
Ohlins are a better damper than either of those other two, Infact Ohlins dampers are probably the best you can buy. I'd have them rebuilt and maybe look at the RSC kit if you want some more adjustability of ride height and camber
Thanks for that. Not having damping adjustment doesn't bother me too much if they have the right balance, but interesting that you couldn't feel any difference compared to the Cup dampers. I had Cup dampers and H&R springs on my 250 and although it's been a while since I sold that, from memory the damping on the Ohlins is miles ahead. I'm hoping to drive a mates 265 with Cup dampers and H&R springs soon and see how they feel back to back. Seems nuts really that the damping is so good on the Ohlins, but it really grates me how high the car sits. Especially as I want to go down to 18s so it'll only get worse. Thanks Jamie, didn't realise that kit existed. If it were cheaper I'd consider it, but getting that and rebuilding my Ohlins will end up standing me at around £2500 which is a fair chunk over what I want to spend, ideally want to be under £1500.
I'd get them rebuilt it that case with some lowering springs and adjustable top mounts cause you won't improve the damping you have without speaking twice what the aforementioned cost and even then it'll be marginal Ohlins are probably the best damper manufacturer about, there's a reason race cars run them even with other manufacturer stickers over the car [emoji28]
Thanks Jamie, I didn't realise putting lowering springs on Ohlins dampers was an option either as I thought the springs must be custom to the coilover. Will look into that, cheers!
Lowering the car will not necessarily improve handling, infact if you watch the Megane Ohlins setp video on YouTube, Laurent Hurgon says running the Ohlins in the lowered "wet" setup reduce ultimate grip. For a road car I'd personally prefer to maintain as much wheel travel as possible as long as it did not have an adverse effect on performance. Track use would be a different matter, but that would require an increased spring rate and a more aggressive geometry setup with all the compromises that involves for a car that's used 99% of the time on road. I love the Ohlins on my car and am quite happy in the knowledge that RenaultSport had the resources and approach to optimise them when compared to the alternatives. When the time comes they'll definitely be getting rebuilt.
Correction: not "ultimate grip", but an increase in roll moment that can cause the tyres to be over worked.
Thanks for that, helped balance my thought process. Ultimately I want to lower the car for vanity rather than performance gain – I just think the car sits too high on the Ohlins and as I want to change my 19s for 18s, it'll going to look even worse. I doubt there's a better performing coilover out there for what I want to spend, but just keen to hear others experiences. If I can get a good deal on a set of Trophy Speedlines then I may end up sticking with the Ohlins, just not a fan of the STEEVs and want to change them for Tibors ideally.
https://rsmegane.com/threads/Öhlins-clubsport-conversion.20127/ Invest in them and you will add so much value to the car. As in driving experience on the road and on track.
Thanks! That doesn't look cheap though... I'm leaning towards just getting the Ohlins rebuilt now. When I can eventually take my car to my mechanic to get them removed!
