Testing the Bilstein Damptronic coilovers

After being quite pleased that my new Bilstein B16 Damptronic coilovers met my requirements for a more compliant street ride, I wanted to see how much I gave up in terms of performance to achieve this compromise. Thankfully Tamra and Andrew were there in their "new to them" Cayman S on my old MCS 2WNR setup. While I'm technically no longer legally in STU due to the SCCA not allowing any aftermarket active dampers, this would be a great way for me to see how this new setup stacked up. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 10-4-2020
Meadowlands, NJ

I hadn't changed anything else on the car other than the suspension so I started off running the car using my old tire pressure setup of 28 psi front and 29 psi rear. The swaybars were exactly as they were before. After two runs, it was obvious that the car was a bit on the loose side and I had to back off in order to keep the rear in check. With some advice from our "autocross dad" Jose, I lowered my pressures to 27 psi all around and immediately felt an improvement. She was really well balanced and predictable. I ran the car in sport mode (including PASM to sport) and PSM off. I noticed two differences from my old MCS setup. First, it seemed to be easier to drive on the wavy lot. Second, it was slower in the fast transitions. 

Results - 10-4-2020

Overall though, I was very pleasantly surprised. It still had a respectable pace and I was glad to be less than a second behind Tamra. That difference in time is easily driver so at least for this event I'd say these Bilsteins are within ballpark. I believe there is an adjustment knob at the bottom of each shock for further tuning but I didn't mess with them for today's test. The car also seems to like the factory ride height. If the springs don't settle much further, I'm going to lower the car around 10mm. 

My fastest run - 61.108 - 10-4-2020

I'd best describe these coilovers as an OEM+ setup for a PASM enabled Cayman. It's great for someone that wants something a bit stiffer and more performant than the factory setup without giving up the PASM capabilities. I'm running the factory 235/265 tire stagger so I suspect that's why the balance was spot on as I'm sure that's what Bilstein tests in their R&D. I'm excited to feel what this setup will be like once I add a DSC Sport Controller with 3-way accelerometer next year for even better active damper control. I'm confident these will suit my needs at the track as well. I would not recommend this setup to someone that wants to really fine tune the suspension setup for different conditions (unless of course you're adding DSC and willing to mess around with that controller). It's also obviously not an option for anyone that wants to compete nationally for autocross because it isn't legal yet. However, for anyone wanting a really good all around performer and isn't subject to restrictions, I would highly recommend these in a heartbeat.