Stiff Struts

[chope97]

I noticed in my 73 this past weekend while driving that when I hit a bump in the road it sounded like someone was hitting the car with a sledge hammer on the drivers side. I checked the components on that side and found no loose parts. When I pushed down on the strut on that side I could not get it to move. I think it is a Bilstein in there but not quite sure. The passenger side moved more freely. Looks like I will be replacing the left side strut with my Al Taylor Bilstein spare that I have which I can move up and down. My 71 has KYB gas adjust struts which to me are too stiff especially in the rear. It makes the car a little bouncy. There are some regular KYB's on sale on the internet I would like to see what regular struts feel like on both my cars. My daily driver is a 2005 530i 6 speed with Bilstein 4 on it and it is a nice driver that handles well. not stiff. When I had my first Bavaria back in the 80's my shop recommend stiffer shocks in the front and less stiff in the back for best all around handling and a comfortable ride. Back then the Polaris e3 was our family car.

 

[Bert Poliakoff]

I am running Koni oil filled on the front and Koni gas on the rear on my 6. So far it rides like a dream The fronts were re built by Jeff Lablond who uses parts desined by him. I found them in a junk yard and the struts were very rusted out so he put new tubes on them. The store I got the rears from was a place a guy bought out and I bought them right. Google Jeff and get an idea of what he does FJB shocks LLC. He also rebuilds Ferrari and Lambo shocks

 

[chope97]

I noticed in my 73 this past weekend while driving that when I hit a bump in the road it sounded like someone was hitting the car with a sledge hammer on the drivers side. I checked the components on that side and found no loose parts. When I pushed down on the strut on that side I could not get it to move. I think it is a Bilstein in there but not quite sure. The passenger side moved more freely. Looks like I will be replacing the left side strut with my Al Taylor Bilstein spare that I have which I can move up and down. My 71 has KYB gas adjust struts which to me are too stiff especially in the rear. It makes the car a little bouncy. There are some regular KYB's on sale on the internet I would like to see what regular struts feel like on both my cars. My daily driver is a 2005 530i 6 speed with Bilstein 4 on it and it is a nice driver that handles well. not stiff. When I had my first Bavaria back in the 80's my shop recommend stiffer shocks in the front and less stiff in the back for best all around handling and a comfortable ride. Back then the Polaris e3 was our family car.

What do most of the guys on this forum use on the rear of their E3's and how is the ride?