[John Z Williams]

Ok, I just found out the Voxtland springs I was going to put on my aero will not fit and they do not make them for my year at this point. I have been reading and looking at other brands and I am not sure what to get.

The intrax seem to be harsh from many people's observations and drop the car the most at 40mm. The B&G seem to be uneven from front to rear and the H&R seem to be uneven and will sag after a year or so. I did see much feed-back on the Kelin, but they only drop 20mm and might be the best bet for what I want.

The abbott racing springs are nice, but they want 400 bucks plus 200 bucks for shipping, so 600 bucks is too much. Eibach does not make them.

Any ideas or input on the Kelin springs or any of the others?

John

 

[saabkid37]

whats wrong with the vogtlands that they dont fit? the springs are the same for all 9000's.

intrax is a good spring, i just used to scrape everywhere because it is a big drop.

the h&r's are a very good progressive/comfort spring.

nordic sells eibach made springs, nick had them on his site for a long while, but they are gone now....

 

[John Z Williams]

I don't really know for sure, but Nick said he got some in, but they will not work on the newer 9k's. I think they are for up to 91 or 93 and then there was a change. I noticed a couple of other sites only list them to 93 too.

So you think the H&R's are ok? I have heard they are uneven and sag after some time, but I might have it mixed up with B&G. I have heard from many people the intrax are harsh.

I want a spring that does not lower too much as my aero is already low and I want it to actually be on the comfort side as opposed to the stiff perferformance side.

I checked with Eibach and they said they do not make a spring for the 9k and I was thinking that is why Nick took them off his site.

Talked with Nick again and the H&R's are out of stock, the Voxtland only work up to 91 because of one piece not being right on the spring. Eibach has dis-continued them and Nordic had a batch made years ago and they have run out I think. So that puts me back to either B&G or intrax or stock aero springs with Koni adjustable... What would people do in this case? If you had to choose between Intrax, B&G, stock aero springs?


John

 

[HAL9000]

What would people do in this case? If you had to choose between Intrax, B&G, stock aero springs?

If you want comfort get the Saab roadholding kit for 9000 that contains front struts and rear shocks and springs. The kit is EXACTLY the same as what comes with stock 9k Aero with manual transmission. Handles rather well when new.

If you want improved handling (comes with harshness), still get the kit but replace the shocks with Bilstein sports (yellow) or Konis and sell the Sachs shocks. Becomes cheaper than buying aero springs and shocks separately.

I have bought three kits and explored different shocks with those but always maintained the stock aero springs that come with the kits. Never had problems of sagging tail and not enough room for tires when loaded as with some lowering springs at the rear.

 

[John Z Williams]

Ok, I realize some comfort will be sacrificed for handling, but I did not want the super harsh ride of what people have described from intrax springs with hd bilsteins.

I have the koni adjustable shocks at the house and have already replaced all the bushings up front with oe and poly wish-bones. I have sas 1" sway bars front and rear and all the oe rubber to go on the rear suspension.

I do want improved handling and the sas and poly and konis are a good start, now to put in the right springs to match. I am wondering if my stock aero springs are tired after 12 years and if I do not go with B&G or Kelin, the next choice for me would be stock aero springs new or cutting the stock aero springs down a bit to make them just slightly lower.

I might just be happy with my stock aero springs with koni shocks...

John

 

[Norman Lovie]

John I tried the stock aero springs ( OK well used) with konis = yes its not a bad ride quality & it is a handling improvment but not up to a performance spring set up. Suspension takes a bit of time to settle after a bump which gets annoying, if you increase the damping you can reduce this, but as you increase you also increase the harshness to the point where its no better than a performance spring, but not as good handling. Overall its not much better than using the Abbotts ref: ride quality
I,ve tried the kilens on std aero dampers & although its a nice ride quality, the handling is crap - way too much body roll
I,ve tried kilens on Billstein dampers & initially handling is very good ( sharper than koni - abbotts) but dangerously harsh i.e. fronts just freeze over pot holes. The owner of this car has reproted improvments by fitting new top mounts / lower ball joints & uping to 40+ psi but i would suspect its marginal, but a very good handling option
I,ve tried Hirsch - lower than Abbott springs ( similar to Kilens ) - on koni dampers - handling good - ride not bad but a bit harsher than abbotts

Overall the abbotts & Konis give the best compromise & the good thing is it responds to damper adjustment i.e. less damping to improve ride, more damping to improve handling. Interesting point is the Abbotts appear to have the stiffest spring rate of them all, hence why you don,t get much lowering from them as they need the length to fill the strut, so I suspect what works with the konis is
Stiff spring rate to match the damping, versus a longer softer spring relying on spring pre load ~( ref: using the std aero ones)
And dialing out harshness is equally about having good bushings / ball joints strut bearings etc.. as much as selecting the right spring

 

[skint]

I think in about 2002 (guessing) they softened Abbotts a fair bit. I got mine in 2004 and they are really spot on and match your description - for me they are perfect height (subtle), perfect strength (feel 20-30% firmer than Aero springs at a guess) and behaviour, no bottoming. Proper fast road springs. Fronts took a while to settledown to height though. I think the earlier ones were lower at the front than rear which some folk like. If you look at mine, the bottom of the door line is flat which is the way it's meant to be. Unfortunatley the price isnt so perfect but I looked long and hard at other springs and they all seemed to have one issue or another and I couldnt face mucking about with them and boucing down the street like some rice mobile. I've seen complaints from early versions that they are too harsh and as far as I can see there is no way of telling the difference so careful on 2nd hand ones depending on what you are after.

Abbott/Koni springs bought 2004

 

[KevinC]

Another huge vote for new Abbott springs and Konis, perfect compromise.

I know for a fact Ed Abbott did a lot of experiments to get their springs made for the 9k performance applications. I suspect most of the others just involved an engineer with a calculator and some spec sheets. The difference is very apparent on the road.

 

[r4ero]

and i've just ordered a set of kilens for mine. bugger! ah well i'll fit them next week and let you know how it goes.

 

[saabkid37]

if you want comfort you want hr's big time, just get the sas spacers for the rear and it wont sag.

 

[John Z Williams]

and i've just ordered a set of kilens for mine. bugger! ah well i'll fit them next week and let you know how it goes.

Let me know how it goes and how it feels once you get the kilen set on the car.

I would go for the abbott springs, but dang, 400 bucks US and then 200 bucks shipping. That seems very expensive for shipping!

I cannot find [email protected]'s in stock anywhere. Just the stock aero springs are about 600.00 bucks too... There seems to be many parts for the 9k that are difficult to find. Eibach stopped supporting the 9k....

Sounds like the best choice is abbott springs, its just the wait and the money that keeps me from ordering them up... I wish voxtland would get off the pot and make the later year sets...

John

 

[John Z Williams]

Another huge vote for new Abbott springs and Konis, perfect compromise.

I know for a fact Ed Abbott did a lot of experiments to get their springs made for the 9k performance applications. I suspect most of the others just involved an engineer with a calculator and some spec sheets. The difference is very apparent on the road.

I want em, I just can't believe its so much money....

 

[skint]

Yeah - too much money at current exchange rates for US buyers. It's not like they are made of gold, they just work.

On everything I have read over the years the H&Rs would be (and were) my 2nd choice and the suggestion to potentially use a small spacer all round (say 5-10mm?) would do the job.

 

[saabkid37]

well sas sells spacers for the rear that fit in th ebottom of the spring. i dont recall how thick they are, but they defiently keep the rear from sagging. you dont really need a spacer in the front.

this was my old aero with intrax and the rear spacers.

 

[cdcarlsson]

Agree with Skint (above). I had the earlier Abbott springs which were lower than those now fitted ( in Dec' 05) which are higher riding both back and front (most obvious at the front). These later springs are softer and easier for my Koni damper to handle (I can run with much less rebound damping, giving a supple ride).

However I have recently found the tyres make a HUGE difference to the ride quality (i'm running 17's). I have run Goodyear F1's for some time with Continental Sport Contact 2's in between at one point. Now I'm on Bridgestone Turanza ER300's and what a difference, far less harsh, less crashy on poor surfaces, give reasonable traction (against expectation) and over 1g decelleration in the dry (at 3 degrees Celcius).

 

[John Z Williams]

well sas sells spacers for the rear that fit in th ebottom of the spring. i dont recall how thick they are, but they defiently keep the rear from sagging. you dont really need a spacer in the front.

this was my old aero with intrax and the rear spacers.

That thang is slammed! Wow that is low... How harsh was the ride? Have you any experience with the voxtland springs? Any other springs to compare the intrax to? Did the B&G's need the spacers too? H&R's do right?

John

 

[saabkid37]

to be fair i was running 215/55 tires also. they werent very harsh, and they handeled very well.

no experience with anything else.

i would use the spacers with any spring it helps give the raked look

 

[r4ero]

fitted my kilen springs last night and they seem to be great. the roads around here are very twisty but also very bumpy. it certainley doesn't crash over the bumps. seems to be a good compromise. not too harsh, not to soft. ride heights good too.

 

[Loobis71]

John-

I've had H&Rs w/Bilstein HDs on my 95 Aero for a little over a year. I also used the SAS spring spacers out back (one per side) and the car sits pretty much level.

As far as ride quality...car handles great. Comfort...difficult to say since I've ran on Bilsteins since I've owned the car and I have 17" wheels as well.

-Mike

 

[John Z Williams]

fitted my kilen springs last night and they seem to be great. the roads around here are very twisty but also very bumpy. it certainley doesn't crash over the bumps. seems to be a good compromise. not too harsh, not to soft. ride heights good too.

Cool, got any pics of the car? I would like to see how it sits. Still waiting on H&R's to get back in stock. Right now I have ruled out B&G and my choices are keep stock 12 year old aero springs, put in the Kilen or go with the very low 1.6" Intrax with rear spacers or wait for the [email protected]'s. Abbotts are just too expensive for me to justify.

Still liking the ride? How would you compare it to stock?

John