My JDM Fit RS Ohlins Coil Over just arrived by DHL today
I hope I can install it asap because I need to ship my Bilstein
to another member of fitfreak that is very nice and had give me deposit
for it

 

Drool.jpeg

Can't wait to see it installed ^.^

 

Those are purdy!

Looking forward to see how they handle and ride.

 

4 pieces of Eibach Spacer250 just arrive today,
Ground Control is having a good sale on them.


I also waiting for Eibach Spring Helper250 that I bought at Amazon before
I can install my Ohlins.

The reason is,
This Ohlins kits only have limited range of lowering...
30mm standard and then about -2 to +10mm front coilover
and about that for the rear suspension.
Because if you lowered it more, the spring will or might came of
when somehow the car get airborne...
so with this Eibach Spacer 250 and Eibach Helper Spring 250,
it will take out that slack.

I don't plan to lower my car too much, but it is just
good to have the option if I need to,
and It is better I install this Spacer 250 and Helper Spring 250 now
so I don't have to take out the suspension again in the future.

 

The Eibach Helper250 springs arrive today,
I am doing test fit:

Rear Springs:


Front Springs on Front Coilovers:

Helper at bottom:




Helper at top:





Turn out the Spacer250 lips hit lips on the coilover top hat
if I put the helper250 on top and hit the spring perch lips
if I put at bottom and don't allow the helper250 springs
to compress fully...

same thing at the rear springs...

so I decided to order Eibach Torsion Release Bearings TRB250
and Eibach Isolator250 to increase spacing and hopefully
thick enough to over come this problem....
Summit Racing have the Isolator250 on back order so I had to wait
until end of this month before I got this parts,
which mean my Ohlins would not be installed until December...
oh well...
this might be a problem..
so I am going

 

The Eibach Torsion Release Bearing TRB250 arrived today:



Waiting for Isolator250 and the rubber bushing before I can install the coilover

 

Eibach Isolator250 (Delrin Material) Arrived Today:



But I still need another 8 Isolator250 before I can install the Ohlins...
I do return back the TRB250 because I can't use it since
it do not really fit the Inside diameter of the Ohlins Hats....

 

Start installing my Ohlins last night and finished this morning
On the Front Coilover,
I decided to put the added springs/isolator in this order.
First, One Eibach Isolator250 (delrin material) on top of the
coil over sleeve/collar adjustment.
Second the Eibach Ohlins springs
Third, Eibach Coupler 250,
Forth, Eibach Isolator 250
Fifth, Eibach Helper 250 (Helper 250),
Sixth, Eibach Isolator 250
Seven,Ohlins aluminum top mount,
Eight, Honda OEM bearing,
Nine, Honda OEM lower strut bushing

This is how it look:











Oh, there is a Locking Nut after the bearing...
That Locking Nut is Honda OEM Locking Nut (from Honda OEM strut),
I had bought all brand new Nut, Bearing, Rubber Bushing, Locking Nut on top of upper bushing and the ring...











below is the upper bushing, locking ring and upper locking nut:

 

Installed Pictures,

notice the attention to detail where all the brake line mounting
and wheel speed ABS sensor are exactly like Honda OEM strut:









It is SHORTER Over all when in UNCOMPRESS (No Load)
compare to Bilstein...
well the Ohlins Springs is like 2 to 3 times higher in rates,
compare to progressive Bilstein spring:

 

Rear one installed this morning:

 

So...how's it ride?

 

Notice that on the rear springs, I also use the same configuration with Spring Helper and Isolator.

Here are the reasons:
Ohlins suspension will lowered the suspension about 30mm on the front axle,
but that is it... you can only adjust it 2mm lower (from that 30mm) or 10mm higher from that 30mm position.
the reason is because if you lower it more than 2mm over the original 30mm.
then if your car somehow airborne, the spring will slip out of it's "top mount" position,
and might dislocate...
this is because Ohlins springs are short racing type Eibach Linear Springs...
it need to be short so the car can be lowered...
while factory or even Bilstein springs were softer and can compress more so it can
be much taller and will keep any slack...
so to overcome this,
I put Eibach Helper Spring which only function is to take care this slack...
This Eibach Helper spring need Eibach Coupler 250 to coupler it with the Ohlins springs. at the same time this coupler 250 with the helper spring fully compressed
will HIT the Ohlins aluminum top mounting,
so I need some kind of extra spacer...
and then I think about the Torsion Release Bearing (which don't fit Ohlins slightly larger diameter), so I decided to use MORE Eibach isolator 250 (delrin material)
for the spacer function.
usually like with Bilstein, they only came with 1 Delrin Ring,
but in my application, I had to use 3 Delrin ring per corner...

but this is also good, cause those Delrin material is so slippery that it allow
the spring to move smoothly almost like if I use the torsion release bearing...
plus it is much cheaper than those torsion release bearing...

Another unexpected advantage is this helper spring actually make the top hat
slightly bend...
and I use this to MAXIMIZE CAMBER by orienting the helper spring certain way

Before my camber is about negative 2.25 with Bilstein and perhaps I can go to negative 3,
but with this Ohlins and the helper spring oriented certain way,
I reach around negative 4 minus camber (my primitive camber meter tools can only read up to Negative 3 and the measurement is off the chart)...

I do need this extra camber because I will need 20mm spacer on the front later
so my wheel spokes clear my Brembo...
and this extra negative camber will help my tire clear my fender...
I was even thinking of buying a pillow mount with camber adjustment from Japan,
but that product actually increase the height of the car 20mm...
so that mean I need to lower the Ohlins another 20mm but since it is above the top hat,
it will limit the suspension travel another 20mm and I don't want reduce suspension travel..
so while the whole helper spring, coupler and isolator add about 22mm higher,
but since it is below the top hat, I can just lower the spring sleeve to the lowest position and I still have the same full suspension travel...

oh one more thing, this helper spring set up now allow me to lower the Front Ohlins
to about 7mm lower than the 30mm set up by Ohlins as standard...
in summary with Ohlins only, I can only lower maximum 32mm from Honda factory,
while with this helper spring, I can now lower the car about 39mm from Honda Factory, safely without any risk of the spring dislocated in the car airborne...

At this point, I lowered the Ohlins to the lowest position and it is about 10mm lower
then when I have with my Bilstein.
I am not worried about scraping since the Ohlins have much higher spring rate compare to the Bilstein,
although if you really want to have the slam look,
the Bilstein will have more adjustment range...
basically at the lowest position, the Bilstein can safely (without any risk of spring dislocated) to be about 1in lower than what is possible with Ohlins (with helper spring)...
but then at 1 in lower, the Bilstein will have reduce suspension travel another 1 inch
and it is not good for handling (I tried long time ago)...
so in real world,
the Ohlins would be able to have full suspension travel as intended/design by Ohlins
engineer and still 10mm lower then the Bilstein because the much firmer spring...
I am talking about to have good handling and comfortable daily use here...

My driving impression,
both the Ohlins and Bilstein ride very very similar...
the different is the Ohlins make the car response much faster which at the same
time meaning the car is more nervous than the Bilstein which is more relaxed in response...
The linear and more firmer spring of the Ohlins is what causing this DIRECT Response... Look the Bilstein already have very fast response to steering input,
but the Ohlins is just LIGHTNING FAST... just DIRECT...
I actually think that I now should be more careful with Ohlins
cause on the wet, it might make it easier to lose traction than with the Bilstein

Ride Comfort is amazingly the same...
I guess the Dual Flow Valve of the
Ohlins really shine here that despite much firmer spring,
the Ohlins ride as comfortably as the Bilstein...

I had not play with the adjustment on the front Ohlins though...
I will do it later.. I do put the rear Ohlins 14 clicks from fully closed position...

Overall, I am satisfy with this Ohlins...
not that I am going to use it for track use or anything...
I buy it to reduce weight transfer (with firmer spring) since I will be using Brembo front soon,
and also
just because I want to own a car with Ohlins suspension...
Yap, I admit that

same thing like most people who buy Ferrari but most of them will never use it
to the maximum capability that Ferrari have...
Since I can NOT afford a Ferrari or a Porsche now...
a Honda Fit with Ohlins suspension will have to suffice for now hahaha

 

2.5 years had passed, and my Ohlins suspension still perform like the first day I install them !

Whether I drove alone or with 4 person and full load of trunk,...
slow speed or top speed, the car always stay stable !

They really worth every penny

 

by any chance, could you share with us PN's to those ohlin's or a link, to where they could be purchased from?

 

Hello you can purchase them at Rakuten or Yahoo Auction/Shopping Japan.
Here is one of the store at Global Rakuten that sell the Ohlins suspension for GE8

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/...toha-ge8-comp/

 

I decide to upgrade my sway bar link from the standard non-adjustable (came with Spoon Front Sway Bar) to an adjustable sway bar link from Power Grid which I bought few months ago, but I haven't had free time to install them until this holiday

Use Makita Impact Wrench, and the old nut came off easily:






Non Adjustable Spoon Sway Bar Link vs. Power Grid Adjustable Sway Bar Link:





Tighten the Nut with wrench and then with torque wrench to 35ft/lbs





Then, lowered the car from the jack, drive back and forth a bit to load the suspension, adjust the length so the sway bar is almost 90 degree to the link and then adjust more to release any tension which turn out slightly shorter than stock 13in length of both Spoon Sway Bar Link and the original Honda Stock Sway Bar Link. Test drive the car, and... wow, the car now feel more comfortable on straight road... I guess the Spoon Sway bar link was design for stock suspension and since the Ohlins is a bit lower, the shorter length (of this adjustable sway bar) help with tension. (no loading).

 

My job now require me to carry heavy robots at the back of my trunk so... the Ohlins Specific Eibach ERS Springs were just too short to provide enough suspension travel.
I check for longer size in the same 7K/4K spring rate and ... Ohlins did not have them... so I decide to try SWIFT Springs instead... and... I am happy to report the added 1 inch suspension travel really help with smoothing the ride under full load.

Plus the 1 inch taller SWIFT springs actually lighter than the 1 inch shorter Ohlins Specifice Eibach ERS Springs!!! I am really amaze!!!

Note that the 1 inch also partly replace the helper spring on the front strut so the ride height is still the same, just pure extra 1 in suspension travel without making the car sit higher

Below are pictures of the install, and of course, I took this chance to replace all the rubber bushing and front top bearing which starting to make noise anyway...

 

props on remembering to replace that bolt

I have managed to break 1. I was lucky to have a nearby hardware store that sells a temp bolt, until my oem replacement ships in.

 

Thanks evilchargerfan
I forgot to mention that I also use grease when I thread in that bolt because I almost cross thread it a long time ago when I first install my Bilstein suspension (this is long time ago)...
Now, I still need to readjust the lower bushing on the right side of the rear suspension because I just notice the right rear spring is kinda slanted after the car lowered to the ground...
this must be because the lower rubber bushing were pushed to the right by the protruding center bolt of the progress rear sway bar... oh well,...

 

After driving it for about a week to make the spring and the new rubber bushing settle, I decided to align my wheel today. However, first, I need to cut (grind using dremel) the right rear lower spring rubber bushing. Because of the protuding bolts for the Progress rear sway bar, the right rear lower spring rubber bushing were moved to the right causing the spring to slightly tilt (like a leaning PISA tower), and causing the Ohlins height adjuster to rub the inner surface of one of the coil in the springs during big bump... yap, a bit of scratch mark on my brand new SWIFT springs...

so here is what I did to the rubber bushing with dremel









I also adjust the height of the springs again then I do alignment and below is the alignment result :