Thanksgiving morning at about 1.30am I hit a big chunk of broken off curb. The impact was so absurdly sharp it took the knuckle that the strut sits in and forced it into the strut itself, causing that 2" or so length to bend enough to cause the wheel to camber in by about 10 degrees. This, you can imagine, is a pretty 'undesirable' effect.
For those who don't know, Bilstein is finally making struts for Cougars/Contours. As an early christmas present my dad helped out by paying for one of the 2 that I bought from BAT, and today was the day I got to install them. Unfortunatly I haven't driven the car yet cuz of the nasty bubble in that tire (have new kumho's, came in on Monday) but comparing a new bilstein to the not-ruined 6000 mile old ST-200 on the other side, i'm terribly excited to feel the improvment. The ST-200 doesnt feel sport valved at all... i believed they were but maybe the Only difference is the piston is shorter for the 1" drop? The Bilsteins are sooo much more stiff. I had a hard time moving the piston by using my entire upper body whereas the ST-200 would gently slide up and down under its own weight, just like the OEM ones. This should translate to more precise handling at speed thru corners, so ill now be able to avoid those curbs! yay!!
Ive substituted my '86 Volvo for my Cougar since thanksgiving (i contemplate suicide when i drive the volvo). Im going to take back roads to work tomorrow and have Sears swap on my new front tires while im there. When my ST-200/Roush setup was installed, i was a tool gopher and merely watched Knibbs and CougarXR02 do up my car at the mod meet... but doing it myself with some of Dads help proved to be surprisingly easy. No 2"x4"'s used for leverage like an older how-to suggested either.
For those who don't know, Bilstein is finally making struts for Cougars/Contours. As an early christmas present my dad helped out by paying for one of the 2 that I bought from BAT, and today was the day I got to install them. Unfortunatly I haven't driven the car yet cuz of the nasty bubble in that tire (have new kumho's, came in on Monday) but comparing a new bilstein to the not-ruined 6000 mile old ST-200 on the other side, i'm terribly excited to feel the improvment. The ST-200 doesnt feel sport valved at all... i believed they were but maybe the Only difference is the piston is shorter for the 1" drop? The Bilsteins are sooo much more stiff. I had a hard time moving the piston by using my entire upper body whereas the ST-200 would gently slide up and down under its own weight, just like the OEM ones. This should translate to more precise handling at speed thru corners, so ill now be able to avoid those curbs! yay!!
Ive substituted my '86 Volvo for my Cougar since thanksgiving (i contemplate suicide when i drive the volvo). Im going to take back roads to work tomorrow and have Sears swap on my new front tires while im there. When my ST-200/Roush setup was installed, i was a tool gopher and merely watched Knibbs and CougarXR02 do up my car at the mod meet... but doing it myself with some of Dads help proved to be surprisingly easy. No 2"x4"'s used for leverage like an older how-to suggested either.
