A fter installing my Beninca suspension, my wife April poked me in the side, saying that she needed to refresh the suspension in her Milano Verde as well. Her needs from the car were different from my own. Her Verde sees daily city use, with cracked pavement and speed bumps in parking lots. Weekend drives include short runs up winding country roads with questionable surface. On certain weekends, the car is persuaded to be her race vehicle during Driving Schools and Track Tours.

Clearly, I thought, the Beninca suspension setup was not something I would recommend for daily use (see Beninca 75/GTV6 suspension). I needed an alternative. Enter the EB Spares "Specially Valved" Bilstein shock absorbers. I spoke to Kevin at EB Spares about their suspension kits, and gave him the criteria. After some detailed e-mails, I thought that leaving the stock torsion bars and rear springs alone was prudent, as long as the shocks I bought were tuned to the right compress and rebound rates. Kevin really wanted me to go the full nine and buy the whole kit which includes four shocks and a pair of Harvey-Bailey springs, but I resisted. I did not want to make the spring rate stiffer than it currently is due to the duties the car had to perform. So I took a gamble and ordered only the shocks.

Four days after I ordered them, the shocks arrived. Those blokes at EB Spares really have their act together! That's the usual turnaround time I get from local US suppliers; but EB Spares is in the UK! On top of that, the shocks arrived via Parcel Force, sneaking in as an oversized letter which meant that the parcel was exempt from customs. That was a nice little bonus.

Specially valved Bilsteins from EB Spares

The shocks had arrived 4 days prior to our trip down to the AROSC Driver's School, held twice a year at the Streets of Willow. They couldn't have come at a better time. I quickly discarded the old shocks in the Verde, relegating them to a dimly lit corner of my garage and went about to install my spiffy new ones. There is one note I'd like to make about gas shocks; they suck. You have to be really strong to compress these things to get them in, or you have to apply some brain power to will them into position. Seeing that I didn't have the former, I used the latter along with some zip ties.

Gas shocks - regardless of brand - expand when they are left alone. You need to compress them first before you can get them through the upper A-arm, after making sure the "ears" on the bottom part doesn't catch on the sides of the lower A-arm. This is not easy for a lightweight like me. After a few frustrating failed attempts, I strung some cable ties - from the top to bottom - of the Bilsteins and pressed them down onto the floor to compress them, taking time to tighten the zip ties as the shocks compressed. You have no idea how much effort it took me to do this (I weigh a mite over 100lbs). Still, after some herculian-to-me efforts, I got all four of them into the car; cussing so much that I ran out of cuss words after the second shock absorber.

Once they were in the car, it was time to leave for the track (in very unusual Nizam fashion, this car was finished an hour before it was time to depart). There were a few new things on the car as well, such as new bushings and new tires (Potenza S-03's). April's first impression was; "oh my, this is just as stiff as your 75 with the Beninca stuff." She was right, the car would crash over every little bump, but on the other hand, handled the dips quite well. Even strong crosswinds didn't seem to upset the car. However, the shocks' response to small ruts or irregularities in the road was abysmal. I was definitely in a quandary; on the one hand, Kevin/EB Spares has never sold me anything bad, nor do I believe they would tout their specially valved Bilsteins so highly if they behaved like crap. On the other hand, I had my wife who now doesn't enjoy her baby as much as before and it was my fault. Yikes.

During the 350-mile drive to the track, I theorized that it could be the S-03's, noting that they could be much stiffer than what the car had before (Toyo Proxes T-1S, and Dunlop SP9000's prior to that). After about 100 miles, it got quite unbearable that I made her stop the car to reduce the tire pressure to 30psi hot. This made it slightly more usable and we made it to the hotel with our brains slightly shaken and stirred.

The following morning, April got a chance to really put the car through its paces on the track. She found that the car was actually very well behaved and the combination of the Bilsteins and the S-03's worked really well. The specially valved Bilsteins also seemed to match the spring rates of the stock Verde torsion bar and rear springs. This was some consolation to me as a sat in the pits doing timing and other pit-crew work. We adjusted tire pressures to make the car understeer less, but no bad news came from the "suspension behavior" department. During the second day, I got to drive the car during the last lapping session and found that it was a definite improvement over the previous setup with the S-03's (now pumped back up to 45psi front and 43psi rear) providing predictable grip all the way to the ragged edge. The Potenzas were certainly no Toyo Proxes T-1S's but for what I paid for 'em, they were really good tires.

The drive home went quite well, as we were both quite tired from the weekend and did not have time to note how jittery the car was. But the smooth surface of the racetrack is nothing like the bumpy highway we used to drive home; clearly, something had to be done.

Once I got home, I wrote to Kevin at EB Spares who noted that everyone who bought their specially valved Bilsteins came back with rave reviews. I believed him (for aforementioned reasons) and thought about the situation some more. Then I came across some old Alfa 75 catalogues from England and remarked to April, "honey, look how tall the 75's are from the factory."

And then it struck me.

Both our 75 and Verde are lowered. Substantially lowered, I might add. If the EB Spares Bilsteins were made for those cars (i.e. UK-spec, stock), then I was using them beyond their operating range. If you took a look at my rough diagram here, you'll see what I mean. Let's say the shocks are "compressed" in the yellow zone, their movement more limited once in that zone. I would have a shock absorber that would not react the same to a bump, had the valve body been outside the yellow zone. Now note the distance between the bottom of the piston and the bumpstop key on the piston shaft. This relationship is constant. If I removed some rubber out of the bumpstops (blue in color), I could move the piston shaft higher, hence the piston out of the yellow zone with the shock absorber body still in the same location.

So that's exactly what I did. I took out the shocks (grunt, grunt, grumble, grumble) and pulled off the bumpstops and cut off a good inch-and-a-half out of them. I threw them back into the car and drove off to see if my theory can be halfway proven.

Turns out that I was. The jarring ride that marred my impression of these shocks seems to have been tamed. No longer does the Verde crash over uneven surfaces. It was still quite firm which leads me to believe this is how they are tuned by EB Spares, but not so much that it would rattle the fillings out of your teeth. I still need to get rid of another inch of bumpstop before I'm there, but I think I am on the right track. At present, the car seems to be much happier on city streets, while losing none of its composure on the twisty bits.

These shocks alone is no comparison to the Beninca suspension setup (which includes torsion bars, springs and specially valved Konis), but you have to remember they both have different goals and do well at what they were designed for. I would definitely recommend anyone looking to upgrade their "fast street" suspension to ring EB Spares (ask for Kevin, tell them you read about the shocks here) and have him ship you a set. Don't forget to shorten your bumpstops, if you car is lowered. If not, you may not be using them to their full potential.

This is for you, Kevin.