Hi I am very tempted to buy a 2L kendo. It comes with LSD plus strut brace.
It does however lack bilstein shocks - Is that a bad thing ? What do the bilstein shocks do than the standard ones don’t ? I don’t know much about cars but I am hoping to learn.
Cheers,
Adam.
I don’t have them but they presumably give a harder ride with marginally less body roll?
Personally I would be happier not to have them given the UK’s terrible road surfaces.
As above, the OE standard shocks are a compromise for optimising ride and handling, the Bilsteins are an attempt to improve the handling some would say at the expense of ride. I thing that’s always puzzled me is that an MX5 on Bilsteins I’m sure tends to sit lower, not sure why as spring length I thought was independent of damper type.
I saw a 3.5 Kendo last week and it does have a fair gap between tyre and wheel arch more so I think than you’ll see on stock 2.0L sport tech, this of course is cosmetic and attempts to improve the look by lowering do not always improve the handling.
As above really, the difference with the Bilstein’s on the road, is that when the car drives over a bump, the shocks push down the wheel immediately keeping contact with the road surface at all times, I think this is called rebound. So the shocks have a slightly higher compression rate than the standard ones and a little higher rebound than its compression.
In real terms the standard suspension would be more suited for normal British potholed roads as they compress more easily but on the flip side, the bilstein’s have better road holding and are just sublime on flat, newly tarmacked or well maintained roads (if you can find them).
From my experience. The mk3 sport with bilsteins and standard height suspension the struts compresses and rebound at an alarming rate whilst traveling over poor surfaces and causes the steering wheel to turn up and down in tune to the potholes, very unnerving. However this effect is lessened if the car has been lowered, ONE REASON TO LOWER A MK3 SPORT, and I would suspect that a mk3.5, 3.75 on BILSTEIN, which are by design lower than the mk3, would be a little better on that score.
I have a Mk3 2.0 Sport on Bilsteins. Agree with the posts about the difference between Bilsteins and standard. I also had mine lowered by 30mm by changing the springs for Eibachs. This in itself did not improve the handling noticeably, mainly a cosmetic effect. What did transform the handling of the car was having a full 4 wheel geometry/alignment check and adjustment. I went to Wheels in Motion in Bucks and had their fast road setup applied. The car now handles the way I believe it should and was great on a track day I did back in May.
For around £80 I cannot recommend highly enough having the alignment done at a reputable place, preferably with the Hunter Hawkeye system.
I agree with JRG.
I bought my 2.0 sport 2 years ago - It handled terribly on a random selection of cheap tyres.
First I changed the tyres - slight improvement.
A few days later I did a track day - scary experience!
Then I went to WIM for an alignment - a big improvement in handling.
A few months later I had the eibach 30mm springs fitted - another improvement.
A few weeks later I returned to WIM for an alignment and their fast road set up - a huge improvement.
Did another track day - the car felt great on the track and totally different to my earlier track experience.
The Kendo is based on the SE , not the sport so you get a 5 speed box also
personally I’d go for a Sport Black for the same sort of money