Hi,
Being new to 8's I cannot profess to be an expert on the 8 suspension setup but seeing as I have previously made a set of 40mm Inverted Bilstein coilovers with Swift springs for my old car I do know a thing or two!
Bilstein and Sachs are both high quality dampers. You won't go wrong there! You'll find these, admittedly in 5k a corner!, variants on lots of serious rally cars. I'd be wary of fitting FK coilovers and the suchlike. To me they look very cheaply made for the prices they charge. For folk who want to lower their 8 there are plenty of sprng manufacturers in the UK who will do you a custom set for surprisingly little money. To be honest though I doubt many fitting FK's and the like are doing it for performance reasons!! Cannot say they are bad though as not tried them just an engineers eye tells me I could make some similar using bilstein inserts for about the same price.....I know what I'd go with.
All springs "go off" eventually no matter what some may say. On the swift springs, mentioned above, they claim to last a lot longer than most.....and should be at around £80 per corner!! If you have the extra you will really make the most out of your new shocks. If the rate of the old springs has dropped, and it should have by 188k, you can actually start making the new dampers work harder than they should therby effecting longevity. They are valved to match the springs fresh from the factory. If it's time for the shocks I always do the springs at the same time.
Just my 2 penneth.
John
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