i checked sticky thread for interchangeable parts.. did not find anything.. curious the difference between the shock/struts of a 355 challenge and normal 5.2 car..? as per Ricambi, the part #'s for front/rear struts for a challenge car are all the same #167107 however for a 5.2 car Front strut # is 183633 Rear strut # is 183634 are the front and rear struts of a 5.2 interchangeable.. or must the fronts stay in front and rear in rear..? lastly can the front struts of a challenge be compatible in front for a 5.2 car..for a clean bolt on swap? thanks
Just a guess here but I would think that a road 355, the rear shocks would be valved a little stiffer than the fronts, whereas the challenge shocks would be stiff all around.
thanks for the feedback.. for certain im sure the challenge struts would be setup stiffer.. another question would be the actuators on a road 355.. meaning if challenge struts are put in the front.. the actuators would do nothing..when the suspension button is pushed..?
It would depend on if the shocks have settings as the road cars do. My challenge car has actuators on the shocks but Ive never looked to see if they change from soft to hard.
I'd inquire with Rob Schermerhorn at Delta Vee Motorsports ? Race Engineering ? Ferrari Bilstein Shock Absorbers, Dampers ? Moton AST ? Rebuild Services He's the master when it comes to challenge shocks.
Yes, as Randy mentioned, Rob is the one to ask. You'll find lots of technical articles in his website's blog section. This one might help answer your questions: Manually Adjusting Ferrari/ Bilstein Active Damping System
The job of the shock in compression is to control the mass of the car. The job of the shock in rebound is to control the mass of the wheel. Thus, the rebound setting of the shock is highly dependent on the spring rate and wheel mass; Whereas the compression rate is dependent on the spring rate and the vehicle mass. Thus, it is highly unlikely that the challenge shocks would do much other than highly overdamping both compression and rebound. Challenge springs are way stiffer than road springs.
so perhaps just the challenge struts paired with all the road going bits, springs would be more or less the same. from what you me mentioned it seems the challenge spring is the most contributing factor to the challenge stiffness?
What's the goal? For less money you can have your stock shocks rebuilt with custom damping. Unless you've got a set of challenge shocks already or have a line on a cheap set, I'm not sure what the point would be. Afaik,they are the same shock as stock but with different valving. The challenge had a shock ecu,so the actuators and all should be the same.
I have a leaking front left strut. I'm in Canada and not willing to ship to DeltaV $400US at today's exchange + shipping would be over $600 for one corner is ridiculous. and Bilstein no longer offers service. and I found a pair of challenge struts at good price so could be worth it if can work with the rest of the pieces, springs etc. for a swap on to my car. so was concerned if the challenge struts would be too stiff even with non challenge springs etc. in addition to any other non compatible issues?
Challenge dampers would be overdamped for street springs and would have a terrible effect on both ride and handling. Dampers should only be upgraded in full sets and the valving should match the springs. Just swapping the front dampers for Challenge parts with no other changes should not be considered under any circumstances.
ok so thats pretty clear then.. not a good idea for a direct swap.. I have located a shop locally here in Montreal.. who says they should be able to do the rebuild..but cant confirm 100% until they have the strut in hand.. so first step is I will have the leaking corner removed.. bring to them.. and see what they can do.. if it works out.. could be good solution for 355 owners south of the boarder.. they charge $256 cdn, per corner.. after exchange thats ~$180US. for anyone who would ship their struts up here.. this would be back to the price range Bilstein charged before they discontinued service. I will post once I see what happens..
Hi Mitch, correct on overdamped if only shocks are changed to Challenge while retaining road car springs. Just one clarification, rebound settings primarily control sprung mass of chassis, whilst compression (bump) is typically significantly less force as it primarily controls sprung mass (wheel, tire, hub/upright, brake, plus 1/2 mass of anything bolted to chassis, like control arms, the damper itself, etc.) I know you have great understanding of these matters; figured you just swapped terms... Yes. The upgraded optional anti-roll bars are much less significant. So Challenge shocks are tuned for these high rate springs (as much as 2200 lbs/in). BTW, I did have a nice chat with OP and his shop owner in Montreal to offer help if needed or to have us perform the work.
If anyone is interested in a clean set of challenge springs, shoot me a PM. I need to post them in the parts for sale section one of these days...
