Hey all, thanks for the kind words and name dropping. I'm jumping into the conversation a bit late but there's some good info in here.
I view the Bilstein B4 and Sachs offerings as interchangeable with one not really being any better/worse than the other. I see both as a oem/oem+ option, with both being a little better than what was fitted to the cars when new.
They'll both be ok with small ride height drops and spring rate increases.
There's no short-stroke Bilstein B8 option for the P80 platform, but the B6 is well suited for H&R and Eibach lowered spring sets.
There's been a bit of a supply issue with H&R P80 springs for a little while and they've been thin-on-the-ground. Sometimes we can source them, sometimes we cant and have/had no ETA. That should be resolved in late September.
No Bilstein B12, B14 or B16 kits for the P80 platform.
The Koni STRT is a good consideration now too, while not up to a Bilstein B6, price point is lower and is a good fit for most lowered spring options. Non-serviceable though.
For coilovers, options are (generally) garbage or really-good.
BC, Pedders, XYZ, D2, MaxSpeeding all fall into the low-end of things. BC can be 'ok' if you spec your own spec rates though and, to be fair, they're probably reasonable for their pricepoint.
KW V2 and KW V3 are very good options, as are GAZ and JRZ.
Typically, these are all servicable, can be spec'd with spring rates to suit your application and have a decent service life.
While we dont offer KW, we will service/rebuild them (depending on model) and we can have GAZ build us something to our spec or where we provide significant input and/or have variations made on their offerings to suit a specific pupose etc.
Of course, you can go really low if you want to in terms of ride height, but you'll need to consider geometry issues and driveshaft longevity.
If you achieve that really low right height with a low-end coilover options, I'd be pretty sure you'll come back to it later in favour of something else.
Pics below -
1997 V70T5.
Eibach springs all round.
Bilstein B6 rear shocks.
Ohlins front struts with solid/adjustable strut mount and bearing for the upper spring seat to minimise spring movement type noise. This adds a little to ride height; ~5mm ish.
It probably looks a bit higher too, simply due to wheel and tyre size. Wheels are 18x8 and tyres are 225 40 18.
