Another satisfied Ohlins DFV user
 

Hey guys, here’s my take on the Ohlin DFV. First, I’ll give a bit of background on my suspension so you will have an idea of what I’m comparing the Ohlins to. For the last year or so, I’ve been using Bilstein PSS9’s, and with 500/450 lb Swhift springs for part of the time. They are definitely a step up from stock, but were not stiff enough on stock springs for autocrossing or the track, and the ride seemed a bit underdamped with the Swift springs even on full stiff.

So after drooling over the Ohlins for over a year, I decided to cough up the dough for them. Ride quality is important to me since I daily drive my car, but everyone raves about how smooth the Ohlin shocks are. Plus, I don’t want the hassle of adjusting compression and rebound separately. I purchased them from Urge since they are the same price everywhere and I could not find a bit of negative feedback about them. Patrick at Urge was great to work with and always kept me up to date on the status of my order. I have had them on order since November, and they finally arrived a week ago after the ship date being pushed out by Ohlin. In the process , Ohlin dropped the list price of the DFV’s by about $600. Patrick was able to pass the discount to me, so it actually worked out great for me that the shipment was delayed.
The Ohlin’s went in like a breeze and included detailed instructions on setting up the shocks. For the first test drive, I set the shocks at 10 clicks from full stiff at the front at 12 at rear. I was blown away by how little body roll was present at a relatively soft setting. At the same time, the ride quality was firm, yet the car did not crash over bumps. The shocks do a great job of taking the “edge” off harsh impacts instead of crashing over them which the Bilsteins and stock suspension tends to do. I know Gernby mention it in his review and didn’t quite understand it, but the Ohilns do seem quieter, which I assume is due to the build quality of the units. There are other shocks out there with more adjustability, but as far as build quality and material quality goes, I can’t imagine it gets better than this.

My car setup is as follows:
2006 AP2
225/255 Continental DW for DD and same size Hankook RS3 for track/autocross (235 front tires coming)
Stock wheels for the Continentals and Enkei PF01 for the Hankooks
Front Eibach sway bar on full stiff and rear OEM ’06 sway bar

Just taking a spirited drive, the car feels more planted and seems to grip better in the corners, which is especially noticeable on slightly rough pavement. In this situation with the Bilsteins, I could definitely feel the wheels loose contact with the ground, but now it just sticks. Can’t wait to try these at a track day or autocross, and once I do, I will post up more feedback. For now, I am more than satisfied. If you can swing the price for these and don’t need a ton of adjustably, they seem to be a great choice.

Thanks for the write up.

man, if the list price dropped 6 months ago, i would have bought these. great review. thanks

Thanks! We're doing a group mountain drive next month if the weather is good so I will post more feedback then.

Reserved a set for March delivery.

^ Same here

Sorry I haven't posted feedback any earlier. I now have a day of mountain driving and a day of autocross on the coils and in a word, much of the drama of the stock suspension and Bilstein coilovers is gone. The car just grips. Can't say I would recommend these if you want to slide around and drift, but for real driving, they work great. I was still picking up some understeer in the mountains, but this is probably due to being on my street tires.

At the autocross, I didn't find understeer to be an issue, and the rear felt very stable through the slaloms. I could probably have carried more speed, as the car did not feel on edge at all, but I'm still used to driving at the speed of my old set up. I really need to recalibrate my driving to make the most of the suspension, since based on my times, I'm not as fast as I think I can be. I can enter corners faster than I did before, and get on the gas sooner and harder. I'm far from a great driver, so it will take me a little more time to really recalibrate myself to the extra grip and control, so I'm doing an Evo school at the end of the month. Still need to see how these work at the track too. Hopefully that will come in a few weeks.

How low is your car?

Not much at all, maybe 1/2" to 3/4" lower than stock. I don't want to roll my fenders or worry about scraping the front everywhere I go. Plus, I can really soften the shocks for highway driving without having to worry about fender rub. They come preset to lower the car about 15mm, but when I put them on the car before adjusting, I think they may lower the car closer to 20mm, so I raised them up a bit.

The Ohlins recommended ride height lowers the car 25mm from stock according to the install instructions.