OME vs. stacked/modified OME

[Cobrakillerta]

For those of you who are running stacked OME and modified OME. I'm currently running OME HD springs with OME Struts/Shocks and it rides great. My current front ride height is at 21 3/4". I'm about to add a winch and it's looking like the front end will only drop by 1/8" to 21 5/8". I'm wondering if I should just add strut spacers and rear springs spacers. The RRO strut spacers advertise 9/16" of lift, which would bring me to 22 3/16". Or switch to Bilstein 5100's front/rear and a rear spacer to go all the way to 23"+- if I want.

My main question is, for those who switched from OME struts/shocks to Bilstein 5100's, how did the ride change, if any change at all? I like the way it rides now with the full OME set-up and I don't like half assed set-up's and try to stay away from mismatched ****. OME puts a ton of R&D into their kits and it shows. I'm worried about the fact that the modified OME set-up doesn't use a WK specific rear shock, let alone the mixing of OME and Bilstein.

[Matt]

FWIW, the fear of "mixing & matching" is mostly a made up issue that's not entirely true. OME uses the same struts/shocks for their HD and MD springs which have quite a range of spring rates..... They're not exactly "fine tuned" to a specific spring; they're "tuned" to work with a range of vehicle weights (WK 3.7L to XK 5.7L) and spring combos. When they start offering shocks specific to the actual vehicle and spring being installed, then you'll want to be careful.

The 5100s are valved more aggressively than stock and they'll match up fine with either the HD or MD springs.

For the rear I would recommend getting the 5125 series shocks since they can be ordered to the proper length for maximum travel and you can select valving to your liking. Since you like the N190 shocks I'd go with the 255/70 valving on the 5125s.