Bilstein HD + H&R Spring Install Revisited

Over a year after installing the H&R springs with my existing Bilstein HD struts, I finally measured the car's ride height (original install thread here).  The numbers confirmed what I had always suspected (and ignored) since the car came off the jack stands:  the front of the car was very low.  How low?  Way below RS low...

Initial measurements:
D. Front: 112mm (RS = 124mm)
P. Front: 109mm  (RS = 124mm)
D. Rear: 124mm  (RS = 107mm)
P. Rear: 118mm  (RS = 107mm)

The rear is sitting nicely about RS+10, my original target.  So not only is the front very low, but there is a good degree of rake on the car as well.  This cannot be good for Ella's handling.

Original Position

My old version of the Bilstein HD's has very limited adjustment range (part numbers F4-VE3-4692-H0, F4-VE3-4693-H0) at the front -- maybe 10-15mm from min to max height.  In this photo, if you peer into darkness at the bottom of the spring, you may be able to see the few threads of upward adjustment on the strut.  And please pardon the clashing color combination of red, purple and blue - it's a long story but it wasn't intended to turn out this way.



I went ahead and adjusted both fronts to max height and ended up with:

At Max Height

Max Bilstein HD height adjustment:
D. Front: 121mm (RS = 124)
P. Front: 118mm (RS = 124)

When I started this process, my goal was to set the car at about RS+10mm.  Although opinions vary, the consensus seems to be RS+10 is the lowest you can go before needing the RS uprights to correct bump-steer.  I checked the lowering provided by the H&R springs (part numbers 29953 VA, front and 29953 HA, rear).  The front springs lower the car about 35mm.  35mm down from stock US ride height should be 139mm - about 15mm above RS height.

Unfortunately, I never measured the car with the Bilstein HD's and stock US springs, so I cannot definitively make the following claim.  However, the best explanation I can find is that my version of the Bilstein HD's lowers the front end of the car about 20mm (min) - 30mm (max) without changing the springs.  Why? I can only speculate that Bilstein was giving US customers the ability to lower to RoW ride height without changing springs.

At this point, I should emphasize that newer models of the Bilstein HD have fixed this issue by providing a much longer section of threads for ride height adjustment. [UPDATE:  I am not confident that the extra threads on the Bilstein HD's solve this problem.  While there are extra threads, descriptions and pictures suggest that perhaps the extra threads are only useful for more lowering.] Digging way back in the online forums, I did find a few others having run into this same issue, but I did not find any specific measurements.  For the few readers who do find themselves in a similar situation, I hope this information will be useful.

I have not decided how to address the issue, but I know going back to the original setup is out of the question.  The simplest acceptable option would be to buy the new version of the Bilstein HD's (I inquired with Bilstein about getting mine rebuilt with extra threads, but they could not do it).  Going with the KW Variant 3 or Bilstein PSS10's is very attractive, but much more expensive.  Adding on the RS uprights and tie rods would be the dream :-).