Gas charged struts probably put about 30-50 lbs of force in addition to the springs. Not enough to hold up the car, but put a 50 lb bag of dog food on your hood and see if the front doesn't sink somewhat. If his old struts lost their gas charge and now he has an addition 60 lbs upward force (30lbs x 2) he would sit a little higher.
IIRC, Bilstein is a high gas pressure strut, while the OEM are low pressure. The gas pressure is used to reduce oil foaming and loss of damping in the strut. With more aggressive valving, High performance struts tend to have higher gas pressures to keep faoming down. The valving causes higher oil velocities inside the strut which could cause more foaming if the pressure wasn't high.
My name is Richard. I was a Contouraholic.
NOW: '02 Mazda B3000 Dual Sport, Black
BEFORE: '99 Contour SE Sport
Duratec ATX Spruce Green
PIAA 510's, Foglight MOD, K&N Drop-in
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