Springs and Shocks - Which ones? Ride comfort..

[urquattrogus]

So, I may have mentioned this before but I've been looking at all suspension options.

I have a set of H&R anti roll bars which I will be fitting with one the the following setups:

1. New Standard Sachs BMW Shocks and H&R 30mm lowering Springs
2. Koni Sport Yellow Shocks (fronts are inserts) and H&R 30mm Lowering Springs (but cutting & faffing the rusty old struts puts me off!)
3. KW V3 Coilovers or maybe just V1 without the huge range of adjustment - don't really want to go for wheel spacers though, and might never feel I have the adjustment right!
4. H&R Street Coilovers (similar to above)

So far I'm leaning towards the first option.....

I want good body control but a ride that is the same or better as what I've got.

Also tempted to just whack the ARB's onto the existing setup (which feels quite good as it is) and see how that feels.

car has 89,000 miles on original shocks. Quite a few bushes already replaced but a few more to do at the same time.

What to do!?

Other better options that i have not considered??

£3k of Nitron Coilovers or something!!?

[MasterMiller]

I’ve had option 1 for a few years with spacers. It looks good but the ride is hard, just never got round to splashing out on Coilovers.

[Fat Tony]

But they look so much better with spacers

Plenty of chat on here about the Bilstein B6/B8 variants which are a very popular route. And given that AC Schnitzer based their road suspension for the Coupe around them

[c_w]

I wouldn't run H&R springs with stock dampers, it will bottom out. The first option with Bilstein B8 dampers would be best bet.

[urquattrogus]

Interesting, I've found lowering springs with stock dampners fine on a few other cars.

Eibach also seem to do springs. some suggestion in the past on the forum that they were too soft though...

Happy to keep standard springs, don't really want to lower much if I can avoid it.

Also contacted Nitron with a couple of questions, suspension porn ahoy:

https://www.nitron.co.uk/buy-online/...suspension-kit

[Seca Blue]

Originally Posted by urquattrogus

Interesting, I've found lowering springs with stock dampners fine on a few other cars.

Eibach also seem to do springs. some suggestion in the past on the forum that they were too soft though...

Happy to keep standard springs, don't really want to lower much if I can avoid it.

Also contacted Nitron with a couple of questions, suspension porn ahoy:

https://www.nitron.co.uk/buy-online/...suspension-kit

So.....shiny...

Yeah they look the nuts.

Back to your original post though, if it's lowered at all, without spacers (or wider rims) it'll look a bit suss imo.
I've been through all this as most of us have I think.

I ended up on B6's with standard springs but now wanna drop it about 15 mm - haven't found the right springs for that yet. Ride wise I'm very happy with the Bilsteins.

[urquattrogus]

Thanks :) I’m not sure why I had discounted the Bilsteins, mostly due to reports of a hard ride.

I do have some on my 60’s Alfa and they seem good on that but then that’s on 70 profile tyres and standard ride height that you could drive over a railway sleeper with!

Could get some custom springs made without that much hassle, but then you open the can of worms that is spring rates.

I hadn’t realised spacers was so common either, I have seen the swing arm on the back and the crazy effect on the rear wheels when I lower the ramp though!

BTW the eibach springs claim to lower an M Car 20mm

[137699]

Interesting thread. First thing I did when I got mine was think about the suspension as I'd heard all the horror stories & bad reviews about the looseness of the back end.

And my first appraisal of driving the car was that the back end didn't feel bad at all - OK not the sharpest handling car I have driven but mostly predictable and taking a fair bit of provocation to lose traction.

Anyway I spoke to Munich Legends about what they thought the best setup was - they told me, in their opinion, for road/fast-road use they would stick with original BMW shocks/dampers and just add H&R ARBs. Which is exactly what my car already had. If it was going to be a track-day car then to consider Bilstein, but as I have no intention of taking £25-£30k of my mum's inheritance on a track, I decided this was not for me.

They could easily have sold me £500+ of suspension upgrades but they told me I already had the optimal setup - which TBH I'm very happy with.

[urquattrogus]

Originally Posted by 137699

Interesting thread. First thing I did when I got mine was think about the suspension as I'd heard all the horror stories & bad reviews about the looseness of the back end.

And my first appraisal of driving the car was that the back end didn't feel bad at all - OK not the sharpest handling car I have driven but mostly predictable and taking a fair bit of provocation to lose traction.

Anyway I spoke to Munich Legends about what they thought the best setup was - they told me, in their opinion, for road/fast-road use they would stick with original BMW shocks/dampers and just add H&R ARBs. Which is exactly what my car already had. If it was going to be a track-day car then to consider Bilstein, but as I have no intention of taking £25-£30k of my mum's inheritance on a track, I decided this was not for me.

They could easily have sold me £500+ of suspension upgrades but they told me I already had the optimal setup - which TBH I'm very happy with.

Thanks - Yes I agree, mine has surpassed expectations in terms of handling.

I think the latest Tyres do help a lot, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres I fitted as soon as I got her have been very impressive.

I have the ARB's and drop links etc to fit, it probably makes sense to fit them and see what I think, could then either renew the old shocks back to standard or go for one of the above setups.

If anything i'd like a little bit more intial bite/speed in the steering, better turn in.

I am a bit spoiled as the daily driver is a Giulia Quadrifoglio which has a front end turn in to die for, super quick rack and P Zero Corsa tyres with very aggressive geometry.

I do love driving the Coupe for it's manual box and interactive nature, it's far more measured and less frentic though! I've also come to love the cable throttle of the S50 I must say.

[137699]

Hehe we're coming at this from different ends but yes I have similar opinion.

I'd like the back end to be a bit more communicative. My other car is a Smart Roadster Brabus which whilst not exactly being blessed with power is very certainly blessed with handling ability, chassis control & communication. It's RWD / mid engine and balance is its strong point. Small inputs in steering have instant and predictable results in the handling.

High speed cornering in the Brabus, despite it's short wheel base, you know exactly what the back end is doing and you can really take it to the limit - the MC when I have been doing sweeping bends at 80+mph I really start to feel the back end is ever so slightly on casters. Small steering inputs have little effect so you push it a little further into the corner then "whoah…" the back end reacts & some! Not as bad as the reviews would have you believe - maybe that's where the ARBs have had their effect, but I'd like the steering inputs to be a little more linear in terms of back-end behaviour!

Mine is on Goodyear F1s which were on it when I bought it and have plenty of rubber left on them. When it comes time to change, MP4S are likely to be where I go - they seem to get rave reviews on pretty much every car forum irrespective of marque & model!