Leaderboard

I had Ohlins Road & Track on my E46 and they were excellent.

Everytime I veered off the default settings they just felt awful. Any softer and the car would bounce. Any stiffer and it felt very harsh and just not very settled. I'm sure that would have been fixable if compression could be adjusted to suit. And I only adjusted by one or two clicks. Maybe one click on front or rear to adjust balance would work well. But not worth the extra cost of the V2s. Default felt absolutely perfect like it was designed for the car, and I imagine V1s would be locked to the same setting.

All set for the weekend. Still can't get over how reasonable priced FCP is. Also brought one of these, thought I'd have a crack at an M5 bumper conversion.

I've currently got ST X coilovers on my 130i and I have nothing but good things to say. They're quiet, comfortable and provide noticable handling improvements. I have no regrets and would purchase them again. It's worth noting that the ride comfort (with these coilovers) is depedent on how much you lower your car. If you want it slammed, it's going to feel terrible. My car's about ~340mm hub centre to arch and it's perfect imo. Eibach pro street s coilovers are very similar to the ST-X/KW V1 (same basic damper) but sprung and valved to be slightly more comfortable. They're also SS.

@///M The lure of shiny stuff is real haha

Not too long- they've only been on for a few months and look great. As others have said, we shouldn't any major corrosion issues with our climate. I can live with some surface rust if it ever gets to that stage. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that coilovers are a wear item and you'll eventually need to rebuild them or purchase a new set. If the surface coating can last till this stage is it worth spending more for the shiny stuff? I'm only planning to keep my little 130i for another 3 years or so before moving to something else so I'm pretty confident the ST coilovers will be able to see me over with no issues

Agree with Matthew, if you want the V2s you may as well spend a bit extra and get the V3s. The KW V1/ST-X are at KWs recommended settings and if you set the ride height appropriately they’re a great dd/’fast road’ coilover. MCA coilovers are also worth a look. They’re good quality and made in Aus so the shipping should be reasonable. For me, bang for buck, the ST line can’t be beat.

To throw another local option in the works, have you thought about giving George Stock (Koni) a call to discuss a suitable coilover kit? I know they have made a coilover for the BMW Race Series E46's at the moment. I'm sure they could valve the shocks for road application and would pair with appropriate spring rates. Russell at Koni looks after my shocks in my race car, and supplied me with adjustable Koni Sport shocks for my E46 Touring. Good guy to deal with. Images pulled from the George Stock & Company FB page below:

Hey This is for my 2001 E39 Touring I had to swap out my e38 style mirror for an e46 style one and it doesn't look too bad but its pissing me off (I just couldn't find a matching one anywhere) Also need a drivers seat plastic rail cover TIA

Check the Demon Tweeks website for best global pricing in $NZ dollars to your door in double quick time. Recommend them over DC Performance based on experience with global shopping. And Evan Pittman and his guys are a good team Evan is well thought of in the various Renn Sport race series, they would supply links etc I'm sure if asked. Should you choose to go down this track may I suggest Speedfactor do the fitting too. KW branded product has stainless moving parts, the ST has innox, so susceptible to corrosion, no real deal breaker here in NZ firstly because of our climate, secondly we are putting good bits on our "toy" or hobby cars that rarely (in my garage anyway) see rain. In Auckland you chaps are lucky to have Ray at Hell BM on your doorstep, he has vast experience in all facets of suspension and mechanical, in fact his knowledge bank is greater than than the sum of the contributors to your post combined.☺️ Personally our M cars mostly have ST X /XA and Koni / Eibach Pro, and years ago Ray did influence my thinking here.

Only do this if you want to see some serious sh*t.

I wouldn't be so easily satisfied. I'd definitely try pressing it when you're going 88 mph. ?

Thanks M3AN Removing the cover is as far as I know how - tried that and had a hard time putting cover back - thats how bad I am LOL... cheers for the suggestion anwyay...

I've got no problem with it, if it's a rough shitty road then you'll know about it and youll learn where the pot holes and bumps are quickly, i am rather low however. Swapping between 215/35/18 to 215/45/17 made a massive difference in harshness. See if you can go for a ride with someone who has them installed, on the roads you are used then go from there. Just make sure they have been set up correctly as that can make a massive difference in ride quality

That's it yep. Using my suspension on order as an example... The tender is rated for 20Nm/mm and binds first, before becoming a solid section of the suspension under higher loads where the 70Nm/mm linear spring takes over. The advantage is that during your shopping run, the tender is absorbing all the bumps. This is all fine and dandy for a McPherson strut up front like every BMW since the 70's has, but in the rear it's a whole other kettle of fish, and that's when you'll see beehive springs used as a progressive spring compared to a linear one. Jump onto the KW website and have a chat with their consultants about what you want - they know their sh*t.

Yep! I've had KW Classics in E30 M3 spec on order for a few weeks now, but I'm in no rush. Regardless of my choice of KW's for the above, I'd go with KW anyway, purely because you can ask them to set them up how you'd like(spring rates) before they ship. It's well known that our main state highways are goat tracks compared to most developed nations, so some softer spring rates is not a bad thing to ask for. Bilstein coilover systems are bloody awful in NZ conditions. Not entirely pointless - you can set a certain amount of pitch and roll using the damping adjustment. As a general note, I'd avoid any coilover system that doesn't utilise a tender spring unless you like your fillings removed.

I would go KW, Boytie had a set on his E60 and the ride handling compromise was very good. He did find raising the ride height from Flat Peak slammed to lowish made a huge difference to how it rode with no effect on handling. I will say setting my E46 330ci super low was a disaster.

Remove cover, trace wires?

I've got BC Golds in the e36 and Yellowspeeds in the e30 and like them both. Tyre size I found makes a massive difference to how the they ride/crashing etc

Could have been for a kill switch or hard wired radar detector or similar.

@Herbmiester I bet they were ? $5k though ?

I have KWV2 in the 335i, and honestly I think their existence is entirely pointless between V1 and V3. I couldn't see the point in adjusting rebound on it's own because pretty much any setting besides the recommended default was bad, so I may as well have had V1s. It was the last owner that had them installed anyway though. Besides that, they're excellent, that car has awesome handling while still being decently comfy.

That would probably be in the middle of the designed lowering range, however I'd ceck out the TuV data sheet to confirm. Some of the coilovers you listed might get you lower without having to compress the spring too much. I purchased the coilovers from demontweeks in the UK. Shipping relatively quick. No issues with cert- the alignment settings were near enough stock (due to the height). I added M3 camber arms which put me close to the e92 M3 settings.

I like you, Willy. you understand me

Added LCI taillight inners for a different look. I'm not convinced I like the led 'bubble-look' lights on the full LCI Led taillights (or at least the aftermarket ones) so tried this as an in between step.

A quick trip today at lunchtime. Prepped my Covid Tracer app, and hand sanitiser. Packed my work gloves, steel-capped boots, shackles and chains. The invite said whips were optional. Just as well, I didn't have them anyway. Hoped I wasn't taking a knife to a gunfight. We quickly discovered that - despite me trial-fitting other 10mm shackles to my 8mm chain in the store, my 10mm 1 tonne-rated shackles were too big. Super-Barry and bench grinder to the rescue, the the shackles were adjusted (just barely) to fit. Before long we had the M42 chained up.. M42B18 in bondage gear And before you could say 'where's the blindfold', the M42B18 was up on the hoist... And then securely pinned to the engine stand. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we’d completed that task. Many thanks to Barry, and to Aaron for laughing politely at my bad jokes ?

only if you have the cable and software setup then i connect remotely and reset the line.

you dont need a new FRM. Just need to wake up the PWM line that is shutdown with special tools

don't know how you do it, put so much effort and love into a project which some idiot could sideswipe on the first lap, watching races you kind of think these things are just expendable playtoys and for some I guess they are but after all that work I'd be too scared of bending it

Took the wheels off the 135i for a deep clean (over a couple of lunchtimes admittedly!) Before and after. My weapons of choice are meguiars wheel brightener and a pot scrubbing pad....

Hey fam New to all that is BMW so have been reading through quite a bit here, thought I'd best sign up and say hello. Just recently purchased a 2007 E90 323i Msport. Pretty tidy with only 62000k's on the clock. This particular one ticked a few boxes (stock as, low k's, black, non turbo, no idrive etc) and was within budget so I flew up to Aucks from Welly to grab it. Quite different to my old MkII Escort Sport and stripped/slammed EK hatch civic, sure makes for a nice change though. Not sure if I will put some $$$ into dumping this one (don't hate me lol) or maybe just drive it for a little bit and upgrade to a turbo diesel one @ around 100000k's or something ? Kinda really like this one and am well over the days of having to go fast. Anyways, here's a couple of pics ! Looking forward to learning a lot here. Cheers !

Stocking up for Christmas gifts .....the cam, port and tune..???

If you are mainly working on aluminium you can get specific ones with a bigger gap between the teeth that helps stop them from clogging up and lets them cut faster. Those ones should be pretty good on steel ( new ones are always good) but will probably clog pretty quickly with aluminium. You can also get longer shank versions that can be useful for porting.

What are the chances? Parked around the corner from my office today... has black Vader interior now.