D2 Coilover kit

[JiB 0]

I'm contemplating using these cheap coilovers....well, because they're so cheap. My car will be used for basic clubsport events, and being competitive isn't really on the agenda as long as my car feels like a go-kart and is more fun to drive. (right now with Jamex springs and street-sport bilsteins it's a bit of a boat...)

I'm able to get a kit for $1100 (discounted from $1495) and I'm guessing an extra $400 for a cert. So totalling at $1500.

This includes:

-Adjustable top camber plates for the front

-Solid rear strut mounts

-pair of coilovers in front with 36 way adjustable damping (seperate height & preload adjustment)

-pair of pillowball mounts

-rear springs with adjusters

-rear shocks with same adjustable damping, etc.

-spanners/adjusters, etc, etc

-Springs are 8kg/mm and 6kg/mm

Seems like a lot of kit for the money...comparatively:

Adjustable camber tops - $400

Koni Yellow - $800

King Springs - $340

Cert - $400

= $1940

$440 more than the D2 setup..with that $440 I can get front and rear whiteline adjustable sway bars.....and no I can't justify more than $2000 on suspension setup for a POS like mine.

Now, the bad news:

-Everything is anodized 6061 aluminium, this makes it pretty looking, lightweight, and relatively strong......but not as strong as steel bottomed shocks which may mean that these may bend in the unlikely event that I bounce off a curb at Puke.

-I have driven a few cars with these in, they were hard and a bit bouncy...but they were FWD hot hatches, not sure how applicable the experience would be.

-They used to have a bad reputation (leaking shocks, bent bits, unmatched damping/spring rates

) but this was before they revised the products.

-I would go for BC adjustables or Daiyama as they cost the same and are a much better quality product, but alas I drive an '80s BMW and they are not available.

Any advice guys?

[pjay 8]

Stay awaaaaay from D2's mate.

Check these out if youre after cheap coilovers with good performance:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...1134328.htm?p=3

BC reds $1290. And the better good gold version could do $1370 only. Cheers Andy

IMO, i prefer the reds. Friends of mine have run them in a 32 and 34 skyline, 13 and 14 silvia (for drift of course) and in a dedicated EK track civic. The same guys have also run D2's and severely dislike them. The EK also had tien coilovers at one point, but he swapped them out in favour for the BC golds. TBH i dont know why. Personal preference i guess.

Have driven the s14 with D2's and the BC's and the difference is amazing. The D2s were real stiff and felt great through corners, but when in a straight line they had no suppport whatsoever. Felt really baggy and cheap..

Now the BC's were realy nice on the ass. Had ridden them on setting 4, which is pretty low down and stiff and still they were comfortable over small bumps in the road.

For that price range, id definitely recommend the BC's as ive seen and felt the difference, but to be honest, i just really dislike D2's so i am bias.

BUT

I dont know if they do E30's, so that big write might have been a waste of time Quotes i got are for an E36 6cyl.

Anyways, at the end of the day, if D2's work for you, then go for em yo!

[pjay 8]

Omg what a dick

-I would go for BC adjustables or Daiyama as they cost the same and are a much better quality product, but alas I drive an '80s BMW and they are not available.

Just read your whole post.. Ignore everything i just said :$

[CamB 48]

I still reckon the spring rates are wrong (Jonathan and I have talked about it offline) - 8kg front is 450lb/in, 6kg rear is 335lb/in, which seems way too stiff front/soft rear (although cheap to stiffen front and/or soften rear).

Having said that, my 2002 (which has slightly different geometry and motion ratios) has 425 front and 300 rear and isn't bad (I need to find some 350s for the rear)... But some internet searching suggests 450lb front would go with more like 600lb rear.

My other reservation is that I assume since the e30s have inserts in a strut, that the threaded part must somehow sit on the existing lower perch. I can't imagine any other way of doing it (without cutting off the existing perch and welding on the threaded part, like on mine). Maybe you need to find out some more details.

Still, I reckon DO IT. Coz I want to install them. And the sway bars, but leave your sh*t tyres on.

Edited April 21, 2008 by CamB

[JiB 0]

Update: D2 doesn't have any sets in the country minimum wait for them is 4 weeks, and my tyre guy has convinced me not to waste my time with D2's as they can be unpredictable on track due to mis-matched and poor damping.

So any ideas or suggestions?

Looks like I'll be forced to save up and go for a Koni or similar setup...I do however need cost-prohibitive camber plates as well .

[westy 614]

Why not just use good springs and shocks?

[CamB 48]

- Camber adjustment

- Lack of choice on spring rate

- Lack of choice on height (not such a big deal)

[_BRS_ 199]

im not too experienced in this department but i went to a drift trackday a few months ago and there was an rb30det e30 there

the guy was still running springs and said he purchased all his stuff through www.turnermotorsports.com

might just be a good idea saving up

don't you have to restrengthen the rear shock towers to run adjusties in the back anyway?

[CamB 48]

The rear adjusty is a threaded platform that sits in the standard position under the spring, so shock/spring remain separate. Coilover rears (with strengthened shock towers) is an option, and a more expensive one at that.

Turner (looks like he would have had H&R)/Ground Control/KW Variant are all much more expensive (about $2.5-3k by the time they're here and you've been pinged for GST). They're all approximately the same price as a trip down to George Stocks to get existing struts modified for coilovers, whatever spring rate you want, top adjustable konis and adjustable strut tops.

$3k is a lot more than $1100 for the dodgy D2s ... you can't even get the koni/king Series Combo for that (note I have no idea what the series guys pay for them, but that's not a price available to all).

Edited April 22, 2008 by CamB

[c.robertson00 11]

Its about $1500 for the e30 series setup but thats with a discount from stocks.

[Driftit 1945]

I recently upgraded from the crappy monro's I had in my 325 to some custom Bilstiens.

Just look at the shaft size difference

My rear shocks are custom too. Nearly double the size of the old ones. I have a shock dyno sheet somewhere around of the difference between them.

But I quickly found yesterday while at a Taupo track day that the spring rate is not that sh*t hot. I am going to try a few combinations now to see if I can sort it out. They are a bit to soft in the front.

A set of much thicker sway bars is urgently required.

I have some adjustable top hats that do both caster and camber. But are a sh*t of a thing to set up.

You can see in this pic the car is rolling far too much. Well for my liking anyway. lol

When I drop your tires off you can have a look if you want.

Edited April 22, 2008 by driftit

[m325i 705]

YES!

More pics?

[Driftit 1945]

Nah the photographers were busy taking pictures of old Lancers and Toyota's from the 70's. The Fools.

[ED1RTY 2]

f**k YEA!!!

[JiB 0]

Dan your car has some serious choiceness.

It's embarrassing, your daily has a better suspension setup than my race car You'll have to take me for a ride in it!

I'm still doing my homework on what suspension to use. I'd be keen to see the shock dyno graphs if possible? Just wondering how linear the monster bilsteins are. Also, what springs are you using?

[OLLIE 26]

the scariest thing about that kit is the solid rear shock mounts! are the solid? or spherical bearing? They need some movement or you'll end up with bent shocks.

[Driftit 1945]

Will hunt around for the Dyno sheet and scan it in. If you like give my good mate Regan a call at Racelign. Racelign is part of Autolign. (09) 5742291. He made my current shocks up. The fronts are the best ones off the shelf for the E30. But have been altered a little to suite the height.

Apparently I have BNG eurospec 60mm spring kit. But when I was changing the shocks I noticed that the spring was quite soft. I think this brand is more for looks and height than performance. I have heard nothing but bad things from the Kings Springs. But the whole E30 series run them and I am yet to hear anything from them. But have seen alot of sagging from them on other cars. Another brand I can try is Dobi. Unsure on their spring rates though. Will have to look them up.

I cant wait till I have my Series car going so I can compair cornor speed with the 325. Regan seems to think the 325 will out handle the racecar with the same rubber.

[CamB 48]

Yeah but Regan sells Bilsteins not Konis, so he's gonna be biased. Given the Series Cars do a fairly easy 170kph through the sweeper, and the fastest cars do consistent 1:15s with a good driver/engine/setup, I'd be surprised if magically changing to Bilsteins made them noticeably faster.

Jonathan's car already has Bilsteins of some sort - B6s I'd guess although they need to be checked. The cheapest option might be to just chuck in some new stiffer springs (eg the E30 series front springs and some sort of uprated rear spring). With an LSD it will need a slightly stiffer rear than the series car, IMHO.

Edited April 22, 2008 by CamB

[togate 0]

theres a little bit of dans e30 at the end of this vid

- you can see the bodyroll going around that corner.

[M3_Power 636]

I recently upgraded from the crappy monro's I had in my 325 to some custom Bilstiens.

Just look at the shaft size difference

Er ... those two shocks are completely different design hence the difference in the so called shaft - what you are looking at in the bilstein isn't the shaft because it's an inversed monotube (Bilstein uses inverse monotube for all front McPherson struts) - the factory shocks are a normal monotube with the shaft on the top)

Bilstein's explanation for the inverse design:

In the conventional McPherson strut (which is based on the use of the twin tube shock absorber) the piston rod protrudes above the McPherson strut assembly and attaches to the sprung mass of the vehicle. In this type of application the piston rod has to absorb not only compression and rebound forces but tremendous side loads.

The Bilstein principle is to manufacture the strut/insert with the rod pointing down into the strut tube, thereby utilizing the thicker, stouter body portion of the shock absorber to dissipate side loads (see sketch). In short, due to the increased diameter and surface of the pressure tube, the Bilstein Gas Pressure Strut/Insert is better suited to take increased side loads when compared with the conventional twin tube strut/insert.

The Bilstein Gas Pressure Strut/Insert, whose development was strongly influenced by the Motorsport industry, has other advantages besides the one quoted above, namely greater stability, better road handling, and accurate steering. This combined with extremely high quality manufacturing and materials, means Bilsteins will last approximately four times as long as original replacement inserts.

Stay away from D2s ... you should know JiB ... if they were crap for Hondas they aren't going to be any good for BMWs either - they have terrible rebound rates.

Edited April 29, 2008 by M3_Power

[JiB 0]

Stay away from D2s ... you should know JiB ... if they were crap for Hondas they aren't going to be any good for BMWs either - they have terrible rebound rates.

Yeah, I'm doing it once, and doing it right...Will be getting the trackday Ground Control kit from the US.....once the guy answers my emails