E34 Koni's/Billies

[Dn540 67]

Hey folks,

So my mates just trying to sort out his suspension on the 540 at the moment. After hours of UK/US forum trawling we came to the conclusion that Vogtlands and Konis provided the best ride height and stiffer than HR, but after a quick search on here it seems a couple of owners say the Vogtlands are too soft and HR are stiffer? Any one had direct comparison between them before?

Also, we're trying to order shockies... Auckland quoted 1700 for a set of 4 Koni's, not sure if they are Sports as Summit racing do the set of 4 Koni yellows for $nz2500 delivered with gst/duty, which is madness as that seems to be in KW coil over territory.

Trying to find that balance of good drop height with smooth but firm ride quality.

Where in NZ or overseas do you guys buy your Koni's from? Only reason for Koni is the owners reviews seem to always be in favour of the Koni strut over the Bilstein strut, are they really that bad of a ride?

[nick496 268]

I ordered some Koni's through GeorgeStock in Auckland recently, the price on those seemed reasonable.

I ended up returning them for other reasons, so I'm currently looking at ordering from dcperformance in the UK, as their prices work out to be rather reasonable.

http://www.dcperformance.co.uk/uprated/koni-sport-front-dampers/BMW/5-series-e34.html

[Dn540 67]

I ordered some Koni's through GeorgeStock in Auckland recently, the price on those seemed reasonable.

I ended up returning them for other reasons, so I'm currently looking at ordering from dcperformance in the UK, as their prices work out to be rather reasonable.

http://www.dcperformance.co.uk/uprated/koni-sport-front-dampers/BMW/5-series-e34.html

Thanks, I'll have to create an account at DC to check freight but a quick "add to cart" $NZ1000 (excluding freight) for a full set of Sports seems pretty good!

[nick496 268]

Yeah, once you create an account, they'll email through freight costs. Should be around UK$120.

[Ahmedsinc 414]

Don't forget to add the cost of certing the coilovers too Might make the pricing you got from Stocks a little more attractive

[turbolizard 38]

I got some Koni Sport (yellow) for my e34 540i, from TyreRack in the US. I was over there and had them delivered to a friends house so no freight charges (which often kills US purchases). I used them with the M-Tech springs that were factory supplied with the car so cant comment on the partcular combos you are interested in.

I give big ups to the ride/handling characteristics with M-Tech spings. Probably not low enough for most tastes but works well. I have them soft and they are really nice - never harsh, but still tight and controlled.

[Olaf 3317]

there's so much work involved in selecting suspension on-line. ISTM most of the US forums are guys driving super-smooth roads; UK doesn't feature the kind of shitty metal-on-bitumen seal that features in NZ. The opinions/experiences you read in the forums for road use will need a whole lot of filtering.

The benefit of buying locally for your springs/shocks combo will be local knowledge and support; this is wrapped in the price. There may be a forum sponsor/supporter who can listen to your needs, and sell you the right product based on their experience.

FWIW for my Volvo, I couldn't find much support locally, and went with H&R Sportsprings with OEM shocks after doing what you've done; trawling forums, filtering conflicting info. What I've learned was, H&R Sportsprings are very firm and controlled, and great for highway and pressing-on. For round town, they're frankly a bit stiff. And although the drop is pretty conservative, they're probably not ideally matched to my OEM shocks; Koni Sports would have been a better bet. So yes, that's for my swedish wagon; I have no reason to expect things would be radically different in character on BMW applications. Vogtlands - for the Volvo - are said to be softer than H&Rs.

After my long-winded intro, my learning is: for a car with plenty of local knowledge and support (BMW), in future if I am replacing springs I'll be taking local advice and buying from them.