Shocks for softer ride in comfort mode?

[tgb1974]

Any suggestions for replacement shocks that would give a softer/more forgiving ride in comfort mode? The streets are not always great up here in the Midwest, so I was thinking different shocks may help somewhat. Thanks in advance.

[M3SQRD]

If you want to retain EDC, your choices are limited. Available options:
1. Bilstein B6 Damptronic - supposedly it has a firmer ride in all EDC modes.
2. Evolve/Bilstein B6 Damptronic - supposed to have more comfort in EDC comfort mode but it’s received mixed reviews.
3. Bilstein B16 Damptronic - extremely firm compared to stock EDC in all modes. Adjustable ride height but has a min drop of ~20 mm.
4. KW DDC - has received good reviews regarding improved comfort in EDC comfort mode. Good performance in sport modes. Adjustable ride height and min drop is less than B16’s and maybe stock rode height can be maintained.
5. Nitron elec-TRON Roadsport - newly released by Nitron and is biased towards street. No reviews yet but should be one of the better options for the street. Price is ~$4900.
6. Nitron elec-TRON R1 & R3 - performance/track focused with custom spring rates. Most expensive option ranging between ~$5900 for R1, ~$8400 for R3.
7. TracTive Touring - similar to Nitron Roadsport kit. Designed primarily for street use but also more performance oriented. Price point is similar to Nitron Roadsport. Note: TracTive has poor customer service. Their warranty process is painfully slow and rebuild/replacement times range from a couple to several months. If you’re in the US, there’s only one source to get TracTive setups (EDC and non-EDC) from.
8. BMW OEM ZCP dampers - purchase oem ZCP damper and have your EDC coded to CS EDC. This improves ride quality in all modes and increases performance, too. You can add a HAS kit if you want to lower your car from the stock ride height. Min drop is different for different kits with drops ranging from 5 mm to 25-30 mm.

I think that captures all of the EDC plug-n-play options. Considerably more options available if you no longer want to retain EDC.

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

If you want to retain EDC, your choices are limited. Available options:
1. Bilstein B6 Damptronic - supposedly it has a firmer ride in all EDC modes.
2. Evolve/Bilstein B6 Damptronic - supposed to have more comfort in EDC comfort mode but it’s received mixed reviews.
3. Bilstein B16 Damptronic - extremely firm compared to stock EDC in all modes. Adjustable ride height but has a min drop of ~20 mm.
4. KW DDC - has received good reviews regarding improved comfort in EDC comfort mode. Good performance in sport modes. Adjustable ride height and min drop is less than B16’s and maybe stock rode height can be maintained.
5. Nitron elec-TRON Roadsport - newly released by Nitron and is biased towards street. No reviews yet but should be one of the better options for the street. Price is ~$4900.
6. Nitron elec-TRON R1 & R3 - performance/track focused with custom spring rates. Most expensive option ranging between ~$5900 for R1, ~$8400 for R3.
7. TracTive Touring - similar to Nitron Roadsport kit. Designed primarily for street use but also more performance oriented. Price point is similar to Nitron Roadsport.
8. BMW OEM ZCP dampers - purchase oem ZCP damper and have your EDC coded to CS EDC. This improves ride quality in all modes and increases performance, too. You can add a HAS kit if you want to lower your car from the stock ride height. Min drop is different for different kits with drops ranging from 5 mm to 25-30 mm.

I think that captures all of the EDC plug-n-play options. Considerably more options available if you no longer want to retain EDC.

I was considering the KW DDC before but either the front or rear connectors to the EDC look like they require wire splicing which is a non starter. Happen to know if that's the case?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I was considering the KW DDC before but either the front or rear connectors to the EDC look like they require wire splicing which is a non starter. Happen to know if that's the case?

I believe you still have to splice in the oem connector.

[TopJimmy]

BMW MP-HAS is 1 step softer

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by TopJimmy

BMW MP-HAS is 1 step softer

Softer than???

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I was considering the KW DDC before but either the front or rear connectors to the EDC look like they require wire splicing which is a non starter. Happen to know if that's the case?

Confirmed you need to splice or you can modify the KW receiver to accept the BMW plug. I just installed a set of these for a friend. Extremely comfortable setup, fine for street, canyons, and the odd track day. There are better options for pure performance though if that matters.

[TopJimmy]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Softer than???

On my F80 the MP-HAS felt one step softer than my stock springs (non-ZCP).

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

Confirmed you need to splice or you can modify the BMW receiver to accept the KW plug. I just installed a set of these for a friend. Extremely comfortable setup, fine for street, canyons, and the odd track day. There are better options for pure performance though if that matters.

What’s required to modify OEM receiver to accept the KW connector? Would you be able to convert back to stock without having to replace the receiver? KW DDC would likely be a more popular option if cutting/splicing wasn’t required.

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

What’s required to modify OEM receiver to accept the KW connector? Would you be able to convert back to stock without having to replace the receiver? KW DDC would likely be a more popular option if cutting/splicing wasn’t required.

Actually sorry I have it backward, you need to modify the KW receiver NOT the BMW plug. Below is a picture of the the BMW receiver - you can see there's a right angle obstruction on the inside that is supposed to line up with the BMW plug. IIRC the KW receiver has TWO of these right angle obstructions - we just shaved down the one that was preventing the OE plug from working with the KW receiver. This needs to be done both front and rear. Once it's plugged in everything works perfectly, but you are cutting into a piece that you shouldn't have to be. You still have to fit the receiver caps to the bare KW wires upon first unboxing the suspension.



Honestly we thought it was going to be much more plug-n-play than it actually is. Also, the rear reservoir location prevents all access to the spring perches so ride height adjustment requires that the A arm be dropped.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

Actually sorry I have it backward, you need to modify the KW receiver NOT the BMW plug. Below is a picture of the the BMW receiver - you can see there's a right angle obstruction on the inside that is supposed to line up with the BMW plug. IIRC the KW receiver has TWO of these right angle obstructions - we just shaved down the one that was preventing the OE plug from working with the KW receiver. This needs to be done both front and rear. Once it's plugged in everything works perfectly, but you are cutting into a piece that you shouldn't have to be. You still have to fit the receiver caps to the bare KW wires upon first unboxing the suspension.

Honestly we thought it was going to be much more plug-n-play than it actually is. Also, the rear reservoir location prevents all access to the spring perches so ride height adjustment requires that the A arm be dropped.

How can something be called plug-n-play if factory, or supplied, parts have to be modified or cut or spliced? I guess it was too much trouble for KW to have connectors made that match oem connectors. It certainly wasn’t price because they’d pass that onto the consumer.

[6ixSpd]

While we're on this topic of increased street comfort, what is the *MILDEST* drop you can achieve on the front axle with springs for an EDC car with the primary goal of maintaining comfort and suspension travel?

Is the MP HAS kit the best choice?

[noemon]

I went with Tractive Touring for a more comfortable suspension that's also far superior in handling.

I've been happy with Tractive but I did have 2 shocks that failed some months apart from each other which combined with Tractive's snail-pace warranty claims left me without suspension for some time.

Nevertheless, apart from warranty claims being slow, the Tractive Touring Line is an awesome bit of kit.

Let me tell you a story.

I use the car to travel around Europe every year with my wife and 3 kids.

We bob around in the European motorways at around 70-80 mph on the stock suspension. I call this the "care-free" mode. You know having a coffee, driving with one hand on the wheel, singing along and such.

I find that the car is incapable of being "care-free" after the 70-80mph on the stock suspension.

The next mode up is the semi-serious mode, when half are asleep, it's night time and you want to cover some ground, so you focus a bit and increase the speed to 90mph.

And the next mode up is when you tell the family to buckle up cause we are about to take off, usually done temporarily when you are in a real hurry to catch a plane or boat, you focus real hard and go up to 120mph.

When I installed the Tractive all these modes went up by 25-35 miles.

Carefree zone was now 110mph.
Semi-serious zone was now 130 mph.
Take-off zone was now 160+ mph.

Comfort was seriously upgraded for all passengers and our Euro-trip with Tractive on was a joy for everybody.

[M3SQRD]

noemon

Sorry to hear about your issues with TracTive. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one that’s had issues with them. I was going to mention this in the above list but forgot to. I’ll update the list regarding TracTive’s warranty issues and poor customer service.

Your new Intrax setup is a great non-EDC setup and you’ll love its performance. What spring rates did you go with? Are you able to adjust the pressure in the remote reservoirs? What’s the rebuilt interval?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by 6ixSpd

While we're on this topic of increased street comfort, what is the *MILDEST* drop you can achieve on the front axle with springs for an EDC car with the primary goal of maintaining comfort and suspension travel?

Is the MP HAS kit the best choice?

For mildest drop, I’d say it’s MP HAS which I believe you can get as small as a 5 mm drop. I believe BMW’s recommendation is 10 mm on the front and rear. I think their recommendation is based on stock damper and use of bump stops to limit travel. Bump travel control with bump stops is BMW SOP and 10 mm is a standard value for ride height drops. For example, on the e92 M3 zcp it was lowered 10 mm from the base model height. Anything more than 10 mm likely means you’re engaging the bump stops more than what BMW wants. If you install the kit, push the bump stop down the piston rod until it touches the top of the front strut. Drive the car for a while and then check the location of the bump stop. If it’s at the very top of the piston rod then that means you’ve at least engaged the bump stop.

[noemon]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

noemon

Sorry to hear about your issues with TracTive. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one that’s had issues with them. I was going to mention this in the above list but forgot to. I’ll update the list regarding TracTive’s warranty issues and poor customer service.

Your new Intrax setup is a great non-EDC setup and you’ll love its performance. What spring rates did you go with? Are you able to adjust the pressure in the remote reservoirs? What’s the rebuilt interval?

Thank you mate.

Spring rates recommended by Intrax 32 n/mm front, 92 n/mm rear for majority road use which are basically the stock comp spring rates.

I will not have external reservoirs as the ARC is internal in my setup, so the previous point became moot as I will no longer have to mount the reservoirs.

I am 95% road user as a daily and this is where we ended up with Donald from Intrax after liaising with the engineers.

If I want to go higher spring rates I will have to go with Intrax's top mounts, which will also push the reservoirs externally, this will inrease the price by another 1k, but frankly this is more about comfort than the track.

Reason I was asking earlier about his setup and the NVH was because I was considering going full monty, with Intrax top mounts, camber plates and external reservoirs, as the only thing holding me back is metal to metal NVH. I can still do so, so if anybody here wears Intrax and its top mounts, please do let me know about NVH in the car.

[n8dgr84]

M539Restoration on youtube just posted about Evolves new setup for his E92.
Here is what they did for the F80. Might be worth looking into.
https://youtu.be/-SoluDtg8P8?si=d0N3gdEbocsbgE82

[tgb1974]

Originally Posted by n8dgr84

M539Restoration on youtube just posted about Evolves new setup for his E92.
Here is what they did for the F80. Might be worth looking into.
https://youtu.be/-SoluDtg8P8?si=d0N3gdEbocsbgE82

Thanks for this. I watched that video as well. Great content on M539 Restorations!

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by tgb1974

Any suggestions for replacement shocks that would give a softer/more forgiving ride in comfort mode? The streets are not always great up here in the Midwest, so I was thinking different shocks may help somewhat. Thanks in advance.

Do you have 18's on the car? A taller tire would help.

[theweebabySeamus]

I bought the MP HAS and some ZCP shocks because I've heard the MPHAS setup is softer, and also that the CS setup is softer. Having a decision making complex on which direction to go. Lol

[LXAS613]

Great question OP!

I am a new owner and was JUST going to make a post, asking how other owners feel about the ride quality. Don't get me wrong, I knew what I signed up for when I purchased, and any hardcore sports car like this will have a firmer ride... But I also live in the Midwest and our roads have quite a few undulations, and I can't help but feel like the ride quality is a bit harsh over most streets.

I am on MP HAS, installed about a month ago, however the prior owner (or maybe the one before) had ATROCIOUS lowering springs on it, and I am slightly concerned that the shocks may be shot after x amount of miles driven on the old lowering springs.

I think my best bet would be to find another F80 owner and ask for a ride along so I can have some peace of mind... However, if anyone has eyes on this forum, I would love to hear some more perspective so that I can start to discern if the shocks are truly bad.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by LXAS613

Great question OP!

I am a new owner and was JUST going to make a post, asking how other owners feel about the ride quality. Don't get me wrong, I knew what I signed up for when I purchased, and any hardcore sports car like this will have a firmer ride... But I also live in the Midwest and our roads have quite a few undulations, and I can't help but feel like the ride quality is a bit harsh over most streets.

I am on MP HAS, installed about a month ago, however the prior owner (or maybe the one before) had ATROCIOUS lowering springs on it, and I am slightly concerned that the shocks may be shot after x amount of miles driven on the old lowering springs.

I think my best bet would be to find another F80 owner and ask for a ride along so I can have some peace of mind... However, if anyone has eyes on this forum, I would love to hear some more perspective so that I can start to discern if the shocks are truly bad.

To make things clear, edc or non-edc suspension? If your ride quality is harsh then your dampers are probably ok. Blown dampers would give you the opposite ride quality - floating and not controlled well. How many miles does your car have? In general, lowering springs do not damage a damper. The valve stack on the piston generates the same damping force whether the valve stack starts moving from the middle of the damper or 2” below the middle of the damper. Progressive rate bump stops are used to limit suspension over travel. However, lowering springs can affect ride quality if they lower the car too much, causing the suspension to constantly ride on the bump stops. Bump stops can degrade with constant use and that’s when dampers could be damaged due to over travel. BMW suspension tuning uses the bump stops at stock ride height to help manage suspension travel so lowering the car means you’re using the bump stops more. Did you follow BMW’s recommended ride height or did you go lower?

Have you inspected the dampers to see if there’s any signs of hydraulic fluid seepage around the piston rod at the top cap? Lack of seepage doesn’t mean your dampers are fine but it’s a good sign. Do you feel like you’re on a boat that’s pitching, rolling and heaving uncontrollably? Do you feel the entire car, or a single corner, bouncing several times after hitting a bump?