Shocks for softer ride in comfort mode?

[LXAS613]

Thanks for the information! I am on an EDC setup. As of now the car has 47k miles on it. And yeah what you are saying about the bump stops becoming worn and abused makes sense, which would transfer more of the force through the dampers. That is what I am afraid happened during the previous ownership, seeing as the ride height was SUPER low and when I removed the bump stops to replace them with MP HAS, they did look pretty beat up.

Regarding my ride height, I would need to check things out again now that the suspension has settled a little over the last month. I know the rear is as high as it could go, and the fronts I set to be 2mm lower than their highest settings, but I forget the actual ride height when I measured, and again, its all settled a bit.

Didn't notice any sings of hydraulic fluid when I was installing the HAS, everything looked to be okay. Now one thing that I do know is that the video I watched for the DIY didn't really set a specific "height" for the new bump stops, so I guess its possible that they're a bit further down than what they should be? I arbitrarily set the stops on each shock and tried to match the location on both sides.

The biggest feeling I can convey is "unsettling" when I am driving over any sort of undulation in the road. The front suspension seems to just "run into" the bump, with 0 effort to dissipate the force. No pitching or rolling per se, and it all seems to be isolated to the front, the rear handles bumps pretty well.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by LXAS613

Thanks for the information! I am on an EDC setup. As of now the car has 47k miles on it. And yeah what you are saying about the bump stops becoming worn and abused makes sense, which would transfer more of the force through the dampers. That is what I am afraid happened during the previous ownership, seeing as the ride height was SUPER low and when I removed the bump stops to replace them with MP HAS, they did look pretty beat up.

Regarding my ride height, I would need to check things out again now that the suspension has settled a little over the last month. I know the rear is as high as it could go, and the fronts I set to be 2mm lower than their highest settings, but I forget the actual ride height when I measured, and again, its all settled a bit.

Didn't notice any sings of hydraulic fluid when I was installing the HAS, everything looked to be okay. Now one thing that I do know is that the video I watched for the DIY didn't really set a specific "height" for the new bump stops, so I guess its possible that they're a bit further down than what they should be? I arbitrarily set the stops on each shock and tried to match the location on both sides.

The biggest feeling I can convey is "unsettling" when I am driving over any sort of undulation in the road. The front suspension seems to just "run into" the bump, with 0 effort to dissipate the force. No pitching or rolling per se, and it all seems to be isolated to the front, the rear handles bumps pretty well.

Your mp has ride height seems reasonable, definitely not on the low side. At 47k miles the dampers should still have life left in them. Definitely sounds like the previous owner was running the car way too low but, even with beat up original bump stops, it’s impossible to quantify their condition (unless you pull them off and put them on a damper dyno). Do you notice a difference in damper performance when you change edc settings?

Bump stop position on the piston rod doesn’t matter because the top cap of the damper will push the bump stop further up the piston rod with increasing bump (compression) travel. They’ll find their ideal position

When you say unsettling, do you mean the car is still moving around rather than taking a set before turn in? At your ride height with new bump stops, you shouldn’t feel an abrupt change in stiffness because you should be engaging the bump stops at their lowest initial bump (spring) rate. If you are feeling the front crashing into the bump stops and/or an abrupt change in stiffness then that may suggest the front struts have lost damping performance. Is it braking and cornering weight transfer or a series of smaller bumps or both that cause the crashing feeling? If you drive over the same section of road at the same speed, does the car do the same things regardless of edc setting?

[LXAS613]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Your mp has ride height seems reasonable, definitely not on the low side. At 47k miles the dampers should still have life left in them. Definitely sounds like the previous owner was running the car way too low but, even with beat up original bump stops, it’s impossible to quantify their condition (unless you pull them off and put them on a damper dyno). Do you notice a difference in damper performance when you change edc settings?

Bump stop position on the piston rod doesn’t matter because the top cap of the damper will push the bump stop further up the piston rod with increasing bump (compression) travel. They’ll find their ideal position

When you say unsettling, do you mean the car is still moving around rather than taking a set before turn in? At your ride height with new bump stops, you shouldn’t feel an abrupt change in stiffness because you should be engaging the bump stops at their lowest initial bump (spring) rate. If you are feeling the front crashing into the bump stops and/or an abrupt change in stiffness then that may suggest the front struts have lost damping performance. Is it braking and cornering weight transfer or a series of smaller bumps or both that cause the crashing feeling? If you drive over the same section of road at the same speed, does the car do the same things regardless of edc setting?

So to answer your first question about EDC setting differences, if I am being honest, I am not sure I notice a big difference between the three. Granted, I do 99% of my driving in Comfort, but the few times that I have switched to the other two, I couldn't tell a drastic difference and bumps still felt unmanaged in all three. From your experience, do you notice a "night and day" difference between all three modes? I think I need to "gather more data" on this though, and drive in the other modes a bit.

Regarding what I feel from the car: I cant quite speak on cornering performance as I have not been driving the car how I'd like, due to not having an alignment done yet after installing MP HAS (scheduled for tomorrow). But I really cant say I notice negative handling effects when cornering. The biggest thing I feel and even [I]hear[I] is the front end just crashing over even small bumps in the road. When I say hear, its like a loud thunk from the front end, even on some raised asphalt "snakes". Now that you are describing it, I wouldnt be surprised if I am hitting the bump stops often, which is what I am hearing. And lastly, I just dont have enough driving experience with the other three modes to determine if there are differences in how the car handles on the roads I travel most. I am going to make it a point to start using the other modes, so I can gather this sort of "data"

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by LXAS613

So to answer your first question about EDC setting differences, if I am being honest, I am not sure I notice a big difference between the three. Granted, I do 99% of my driving in Comfort, but the few times that I have switched to the other two, I couldn't tell a drastic difference and bumps still felt unmanaged in all three. From your experience, do you notice a "night and day" difference between all three modes? I think I need to "gather more data" on this though, and drive in the other modes a bit.

Regarding what I feel from the car: I cant quite speak on cornering performance as I have not been driving the car how I'd like, due to not having an alignment done yet after installing MP HAS (scheduled for tomorrow). But I really cant say I notice negative handling effects when cornering. The biggest thing I feel and even [I]hear[I] is the front end just crashing over even small bumps in the road. When I say hear, its like a loud thunk from the front end, even on some raised asphalt "snakes". Now that you are describing it, I wouldnt be surprised if I am hitting the bump stops often, which is what I am hearing. And lastly, I just dont have enough driving experience with the other three modes to determine if there are differences in how the car handles on the roads I travel most. I am going to make it a point to start using the other modes, so I can gather this sort of "data"

The edc has a mileage compensation algorithm that increases the damping (lowers voltage output with age where 0 V is valve fully closed/max damping) as they accumulate mileage. When new edc dampers, oem or aftermarket, are installed the mileage compensation must be reset to zero. So as you accumulate mileage, the difference between comfort, sport and sport+ lessons. I ordered my f82 without edc because I immediately installed a MCS setup on my car. However, my two e92 M3s came with edc (comfort, normal, sport) and I’ve driven f8x with edc. EDC was originally setup differently on the e92 M where sport was fixed damping but that was changed when zcp was released (I have a non-zcp and a zcp). I definitely felt a difference in the edc modes on the e92 and f8x with the biggest difference being between sport and sport+. I would not call it a night and day difference, more like sunset to nightfall. Full disclosure: I’ve switched to conventional damper setups on all of our cars except for the g20 330ix. At 47k miles, the mileage compensation may make it harder to notice the differences between edc settings.

Hum…I wonder if the crashing sound you hear is a bad strut upper mount? Most bump stops are made of polyurethane so they’re pretty quiet when being compressed. Is it more of a metallic crashing sound? If it is then it’s likely the strut upper mount, suspension bushing(s) or an internal bushing in the damper. Have the suspension arms checked during the alignment to eliminate them as one of the causes. The strut top mounts could also be checked visually and by turning the steering wheel lock-to-lock. Once the alignment is done, try edc settings over a section road with heavy braking and slow-medium speed corners. This will check the low speed (piston speed) damping which controls how quickly weight transfer occurs during braking and cornering (i.e., controlling the motion of the chassis relative to the road). This is where you’ll feel pitch, roll and heave motions of the chassis and whether things feel like they’ve settled down/taken a set before the next steering/braking input. Next, find a section of road with a lot of small bumps which will check mid-high speed damping. This is the range of damping that’s trying to keep the tire in contact with the road surface (i.e., controlling the motion of the wheel-brake-hub assembly relative to the chassis). This is tied more to ride quality, impact from expansion joints, harshness, teeth rattling bumps, etc. Spend some time getting used to the mp has, playing around with edc, and paying attention to chassis motions vs. wheel movements. Then you’ll be in a position to better describe what the suspension is/isn’t doing.

[LXAS613]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

The edc has a mileage compensation algorithm that increases the damping (lowers voltage output with age where 0 V is valve fully closed/max damping) as they accumulate mileage. When new edc dampers, oem or aftermarket, are installed the mileage compensation must be reset to zero. So as you accumulate mileage, the difference between comfort, sport and sport+ lessons. I ordered my f82 without edc because I immediately installed a MCS setup on my car. However, my two e92 M3s came with edc (comfort, normal, sport) and I’ve driven f8x with edc. EDC was originally setup differently on the e92 M where sport was fixed damping but that was changed when zcp was released (I have a non-zcp and a zcp). I definitely felt a difference in the edc modes on the e92 and f8x with the biggest difference being between sport and sport+. I would not call it a night and day difference, more like sunset to nightfall. Full disclosure: I’ve switched to conventional damper setups on all of our cars except for the g20 330ix. At 47k miles, the mileage compensation may make it harder to notice the differences between edc settings.

Hum…I wonder if the crashing sound you hear is a bad strut upper mount? Most bump stops are made of polyurethane so they’re pretty quiet when being compressed. Is it more of a metallic crashing sound? If it is then it’s likely the strut upper mount, suspension bushing(s) or an internal bushing in the damper. Have the suspension arms checked during the alignment to eliminate them as one of the causes. The strut top mounts could also be checked visually and [...]

This has all been TREMENDOUSLY helpful. Thanks for your perspective and expertise! Sounds like you’re quite familiar with the M world, with two E92s and a F82!

What you’re saying about EDC makes sense, especially as the car ages and the compensation that goes with it.

I am going to take your advice and really do some testing once I get it aligned tomorrow. I tested things a bit on my way home from work, and I could tell a difference in the settings once I really spent time in each, which I hadn’t done yet since I’ve owned it. The differences in the EDC modes wasn’t drastic but it was noticeable.

I’ll have the guys at BMW check out those components you mentioned as well.

Thanks again for your advice, it’s great to be a part of this community with folks that know so much and are willing to share their experiences. I think what I’ll do is get back to you in a few days once I have things dialed in! As a new owner I just don’t know what to expect, so I’ve been a bit worried, even after installing MPHAS.

[M3SQRD]

LXAS613

You’re welcome

I’ve been a forum member since 2009 and a M owner since 1994. There’s tons of archived info available with simple searches and so many forum members with a wealth of knowledge about all things M and BMW. It used to be a great, and safe, place to buy/sell items but it’s changed over the past ~5 years. I’ve had every M3/4 gen since the e36 but, unfortunately, it stops with the f82. No matter how hard I try, I just don’t like the g8x styling. There aren’t many traditional BMW design features either. Except for the ZF 8AT, the g8x outperforms the f8x in all objective categories. The interior is a step up over the f8x except for the single giant instrument cluster-center console screen. It’s too much for me. I’d rather have the s2000 dash and center console! Its stock lap times are crazy fast. Sadly, it’s not for me.

You’ll love the f8x even more as you spend more time with it. It’s definitely the best DD version of all gens and it’s been extremely reliable overall. Take your time getting used to the mphas and don’t forget to always respect the throttle pedal! I still respect the throttle even after almost eight years of tracking the f82. Pay attention to what the car is telling you and you’ll get the suspension/handling sorted out.

[jbragg1978]

This is very helpful. Thank you to everyone above.

I have a non-ZCP F80 with EDC. Like many, I find ride height is slightly too high at the front but OK at the back. I want to retain the EDC. The car has done 25k miles only so the shocks should be fine.

I tried Eibach springs but found the ride was harsher and more unsettled. This is contrary to most people who say the ride is unchanged so I went back to the the OEM springs.

Previously I had an M2 with a Litchfield B16 kit and that was simply superb. Much better on road than the M3. So, I understand that the OEM EDC dampers could be better.

My question is whether the MPHAS kit would also spoil the ride quality in the same way that the Eibach springs did? Or are they softer like the non-ZCP OEM ones.

Does anyone have good experience with the MPHAS kit please? Thank you. 🙏

[noemon]

MPHAS kit is purely for lowering the car mainly. It will not increase comfort or damping. I find it a waste of time and money personally.

A good quality coilover is what you need.

I installed the Intrax 1k2 and it is mega. Tractive is pretty good too but if a shock fails you can expect several months of downtime due to their customer service. Great things said for MCS, Moton and others.

Ohlins R&T is a great set also.

A good non-edc coilover is in my view the best present you can give to yourself and the car.