Coilovers

[njzn2003]

Looking to get some coilovers for my f80.

Don’t know much about coilovers so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

-best coilovers for my buck?
-recommend buying them used?
-best overall feel?
-best on the market?
-difference between the adjustable springs?

Hopefully I’m asking the proper questions

[louielouie]

There's not a, "best" coilover but only a best for your needs. You need to provide details on what you mainly use the car for (street/track) because that's going to dictate a lot of the categories you listed above as well as if maintaining EDC is important or not.

[njzn2003]

Originally Posted by louielouie

There's not a, "best" coilover but only a best for your needs. You need to provide details on what you mainly use the car for (street/track) because that's going to dictate a lot of the categories you listed above as well as if maintaining EDC is important or not.

Oops sorry didn’t know that. I never plan on tracking the car so it’ll be for street use and my f80 didn’t come with the edc option

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by njzn2003

Oops sorry didn’t know that. I never plan on tracking the car so it’ll be for street use and my f80 didn’t come with the edc option

Popular option is Ohlins R&T but I don't think they go slammed ride height if that's what you're looking for. KW V3s are popular also.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by njzn2003

Looking to get some coilovers for my f80.

Don’t know much about coilovers so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

-best coilovers for my buck?

This depends on whether you’re looking for performance or comfort and your budget. So what are your preferences and budget?

-recommend buying them used?

Yes and no. High-end performance dampers have to be rebuilt in the 25-35k mile range or lower. So it depends on the coilover type and price vs mileage.

-best overall feel?

This again depends on your goals. “Feel” is a subjective thing so what feel is comfortable you might find harsh or what I feel as low NVH you might find it too high. This is one of the harder things to quantify. So again, what are you looking for - street vs track? Performance vs comfort? Budget?

-best on the market?

This is subjective, performance vs comfort, and budget driven
The “best performing” track are ~$7-13k
“Best” performing street are ~$3-8k+
“Best” budget setup are ~$2-3.5k

-difference between the adjustable springs?

Huge difference between coilover and HAS on stock struts/shocks. HAS option is limiting, especially in how low you can go. BMW already uses the bump stops to limit travel so lowering the car means you’ll be crashing into the bump stops more frequently. The lower you go, the worse it gets.

Hopefully I’m asking the proper questions

Please answer the questions and we can try to narrower down the options.

[RugbyBro]

KW V3s for your usage

[dms-01]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

KW V3s for your usage

This but you will probably end up needing to buy a spacer for the rears. I have them and no complaints.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

KW V3s for your usage

You’d do V3s over R&Ts? Only reason to go with the V3s is if you want to slam the car. I first installed V3s on my ‘03 e46 M3 in 2003 and it was the worst damper I’ve ever used. I could not eliminate the rear from pitching regardless of C and R settings. I could only take it for a few weeks before pulling the V3s off of the car. I’d hope they’ve addressed this over the next 2-3 generations of the M3/4 but I’ll never use any product from KW.

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

You’d do V3s over R&Ts? Only reason to go with the V3s is if you want to slam the car. I first installed V3s on my ‘03 e46 M3 in 2003 and it was the worst damper I’ve ever used. I could not eliminate the rear from pitching regardless of C and R settings. I could only take it for a few weeks before pulling the V3s off of the car. I’d hope they’ve addressed this over the next 2-3 generations of the M3/4 but I’ll never use any product from KW.

It’s more of an educated guess on my part about the intended usage since this is going to be a street only vehicle. FWIW KW damping on F8X is excellent as far as street manners go. dms-01 is correct about the rear spring spacer tho, I’ve been helping a buddy with his DDCs and ran into the rear being too low. However, they are supremely comfy on the intended spring rates. They certainly can feel “floaty” like you describe but for a street driven vehicle that’s probably not a big deal as a trade off. You and I are a bit more discerning about dampers than most due to heavy track use.

Out of the box Ohlins R&T operate in an odd segment in the market in my mind. Can be too stiff for the street yet is outclassed in heavy track usage and has relatively short rebuild intervals for a street biased shock. You pretty much need to go with a re-valved and re-springed version from a shop like 3DM to dial that setup in - at that point I’d say it’s a pretty fantastic option for a mixed duty car. Even turner has jumped on the wagon and revalved R&T in the opposite direction to make them more compliant for street use. But idk anyone who has run those yet.

Edit: sorry I mis-tagged RElias21

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

It’s more of an educated guess on my part about the intended usage since this is going to be a street only vehicle. FWIW KW damping on F8X is excellent as far as street manners go. RElias21 is correct about the rear spring spacer tho, I’ve been helping a buddy with his DDCs and ran into the rear being too low. However, they are supremely comfy on the intended spring rates. They certainly can feel “floaty” like you describe but for a street driven vehicle that’s probably not a big deal as a trade off. You and I are a bit more discerning about dampers than most due to heavy track use.

Out of the box Ohlins R&T operate in an odd segment in the market in my mind. Can be too stiff for the street yet is outclassed in heavy track usage and has relatively short rebuild intervals for a street biased shock. You pretty much need to go with a re-valved and re-springed version from a shop like 3DM to dial that setup in - at that point I’d say it’s a pretty fantastic option for a mixed duty car. Even turner has jumped on the wagon and revalved R&T in the opposite direction to make them more compliant for street use. But idk anyone who has run those yet.

Not floaty. It was a severe pitching motion due to the rear and front having poor spring rate and different F-to-R frequencies. The rear is literally bouncing up and down uncontrollably on a smooth surface. This is common on setups with much higher front wheel rates than the rear wheel rates; however, premium dampers can control this type of pitching motion.

3DM and PSI both offer R&T street options with lower spring rates and appropriate revalving. I have a set of R&Ts on my R56 Mini CS with spring rates are 25% lower spring rates and it’s been a wonderful street setup for 13 years. For basically the same $, I’d go Ohlins R&T over KW V3. I don’t know how many people know this but KW stole another competitor’s patented valving for the V3.

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Not floaty. It was a severe pitching motion due to the rear and front having poor spring rate and different F-to-R frequencies. The rear is literally bouncing up and down uncontrollably on a smooth surface. This is common on setups with much higher front wheel rates than the rear wheel rates; however, premium dampers can control this type of pitching motion.

3DM and PSI both offer R&T street options with lower spring rates and appropriate revalving. I have a set of R&Ts on my R56 Mini CS with spring rates are 25% lower spring rates and it’s been a wonderful street setup for 13 years. For basically the same $, I’d go Ohlins R&T over KW V3. I don’t know how many people know this but KW stole another competitor’s patented valving for the V3.

Strange I think they've fixed that behavior since you've had them on the E46. The KW street setups I've been in and driven on F8X (V3 & DDC) feel pretty good on the street. Done a lap or two on the DDCs as well, they felt adequate enough though I wouldn't lean into them for much track work outside the odd casual day.

[Kilabyte]

Originally Posted by njzn2003

Looking to get some coilovers for my f80.

Don’t know much about coilovers so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

-best coilovers for my buck?
-recommend buying them used?
-best overall feel?
-best on the market?
-difference between the adjustable springs?

Hopefully I’m asking the proper questions

lol, don't get them unless you need them then

[RElias21]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

It’s more of an educated guess on my part about the intended usage since this is going to be a street only vehicle. FWIW KW damping on F8X is excellent as far as street manners go. dms-01 is correct about the rear spring spacer tho, I’ve been helping a buddy with his DDCs and ran into the rear being too low. However, they are supremely comfy on the intended spring rates. They certainly can feel “floaty” like you describe but for a street driven vehicle that’s probably not a big deal as a trade off. You and I are a bit more discerning about dampers than most due to heavy track use.

Out of the box Ohlins R&T operate in an odd segment in the market in my mind. Can be too stiff for the street yet is outclassed in heavy track usage and has relatively short rebuild intervals for a street biased shock. You pretty much need to go with a re-valved and re-springed version from a shop like 3DM to dial that setup in - at that point I’d say it’s a pretty fantastic option for a mixed duty car. Even turner has jumped on the wagon and revalved R&T in the opposite direction to make them more compliant for street use. But idk anyone who has run those yet.

Edit: sorry I mis-tagged RElias21

I was flattered to be mentioned by one of the suspension gurus on here, but I figured as much. 😂

[Track/S]

My vote is Ohlins with spring rates F:80NM R:140NM

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Track/S

My vote is Ohlins with spring rates F:80NM R:140NM

Agree. ~450 lbf/in F and ~700 lbf/in R spring rates are a great street setup. Properly valved Ohlins R&T dampers for the rates above will result in a compliant ride yet sprung high enough to get improved handling performance. Then with only 6-8 clicks of the damper you can go between a more compliant biased ride to a more performance biased ride. As a compromise, you could find the middle ground between compliant & performance to come up with a single F and R # of clicks that you set and forget. With my R56 Mini CS, I’d adjust the R&T damper settings 6-7 turns more open for winter and the car is nice and compliant for winter driving.

On my wife’s M240ix, I installed a MCS 2WR with F/R 500/800 lbf/in and it’s a great street setup. She wants all of our cars that don’t already have MCS setups to be upgraded with MCS setups. She’s spoiled

[M 4 FUN]

I run the Öhlins kit on my M4. I laborated a bit with springrates. The kit came with 230 N/mm rear springs and 90N/mm front springs. This was way too stiff for me and the rear dampers were also wrong with too long shock bodies, which Öhlins fixed fast. After my complains they sent me 190 rear springs instead and shortened dampers which improved the car a lot. These spring rates are now standard in the kits ansd also the dampers. After this i changed to 160/80 springs which i run now and it works fine. Stock valving works fine with these springs which is also seen when you look at the damper dyno curves and compare the stock dampers with the Öhlins.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by M 4 FUN

I run the Öhlins kit on my M4. I laborated a bit with springrates. The kit came with 230 N/mm rear springs and 90N/mm front springs. This was way too stiff for me and the rear dampers were also wrong with too long shock bodies, which Öhlins fixed fast. After my complains they sent me 190 rear springs instead and shortened dampers which improved the car a lot. These spring rates are now standard in the kits ansd also the dampers. After this i changed to 160/80 springs which i run now and it works fine. Stock valving works fine with these springs which is also seen when you look at the damper dyno curves and compare the stock dampers with the Öhlins.

So you got rear dampers that were too long? I remember when they initially released the kit the rear dampers were too short.

Yes, you can run them with the original valving but you’ll be limited on the number of turns/clicks you’ll be able to use. They’re valved the rear to handle a 230 N/mm spring and even with that spring rate you can overdamp that spring so revalving for the softer springs allows you to run from a lot closer to 1 (if it goes from 0 to 19 clicks) and to 18 because Ohlins doesn’t want you to use 0 (fully closed) and 19 (fully open). So with soft springs you’ll be limited to maybe 10 useful clicks, possibly fewer than that. If you change your rates by more than ~+/- 35 N/mm, you should revalve to have a nice useable range from at least clicks 3-16 from fully open. I ran rates that were 25% softer and I could only use around a max of 11-12 clicks, realistically useable range is 9-10 clicks (click 3 to click 11 from fully opened). If I’m buying a damper with 20 adjustable clicks, I want at least 14-15 to be truly useable clicks.

[Innovade]

Turner or 3DM ohlins look like an interesting option , but haven’t seen many reviews on them yet. I have ohlins on another car and they feel great.

[HotRodM4]

I’m seriously considering Ohlins x Turner Street Coilovers. I daily my M4 in NY. Never tracked it but I’m open-minded to it in the future.

I’m guessing I’d need to buy a separate EDC delete kit for the ohlins coilovers, right?

[sdhasher21]

Originally Posted by HotRodM4

I’m seriously considering Ohlins x Turner Street Coilovers. I daily my M4 in NY. Never tracked it but I’m open-minded to it in the future.

I’m guessing I’d need to buy a separate EDC delete kit for the ohlins coilovers, right?

You could also code it out. Did that recently when I switched to Ohlins.

[Innovade]

Originally Posted by HotRodM4

I’m seriously considering Ohlins x Turner Street Coilovers. I daily my M4 in NY. Never tracked it but I’m open-minded to it in the future.

I’m guessing I’d need to buy a separate EDC delete kit for the ohlins coilovers, right?

These are currently on sale with $300 off