Bilstein B16 Damptronic for F80 M3: My Review

[applesauce683]

I have these on my base F80. I first had them on with CS EDC coding and it was pretty brutal. Comfort was bouncy and sport plus was super stiff. I switched to ZCP coding and it is much more compliant in all modes. Still not perfect but much better, I will try corner balancing next.

[deli333]

Originally Posted by TR930

Going to get the B6. Think that is the ticket for street driven car.

I think this is wrong statement. According to my tests and observations

stock fronts - way underdamped
stock rears - a little bit underdamped

b6 fronts - a little bit overdamped
b6 rears - way overdamped

I am planning to try B6 fronts, b4 rears or stock rears, I think it is the way to go but need confirmation for sure.

still I need to try more different settings to have a better conclusion. But even watching this video shakes my seat. Especially after 9th minute you can see pogo stick feeling he is having. jump after jump. He denied it but especially this moment, it takes 2-3 seconds for car to settle in that corner, it even cuts gas. Even though shocks seem handle very well, overdampening there makes it even worse.

check especially 10:18 - 10:30

[A47]

Originally Posted by deli333

I think this is wrong statement. According to my tests and observations

stock fronts - way underdamped
stock rears - a little bit underdamped

b6 fronts - a little bit overdamped
b6 rears - way overdamped

I am planning to try B6 fronts, b4 rears or stock rears, I think it is the way to go but need confirmation for sure.

still I need to try more different settings to have a better conclusion. But even watching this video shakes my seat. Especially after 9th minute you can see pogo stick feeling he is having. jump after jump. He denied it but especially this moment, it takes 2-3 seconds for car to settle in that corner, it even cuts gas. Even though shocks seem handle very well, overdampening there makes it even worse.

check especially 10:18 - 10:30

What about B4s all around?Do you know how Evolve are trying to valve their custom B6s?Thanks

[///M-pressed]

Originally Posted by deli333

I think this is wrong statement. According to my tests and observations

stock fronts - way underdamped
stock rears - a little bit underdamped

b6 fronts - a little bit overdamped
b6 rears - way overdamped

I am planning to try B6 fronts, b4 rears or stock rears, I think it is the way to go but need confirmation for sure.

still I need to try more different settings to have a better conclusion. But even watching this video shakes my seat. Especially after 9th minute you can see pogo stick feeling he is having. jump after jump. He denied it but especially this moment, it takes 2-3 seconds for car to settle in that corner, it even cuts gas. Even though shocks seem handle very well, overdampening there makes it even worse.

check especially 10:18 - 10:30

Personally I disagree with your sentiments. What are your tests and observations?

I've put about 1000kms on my B6 EDC dampers and MSS springs now, and the car feels perfect. It's firm but compliant, but I think your conclusion of the B6 rears being way overdamped is untrue.

I can confirm that my car does not bounce or it's too firm, and that is on the shitty roads that we have down here in Australia. I drive my car around with 'Sport' mode selected on the EDC suspension setting most of the time, and only when I know I'm about to go over tram tracks or something.

I tell you one thing, the car put its power down a lot better and I find it a lot more enjoyable in the corners. The rear end is a lot more sorted than it was stock. And that's with approx 500hp at the crank.

[deli333]

Originally Posted by A47

What about B4s all around?Do you know how Evolve are trying to valve their custom B6s?Thanks

I don't know about both. planning to try b4's at the first opportunity. I will share everything on forum of course because suspension is a big issue in this platform and annoys many people.

I will switch to stock shocks + mp has next week, I know it will be shit in most occasions but for me it is better than feeling all the dampening on the rear.

[behindthen0thing]

Originally Posted by ntg44

Hi everyone,

Considering there aren't too many of these on the street, let alone reviews of them, thought I'd take the time to weigh in on my experience of the B16 Damptronic with EDC kit so far.

***Background: TL;DR - Skip this portion to go straight to B16 review***

2017 M3, base (no comp pack), 18 inch wheels.

After 6000 miles, I had switched to Macht Schnell springs, and have ridden on them for a year and 2000 miles before the B16 Damptronic install yesterday. I will use the MS spring kit as a reference point for comparison, but I will try my best to compare to stock springs from memory.

As many others have complained, stock shocks have a very floaty/bouncy feeling. I'm no suspension expert, but my novice impression of the stock shocks were that while comfortable over small bumps and minor road imperfections, anything with a greater than a 2 inch elevation change going over 50 mph would cause this boat rocking feeling, with the suspension requiring multiple compressions/rebounds to settle again. This, combined with a particularly rigid chassis, regularly caused issues with traction control and rear end stability, and was not at all confidence inspiring for me.

After MS spring install, the car felt slightly stiffer than stock, but only to me who was the most familiar with the ride quality, and no one I had driven after the change to lowering springs complained about the ride quality - the MS kit really does feel as close to stock as you can get in my opinion. However, while it looked great, it was no better or worse performing than stock in my opinion, and I knew that I eventually needed to look into a kit with better shocks. I did not want to code out EDC, so that left me with the following options:

- KW DDC (was out of my budget)
- Tractive shocks (couldn't find any legitimate way to get these into the US)
- Bilstein B6 shocks (tried contacting vendors in the UK for shipping to US, but none responded. USA availability still TBD at time of writing)
- Bilstein B16 Damptronic - was in my budget, and I heard good things, so chose this system due to it being the only attainable kit that fit my budget and feature requirements.

With that out of the way, on to the review.


***End Background and Begin Review***

I've only had a ~50 mile trip home to experience the kit so far, but here are my initial observations:

- This kit is stiff. I am at roughly max height in front and about -5 -> -10mm from max height in rear. Comfort mode on B16 is somewhere in between Sport and Sport+ on stock shocks. Sport and Sport+ in my opinion are too much for the street. I'm on 18 inch wheels with Continental ECS tires with 40 sidewall, and it's not what I'd call comfortable. I personally wouldn't be able to tolerate this kit with 19 or 20 inch wheels. Also, if this car was my daily driver, I'd most likely be having buyer's remorse at this point. This may change as I recalibrate my expectations.

- This kit is PLANTED. What these coil overs give up in comfort, they make up for in stability and then some. It doesn't matter how big or small the road imperfection is, these shocks just eat them up and the composure of the car is undisturbed. Gone are the multiple compressions/rebounds and horrendous vertical weight transfer of the stock shocks, replaced with a single compression/rebound and constant grip. Haven't floored it much since I got it due to traffic, but when I did, I did notice the traction control light basically not flashing at all in first gear on bumpy roads. Pleasant surprise.

- The car has gained so much steering feel! I don't know how or why, but even in comfort steering, I can now feel the feedback coming from the road into the steering wheel. I used to complain that my R8's hydraulic steering (which isn't even that high on feedback) had more steering feel. But after I got home, I took the R8 out just to make sure this wasn't placebo effect, and I confirmed my initial observation. My M3 with electric steering now has more feel than my R8 with hydraulic steering, and any other car I've owned in recent memory. Incredible.

- Toward the last 3 miles of my roughly 50 mile drive home, I got a chassis malfunction warning. It was not a chassis function restricted, but it did read something like continuous driving permissable. However, my steering was locked to Sport and Engine to Efficient, M buttons were disabled, but I was still able to manually turn on MDM. I did not notice the shocks being more or less stiff after this happened. After getting home, I turned the car off, turned it back on, and the warning light was gone, and everything had returned to normal. I drove around for about 2 miles afterwards and the warning light did not reappear. Will monitor and scan the error code if this happens again. At this point not sure if install or hardware related.


To sum up, I would say this kit is definitely more track focused. Even on 18s and soft tires, I would find it difficult to daily drive the car with this system installed. There are too many other cars out there with fantastic OEM suspensions that are much more compliant for a street car, without the bounciness that the stock M3/4 shocks provide. My R8 Spyder for comparison, although 200lb heavier and much more expensive I admit, has a much more comfortable mag-shock suspension that has all of the stiffness with none of the drawbacks, and I would much rather take the R8 on a road trip vs. the M3 at this point. But this does not take anything away from the B16 kit, and at this point the kit is worth the trade off in comfort for shorter distance joyrides. Your mileage may vary though, and this could be exactly what you've been looking for.


That's all I have so far. I hope this information is valuable to anyone looking into this kit, and if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

are they better on track than kw clubsports 2 way?

[EvoFire]

I installed these awhile ago and didn't post until now to really feel out the kit.

I have them installed with GC camber plates and monoball thrust arms in the front. On 19" Titan7s



The kit is stiff. The roads around here are not great and it's a little too bouncy sometimes. I find comfort mode too under damped and has a hard time controlling the body motions to the point where it's super uncomfortable from the micro bouncing.

I drive around in Sport all the time now but Sport+ is too stiff for the small road imperfections.

Track day on July 25 so I'll see how they handle.

I am thinking of ordering custom springs that are softer to replace the original B16 springs. If anyone know the spring rates that would be great.

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I installed these awhile ago and didn't post until now to really feel out the kit.

I have them installed with GC camber plates and monoball thrust arms in the front. On 19" Titan7s



The kit is stiff. The roads around here are not great and it's a little too bouncy sometimes. I find comfort mode too under damped and has a hard time controlling the body motions to the point where it's super uncomfortable from the micro bouncing.

I drive around in Sport all the time now but Sport+ is too stiff for the small road imperfections.

Track day on July 25 so I'll see how they handle.

I am thinking of ordering custom springs that are softer to replace the original B16 springs. If anyone know the spring rates that would be great.

Supposed spring rates are here:
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=71

It's definitely stiff. How many miles have you put on it? It definitely softens some after a few hundred. When I first drove home from shop after mine were installed I thought something was seriously wrong, they were so stiff. Your ride height doesn't look overly slammed.

I've had mine on for a couple years, and I've grown to tolerate them, and I'm in Philly area where roads are fairly bad. Similarly, I continue to have this perception that for some reason Sport is more comfortable than Comfort on the street. On the track, it does feel pretty good in Sport+. I'm not the fastest guy around, and one day I may reach the limit of what this kit can do, but for now I'm still driving my laptimes down little by little on this setup. I also have FTA monoballs, and I've definitely appreciated the increase in steering/road feel that has come with this combo.

I'd certainly give it a go on track first before you decide to change anything. Depending on how much track vs street, and how much you want to optimize performance on track, going to a softer spring may obviously negate the body roll benefits (as well as nose dive, which was a huge issue on stock suspension)

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I installed these awhile ago and didn't post until now to really feel out the kit.

I have them installed with GC camber plates and monoball thrust arms in the front. On 19" Titan7s



The kit is stiff. The roads around here are not great and it's a little too bouncy sometimes. I find comfort mode too under damped and has a hard time controlling the body motions to the point where it's super uncomfortable from the micro bouncing.

I drive around in Sport all the time now but Sport+ is too stiff for the small road imperfections.

Track day on July 25 so I'll see how they handle.

I am thinking of ordering custom springs that are softer to replace the original B16 springs. If anyone know the spring rates that would be great.

Do you have CS EDC coded in? If not, do it.

It makes the B16 much much much better and way more comfortable.

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Do you have CS EDC coded in? If not, do it.

It makes the B16 much much much better and way more comfortable.

Does BM3 offer CS EDC? I’m guessing someone needs to do a remote coding session?

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by BzsBimmer

Does BM3 offer CS EDC? I’m guessing someone needs to do a remote coding session?

Yes, hit up kubax86

[EvoFire]

I asked my friend who does coding to come by and change it to CS EDC, will report back once I get it and put some miles on.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

Supposed spring rates are here:
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=71

It's definitely stiff. How many miles have you put on it? It definitely softens some after a few hundred. When I first drove home from shop after mine were installed I thought something was seriously wrong, they were so stiff. Your ride height doesn't look overly slammed.

I've had mine on for a couple years, and I've grown to tolerate them, and I'm in Philly area where roads are fairly bad. Similarly, I continue to have this perception that for some reason Sport is more comfortable than Comfort on the street. On the track, it does feel pretty good in Sport+. I'm not the fastest guy around, and one day I may reach the limit of what this kit can do, but for now I'm still driving my laptimes down little by little on this setup. I also have FTA monoballs, and I've definitely appreciated the increase in steering/road feel that has come with this combo.

I'd certainly give it a go on track first before you decide to change anything. Depending on how much track vs street, and how much you want to optimize performance on track, going to a softer spring may obviously negate the body roll benefits (as well as nose dive, which was a huge issue on stock suspension)

The coil rates seem insane, the stock rates and the B16D rates are
198 lbs/in Front, 685 lbs/in Rear
525 lbs/in Front, 800 lbs/in Rear

That's more than 2.5x! The rear rates seem more inline, and I guess that may correspond to what I am feeling, the front is STIFF. I also have a lot less rubber on the front.

[dawei213]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I asked my friend who does coding to come by and change it to CS EDC, will report back once I get it and put some miles on.

Were you able to get the CS encoding done? It'd be great to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by dawei213

Were you able to get the CS encoding done? It'd be great to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

Friend is coming by this afternoon. Give me a week I typically don't drive the car during the week.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by dawei213

Were you able to get the CS encoding done? It'd be great to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

Bit earlier of an response cause I drove it a bit more than usual.

The CS coding did make a difference. Wife's pregnant butt said so as well

In terms of details, the CS coding took the edge off the initial sharpness on impacts, it's been "rounded" off both in terms of road imperfections and speed bumps for both Comfort and Sport mode. I haven't driven it much in Sport+ as I didn't even do that before I swapped coils.

B16D in comp settings resulted in a lot of very uncomfortable micro-bouncing, as if the shocks could not control the springs at all. With the CS setting I still find some unsettled-ness but it's usually mostly gone by the 3rd undulation.

In comp Comfort was untenable as a setting but now I can do Comfort or Sport. I still feel like Sport gives a better control of the body at a small expense of comfort over repeated bumps. I think it depends on the road surface to say which one would be more comfortable, and the difference between the two settings are quite small.