First Nitron Coilovers for the M4 - Report soon

[Ghostriderf80]

Originally Posted by jim996

Picked the car up today and drove home, 300 mostly motorway miles.

First impressions only tonight, will do a full report with install pictures over the following week or so. The short version is that I'm impressed, very impressed. I've raced motorbikes for years and I've owned my fair share of good and not so good (shite!) suspension set ups, sometimes even the expensive shocks can be disappointing and harsh. I've also had Lotus cars and a 911 with bilstein coilovers in the past so have a decent experience level with sports cars.

I've got Ohlins TTX on my current race bike and Ohlins sets the standard in the bike world. Extremely well damped. I would go so far to say the Nitron R3 dampers on my car are as good as the Ohlins TTX shock on my bike.

Ride quality. Very good, soft and compliant, I had been prepared to get my teeth rattled at slower speeds but this is just not the case. The car ride bumps very well and feels very different to the standard dampers, it provides enough feedback of bumps but the damping is so good you don't really notice them.

Spring stiffness. The spring rates are considerably stiffer than even the competition pack rates that BMW uses and I was expecting to get my teeth knocked out. The car just doesn't feel stiff though because the damping is excellent, feels like it's sitting between sport and sports plus when compared to the standard suspension but bizarrely a lot more comfortable than even the comfort setting on the BMW suspension.

Grip. With my bike experience I know that some bikes I can go very hard on, some I can't and it's all down to feeling the grip under the front wheel on a bike. With the car now the feeling was instant, I know I can drive very quickly in this car and I can just feel the grip from the front and rear. This car iust has tons of pure mechanical grip and the tyres and damping feels soft and compliant with excellent feedback. You can move the car quickly from side to side and it settles almost instantly.

Braking, the front spring rates are hugely increased from the standard springs and the car just stops very hard now with minimum dive.

Acceleration, car hooks up, drives hard with none of the usual M4 antics, no sliding, no hopping or dancing around, just instant grip converted into forward acceleration. The only downside is it makes the car feel slow because it’s so planted, the fear of hard acceleration every M4 driver will know has gone completely.

Corners. Turns hard and flat with plenty of feel transmitted through the chassis. I haven't had the chance to really hit the twisties with it yet though.

A really good suspension set up is one you don't really notice. I've driven 300 miles today and quickly forgot that I was using a racing derived suspension. The car just does everything very well, it brakes, corners and accelerates well but also cruises along the motorway with a very compliant ride.

I've been in a lot of cars with aftermarket coilovers fitted and many of them are bloody awful, just racetrack refugees that operate within such a narrow window that they just don't work on a real UK road.

The Nitrons really are excellent. To be honest this is how a £60,000 car should feel straight from the factory the BMW adaptive system really isn't anywhere near this. It's both comfortable and extremely capable at the same time. Take note BMW.

Ya I needed someone to compare this to TTX. 12K for a car set up on the TTX is big coin. Nitron seems to be a nice spot in the middle. Not cheap, but still not crazy. Shirmer racing uses these on their cars.

I wish my friend has never mentioned this suspension to me. Damn him... there goes my money. lol

[jim996]

Originally Posted by Ghostriderf80

Ya I needed someone to compare this to TTX. 12K for a car set up on the TTX is big coin. Nitron seems to be a nice spot in the middle. Not cheap, but still not crazy. Shirmer racing uses these on their cars.

I wish my friend has never mentioned this suspension to me. Damn him... there goes my money. lol

I'm not able to compare them directly to Ohlins TTX on a car but I have TTX on my race bike. Nitron is serious race kit, I've been very impressed with it on my M4, they hold the Nurburgring lap record and newest Lotus cars have the R3 kit as factory fit.

I would suggest you give them a call in the UK and chat through what you have in mind for your car. I was extremely impressed with their service levels, one of their engineers will call you back and discuss options with you and you know you are talking to someone who really knows his business.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...reme-exige-yet

https://www.facebook.com/nitronracin...My9zyyDz3-rxFw

[jim996]

Just an update on this but I just changed my wheels to the M performance 763 ones with the Cup 2 Rubber. The difference in performance is staggering over the bloody awful Contis that the car was delivered on. The Nitron suspension works superbly with the increased grip levels and the car has a staggering amount of mechanical grip now once the tyres are up to temperature....even on greasy and cold winter roads.

[ANILE8]

You may have been the first but I'm sure you won't be the last. I have just got my hands on a Nitron NTR-R3 kit and can confirm the build quality is outstanding.

I will update my impressions of the performance HERE when fitted.

Have not had the chance to fit it yet as I am doing a rear end upgrade at the same time and currently waiting on parts.

Looks to me like your kit would be difficult to adjust front and rear compression damping without first removing the wheels because of the piggyback shock configuration.

As these kits are fully custom made I know you can also order them with an external shock reservoir connected via a hydraulic hose as an alternative so you can place the reservoirs anywhere you wish for ease of access.

[jim996]

Originally Posted by ANILE8

You may have been the first but I'm sure you won't be the last. I have just got my hands on a Nitron NTR-R3 kit and can confirm the build quality is outstanding.

I will update my impressions of the performance HERE when fitted.

Have not had the chance to fit it yet as I am doing a rear end upgrade at the same time and currently waiting on parts.

Looks to me like your kit would be difficult to adjust front and rear compression damping without first removing the wheels because of the piggyback shock configuration.

As these kits are fully custom made I know you can also order them with an external shock reservoir connected via a hydraulic hose as an alternative so you can place the reservoirs anywhere you wish for ease of access.

I can adjust them easily enough. You either just reach your hand in behind the rear wheels (it can be quite a stretch) or I lift the car on a trolley jack and they clickers are very easy to reach when the rear wheel hangs down to the full length of it's travel. The front wheel adjustments are easy to reach if you put the steering on full lock. I prefer this set up as I didn't want to start cutting into the boot lining etc to place the remote canisters.

Hope you enjoy the kit once you get it fitted!

[Lienrocs]

Bumping an old thread.

OP can you put me in contact with the person you dealt with at Nitron? I would like a similar set up but for an E92.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Lienrocs

Bumping an old thread.

OP can you put me in contact with the person you dealt with at Nitron? I would like a similar set up but for an E92.

Mike Meister
CobraHeat LLC
Nitron Racing Shocks USA
sales@nitronracingshocks.com

[Lienrocs]

Thank you. Also, any updates on the set up? How do you like them after having had them for a while?

[MPOOR]

awesome stuff ~!!!! Looks incredible ~!!!!

[jim996]

Still loving the set up. Car is brutally fast now since having Bootmod3 stage 1 fitted but the suspension seems to cope with it

[Lienrocs]

What spring rates did nitron spec for your set up?

[FlyingLow78]

I just ordered a set of Nitron R1s with 450/750 springs. They originally spec’d the kit with 800/1100 lb-in springs, but I was concerned they’d beat me to death on the crap Italian roads. My car has only done two track days so far, so 99% of my driving is city streets. With the currency conversion from dollar to GBP, shipping, and VAT the total was just over $4K.

I tried ordering through the US supplier, but ended up going round and round with emails trying to get them to provide info. They really need to make more information publicly available.

Will update this thread after I take delivery.

[Lienrocs]

Awesome! Good to hear. I'd like to pick up a set but its hard to find info on them in the states. Really looking forward to your feedback.

[FlyingLow78]

I just took delivery of the Nitron R1 kit today. I purchased through the UK supplier and they told me 2-3 weeks to produce it. Nineteen days after paying they showed up at my door. It's nice when stuff is on time - not every vendor I've dealt with has kept their promised delivery date. Because there isn't a ton of info on the internet about their kits, I'm going to do my best to share my experience.

As stated above, my car has the 450 & 750 lb-in springs. When I unpacked the box my first impressions were *really* positive. The build quality is incredible -- everything has been machined from a solid block of aluminum, steel, or titanium, and then anodized black or grey. There is no welding and only two pieces of plastic on the whole kit (for the spring seats), and even those have obviously been produced on a lathe. The rear shocks are undoubtedly built with a significant amount of titanium because they're amazingly light. They are also designed for metal-metal contact, so there are only two little rubber pads in the whole kit (for the rear spring upper mounts). NVH will definitely go up.

The camber kits are the best I've ever seen. They are shockingly beautiful anodized grey and even offer caster adjustment. The kit includes slick adjustable sway bar links with booted balljoints for durability as well.

Something to consider before buying this kit is the recommended rebuild time. On my Ohlins R&T it was every 30K miles. On the Nitron R1 it's every 12-18K miles or 10-15 hours of track time. The quality, though...OMG. If they perform as well as they look I'll never want to drive anything else.

I'm going to try to get them installed by my mechanic in Germany next weekend. They have no instructions or a diagram to explain what all of the beautiful little pieces are for, so it requires a trained technician to install. There are some things in the kit that definitely weren't in my Ohlins kit.

Stand by for updates. I also have a track day at Imola to give the kit a good workout in about a month.

[M 4 FUN]

Looks like very nice stuff! But rebuild after 15 hours? That sounds weird to me if the quality is so high.

[FlyingLow78]

Originally Posted by M 4 FUN

Looks like very nice stuff! But rebuild after 15 hours? That sounds weird to me if the quality is so high.

It’s the trade off between durability and performance. They’re assembled with ultra-low friction seals and lack protection on the piston rods, so eventually dirt is gonna get in there and wear things out. Might be worth asking the OP how his is holding up. Rebuilds aren’t expensive and the turnaround is quick. I put less than 15K miles on my car when I drove it every day for the first 1.5 years, so. Since it’s a second car it’s never leaving the house.

Update for my timeline: coilovers going on on 14 Oct and just a few days later they’re on track. I would have preferred to install them soon, but I can’t get away from work.

[FlyingLow78]

Ok, so the coilovers are installed! There’s a ton of adjustability built into the kit: camber, caster, sway bar preload, ride height, damper stiffness.... the list goes on.

I drove back to Italy and got plenty of time to evaluate them. First and foremost, these things are loud. Nitron doesn’t build in a lot of noise dampening to their system. It’s metal on metal. There are obvious thunks on sharp bumps and the tire howl on certain road textures is quite loud. On the Italian autostrada and most of the German autobahn there wasn’t much noise at all, but on the Austrian autobahn the horizontal smoothing of the pavement really amplified the roar, and I had my quiet all-season tires on the car. For a daily driver this is too far into race territory to be tolerable for me, but thankfully I don’t drive it daily. People who ride with you will ask about all of the clunks and thumps.

The front camber plates can give you over 4 degrees of camber if that’s what you’re after. I wasn’t. Photos soon...

[FlyingLow78]

[FlyingLow78]

Ok, so Nitrons make noise going over bumps. The good news, though, is that they’re pretty quiet on a smooth autostrada with the adjustments at 11 of 22 clicks.

The BEST news, however, is that Nitron coilovers are fantastic on track. I cranked the stiffness to 16/22 on all four and left it there all morning at Imola. Comparing my 2017 best run with yesterday’s, I was over seven seconds faster per lap. It was a lot cooler and I had AP Racing brakes this time, but I left a lot of margin in the braking zones since pad fade (or more accurately, liquification) contributed to my crash last year.

The biggest difference I noticed was how well I could ride the kerbs at Variante Alta. In 2017, on stock non-EDC suspension, the car could ride the kerbs, but took a moment to settle on the exit before DSC would allow me full throttle again. Yeah, I’m one of those guys that drives in MDM. With the Nitrons, the car was notably less disrupted by the kerbs, and it settled lightning quick on the exit. Mash the throttle and go.

I’m super impressed with the performance and very much looking forward to track time at a Monza in 2 weeks and Circuit de Catalunya in December. I collected about two hours of track time yesterday, so I’m about 13 hours from my first rebuild if I don’t count the additional miles I’ve driven since I got them installed.

I made a quick video from footage shot in two years ago with my stock non-EDC M3 and my 2018 with Nitrons. Disclaimer: This is not an absolute apples-to-apples comparison because I couldn't find a clip from 2017 with me taking the chicane without using the rumble strips. The effects of DSC intervention cannot be completely discounted if both cars had taken identical lines.

The clips show a couple things. First, the apex speed on the second kerb was almost identical (74 KPH for the stock car and 75 KPH for the Nitron-shod car). Second, the Nitrons made it easier to keep the car from going onto the rumble strips. Third: The speed at the same point after the chicane (denoted by the "Imola" painted on the asphalt) was 15 KPH faster for the car with Nitrons.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by FlyingLow78

As stated above, my car has the 450 & 750 lb-in springs. When I unpacked the box my first impressions were *really* positive. The build quality is incredible -- everything has been machined from a solid block of aluminum, steel, or titanium, and then anodized black or grey. There is no welding and only two pieces of plastic on the whole kit (for the spring seats), and even those have obviously been produced on a lathe. The rear shocks are undoubtedly built with a significant amount of titanium because they're amazingly light. They are also designed for metal-metal contact, so there are only two little rubber pads in the whole kit (for the rear spring upper mounts). NVH will definitely go up.

Nitron dampers are NOT machined from Titanium. The damper bodies are Alum (Front strut could be made from Steel or Alum) with a Titanium ceramic coating. The cost of the dampers would be considerably higher than their current cost if they were manufactured using Titanium and would actually be heavier compared to dampers manufactured from Alum (Ti density = 0.16 lb/in^3 vs. Alum density = 0.10 lb/in^3).

[FlyingLow78]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

Nitron dampers are NOT machined from Titanium. The damper bodies are Alum (Front strut could be made from Steel or Alum) with a Titanium ceramic coating. The cost of the dampers would be considerably higher than their current cost if they were manufactured using Titanium and would actually be heavier compared to dampers manufactured from Alum (Ti density = 0.16 lb/in^3 vs. Alum density = 0.10 lb/in^3).

Interesting. There’s very little info available publicly about them, and they referenced using titanium in the tiny bit of documentation I received with the coilovers. I assumed some of the smaller parts, perhaps internally were made of titanium, but certainly not the damper bodies themselves.

Source?

[Lienrocs]

Great write up. Did nitron recommend a ride height and alignment setting as a base line?