Need updated 2022 Coilover review

[M3hf80]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

For the street, the Ohlins R&T kit is hard to beat. You'll outgrow the kit if seeing regular track duty, but there are other options if going that route.

Would you say Ohlins ride softer than OEM suspension? Honestly just tired of my current rough ride quality. Literally sounds like I hit a deer when all I'm doing is going over a speed bump at the recommended speed instead of going super slow lol

[Schultz28]

Originally Posted by M3hf80

Lol man, I'm not saying I want a super soft suspension, I have a Prius for commuting purposes.

All I'm saying is I don't want to slam my brakes and hit my head on the roof everytime I go over some rough roads. I'm currently on HAS and it's done a great job last 3 years. I'm super cautious everytime I drive it in the city (SF), Dumbarton Bridge, Chinatown Oakland, 680 going southbound near Warm Springs and Milpitas.

Those are just some areas that makes my ride extremely bumpy.

Well, all the coilovers I listed will improve ride quality over your stock suspension with HAS springs... stock suspension, especially with lowering springs are crap.

They will be firm / responsive / planted but still soak up bumps and be comfortable. A properly valved and adjusted set of coilovers are an amazing feeling. I would try to stay at stock ride height to give your suspension enough travel to soak up bigger bumps, though. When you start lowering your car, you will sacrifice some ride quality.

Originally Posted by M3hf80

Would you say Ohlins ride softer than OEM suspension? Honestly just tired of my current rough ride quality. Literally sounds like I hit a deer when all I'm doing is going over a speed bump at the recommended speed instead of going super slow lol

It's not necessarily that they will ride "softer", but they will ride better. Just much better valving. Sounds like you need to find some people that have some of the listed coilovers and get a ride.

[N44RP]

Not to steer the conversation down the drain or steer anyone away from nice set ups, but can anyone provide an honest review on BCs?

For ~$1000, if they’re comfier than lower springs, might be a good value option.

[Schultz28]

Originally Posted by N44RP

Not to steer the conversation down the drain or steer anyone away from nice set ups, but can anyone provide an honest review on BCs?

For ~$1000, if they’re comfier than lower springs, might be a good value option.

BC’s are absolute crap.

If you don’t care about performance, quality, or comfort, and just want to lower your car, then go for it. But they’re absolutely terrible.

Look into fortune auto / Broadway static if you want a cheaper coilover that’s decent. Broadway will actually custom valve / spring it to however you like if I remember correctly.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by M3hf80

Would you say Ohlins ride softer than OEM suspension? Honestly just tired of my current rough ride quality. Literally sounds like I hit a deer when all I'm doing is going over a speed bump at the recommended speed instead of going super slow lol

You will get a sportier feel and in some cases softer than OEM suspension depending on road conditions - a good suspension should soak up bumps and not throw the car. If you ever get the chance to ride in a car with a tuned suspension setup - you'd be surprised how fantastic it feels, in which the F8x chassis is already a good platform out of the box. No one wants a overly stiff suspension that if you ran over a quarter you could tell whether if it was heads or tails. I really can't think of anyone that has had remorse over the Ohlins kit, other than not buying it sooner once they were able to experience it themselves. Look around in the classified sections - they're snatched up in minutes once used kits appear.

OEM suspension leaves a lot to be desired, but a good set of coilovers like the Ohlins is a good start. There's plenty of other areas to fine-tune if you want to go down that road later. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions along the way.

[M 4 FUN]

I have Öhlins Road&track on my M4. i can say that they are NOT softer and smoother than stock suspension. the stock springrates are very high, higher than any other coilover suspension for streetuse. The shocks are great with their DFV technology but i recommend to choose another set of springs for the road. I laborated with this and when i got my kit i immediately felt that somjething was wrong. the car was way too stiff under compression at the rear. i contacted Öhlins here in Sweden and told them about the problem. they immediately told me to send the rear suspension back to them. i knew what the problem was and i got it confirmed when i got the shocks back. the shock body was too long. the shortened the shock 30mm for more compression travel. that together with 190lb springs transformed the car.
I still found it a bit too stiff for the roads we have so i ordered another set of springs and went for 80 lb springs up front and 160 lb springs at the rear. Now it's much better and the bad feel of the EDC shocks is nice to get rid of.
For more comfort you can go down to 140lb springs at the rear and 70 at the front if you like.

[Schultz28]

Originally Posted by M 4 FUN

I have Öhlins Road&track on my M4. i can say that they are NOT softer and smoother than stock suspension. the stock springrates are very high, higher than any other coilover suspension for streetuse. The shocks are great with their DFV technology but i recommend to choose another set of springs for the road. I laborated with this and when i got my kit i immediately felt that somjething was wrong. the car was way too stiff under compression at the rear. i contacted Öhlins here in Sweden and told them about the problem. they immediately told me to send the rear suspension back to them. i knew what the problem was and i got it confirmed when i got thwe shocks back. the shock body was too long. the shortened the shock 30mm for more compression travel. that together with 190lb springs transformed the car.
I still found it a bit too stiff for the roads we have so i ordered another set of springs and went for 80 lb springs up front and 160 lb springs at the rear. Now it's much better and the bad feel of the EDC shocks is nice to get rid of.
For more comfort you can go down to 140lb springs at the rear and 70 at the front if you like.

It sounds like you're talking about the first generation which are the MP40's.... they fixed the issue with the MR40 and now MR41's.

MR40's got a shortened shock body and lower spring rates amongst some other changes.

[M 4 FUN]

Originally Posted by Schultz28

It sounds like you're talking about the first generation which are the MP40's.... they fixed the issue with the MR40 and now MR41's.

MR40's got a shortened shock body and lower spring rates amongst some other changes.

Yes, that's right. After our conversations they made changes to shock length and spring rates. The damper caracter are great on the shocks, they just did a mistake with the length and spring rates for some people. The were also developed when all M3/M4's had 19" wheels, not comp pack wheels which also makes a difference.

[N44RP]

I’m going to go with some MR41 Ohlins, currently lowered on unknown spring and stock EDC damper.

3000 miles and I’ve had enough

[N44RP]

Haven’t made the plunge yet. Work has had me away from home/ the car.

Still, I’ve been looking for as many reviews as I can on the ohlins and it seems a lot of the M2 guys run them.
The majority have an issue with how they ride on the street (with the updated kit). They say the rears are way too stiff and throwing a less stiff spring in the back doesn’t solve the issue because the shocks aren’t valved to handle the softer spring.

All this has me rethinking the ohlins

[DeezBluBallz]

https://www.kwsuspensions.com/bmw_m4_m3

Are these KW DDC coil overs a bad option?


https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=28658917

[N44RP]

I’ve read the DDCs are comfy and but at the same time the difference between the modes is underwhelming.

[melanthius]

Originally Posted by M3hf80

Lol man, I'm not saying I want a super soft suspension, I have a Prius for commuting purposes.

All I'm saying is I don't want to slam my brakes and hit my head on the roof everytime I go over some rough roads. I'm currently on HAS and it's done a great job last 3 years. I'm super cautious everytime I drive it in the city (SF), Dumbarton Bridge, Chinatown Oakland, 680 going southbound near Warm Springs and Milpitas.

Those are just some areas that makes my ride extremely bumpy.

F80 is just brutal to drive in the city! I only enjoy driving my Model Y there, you need the instant torque and Tesla's just hook perfectly in any condition, it's the ideal car for the city.

The spring rate is not as much to blame for the bumpiness as your dampers are.

I only have experience on early 2014 F80 adaptive suspension (undrivable garbage, I threw it in a dumpster), KW V3 - not terrible, not amazing. Now MCS 2WR - these are probably not good for your goals.

If you are insistent on coilovers, MCS 1WNR might be a good option as the quality of the dampers is basically as good as it gets, good adjustment range, simple to adjust, and you pick your own spring rates. I'd go with true coilover setup for ease of ride height adjustment, and since you don't want too stiff, probably in the ballpark of around 600 lb/in springs front, 500 lb/in rear, a lot of people are running somewhere like 800 lb/in front 700 lb/in rear for track use.

Another big part of comfort is your wheel and tire setup. A bit more sidewall on a smaller wheel will definitely change the feel substantially.

You're talking about "2022 update" - I think a lot of older forum posts you'll see a lot of Bilstein and Ohlins, probably not bad options either but I haven't tried them. Nowadays a LOT of guys running MCS.

[N44RP]

Almost $5,000 for the complete set up off bimmerworld is tough to swallow.

I had to justify $3,000 just to get into the decent brands (KW, Ohlins, Bilstein).
Personally I don’t see a $5,000 set of coilovers in my future. I’m in the same boat as OP, I want a comfortable set up for around town with height adjustability.

[M 4 FUN]

Originally Posted by N44RP

Haven’t made the plunge yet. Work has had me away from home/ the car.

Still, I’ve been looking for as many reviews as I can on the ohlins and it seems a lot of the M2 guys run them.
The majority have an issue with how they ride on the street (with the updated kit). They say the rears are way too stiff and throwing a less stiff spring in the back doesn’t solve the issue because the shocks aren’t valved to handle the softer spring.

All this has me rethinking the ohlins

That is not really correct. When you compare the damping curves on the shock dyno you can see that the Öhlins and OEM edc shocks are very similar in the damper setting when you set the Öhlins 20 clicks out so they can handle softer springs without any problems. There is people who runs the Öhlins with 120 lbs rear springs and it works fine.

[M 4 FUN]

Originally Posted by N44RP

Almost $5,000 for the complete set up off bimmerworld is tough to swallow.

I had to justify $3,000 just to get into the decent brands (KW, Ohlins, Bilstein).
Personally I don’t see a $5,000 set of coilovers in my future. I’m in the same boat as OP, I want a comfortable set up for around town with height adjustability.

If you want a soft and smooth coilover kit i would choose KW's edc kit. It is very soft in comfort.

[N44RP]

Originally Posted by M 4 FUN

If you want a soft and smooth coilover kit i would choose KW's edc kit. It is very soft in comfort.

I’ve been looking at these too. The only thought that comes to mind is I had V3s on my e46 convertible and maybe it was the progressive springs but it was bouncy as hell.
I wouldn’t want that again on my F83 but I realize they’re different platforms

[M 4 FUN]

Originally Posted by N44RP

I’ve been looking at these too. The only thought that comes to mind is I had V3s on my e46 convertible and maybe it was the progressive springs but it was bouncy as hell.
I wouldn’t want that again on my F83 but I realize they’re different platforms

Ok, i understand. I drove my friends M4 with the KW edc and it is clearly the softest suspension setup i have tried on the F8x cars.

[RElias21]

Originally Posted by M 4 FUN

Ok, i understand. I drove my friends M4 with the KW edc and it is clearly the softest suspension setup i have tried on the F8x cars.

I believe you are referring to the KW DDC coilovers?
Can you expand on your "soft" comment? Does this mean it handles poorly or rides great while handling great?
Also, is this in comfort mode only, or across all modes? Does it not feel like a true coilover setup?

[M 4 FUN]

Originally Posted by RElias21

I believe you are referring to the KW DDC coilovers?
Can you expand on your "soft" comment? Does this mean it handles poorly or rides great while handling great?
Also, is this in comfort mode only, or across all modes? Does it not feel like a true coilover setup?

Yes, that's correct.
i wouldn't say it handles poorly but of course it is not as agile, lively and responsive as a when you stiffen up the suspension but it was perfect for everyday use and in town. I can't say that it felt sporty in comfort mode, just comfortable but you have two more settings to choose if you like to stiffen it up. It was never really too stiff, not for me atleast.

[N44RP]

From everything I’ve gathered so far I think I need to suffer with a HAS kit or look back into tcklines street set up.
I like that konis last forever

[BikBlekGui]

Originally Posted by N44RP

From everything I’ve gathered so far I think I need to suffer with a HAS kit or look back into tcklines street set up.
I like that konis last forever

I'm curious what you ended up going with. I'm looking for a set of comfortable coils for daily driving.