Replace OEM shocks or coilovers?

[Pewtinn]

Hi all -

I have a 2018 F80 comp 50k miles (stock suspension until 25k, then another 25k on KW HAS on max height).

Although I'm not 100% sure, I feel like the oem shocks are on their way out. I was thinking of replacement options down the road. However, I'd like to keep the height drop at a minimum (going a tad higher than my KW HAS would be even better, to clear some garages).

-Buy used (low mileage) OEM shocks and pair with Eibach v1 springs
-Buy a set of coilovers

I don't think I've seen any coilovers that gives a mild drop (equivalent to Eibach v1's).

Any pointers or recommendations would be great!

Thanks in advance

[theweebabySeamus]

Ohlins R&T don't drop that much.

[NSX2M4]

You shortened the travel of your OEM shocks which prematurely wear them out just like all spring kits do. If you want to stay low, go coil-over. If you want stock height, go OEM.

[M3SQRD]

Ohlins R&T uses a threaded adapter sleeve at the bottom of the strut to alter ride height. So it’s easy to run close to stock ride height. Ohlins are $3.1-$3.4k depending on what options you select.

High-end adjustable dampers can be paired with different length springs to set your min and max height adjustments. High-end dampers are > $4300 with most > $5k to $15k.

A proper coilover is far superior to a HAS kit in all suspension categories.

[swagon]

If you value longevity, just go with OE shocks again and don't run aftermarket springs.

Ohlins or KWs won't last 60k miles on shit NY roads. My KW V3s on another BMW are donzo after 35k miles and my local roads is similar to what you have over there. I now have Ohlins on the F80 - stiffer than stock even with softer springs than what they come with from factory

[noemon]

Originally Posted by swagon

If you value longevity, just go with OE shocks again and don't run aftermarket springs.

Ohlins or KWs won't last 60k miles on shit NY roads. My KW V3s on another BMW are donzo after 35k miles and my local roads is similar to what you have over there. I now have Ohlins on the F80 - stiffer than stock even with softer springs than what they come with from factory

Even the best coilovers need to be rebuilt every 20k miles.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by noemon

Even the best coilovers need to be rebuilt every 20k miles.

That's what I'm saying. It's a hassle and not worth the time and money for most people.

[noemon]

Originally Posted by swagon

That's what I'm saying. It's a hassle and not worth the time and money for most people.

It's the best upgrade for the F8x platform, if you haven't tried a proper set of coilovers you don't now what you 're missing.

I got 2 sets(Tractive and Intrax 1k2) to change for whenever one of them is being serviced.

The stock suspension and the HAS kits are totally worthless and not worth a single penny.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by noemon

Even the best coilovers need to be rebuilt every 20k miles.

If it’s street use only, you can push rebuild intervals out an additional 10-20k miles. I got 40k miles out of a MCS 2WR used only on the street and 50k miles on a set of Ohlins R&T only used on the street. YMMV depending on road conditions but you can definitely get at least 30k miles. MCS general guidelines are 25k miles between rebuilds which is conservative.

If you do your rebuilds during the off season then you’ll get your rebuilt dampers back fast so down time is minimal. The f8x suspension DIY is straightforward and can easily be done in your garage.

Edit: some fall off in performance has a much smaller effect on daily performance vs. dedicated track performance. The amount of falloff is going to be difficult for different people and really depends on how finely tuned into the dampers/ride quality. Some might not even notice the drop off so as long as they don’t notice a damper leaking or fluid in the gas chamber, the rebuild interval can be stretched pretty far.

[Pewtinn]

Thank you guys for the valuable input. I think I'll stick with OEM suspension for now. I don't track the car and coilovers may be a bit overkill for me and NYC roads.

[HotRodM4]

Originally Posted by Pewtinn

Thank you guys for the valuable input. I think I'll stick with OEM suspension for now. I don't track the car and coilovers may be a bit overkill for me and NYC roads.

I’m considering putting back my OEM springs (currently Eibach springs) because of these NYC roads 😶

Got another suspension clunk since last year when my front lip ripped off on an elevated manhole cover. Mostly likely need to replace the strut mounts since nothings loose when I had the front wheels off.

[bertosakhirm3]

I have about 97k miles on my f80 and my shocks seem fine with springs. I see no leakage or bottoming out. How can you tell if your shocks are bad?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by bertosakhirm3

I have about 97k miles on my f80 and my shocks seem fine with springs. I see no leakage or bottoming out. How can you tell if your shocks are bad?

Shocks don’t have to leak to be bad. There are rubber seals that can go bad internally and result in loss of performance and potentially complete loss of damping. The car will feel like the chassis pitch, roll and heave motions (sprung mass) aren’t damped out quickly or the wheel assemblies (unsprung mass) will have more cycles before being damped out. At almost 100k miles, your shocks are definitely worn. Do you have edc? If you do, BMW uses an aging program that adjusts damper valves more closed by decreasing the max voltage applied to dampers. Max damping is 0 V (default settings if there’s an edc failure) and min damping is at 2 or 3 V. So it would be something like 3 V at 0 miles, 2.8 V at 10k miles, 2.6 V at 20k miles, etc. So it can be difficult to notice because they are reducing voltage which increase the min damping by gradually decreasing applied voltage. You need the aging algorithm reset via ista when installing new dampers

[bertosakhirm3]

I have non EDC shocks but I guess I never thought of that or noticed any difference in how the car handles. I will take it to my local shop to check out and inspect what’s going on and how worn they are.

[M 4 FUN]

personally i don't like EDC dampers at all. It's just a gimmick and doesn't improve anything in my eyes.
The best and first mod to these cars is a proper suspension setup. I run öhlins coilovers with revised springrates. Very good.

[noemon]

I recently drove a non-EDC car and found it much superior to the EDC(which I also find to be a total gimmick) but still barely scratching the surface of what this car can do with a proper suspension setup.

I think that a proper coilover setup is the only mod that is worth its money on this platform.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by noemon

It's the best upgrade for the F8x platform, if you haven't tried a proper set of coilovers you don't now what you 're missing.

I got 2 sets(Tractive and Intrax 1k2) to change for whenever one of them is being serviced.

The stock suspension and the HAS kits are totally worthless and not worth a single penny.

I'm not sure if Ohlins are proper by your standards, but it's what I have on the car with revised springs. Intrax was on my list.

But you're proving my point in that you've got two coilover sets for one car.

[noemon]

Ohlins are proper coilovers, but their spring rates are too high for street driving. This is fairly obvious to anyone looking at the posts in here as most of them report the same.

I am running stock spring rates with all the coilovers and the car is extremely comfortable on ther street and very capable on track too.

I am a special case running 2 coilovers. I had the Tractive and just got the Intrax for an upgrade, I thought aboout selling the Tractive and few people asked me for it but I decided to keep it as I decided to go in a special direction for my car and build a Jekkyl & Hyde CS/GT4 version.

Most people do no need to go this direction and just need a good set for daily driving + some track days.

Intrax and MCS got you covered there. Ohlins too, but you got to find the perfect spring rate for them which can be a pain.

Tractive is a good solution too, but since their service takes about 3-6 months, you'd need to have something else around or settle for stock once every 2-3 years when your shocks are being serviced.

The fact is that this car needs a suspension upgrade to unlock its potential and properly enjoy it.

I think a 4-5k investment in that department is very well worth it.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by swagon

I'm not sure if Ohlins are proper by your standards, but it's what I have on the car with revised springs. Intrax was on my list.

But you're proving my point in that you've got two coilover sets for one car.

He has high-end Intrax conventional dampers and TracTive Touring EDC dampers. Basically, stock rates on both setups so he feels the exact difference in how high-end dampers perform vs. stock dampers, edc or conventional. I agree stock conventional dampers are superior to stock edc except for large chassis heave motions because it’s way too underdamped. I’m running high-end dampers but for track yet, when setup properly, they are still excellent on the street with high stiffness front and rear spring rates. Ohlins R&T is a good entry level damper. I have them on my r56 Mini Cooper S on their for fourteen years (rebuilt once). For pure street with moderate spring rates (2x stiffer than stock front and rear), it’s a very good street damper. I’d give it a solid seven out of ten.

He bought a second set because he’s had two TracTive edc dampers fail and TracTive’s warranty process take around 6-12 months for a replacement damper. He was thrilled with them until he had two separate failures six months apart. He’s still waiting for his second replacement strut.

[noemon]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

He has high-end Intrax conventional dampers and TracTive Touring EDC dampers. Basically, stock rates on both setups so he feels the exact difference in how high-end dampers perform vs. stock dampers, edc or conventional. I agree stock conventional dampers are superior to stock edc except for large chassis heave motions because it’s way too underdamped. I’m running high-end dampers but for track yet, when setup properly, they are still excellent on the street with high stiffness front and rear spring rates. Ohlins R&T is a good entry level damper. I have them on my r56 Mini Cooper S on their for fourteen years (rebuilt once). For pure street with moderate spring rates (2x stiffer than stock front and rear), it’s a very good street damper. I’d give it a solid seven out of ten.

He bought a second set because he’s had two TracTive edc dampers fail and TracTive’s warranty process take around 6-12 months for a replacement damper. He was thrilled with them until he had two separate failures six months apart. He’s still waiting for his second replacement strut.

In other news, I bought a crash/damaged JCW Mini F56 2016, repaired it myself last month and now finishing it up, last item to go are the Pedestrian Protection Bonnet actuators which I collected today new from the dealer.

I've been looking around for dampers for the F56 and hadn't really considred the Ohlins. Most retailers here just sell the KW's and the Nitron's, which while I respect both companies I find the KW CS and Nitron R1 as too stiff for my liking.

The car is on regular non-EDC ones and I am very happy with them for now, but no track days for the car as I can feel them going too soft past 100mph.

For the record, Tractive has replaced the strut I was chasing them about last year, they did that last June(but it took over 6 months of back and forth), I am only waiting for them to be serviced now.

I got an image today that they are on the dyno. I sent them for a service here in the UK in the one and only Tractive authorised service deapartment on the 20th of March!!!! Tractive parts for service arrived on the 10th of May.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by noemon

In other news, I bought a crash/damaged JCW Mini F56 2016, repaired it myself last month and now finishing it up, last item to go are the Pedestrian Protection Bonnet actuators which I collected today new from the dealer.

I've been looking around for dampers for the F56 and hadn't really considred the Ohlins. Most retailers here just sell the KW's and the Nitron's, which while I respect both companies I find the KW CS and Nitron R1 as too stiff for my liking.

The car is on regular non-EDC ones and I am very happy with them for now, but no track days for the car as I can feel them going too soft past 100mph.

For the record, Tractive has replaced the strut I was chasing them about last year, they did that last June(but it took over 6 months of back and forth), I am only waiting for them to be serviced now.

I got an image today that they are on the dyno. I sent them for a service here in the UK in the one and only Tractive authorised service deapartment on the 20th of March!!!! Tractive parts for service arrived on the 10th of May.

Thanks for the correction. Forgot about them being rebuilt. How long has the rebuild since you shipped them to TracTive?

The r56 Mini Cooper S is fun to drive and turn-in is excellent given its lower weight. I haven’t tried r56 JCW but it’s got to better in every subjective category. It’s amazing my wife’s cousin is 6’10” and he fits in the car with nice head room and legroom. Legs don’t touch the dash. If you’re looking for a ~$3k plus a softer set of Ohlins springs are ~$150-160 so about $3.25k total, you can set the ride quality from way underdamped (used in winter, 8 clicks softer) to overdamped with a 10 click increase in damping. I got 40k miles out of them before needing to rebuilt. You’ll definitely have fun with your new r56 JCW.

[hC1001]

Originally Posted by swagon

If you value longevity, just go with OE shocks again and don't run aftermarket springs.

Ohlins or KWs won't last 60k miles on shit NY roads. My KW V3s on another BMW are donzo after 35k miles and my local roads is similar to what you have over there. I now have Ohlins on the F80 - stiffer than stock even with softer springs than what they come with from factory

FYI, If you can afford the downtime, KW offers free rebuilds to original owners if a shock is blown. You can send all 4 shocks to get tested. I've done it once before for V3s. Clubsports are excluded.