Suspension & Brakes E46M platform.

[JeremyJames]

Leave it stock. Pretty much most of what you wrote says you want things for their appearance - not that you are addressing any shortcoming. If you want bling calipers - then buy bling calipers for the bling.

If some day you go to the track - then wait until your hardware begins to limit you before changing anything.

Well, kind of. I just rolled120k this week. I’m refreshing everything on the car. Suspension is next up. Am I happy with the way the car currently handles? Yes.

However, if investing in the time and parts replacement of the suspension components, would I benefit from “upgrading” my suspension? My thoughts on this are, I have no intentions on buying an aftermarket suspension and downgrading the overall feel and performance of the car. If I could also benefit by tucking the wheels a little tighter to lose some wheel gap, that would be a bonus as long as it doesn’t sacrifice the performance. None of that is necessarily bling factor.

As for the brakes, yes I mentioned how beautiful those R8 brakes are, but my intentions are to upgrade the stopping power without sacrificing performance. I have never ran out of brakes on my M, but if the time ever came to where more stopping was needed it would be nice to be prepared. So my intentions here are not bling, but questioning a bbk upgrade without sacrificing something else in return.

[K-Dawg]

Most people run them too low, and you have a 1/10 chance of getting the best shock setting. And even if you do get the best one, is it that good?

[cobra]

They're not flat ride and they have adjustments that most people are more likely to get wrong than right.

Spring preload and a single adjuster? Seems pretty hard to mess up.

[JeremyJames]

I agree, if you're not tracking, stock brakes are best. The idea that M3s have subpar factory brakes is kind of an urban legend I'd say...they just aren't necessarily up to repeated track abuse the way other peer cars might be (mostly 911s). Just refreshing everything will make your brakes feel awesome.

As for suspension, Bilstein + Eibach is perfect - your ride may get a bit firmer, but the finer control you'll feel through the chassis is well worth it. I personally don't think street cars ever really need coilovers unless you're trying to fit big wheels or something.

You mentioned bang for the buck - you should consider 200 treadwear tires first above all if you haven't done that yet. Tires will do (way) more to change how your car drives than struts & springs. I personally like Hankook RS4s and Michelon PS4s

Edit: Going to a square Style 67 is a nice, "cheap" upgrade too. I did this and it was a worthwhile mod.

Great advice all around. Thank you. I currently run Michelin Pilot Super Sports, I absolutely love these tires. Do the PS4s offer something over the PSS?

Can you just slap rear 67s up front and call it a day? No other mods are needed to support the square set up properly?

[K-Dawg]

What about the PSS10? Kind of middle cost wise and is a good shock design.

They're not flat ride and they have adjustments that most people are more likely to get wrong than right.

[Tbonem3]

PSS10s are great, but with drawbacks. I'd do it if you get linear springs (60mm) and thinner mounts (plates like vorshlag, gc, tms). But then you're at Ohlins pricing so....

[cobra]

What about the PSS10? Kind of middle cost wise and is a good shock design.

[usdmej]

If you want bling calipers - then buy bling calipers for the bling.

bbk with street pads is definitely an upgrade with no drawbacks except for the price.

you get the dopamine rush of a bling purchase, lose some unsprung weight, and no discernible loss of ride quality or day to day driveability

[usdmej]

I was mostly cueing off his desire to have a "set up that is good on the streets and capable of good handling on the track too"

NVH is subjective, I personally don't find the car to be particularly more unpleasant when running a sticky tire 🤷

NVH is most definitely objective! i felt and heard so much more of the road switching from PSS to RE71Rs


OP should do a auto-x or track day bone stock, get a feel for the car, and reassess how they want to mod the car and whether or not it's all worth it

[jet_dogg]

Sounds like OP isn't sure what he wants so best to stay stock if he doesn't feel like going through information rich threads.

[Estoril]

Leave it stock. Pretty much most of what you wrote says you want things for their appearance - not that you are addressing any shortcoming. If you want bling calipers - then buy bling calipers for the bling.

If some day you go to the track - then wait until your hardware begins to limit you before changing anything.

[ridebikes]

if OP is worried about ride quality and NVH definitely do not switch to a racy tire, there's a huge hit n ride quality and tread noise once you cross the max performance summer tire category

I was mostly cueing off his desire to have a "set up that is good on the streets and capable of good handling on the track too"

NVH is subjective, I personally don't find the car to be particularly more unpleasant when running a sticky tire 🤷

[usdmej]

You mentioned bang for the buck - you should consider 200 treadwear tires first above all if you haven't done that yet. Tires will do (way) more to change how your car drives than struts & springs.

.

if OP is worried about ride quality and NVH definitely do not switch to a racy tire, there's a huge hit n ride quality and tread noise once you cross the max performance summer tire category

[ridebikes]

I agree, if you're not tracking, stock brakes are best. The idea that M3s have subpar factory brakes is kind of an urban legend I'd say...they just aren't necessarily up to repeated track abuse the way other peer cars might be (mostly 911s). Just refreshing everything will make your brakes feel awesome.

As for suspension, Bilstein + Eibach is perfect - your ride may get a bit firmer, but the finer control you'll feel through the chassis is well worth it. I personally don't think street cars ever really need coilovers unless you're trying to fit big wheels or something.

You mentioned bang for the buck - you should consider 200 treadwear tires first above all if you haven't done that yet. Tires will do (way) more to change how your car drives than struts & springs. I personally like Hankook RS4s and Michelon PS4s

Edit: Going to a square Style 67 is a nice, "cheap" upgrade too. I did this and it was a worthwhile mod.

[Tbonem3]

Either spend $1k on bilstein b6s & dinan/eibachs or spend $3k+ on MCS/ohlins/FCM.

Best brakes for this car are stock.