Coilover Recommendation

[SteelGreyM]

Im gonna hijack this thread and ask for a personal recommendation. Currently on koni/eibach but im looking for an upgrade. I like to hit the track at least 8 times per season. My car isn't a daily driver but it is driven on the street a lot.

I have heard nothing but good things about KW V3. Currently my top choice.

Ohlins R+T

KW CS 2 way

I think the CS will be too aggressive for my car. Curious as to what you guys think.

[jvit27]

This is helpful. Thanks. Mind sharing why you went with Ohlins vs. TCK?

Jesse

Sure. It was for a couple subjective reasons:

1. Ohlins reputation.
2. On paper they met my requisites (high end damper, springs that work with stock mounts IE no heim joints, designed with street use in mind)
3. Wanted to sample them for myself so I can speak firsthand, rather than just repeat forum hyperbole.
4. I don't like overlap in my cars and since my E36 has TCK DA's already, I wanted this E46 to be a different driving experience.

Fast forward to now that I have sold off a few of my M cars, and soon parting with the E36 as well, I am trying to consolidate the best of all my cars into a single E46; that wholeheartedly includes the way the car drives with TCK's. And given that i've been underwhelmed by the Ohlins anyways, i've literally been waiting a full year now for TCK to get E46 DA's back in stock. I don't regret buying the Ohlins but will not look back that fondly either.

Many thanks. My car is street only. Would you feel that the TCK SA kit is sufficient for a street only car, or is the DA kit worth the extra on the street?

Jesse

SA is more than sufficient. It's hard to convey to people that the cheaper route is effectively just as good.. but my favorite handling BMW was on SA's (E36 M3 on 300/400 with Eibach sways and a killer alignment). 100% street car and it was just so dialed in at everything from breaking local laws to comfortable cross country road trips. TC will tell you the DA's have "higher end motorsport internals and are just better all around". Probably true. I've had three sets of DA's on various cars since so my butt dyno has all but forgotten how the SA's feel in direct comparison but if I put my own bullshit aside I know I could just order the SA's tomorrow and be perfectly happy. Splurge on the DA if you have extra $ to burn but don't feel you've bought something inferior if you get the SA. You effectively just give up a little extra cush at the soft end and a little extra sharpness at the stiff end but the dirty truth is once you get the dampers set after install, you'll probably never adjust them again. I don't fiddle with mine. Car drives like a dream even when driven back to back with modern sports cars.

[Carl Spackler]

Wow this thread took off. OP here.. you guys scared me off and I stuck with Dinan/Koni Yellow. Still love the ride and I’m fine with the ride height. Nice to see some active discussion on the topic though.

[jk715]

Long since worn out stock without camber plates is not a high bar starting point to compare to :P

True, but the fact that these come with plates for a low price of ~$1300 ( i found them for $1k a few years back) is really hard to beat.

FYI, i am nearing the limits on these coilovers but that’s not without extensive work and seat time. The limits will be the rear springs, tires, and ultimately valving ( tbd ) assuming other maintenance is done.


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[Obioban]

I wouldn’t call them crap since my PB improved by 3 seconds with just the ST XTA coilovers compared to stock. Camber adjustments alone made a 2 sec difference which come with the coilovers. I’m not saying they’re the best but for the price, I’d like to see another setup that can increase the cars limits the same.

As for spring rates, i agree that the rear progressive springs are crap and should be replaced with linear 6” 2.5” ID 500# - 700# springs.

I understand the stigma with stance boy coilovers but these are not in that category.


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Long since worn out stock without camber plates is not a high bar starting point to compare to :P

[jk715]

I'd argue you lower the limits of your car putting crap like that on. No offense. Just those spring rates alone are alarming. There's a huge spectrum between stance-bro coilovers and going "full aero, slicks, and mcs 2-ways" so I'm not sure what the logic in that is.

But at the end of the day, if you like it, then you like it.

I wouldn’t call them crap since my PB improved by 3 seconds with just the ST XTA coilovers compared to stock. Camber adjustments alone made a 2 sec difference which come with the coilovers. I’m not saying they’re the best but for the price, I’d like to see another setup that can increase the cars limits the same.

As for spring rates, i agree that the rear progressive springs are crap and should be replaced with linear 6” 2.5” ID 500# - 700# springs.

I understand the stigma with stance boy coilovers but these are not in that category.


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[r4dr]

Different strokes for different folks. If you're looking for a budget friendly street ride, shock/spring + stock hats is your best option. If you're looking for double duty there are other options for around the same price. Of those, i'd recommend the st xta. Sure, there is a limit in performance with budget coilovers and when I reach that limit is when ill slap on the full aero, slicks, and mcs 2-ways.

I'd argue you lower the limits of your car putting crap like that on. No offense. Just those spring rates alone are alarming. There's a huge spectrum between stance-bro coilovers and going "full aero, slicks, and mcs 2-ways" so I'm not sure what the logic in that is.

But at the end of the day, if you like it, then you like it.

[j0nwall]

FCM stage 3.

That's awesome! I'm really looking forward to your feedback on that.

[Obioban]

Oooooo - Is this one of those things we're going to need to wait and find out what you're going with next?

FCM stage 3.

[j0nwall]

With a lot of effort and some fabrication, the Ohlins can be made to be a great dual purpose (street/track) setup. The TCKs are much better out of the box and in terms of... ease of getting them set up and working properly. It's pretty hard to install TCKs and not have them be great.

... but the Ohlins are coming off my car this winter...

Oooooo - Is this one of those things we're going to need to wait and find out what you're going with next?

[jk715]

Different strokes for different folks. If you're looking for a budget friendly street ride, shock/spring + stock hats is your best option. If you're looking for double duty there are other options for around the same price. Of those, i'd recommend the st xta. Sure, there is a limit in performance with budget coilovers and when I reach that limit is when ill slap on the full aero, slicks, and mcs 2-ways.

[Tbonem3]

But you can go looooooowwwww Ian.

[Obioban]

No one mentioned ST XTA's. Great value coilover for double duty, needs some work (adjustable endlinks, rear springs) for a decent track setup. Comes with plates, decent valving for double duty, linear front springs 450lb/in (unlike KW's) and progressive rear ~479lb/in (source: ST), fixed endlinks.

They weren't forgotten... they're just in the category of "worse but more expensive than springs/shocks" (assuming shocks are Konis or Bilsteins), so not really any reason to mention them.

[jk715]

No one mentioned ST XTA's. Great value coilover for double duty, needs some work (adjustable endlinks, rear springs) for a decent track setup. Comes with plates, decent valving for double duty, linear front springs 450lb/in (unlike KW's) and progressive rear ~479lb/in (source: ST), fixed endlinks.

[D-O]

Thanks again.

Jesse