What NON-coilover suspension do you prefer

[FBloggs]

After buying the car, i discovered that it needed a near total refresh @ 83k miles.
I did the B6 on stock springs and it was horrible when driving at 7/10ths and up.
Bought the Eibach pro kit springs....so now a B12 set up.
vastly more body control. Actual found it better than the B6/oem when putzing down a bumpy street.
But there is something off with the B6 valving when the dampers are extending and at near full travel.
I have had good results with Bilstein B8 with oem springs on the two prior gen M3s, and enjoyed the TMS J Stock set up on my E30 M3.
Too bad the B8 is N/A for the E46 M3.
planning on trying a full set of koni sports on the E46.

[TexaZ3]

B12 Pro kit is fantastic. Do the mounts and all the pads/bushings/dampers while at it, and it is night and day compared to stock. Did it a year or so ago, and couldn't be happier.
B12 by Italian Horses, on Flickr

[JamesSJ1]

Around $1k the consensus seems to be Koni + Eibach. The Bilsteins have some issue with them, I can't remember exactly what. Avoid H&R. But this is all secondhand.
.

The B6's have an internal bump stop that is about 1-1.25" too long to allow full travel for the E46 M3. With some effort, they can be opened up and the bump stop cut...though I almost ruined one just trying to get it open so I stopped and am just running them as-is. I have a vert, with stock everything, and I'm happy with them. A little more planted handling bumps and bad roads than stock, though they transmit a little more noise/bump from the little stuff you encounter in everyday driving. I wasn't unhappy with stock, though at 90k and ~14 years old the rubber and suspensions was just worn/old.

See FatCat Motorsport's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU-p0qTNVIY&t=881s

[siamkazi]

+1 On the B12 Pro Kit, feels great on SoCal roads and about to find out how it handles at the track this weekend (Autoclub in Fontana)

[maupineda]

^^ your spring isn't seated right. The coil end should be there in that empty space.

[siamkazi]

^^ your spring isn't seated right. The coil end should be there in that empty space.

And...going to go check right now if that's how it is, i took this picture while they were installing, thanks for the catch

[Tbonem3]

Bilstein B4s over Sachs
Bilstein B6s over Koni
Dinan JRZs over all of those, if you can find a set.

Eibach over H&R
Or Dinan maybe vogtland.

You can modify bilsteins/mounts to work well below stock ride height - see my journal's last entry for details.

[Arith2]

Due to availability, I went with Koni's with the Eibach. Finding the B12s for a decent price was impossible. Everyone has B12s posted for $965 and Koni's kit for $1050 or so BUT the Bilstien has 4 to 5 month wait list for the kit. B8s and the springs separate would be much more. I found the Koni kit on Redline360 for $850 shipped. I've ordered from them before with no issue.

Next time I'll go with the B12s and give a comparison.

Update: Coming back later to edit this post. Koni's are also backordered so I went through Bimmerworld and got the B6s individually with the Eibach pro kit. Cost more but I don't have 3 months to wait.

[R60BBA]

It's street driven so I'm not trying to destroy the ride quality completely(hence why I say no coilovers) but I can live without a smooth ride over bumps.

I used to think this way until I installed KW V2s, which if set up correctly are more compliant than OE shock/spring suspension.

[Obioban]

There's only two non stock spring options that don't ruin the car:
1) Eibach
2) Dinan

And two viable shocks:
Koni Yellow (optional: TCK top adjustable rear koni yellow)
Bilstein

The Bilsteins have bump travel issues, but are a little bit better of a shock.

Personally, I'd go with Bilsteins with stock springs or Konis with one of the two above springs.Even with the stock springs, I'd trim the bump stops on the Bilsteins a bit.

... on the M3 wagon I'm running Dinan springs with Konis (TCK top adjustable rear Konis).

I wouldn’t say it’s the consensus (maybe on this forum it is). Koni is good too but I think the B12 setup is underrated on here for some reason. The only issue is bumpstop/travel which is not a show stopper. Koni has its own issues too.
Bilstein is also pretty clear the shock is designed for the Eibach springs, which is nice to get a factory matched system. I asked them once about changing to different springs to go with their shocks and they were adamant that I not do that.

The B12 Bilsteins are the standard bilstein-- in no way specific to the Eibach spring.

Are you saying you have a ZCP car or implying ZCP springs are different than non-ZCP?

All 2004 and later cars had the same suspension, ZCP or not. That suspension is higher and softer than the 01-03.5 cars.

I used to think this way until I installed KW V2s, which if set up correctly are more compliant than OE shock/spring suspension.

Once you're spending that kind of money... there's better options than KWs... unless your sole goal is max drop without civility compromise.

[Icecream]

The B12 Bilsteins are the standard bilstein-- in no way specific to the Eibach spring.
.

I know they are the standard spring but they (Bilstein) seemed to think it was the most well matched, that' all.

[R60BBA]

Once you're spending that kind of money... there's better options than KWs... unless your sole goal is max drop without civility compromise.

Such as?

I paid £1,050 for my KW V2s (which were bought new from a KW supplier).

Imo there is no better option at this price point.

Ohlins R&T (a better coilover) are £2,130 to put this into perspective.

[Arith2]

I called Bilstein like 10 minutes ago. The B12 kit comes with B6 shocks. The coilovers have to be bought in sets. The guy I talked to didn't really like the fact that if a kit is broken the whole must be purchased but this is the case. B6 shocks can be bought individually so it doesn't apply to them. I need to clear up some of that confusion because I was confused on what was true. B8s don't exist for our cars in America or anywhere. There is no B8 for the E46 M3. I'm on the European catalog and the E46 M3 doesn't have it but all the others do. I can confirm the Eibach springs are not unique to the kit. The shocks are designed for 20mm of drop in the front and 10mm in the rear. That's .787" and .393" whereas the springs drop .9" and .6". This will bottom out as previously stated if driven too hard.

[Obioban]

Such as?

I paid £1,050 for my KW V2s (which were bought new from a KW supplier).

Imo there is no better option at this price point.

Ohlins R&T (a better coilover) are £2,130 to put this into perspective.

Such as TCKs or GCs.

[Tbonem3]

I called Bilstein like 10 minutes ago. The B12 kit comes with B6 shocks. The coilovers have to be bought in sets. The guy I talked to didn't really like the fact that if a kit is broken the whole must be purchased but this is the case. B6 shocks can be bought individually so it doesn't apply to them. I need to clear up some of that confusion because I was confused on what was true. B8s don't exist for our cars in America or anywhere. There is no B8 for the E46 M3. I'm on the European catalog and the E46 M3 doesn't have it but all the others do. I can confirm the Eibach springs are not unique to the kit. The shocks are designed for 20mm of drop in the front and 10mm in the rear. That's .787" and .393" whereas the springs drop .9" and .6". This will bottom out as previously stated if driven too hard.

Good info, thank you. The 20mm/10mmdrop is on the b6s "HD" correct? That is music to my ears as I thought they didn't like any drop at all! Also, their gas pressure seems to lift people's cars, perhaps that's partly where the "b6s don't like any drop" came from.