So my buddy who has an e46 M3 has been looking at getting suspension to drop his car. I have a 330 and I have wanted to get a nice set of coilovers for a while. He is talking about getting BC Racing coilovers and says he had them on past bmw's and they are fine and if they break in 3 years he'll just get a new set. Significantly cheaper than going with KW or other brands but I am not convinced of putting cheap coilovers on a car with great handling.
What is the real difference between a set of BC racing or Racelands and getting a brand name?
Everything.
Quality of parts, dampers that are matched, adjustable valving that actually does something and has dyno plots to back it up, vavling that is optimized for the spring rate and motion ratio of your particular vehicle.........
If you want to go low and don't care about ride, sure, by some BC junk.
^+1 and I have cheap coilovers. They'll catch up with the cost of a decent set quickly in repairs. Racelands are not even performance-oriented though, they're for the stance crowd (When you say "cheap coilovers" I think D2/Ksports and their rebrands, and similar cheap Taiwanese stuff which at least looks good on paper).
Cheap coilovers can perform decently but they're just not worth it in the long run. Even if none of the parts break on them, the crappy valving will eventually become the limiting factor of the suspension's performance and then you'll need a costly custom revalve.
Your friend and you should be looking at TC Kline for coilovers. I've a very unsatisfactory experience with KW, I'll never use any of their stuff again. The bilstein coilovers had some initial issues with their E46 M3 offerings, I think that's been solved now tho.
You get what you pay for, crap coilovers will perform, well, like crap.
TC Kline, Ground Control, AST all make quality options in the $1800-2300 range.
Now that I have XIDAs (AST) on my Miata, I would highly recommend them. But I was also happy with the GC kits I've had on previous E30s.
I was looking at KW clubsports, Bilstein clubsports and TC Kline's for my 330.
There is another Koni Sport based option. FK Konigsports. KW evidently used to use Konis but no longer does.
At least with Koni and Bilstein-based budget offerings there is a proven level of competence. Most everything thing else is either proven incompetent or just completely obscure which is likely the same thing.
I've always wondered about the FK coilovers. I know the rears are Koni shocks as they are labeled as such. Are the front struts also Koni?
Megan Racing, yay or nay?
pres589 wrote:
Megan Racing, yay or nay?
Mixed reviews, depending on who you ask. I liked them a lot on my old Celica, though ride quality was not their forte. (Not surprising, considering the spring rates i chose)
Worth mentioning that i didn't have the entry level ones, had their roadtrackracebro whatever level coils.
I've more recently ridden in a Miata that had their "EZ Street" coilovers and thought they handled like garbage, but rode nicely.
Try to find some used Ohlins.
