Opinions on Performance Parts

[rwh11385]

Haven't heard anything yet that indicates a weld-in roll cage is necessary but I'll ask when they respond. Thanks...

yeah....sorry truth man. The setup at the rear of the E30 has the spring and shock seperate. When you try to use the Leda coilovers, you need reinforcement of a rollcage to act against the coilover.

Basically, GC's are popular because they use the setup the E30 already has and is pretty sweet and adjustable. Leda requires redesign of the suspension, more or less...... PITA.

Ask them how much it would cost to be able to use the Leda coilovers. Then most likely you'll be looking at GC systems.

[808BMW]

If you run a true coilover in the rear, you put the entire weight of the rear on your sheet metal shock towers. Thus you need a full cage that mounts onto your towers, so that the weight is spread somewhere else.

Or so I've heard :P

[e30evolution]

the shock towers are not designed to support weight... they mount the shocks which control the damper.... they do support force when the springs are under load, but other wise they dont do anything.... basically they suport as much weight as the springs are compressed minus the amount of force the shocks are actually absorbing....
so in short.... if you put the weight of the car on your rear shcok towers... you will rip the shock towers out of your car a shove them through the trunk lid when you put an extreme load on the suspension...
a roll cage will disperce the force on the shock towers through the cage, or brace, and spread it out to where you mounted your brace, or roll cage.....
i dont see any problem in making it hapen... i too was thinking of the same things, but my car is daily driven, and i dont have 1700 to drop on suspension....
like everyone else that has posted in this thread i have GC coil overs and koni sa's... brand new control arms, ball joints, LCA bushings and what not as well, and HD rear shock mounts.... i am still deciding on what i will do next.... tires are difinatly 50% of your suspension, if not more, you cant go into the corners faster than your tires will let you....

well enough of that... go wiht the true coil-overs and you will be happy for a track car

[modifiede30]

I spoke with Leda and they do have a setup that uses the existing spring location. It is essentially the Leda strut insert with a GC like setup for the rear spring. All adjustability is maintained. While not optimal, it meets Prepared class rules, which is what I'm aiming for. The cost is better than TC Kline's comparable Koni setup but still higher than a basic GC (~$2000). However, if you combine the Advanced Design shock/struts from GC with their spring setup, its comparable price wise, and provides 24 way, independently adjustable shocks (Leda isn't independently adjustable), which can't be done with Koni's for anywhere near this price. I'll keep posting as I recieve info. I'm going after the KW's now.

[Digitalwave]

Good thread.

Great thread.

[modifiede30]

Spoke with KW today. They provide a good race shock setup, but it does not come in a kit that includes springs. As a result, the springs would not be matched unless I do a trial and error with some using the Ground Control rear perches.

The cost on the KW is higher than both the Leda and Advanced Design systems by about $600 once springs and rear perches are added. As a result, I think these will likely be dropped from consideration.