Suspension Suggestions?

[Ian Bowers]

Hi all, I was hoping to get some (personal) suggestions on what type of suspension to order.

I've got a '91 318iS, and it's at around 144k miles, and the stock stuff is old, worn out, and sagging. I've got around $2k to spend (although, I'm not against spending more if it's worth it), and I was looking at the GC kit.

The car is a DD, and the roads around here are shit (with exceptions), so lowering it isn't a huge priority. I liked GC for the adjustability, although I doubt I would really make use of it. I would love for it to handle better, just so long as it won't compromise the drivability of the car; going over speed bumps, dirt roads when necessary (I live way-the-fuck up in Nor Cal, 3 hours north of San Francisco), and pot holes.

I'm not opposed to lowering, I just don't want to bust an oil pan when I pull into my driveway, if that makes sense. I'll be doing the work with a friend at his shop, so I can weld if I have to.

What would YOU do to the suspension with the 2 grand? H&R/Bilstein/bushings/sways, or GC/bushings?


I would love some personal input to my situation, as I've read a shit-ton of threads with the standard "H&R/bilstein/titsGTFO" line, and I'm just not sure it's the best for my situation.

P.S. Site recommendations for ordering would be tits.

Thanks in advance.

[dannyb]

Just get some billys with H&Rs, and change all your bushings, LCAB, subframe, trailing arms. You can get bigger sway bars or just change the bushings and links. While you are doing all this you might as well change your balljoints and tie-rods if they haven't been done. If you want some adjust-ability get some Konis instead of bilsteins, in your situation coil overs seem like overkill.

[nrubenstein]

If lowering is an issue, you'll lose a lot of height with the H&R. You could always do a gc conversion on Bilsports. That'd leave money left over for swaysand bushings.

[Philo]

I'm confused on why you want coils if you aren't going low and have no plans to use them.

Personally, I would buy some Bilsteins/konis and find a set of M3 springs. Then just replace all of the worn bushings on the car and call it a day. No need to waste $2k on something you don't need and will never use when a $600 suspension will do the trick.

[txtorquemade]

I agree with Philo. Why waste money if you arent going to benefit from the gains, or potential gains in the set up.

M3 springs are, in my experience, not too hard to find. You could always go with HR sports, not race springs and Billy sports. Bushings are a must though. All of them.

[F34R]

I'm confused on why you want coils if you aren't going low and have no plans to use them.

Personally, I would buy some Bilsteins/konis and find a set of M3 springs. Then just replace all of the worn bushings on the car and call it a day. No need to waste $2k on something you don't need and will never use when a $600 suspension will do the trick.

2k is a stupid sum of money. Ground-control.com under cuts by a ton and you can set your hight to what you desire and at GC you can pick your spring rates for what you will use the car for.

I did both of my e30s with the GC coilovers and billy sports from tirerack for under 900. It is STUPIDLY easy to mod the front housings so why not up grade over the BMW 4x4 shit?

If anyone wants help and info or pictures of the before, modding and after shoot me a PM.

[dinanm3atl]

Gains can be had with coilovers without having to 'slam' the car. For some reason everything thinks coilovers are for slamming. They really aren't. Optimum ride height for handling/performance/comfort is not on the ground dragging the exhaust around...

With that said. With a 2K budget I would go with more of an H&R Sport with bilstein. Or the Conversion kit. This will leave money in the budget for the more important items. Bushings, control arms, tie rods and the like. IMO for someone not that interested in the lowering of the vehicle you would be better suited to skip the springs and get a fresh set of shocks and fully rebuild the suspension. I think you will enjoy this more than full Ground Control kit... because everything else will be worn out.

2k is a stupid sum of money. Ground-control.com under cuts by a ton and you can set your hight to what you desire and at GC you can pick your spring rates for what you will use the car for.

I did both of my e30s with the GC coilovers and billy sports from tirerack for under 900. It is STUPIDLY easy to mod the front housings so why not up grade over the BMW 4x4 shit?

If anyone wants help and info or pictures of the before, modding and after shoot me a PM.

Their 'kit' is not the same as Bilstein Sports with a conversion kit. The first issue for many is you can't slam the car and keep proper suspension travel and ride comfort. Sure people will say "Mine rides fine" but I have been in cars with this setup. Sure it rides ok but it isn't 'fine' when you can feel it hitting the internal bump stops.

Next you cannot choose 'any rate'. Bilstein sports are not able to go much past 450-500. Bilstein stated this to me over the phone. So if you want to lean towards better handling... they need to be revalved and now you are getting more expensive.

Consider what comes in a Ground Control kit. Custom Konis that are adjustable(set to your rates from GC). Camber Plates. You are getting more than 'shocks with an adapter'. You are going to have to pay for that type of research done on their part. For a little more you can upgrade to Koni Race adjustables and have even more positive results.

BMW '4x4 shit' isn't bad. A freshly redone BMW E30 with all OEM stuff and fresh bushings is fun to drive. It handles nicely. It absorbs bumps and isn't jarring. It is quite good for many BMW owners. SImply saying 'go for coilovers and get rid of 4x4' is not that helpful for everyone.

[tonywonder]

what about KW v1 coils, from tuner shop?

tunershop KW coils for E30