Comfortable coilover spring rates

[butters]

I'm making a new thread because there wasn't much specificity in the archives. Here's a crappy picture for some eye candy:



I have Ground Control's full kit with 1" taken out of my front housings, and Koni SA dampers.

Currently I'm running 440# in the front and 700# in the rear. I do not have the car slammed any more than what is needed to make my 17" Apex wheels look good in the wheel wells, and I could probably go up a tad if needed (I'm down a tad from the photo).

The ride is good... for a stiff setup. I've dialed out the bounce with my dampers towards the stiff end of their adjustment. I could probably improve the front:rear pairing of ride rates, but haven't had the time to really do some testing.

That said, I think anyone who says a very stiff setup is comfortable is kidding themselves or has perhaps lost a sense for how comfortable the car can be. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I want the option of swapping in a comfort spring setup, to be able to drive my car 100 miles (or more) down the highway without even considering the fatigue caused by the ride. I want to be able to drive passengers, and my girlfriend, without a disclaimer. Is this possible?

My question is, what is the softest spring rate anyone has run with a coilover? H&R Sport springs are dramatically softer at 180/380 but obviously a level of stiffness is needed to prevent excessive bottoming out. Mark @ GC says the softest he's used are 375/550 - anyone have this setup and care to comment?

[325ix]

I have the 375/550 set-up. It's not that bad, some bumps can be bad but, its' really tolerable for me. That being said, I am 21 and in good health.

[JOMARO]

340 lb on the front on shitty roads its bareable
But I m in the same boat , considering to try 275 front
Waiting for more experienced guys to shim in

[jlevie]

If you lower the car, you loose compression distance in the suspension and must go to higher spring rates and stiffer shocks to prevent bottoming out. Good ride or looks, pick one.

[DRTSRFR]

^

Thank you.

This is absolutely correct, except I would say "good ride or great handling".

You can't have both. There will always be a compromise one way or the other.

Want to know what it feels like when the manufacturers make an attempt at both? Drive a stock e90 335i...poop.

[SkiFree]

^

Thank you.

This is absolutely correct, except I would say "good ride or great handling".

You can't have both. There will always be a compromise one way or the other.

Want to know what it feels like when the manufacturers make an attempt at both? Drive a stock e90 335i...poop.

x2. Unfortunately due to fancy marketing people seem to think otherwise.

As alluded to already, everyone's idea of "comfortable" varies considerably.

[butters]

I understand the need to prevent bottoming out, of course, and that's why I wanted to see what others have done as far as a soft spring rate at a lower-than-sport-springs ride height on converted coilovers. If it's a silly venture then so be it, I will have to use my car accordingly. I'm only looking to increase practicality with a second spring setup.

Everyone's idea of comfortable varies, yes, but what I'm saying is that if you go drive an E90 with sport suspension, I'd suggest that you're nitpicking to say it's a car that doesn't have both great ride and great handling. Racecar handling? No. Track-ready handling? Almost.

Shoot, go drive an E90 M3, or an M6, or a Mercedes AMG. Obviously we are on r3vlimited with a niche group of people but surely we can see that in general, even enthusiasts who want an extreme machine have complaints about "bone-shattering" roughness in some modern cars. Perhaps less so with BMW M cars - I don't personally think they're very harsh - but you see where I'm going.

In the high-sprung E30 I feel like I'm in a racecar....above and beyond the likes of modern AMG/M, and that's awesome for when I want that feeling or when I want to hit the track, but not so great in my opinion for allll the time. So, here I am considering the 375/550 setup as an alternative to track mode.

[jwal]

I am on the exact same page. I am revamping the suspension on my 318is and I would like to find a good balance between handling and comfort. I plan on DDing the car, and contrary to most e30 owners, being low is not a high priority. Actually I was planning on going with a ground control coilover conversion so that I can have good spring rates without dropping the car significantly.

I had a 03 RSX Type-S and it had a pretty bad ride. My e36 has billys and some sport springs and its a pretty good compromise. I am doing as much research as possible to find a balance. Has anyone accomplished this task?

[butters]

being low is not a high priority

We need to be careful saying this, because the reaction would be to say well then don't get coilovers. Being super low is not a high priority, but I do want to be able to adjust and get it perfect to suit my needs & taste.

[jwal]

I completely agree with you, and I see where that could easily be misinterpreted. Thanks for the backup butters :)

[Panici]

Subscribed.

I'm DDing and want to improve my E30's handling, but I don't want to ruin the comfort/turn the car into a track weapon.

[jwal]

I think its a fairly common desire, but most people just go with H&R sports and forget the thinking part. In my mechanical engineering classes they teach us about mass, damper and spring systems. That's all this is, so its not exactly rocket science :P

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[Northern]

Running 450/650 rates, I don't find them that bad for what they are.

I actually find the front of the car feels better than the H&R race I had before, rear feels pretty similar.

[mtech325]

My friend runs the exact rates/shock as you have and I think his car rides rather comfortably. California roads are pretty torn up these days, so the GC setup seems to have done pretty well. He does use 15 inch wheels, so the tires probably do a fair amount of cushioning. Perhaps the 17 inch wheels are making your ride rougher than it needs to be? I think JLevie and GCMark hit the nail on the head about compromise.

--Joey

[butters]

I drove the car on 14s for a bit, and while there is some extra cushion, the tires don't dramatically affect the ride rate relative to the springs/shocks. Cracks and other asphalt issues aside, my concern is with how the car handles dips, seams etc.

I guess the question is to those with the lowest spring rates (375/550?) - what is your ride height and do you bottom out?