New to the game - Need advice

[QwertyE30]

Hello

I'm moderately new to the E30 game however I need some suspension advice and questions answered.

I have installed Eibach springs onto my car and it lowered it however I wanna go lower but coils are so expensive however may be worth it. I am not sure what shocks I am running but what should I be? Koni or H&R or Bilstein? Which model and what advantages are there?

I literally also know nothing about wheel fitment and I cannot be fucked reading throw 500+ pages on the wheel fitment thread to find my answer. I have 215/45R17 right now and it looks weak compared to other E30's. I just wanna look good that is comfortable and can handle well in the mountains. In addition, what does the ET mean? For example - ET15? I know 17x8 means wheel diameter and width but no idea what ET means. Thanks.

It is a delphin grey 89 s2 318i.

Thank you for your help !!!

[ELVA164]

I won't delve into the suspension stuff (except that Konis are the best) but to answer your wheel questions:

1. I feel the best balance of performance and comfort (and tire selection) for an E30 is a 16" wheel.
2. Stock diameter for many E30s was a 14" wheel with 195/65-14 tire or 15" wheel with 205/60-15 tire.
3. et (or offset) refers to how much of the wheel width is on each side of the center of the wheel(the mating surface). For example, a wheel with zero offset (et0) has an equal width on each side of the center of the wheel. A wheel with negative offset (et-10) has more width on the outside. A wheel with positive offset (et25) has more width on the inside.

If you have a wheel with a higher offset and you add a spacer, you subtract the thickness of the spacer (in mm) for the offset of the wheel. For example, if you had a wheel with an et30 offset and you added a 5mm spacer, you'd be at et25. E30 bottlecaps are 14x6, et33 and basketweaves are 14x6.5, et30.

By the way, et is short for "Einpresstiefe" which is German for "insertion depth."

(Insert jokes here. Deeply.)

[Czur1991]

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That is some good info there my friend. And although I might be planning to go 17" once my car is finished I'd also recommend 16" after really analyzing fitment and function.

And as far as which shocks to run. . .there is no perfect answer to that question, but you could definitely place your money on Bilstein or Koni. From what I know, most guys running coilers that are converted strut housings (your current strut housing where your stock shock is inserted) use Koni because if you are going to run coilovers might as well have some awesome Koni SA. But if you aren't trying to cough up that kind of money just get yourself some Bilsteins and insert them into to your strut housings. An even cheaper route would be running KYB shocks, now these aren't as good performance as Billies or Konis but if you don't plan to go the track and just want to restore some dampening on your suspension then a set of KYBs for $200 isn't bad at all.

In summary you can just run Bilsteins or Konis without going full coilers but from economically priced to expensive. I would say KYB, Bilstein, Koni. And that order follows performance as well. Also, you can adjust Koni dampening with a little knob at the top of the rod.



there is also other coilover brands but many stick to the tried and true mentioned above. . . but if you are curious check out Broadway Static, CAtuned, BC Racing ($1,000 full coiler). . .

Hope I helped you somewhat. . .

318i forever!!!!!!!!!