Selection of "true coilovers"

[Dillinger]

Out of curiosity, what is to be gained from running true coilovers instead of, say, a GC or AST kit?

I was told the only gain is that you can tell everyone I got coilovers and they go ooo and ahhh.

[Hellabad]

just a thought

This is the way I see it: Don't buy anything that you can't see a picture of. For anything. Would you even spend $3 for new skin for your ipod if the website only had pics of other skins on Zens?

Every one of those links, incliding FK and KW, do NOT show any e30 parts anywhere. They show parts from a Nissan 240 sx, parts from a VW Golf, and parts from (I think) a Mitsubishi. Everything but an e30.

I know I wouldn't be spending any money with some place that just adds "BMW e30" to the list of other "stuff" they sell, and doesn't even bother to put up the correct picture.

I mean if they can't even right-click-cut-paste the correct photo, how could they possibly be driving an e30 back and forth to work and testing different springs and shock valving?

We all know that core e30 guys at least know how to right-click-cut-paste pics of (girls wearing Hot Wheels lycra)

Just my two cents on buying from the internet stores set up in dorm rooms.

Jay

[guibo09]

^^^^ holy camel toe! ^^^

hey jay, how about some technical arguements too? i enjoy those more.

[Hellabad]

^^^^ holy camel toe! ^^^

hey jay, how about some technical arguements too? i enjoy those more.

Nothing to technically argue about. I can't find a pic of those kits anywhere. I always like to see other ways of doing things anyway, especially from other countries.

Jay

[gearheadE30]

Pretty much nothing. For example, you may have to run narrower rear tires with a coilover. Look under the back of your car. Look at the gap between your tire and your shock. Now you have to fit a spring in there. The only thing you can do is move the tire outward. If you already have a meaty tire up against the fenderlip, then you need to run a skinnier tire.

The main advantage maybe is that it is faster to adjust.

Jay

That's what I thought. If I was running a tube frame, well, I'd be running adjustable trailing arms and the mounts would be double shear anyway, but that's not much of an argument for most people on these boards. Based on the quality of the non-custom options out there, I don't think the possible elimination of coil bind issues alone is worth the extra metal stress outside of design parameters. The rear sheetmetal is already known to be a weak point.

[Adrian_Visser]

so why aren't gc's true coilovers? they mount at the shock mount position don't they what is the difference?

[gearheadE30]

The fronts are true coilovers. The rear springs and adjusters mount in the same place as the stock springs, with the shocks also in their stock location. A 'true' coilover would have the spring on the shock like the fronts, with a threaded sleeve around the shock for adjustment.

[Dissembler]

KW variant 2's are not rear coil overs, neither are variant 3's. you have to order the KW competition coil overs special from KW to get the rear coil overs.

GAZ is the guy who used to design LEDA coil overs. I've heard good things about GAZ, and i've heard they are crap

Ksport is crap

Have you actually used the Ksports on your car, or driven a car with them on to back this up? Why are the crap?

And people the point of this is not to debate why someone would want coilovers, im looking simply at available options. I understand that fitting coilovers on the rear will require reinforcement and other possible modifications.

Please dont bad mouth a company on hearsay, if youve used them and they suck, fine, jsut please explain why. For example, you say that Ksports are crap, and maybe for the E30 application they are, but I have a friend who is part of a local Mazda MX club and he says a lot of the guys there swear by Ksports, and doing google searches for em havent revealed any overtly negative comments on then the rears arent very adjustable for height without affect rebound/compression settings.

Searching for Gaz has revealed some very high praises but the sheer expense of sending struts/shocks back and forth across to Europe is my biggest gripe with buying them.

And since KW variants are not true coilover kits i geuss that just puts em out of the equation

[gearheadE30]

My point was not to debate the possible merits of each design. I was just trying to figure out why you are limiting yourself to 'true' coilovers when the separate rear style is proven to work reasonably well and there are significantly more options out there.

[Dissembler]

Maybe i just dont want that, its a personal choice and I'm exploring all options, including air bags (they are however a distant third) The primary reason however is that I want the broad range of adjustments offered by a coilover system. Again, not here to debate the merits or pros/cons, I'd just like to see whats out there and if anybody has had any experience with them or recommendations for a specific set please chime in.

[kowalski]

so what your saying is that you want true rear coilovers so you can say that you have true coilovers on the rear?

[Dissembler]

so what your saying is that you want true rear coilovers so you can say that you have true coilovers on the rear?

if you have nothing to contribute please butt out of this thread.

[asubimmer]

if you have nothing to contribute please butt out of this thread.

if you are looking just for adjustment then you should look at the standard e30 coilovers. For your "true" coilover you will have to reinforce your shock towers.

[Dissembler]

A guy sponsor on bimmerforums makes this really amazing rear reinforcement. I'd actually call it a subframe in its own right, forget the link right now but I can find it. It basically ties both the shock towers together and then triangulates them with the differential mount through the floor pan. It really looks like an amzing piece of fabrication. If i got "true coilovers" for the rear I'd be buying one of those for sure.

In terms of adjustments, I'm not looking for it in terms of height, I know I can buy threaded sleeves off places like bimmerworld for that, but I like the idea of being able to adjust rebound and compression. The car will be a nice weather/track toy, so I'd like to be able to raise/soften everything up for the street, and then dial it in for the race. Now I admit that I am a complete noob when it comes to knowing about suspension settings, but I really want to learn about the performance aspect of it and as such I'd much rather spend a little more money a system that will keep me going for years adn learn a lot off of then buy a standard kit.

Also, I don't know how much this would apply to our cars because I've never really had a problem with it, but did you ever see the Ford F-150 commercial where the make a big deal about moving the shocks and springs as far out off the body as posible and on top of the wheels to increase stability? That's one of the things I think would be a good benefit, but again, with cars this small the effect would probably be negligible to a guy like me

Anyways, that's why I'm trying to consider all the options here, if I dont see anything more on the K-sports or another brand that someone is yet to bring up, my default choice is billy sports with vogtland springs

[BMS777]

thanks for the hits guys. I'm Julian from Balance Motorsport. The Gaz kit is supplied as a separate rear spring and damper OR as rear coilover depending on customer requirement and application. Exchange basis as per KW. It is possible to supply cut down struts to save on postage (they only need the bottom of it), which could of course be obtained from another car to keep your car mobile. The picture of the kit on the site is in fact Lancia Delta Integrale. Unfortunately the large majority of manufacturers only supply a few images so generic images are common. Of course if a company only sells for one marque then it's dead easy to have actual pictures throughout (simple cut and paste which we have done many times.)

However this is less practical when you sell 1000's of different applications.
Naturally you do get the odd email from someone who says the kit doesn't look like their car but most people are intelligent enough to work this out. It's pretty common in the industry even the market leader in the UK, Demon Tweeks use generic pictures. They,like our business, are operated from industrial premises not a "dorm" ;-)

We have other options such as Nitron (pics available), AST and Intrax. However all are mega bucks in comparison. However if race applications or "ultimate" street/track then these monotube set ups really are unbeatable. Personally for anything other than a track car running track tyres I prefer to spec Bilstein inserts combined with stiffer roll bars.

again thanks for your interest.

Regards
Julian