Opinions on GC full coilovers double adjustable ?

[nrubenstein]

Unless you plan on spending a lot of time on track and making adjustments, DA coil overs are a waste of your money. Most SA dampers adjust compression and rebound together and are much easier to set up.

Personally I always piece together suspension. Spend the majority of money on the dampers, those are what make the difference. Go with quality name brand, no Chinese knockoff crap.

Get some threaded sleeves and some used springs off eBay in a few different rates to play around with. Eibach springs are widely available used and usually cost $30-40 each. The rate bias front/rear is determined by what’s already on the market (H&R, GC, Turner) and is a good starting point. Also look at the typical lengths, nothing too short like 4” or long like 8+”

Top mounts should preferably have some isolation and not have spherical bearings unless you track the car or don’t mind knocking and banging once the spherical bearings start to wear.

If all of that sounds like way too much work just buy a kit I guess. Unfortunately you don’t learn anything that way and will forever be stuck buying kits.

GC doesn’t charge enough for the kit to justify piecing it together. The only reason to piece it together is if you already have a significant fraction of the components. Otherwise, by the time you get the camber plates, springs, sleeve kit, rear shock mounts, and inferior generically valved shocks/struts, you’ll be at about the same price.

[citizen_insane]

GC doesn’t charge enough for the kit to justify piecing it together. The only reason to piece it together is if you already have a significant fraction of the components. Otherwise, by the time you get the camber plates, springs, sleeve kit, rear shock mounts, and inferior generically valved shocks/struts, you’ll be at about the same price.

This was my experience as well. Unless you want to get custom Ohlins or some other non-standard configuration for the dampers, it's usually cheaper and better to get a full setup.

[mabimmer]

I don’t have the time or patience to piece it together would rather go with a kit I know is correct.

I guess I didn’t do enough research before I bought this car I thought w a good set of coilovers , brake upgrades, and a motor / trannny swap it would be as good as an E36 on the track while still holding that old square body appeal.

What is everyone running w a GC kit for sway bars, end links , etc


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[e30austin]

My red S50 powered car has AST 4100 series coilovers and the 22/25mm Ireland sway bar setup. Definitely a more track oriented setup, I don't really recommend it for a daily driver.

My black '88 325is has the GC kit you linked to, but stock sway bars. If I were to upgrade, I would probably go with a cabrio front bar and an aftermarket rear bar.

A lot of folks will go with the cabrio front sway bar (21mm) and the 325ix or M3 rear bar (14.5 or 15mm, IIRC). It's a nice upgrade from stock. If you felt the need to get more aggressive, you could buy an aftermarket rear bar/cabrio front and if you want more, you can always buy a kit. I would recommend the suspension techniques kit, or the H&R setup, but I don't know if those are being made anymore.

It's really a personal preference thing. Hope that helps. Feel free to post if you have more questions, it's what we are here for.

[mabimmer]

Thanks Austin30 good info


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[mabimmer]

E30austin rather


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[pandaboo911]

GC doesn’t charge enough for the kit to justify piecing it together. The only reason to piece it together is if you already have a significant fraction of the components. Otherwise, by the time you get the camber plates, springs, sleeve kit, rear shock mounts, and inferior generically valved shocks/struts, you’ll be at about the same price.

If you’re talking about the entry level kit sure. Ive build several suspension set ups using pieced together parts and always ended up spending less than a kit and ended up with better parts. Generally you don’t need the dampers re-valved as long they can handle your spring rates. GC is passing on some cost savings by using cheaper Koni dampers and valving them work with high spring rates. That said there’s nothing wrong with Koni’s, they’re just a bit dated since they have a steel body and aren’t monotube.

For OP the kit is probably a better starting point I guess. I’ve just always been disappointed in the stuff I get in a kit. all GC does is make LEGO parts and add Koni dampers & eibach springs.

[mabimmer]

I see both the H&R which I am well aware of from other car brands/projects- but its $330 for front and $230 rear ouch

suspension techniques kit- is $380 https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...-e30-3-series/


Gargastic makes a kit- $440 https://store.garagistic.com/E30-Adj...SABEgIIpPD_BwE


They are all the same sizes and all adjustable.

[citizen_insane]

I wouldn't bother with the rear sway yet. Tune in the front alone. With my previous setup (440/650 GCs & 21mm sway bar of unknown origin) I found I had the most grip with the rear sway disconnected. I'm waiting on a 22mm adjustable from Garagistic right now, so I should know soon if that setup requires a rear or not.

Unfortunately with suspension stuff, there's a lot of tuning required to get an idea setup. You'll have to decide for yourself what's "enough racecar". If you just want to get out and drive, just tossing coilovers and adjustable camber/toe mods on the car should be enough, I've been pretty happy with my car so far. If you want to get into full "best" suspension setup, you're going to have to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

[nrubenstein]

If you’re talking about the entry level kit sure. Ive build several suspension set ups using pieced together parts and always ended up spending less than a kit and ended up with better parts. Generally you don’t need the dampers re-valved as long they can handle your spring rates. GC is passing on some cost savings by using cheaper Koni dampers and valving them work with high spring rates. That said there’s nothing wrong with Koni’s, they’re just a bit dated since they have a steel body and aren’t monotube.

For OP the kit is probably a better starting point I guess. I’ve just always been disappointed in the stuff I get in a kit. all GC does is make LEGO parts and add Koni dampers & eibach springs.

I’m very curious what you’re piecing together with “better quality” parts. Because getting cheaper than GC, especially on a piece parts basis, generally seems to involve a lot of ebay bits and pieces.

Likewise, while I agree that Konis are cheap shocks, a) good valving costs a lot of money, and b) I don’t see a lot that’s cheaper than a Koni that is also decent quality.

[mabimmer]

I would have figured there were some sorted out suspensions I could copy cat but looks like I’ll have to do some trial and error [emoji51]thanks for everyone’s opinions very helpful and have me going down the right path. I’m going to call GC when I have time this week and see what they come back with.


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[e30davie]

Just for clarification the single adjustable koni's only adjust rebound. I had mine dynod and there was no adjustment of comrpession at all. only rebound. the part numbers that i installed were 8641-1210SPORT and 80-2522SPORT. And yes when i contacted GC they said they re valved their konis to suit their setups.

it was only $1000 AUD for all 4 koni shocks. cheap in the scheme of things, only a couple hundred bucks more than oem replacements. proper race shocks can be $10,000. But i feel for the price the konis are pretty good. realistically E30s are cheap cars, so if you arent into full potatoes racing its hard to justify anything more than the koni yellows of bilstein b6s in my opinion anyway.

[K-Line]

I just picked up a new set of KWs, very nice quality and requires no welding at all. Havent had a chance to try them yet because shit NE weather, but theyre something to look into

[mwagner10702]

Unless you are seriously tracking your car and understand suspension dynamics there is no need for DA dampers for the street. A good quality SA damper is more than adequate and gives you the ability to firm it up for the occasional track day or autocross session, but still be compliant on the street.

One of the important things to understand are how the dampers are valved relative to the spring rate you are running. When upgrading your suspension most of the ride complaints come from having a damper that is incorrectly valved and paired with higher rate springs. This typically results in a bouncy ride as the rebound rate in the damper is to low.

A setup such as what Ground Control supplies matches dampers specifically valved to higher rate springs. Typically their SA Konis are custom valved to match springs in the 400lb - 900lb range. This results in a more settled ride and lets you comfortably run higher spring rates on the street (although a lot depends on your local road conditions).

I have a full GC coilover setup on my E30 M3 running 525lb front and 750lb rear springs. It is biased more to a track setup than a street setup, but it is still compliant enough to provide a smooth ride on all but the roughest roads. On the track it is fantastic.

Ground Control recently released a new coilover package for the E30 that includes fully engineered and fabricated front struts so you don't have to cut your OEM struts up. This is a great solution that gives you the option to return to OEM in the future.

You can find more information here:

https://groundcontrolstore.com/collections/e30-full-system/products/bmw-e30-complete-coilover-suspension-system

[dadsbmw]

The kit you posted, is definitely what I would suggest. I would certainly have them assemble everything, that way, you only have to bolt the parts on and set your ride height/dampening. A 450/650 spring setup should be a nice balance between aggressive and soft.

Very curious about this opinion, as I see it somewhat frequently. I see people talk about H&R Race springs (315F/570R) like they're going to be brutal on the street, while many others suggest 450F/650R is a good compromise between soft and aggressive...