Noob in coil overs.....

[theCROW]

brader, i almost call u on Sat morning to ask a favor haha but tak jadi pulak
changed of plan, tak baik susah2 kan org pagi2 sabtu
anyway, front using Hotbits and rear still standard shocks

 

[sesat88]

bro sesat,
you can test drive my car if we meet in TT
Yes I was planning to sell it but not anymore hehe guess I'm getting use of the hard ride already. But still pain in the ass for city driving.

TQ for offer. Will take you up on that if I ever do make it for a TT

 

[sesat88]

Bro DanPromote.... I kautow you la. You just gave me the most 100% satisfactory Field Report ever!!! TQ TQ TQ.... you even got the TheCrow convinced... hehehe hehe

Sigh... now i am "poisoned" to get a set of coil overs esp. for the front. Aaaiyah.. .which mean i need to scarifies something else to get these... aaaargh!!!!!! Not fair not fair!

 

[theCROW]

haha i actually tak jadi jual bcoz of financial issue lar
but after reading danny's report, made me thinking 10 times pulak either want to sell or not...hehe way to go bro thanks for the info
for the time being, better i keep it

 

[LCP]

sesat88, make sure your chiropractor is on standby if you wanna test drive a car with coilovers... heehee, just kidding...

 

[initialM]

sesat88, make sure your chiropractor is on standby if you wanna test drive a car with coilovers... heehee, just kidding...

Is it too bad arr? Last time I used APM coilover for my waja and on 18" rim. Can say the comfort not too bad but handle better. Of course my E36 handle better than my previous waja. Really need some advice from BMW sifu here. Mine on eibach/sachs. Plan to change either Bilstein B8 or coilover setup but quite expensive. B8 cost about RM1500 in SG but how long it can last? Coilover cost a bomb and not many place can do servicing in JB.

 

[LCP]

No lah... just kidding... For street specs coilovers, they can be hard, but usually bearable, unless of course you pandai-pandai (like me) went to specify super stiff damping rates, like what I did to my Satria... I reckon that in a few years time I need to see a chiropractor already... getting a bit too old for this.

And yes, the handling improvement with correctly set up coilovers is simply... priceless.

 

[sesat88]

sesat88, make sure your chiropractor is on standby if you wanna test drive a car with coilovers... heehee, just kidding...

dun need a chiro.. just need a nice massage after each drive..

 

[sesat88]

No lah... just kidding... For street specs coilovers, they can be hard, but usually bearable, unless of course you pandai-pandai (like me) went to specify super stiff damping rates, like what I did to my Satria... I reckon that in a few years time I need to see a chiropractor already... getting a bit too old for this.

And yes, the handling improvement with correctly set up coilovers is simply... priceless.

Speedwork got in JB wat... heheheeheh.... racun racun aaar!
DT1 and DT2 woh... dunno which one nicer but they are still coilovers... hehehehehehe

hmmm... anyone knows what the cost of new coilovers these days? Looking for just the front.

 

[leforte]

1) hard ride - duh.. what do u expect when u are using coilover? All coilovers are at least 50% stiffer than stock suspension due to their construction
2) leakage - common problem with most brands
3) foreign noise from components after some time of usage .. usually some 'tak tak tak' sound
4) poor service from distributor/factory

On the other hand here are the good points :-
1) unmatched handling, cornering feels like going on rails
2) lifetime servicable - don't need to throw them after 1 year
3) cheap servicing - RM80-100+ to service compared to paying hundreds or thousand for a bilstein
4) braking more responsive
5) cheap compared to bilstein yellow & lowered springs combination (savings of around RM1000)

Moral of the story is, choose either comfort (standard absorbers/springs) or performance (coilovers). You can't have both. Also check the type of warranty given.

I have used a few types of suspension - RG coilovers, Eibach springs + stock absorbers, stock springs + stock absorbers.

The most comfortable, obviously, is using stock absorbers. Somewhere in between is the Eibach springs + stock absorbers, but I find that the car feels too soft. The best handling is coilovers, but bumpy ride.

All setups have their problems :-
1) stock absorbers - feels like driving a boat during hard cornering.. damn floaty, but very comfortable for daily use and slow driving
2) eibach + stock absorbers - have to touch up my front bumper a few times coz too low and soft, car bottoms out on fast and high degree slopes/bumps
3) rg coilovers - feels like schumaker during corners.. 160kmh and I tried flipping the steering wheel left and right over and over and the car still stuck to the ground, but bumpy .. not good for your back. Also needed servicing after a few months due to rear absorber leaking.. surprisingly the front coilovers did not leak .. but did have some foreign noise after a few months.

just a reply and add on to dan's quote:-

i have experience with 3 different sets of coilovers, hotbits dt2 on the e36, kw varient 3 also on a e36 and pss9 on my cousin's e46. prior to the coilover setup both e36 and e46 was on bilstein b8 + eibachs which were already considered an optimum setup :-

all work wonderfully, performance wise the hotbits dt2 and kw varient 3 are the real winners over the bilsteins pss9 as its rather soft then finally followed on by the bilstein + eibach sportline combo. however, that comparison could not be fully justifiable as they were from two different platform a e36 and e46.

no leaks and tak tak tak or any other sound were experience for the hotbits/kw v3 coilover setup, but the pss9 did have a rather weird hissing compression sound occasionally at the front but no performance were compromised. All 3 coilovers are 3 way adjustable, height + hard/soft rebound + compression, ride was still considered civil and not too harsh even with 18" 235/40series tires. it all depends on your setup/adjustment.

i would normally set the ride height higher (about 1- 1.5 / 1.5 - 2 inch clearance at the front/rear) with a harder rebound (

 

[sesat88]

bro leforte.... double wammy for me today. TQ for the info. and the personal experience on coilovers. Racun kau kau me this time.... prob. will hope over to speedworks pj and check out the DT1 /DT2

 

[initialM]

Thanks bro, good info. One more thing, is the rear coilover for E36 height adjustable? Is't ok to level the height between right & left as mine lower on the right side. As I goin to keep my ride for long time its better to go for coilover and also style of drivin hehe (like to corner hard).Any idea the price of hotbits coilover for E36. Any KW distributor in JB?

 

[leforte]

sesat 88

go check it out. all hotbits for bmw are made to order as speedworks does not carry a high demand for them as compare to other makes, which they mass produce everyday. so, you will be getting something hot off the oven per se. go look for yujin, really helpful guy.

initialM
the e36, e46 only runs a full coilover setup at the front and a separate coil and absorber setup as per the oem setup at the rear. both front and rear are height adjustable. the rear setup comes with CNC machined and threaded adjustable cup. the same setup applies to the bilstein, hotbits and KW. rebound adjustment are mostly located at the top of the strut, and compression is usually located at the bottom.

you can get your KW from singapore, much cheaper than over here since there is no import tax for these kinda items.

but i would advice getting the hotbits instead, fully serviceable and upgradeable HERE in malaysia. you will be lucky even if you can find a reliable service centre for most of the other brands KW and bilstein included. anyway pss9 are lifetime warrantied in US and Europe and if there's anything wrong you get a full exchange, no repairs. sadly it only applies there. over here, you will be lucky even if you can make a claim.

Please note:
for those converting to coilovers, please remember to replace all your top mount with fresh oem/aftermarket ones and add a strengthening plate to it.

TAK TAK TAK sound as decribe by danpromote could be indication of a bad / cracked mounting.

 

[initialM]

Thanks bro, really appreciate those info.

 

[sesat88]

thanks bro.... gatal gatal gatal gatal gatal already

 

[initialM]

Guys,

Already check wt Speework JB, coilover step 3 for my E36 cost RM3k. Is it same in KL? They mention oso its bout 20% stiffer than ori shocks and they give 1 time free dampening adjustment.

 

[LCP]

Price is about there.

Speedworks Penang turned around my Satria's Hotbits coilovers rebuild in just 2.5 hours last Thursday, amazing, that also included removing and reinstalling them back on to the car. Was there all the while to witness the whole process. They even gave me a printout of the actual setting that they dialed in... plenty of washers and shims used though, couldn't understand much of it, except a basic grasp of what each setting is all about. There are simply so many variables that can influence the performance of the shocks. Set something wrong and even though on the new ones where you can adjust the damping rate, you will be in for a funny ride no matter what you did... Mine is the older fixed damping rate type, anything wrong means a rebuild. Rebuild is RM80 per shock, but now they charge labour to remove and reinstall the shocks back, that's another RM80. Worked out to RM400 per rebuild.

Photo of the shock settings, maybe some suspension experts here can explain a bit more about the settings, basically the rebound and compression rate is determined by the size and number of shims/washers, but there are still many factors to influence, eg. gas pressure, bleed ratio, etc:

 

[sesat88]

Guys,

Already check wt Speework JB, coilover step 3 for my E36 cost RM3k. Is it same in KL? They mention oso its bout 20% stiffer than ori shocks and they give 1 time free dampening adjustment.

Yup that sounds rite. More in PM

 

[sesat88]

what do you think guys... go for DT2 straight away (which cost a bomb) or slowly build it up from the basic package (step 3) and spend the $$$ on some other performance stuff? Heheheh

p.s.
>>>LCP, spoke to Eugene that day in SPEEDWORK PJ, .... first impresssion (tat's alwiz the case).. you are rite, nice and helpful chap!

 

[sesat88]

Price is about there.

Speedworks Penang turned around my Satria's Hotbits coilovers rebuild in just 2.5 hours last Thursday, amazing, that also included removing and reinstalling them back on to the car. Was there all the while to witness the whole process. They even gave me a printout of the actual setting that they dialed in... plenty of washers and shims used though, couldn't understand much of it, except a basic grasp of what each setting is all about. There are simply so many variables that can influence the performance of the shocks. Set something wrong and even though on the new ones where you can adjust the damping rate, you will be in for a funny ride no matter what you did... Mine is the older fixed damping rate type, anything wrong means a rebuild. Rebuild is RM80 per shock, but now they charge labour to remove and reinstall the shocks back, that's another RM80. Worked out to RM400 per rebuild.

Photo of the shock settings, maybe some suspension experts here can explain a bit more about the settings, basically the rebound and compression rate is determined by the size and number of shims/washers, but there are still many factors to influence, eg. gas pressure, bleed ratio, etc:

Oh my poor doodle... another must find "perfection" headache thingy to play with now...if i ever get them...

My wifey complain car is floating at highspeed liao.. hahahaha.... i told her dampers not upgraded yet... she said.. "why dun upgrade?"" haahhahaha... damn kau gatal already now.