Ok as many of you might of seen over the last few months ive been on a mission to find a suspension setup suited to my needs on this my 2nd E87 130i, basically im after a compliant road setup that doesn't spoil the sporty feel of the car and also wont object too much to going on track, although that has become less important as time has gone on, so thought i would start a new thread to diary it all for my reference and it might also help others wondering what direction to go in, its a LONG story so if you don't like reading probably best to hit the back button now
On my first 130 i never touched the suspension and it was always on the list of things to try and improve (as well as an LSD!) so on this my 2nd 130 i decided to address these issued starting with suspension and following with a quaife LSD (which is now also fitted), first up was to replace the Msport dampers as nsf was blown and nearly out of oil which gave me the excuse i need and so the quest began!
Below is the list of suspension ive had fitted since i bought the car in June 2015, i will go into more detail but i like a good list to start
1st - 60k mile Original Msport dampers and springs (NSF damper leaking)
2nd - New Koni Sport Adjustable dampers with Msport springs
3rd - Used Koni FSD dampers with Msport springs
4th - KW Street Comfort Coilover kit
5th - BIrds B1 Bilstein Dampers and Springs
6th - Bilstein B4S oem spec dampers, initally with Eibach Pro springs but read on
7th - And to update this first post, back to another set of Koni Sport adjustables with BMWP front bumpstop and Koni rear, tried several springs from eibach prokit to various Msport versions, currently on Fl-130 or 135i front with pre-fl 130i rears.
Koni Sport/Msport Spring - we all know what Msport dampers/springs are like so no need to report on those, the Koni Sports are probably the favourite dampers that ive had (so far) for various reasons, on the soft setting they are nice and compliant with good damping control giving a nice improvement all round in comfort and handling over totally stock setup, also you can adjust/stiffen the damping up to suit your needs if you can live with a firmer ride on road, i did play around with them for a few weeks on various settings and while on soft setting or even 1/2 turn harder they were very good for road and even on track (although little stiffer there was better still) but i always felt that while front end was good the rear needed quite a firm damper setting to fully control the bouncy rear end that plagues the 1series (more on this later), while on this higher damper setting i found ride a little too firm for poor roads and pottering about usage i mostly do, so when i spotted so low mileage Koni FSD on german ebay i bought them to try and see if they were more suitable.
Koni FSD/Msport springs - these are meant to be a great allrounder with automatically adjustable damping rates depending how you drive, some report that this can give a slightly inconsistent feel to the car as it varies between settings and i would say i did feel this to a degree but not noticeably an issue apart from on bumpy tracks, if anything i would say they felt slightly firmer initially than the Koni Sport on soft setting but when you hit a big bump they did as designed and open up internal valves to absorb them , worked pretty well but after awhile i realised i wanted more control and i still felt the rear was a little bouncy, although it was improvement over stock it wasn't as good as i wanted......
KW Street Comfort Coilovers - i found these after much researching about people looking for a comfy/compliant coilover kit, there is not much info on these on 1series forums and not much at all in the UK!, i found quite a lot of discussion on the E9x forums mainly from usa about them and nearly all positive saying it does what it says on the tin so thought i would give them a try, i was wary as they run very high springs rates at around double the Msport setup which was a concern for comfort, however egg'd on by positive reviews i got an order in with one of my customers/suppliers at work so KW made some and shipped them over.
This was first time i had run a coilover setup on a 1series without the stock Msport springs with conventional dampers and bumpstops etc, first impression were good and with some tweaking to damping got a reasonably good compromise, the high springs rates however always felt just a bit to firm for my awful roads around here and also as sprint series ive been competing in was coming to an end i thought i should maybe look towards more comfort for road use, so with the KW up for sale we moved on.....
Birds B1 Dampers and Springs - OK everyone on here raves about this setup for road car usage so i just had to try it next, it was a close thing between going for these or the Ohlins R&T kit but i reasoned that the B1 is meant to be the ultimate road setup which is what i was aiming for really, track use is few and far between especially as winter approaches so Birds B1 it was.
Initally after fitting i was very impressed with this setup, a fast blast along some fairly bumpy A and B roads and it just soaked it all up, non of the rear bouncy issues a just very controlled and balanced feel, it did feel a little soft on rear especially after firm spring of the KW setup but i soon got used to that, day after fitting it was a 450mile roundtrip to Rockingham for the sprint seried final and i was worried it would feel a bit soft on track but it was very good and very controlled which was a bonus. Subsequent 600 or so road miles i started to feel the low speed comfort which is a lot of my usage just wasnt there, front end just feels a bit choppy at sub 50mph when pottering around bumpy back roads with family on board, its not harsh just annoyed me enough to start pondering other options and as i rarely get chance to go and have fun on my own in car i started to rethink the whole thing!, as you have probably guessed by now once i start thinking about changing it doesnt take long before another plan has formed....
Moving on......
Random pic added by moderator so this post can appear in Featured Threads!
On my first 130 i never touched the suspension and it was always on the list of things to try and improve (as well as an LSD!) so on this my 2nd 130 i decided to address these issued starting with suspension and following with a quaife LSD (which is now also fitted), first up was to replace the Msport dampers as nsf was blown and nearly out of oil which gave me the excuse i need and so the quest began!
Below is the list of suspension ive had fitted since i bought the car in June 2015, i will go into more detail but i like a good list to start
1st - 60k mile Original Msport dampers and springs (NSF damper leaking)
2nd - New Koni Sport Adjustable dampers with Msport springs
3rd - Used Koni FSD dampers with Msport springs
4th - KW Street Comfort Coilover kit
5th - BIrds B1 Bilstein Dampers and Springs
6th - Bilstein B4S oem spec dampers, initally with Eibach Pro springs but read on
7th - And to update this first post, back to another set of Koni Sport adjustables with BMWP front bumpstop and Koni rear, tried several springs from eibach prokit to various Msport versions, currently on Fl-130 or 135i front with pre-fl 130i rears.
Koni Sport/Msport Spring - we all know what Msport dampers/springs are like so no need to report on those, the Koni Sports are probably the favourite dampers that ive had (so far) for various reasons, on the soft setting they are nice and compliant with good damping control giving a nice improvement all round in comfort and handling over totally stock setup, also you can adjust/stiffen the damping up to suit your needs if you can live with a firmer ride on road, i did play around with them for a few weeks on various settings and while on soft setting or even 1/2 turn harder they were very good for road and even on track (although little stiffer there was better still) but i always felt that while front end was good the rear needed quite a firm damper setting to fully control the bouncy rear end that plagues the 1series (more on this later), while on this higher damper setting i found ride a little too firm for poor roads and pottering about usage i mostly do, so when i spotted so low mileage Koni FSD on german ebay i bought them to try and see if they were more suitable.
Koni FSD/Msport springs - these are meant to be a great allrounder with automatically adjustable damping rates depending how you drive, some report that this can give a slightly inconsistent feel to the car as it varies between settings and i would say i did feel this to a degree but not noticeably an issue apart from on bumpy tracks, if anything i would say they felt slightly firmer initially than the Koni Sport on soft setting but when you hit a big bump they did as designed and open up internal valves to absorb them , worked pretty well but after awhile i realised i wanted more control and i still felt the rear was a little bouncy, although it was improvement over stock it wasn't as good as i wanted......
KW Street Comfort Coilovers - i found these after much researching about people looking for a comfy/compliant coilover kit, there is not much info on these on 1series forums and not much at all in the UK!, i found quite a lot of discussion on the E9x forums mainly from usa about them and nearly all positive saying it does what it says on the tin so thought i would give them a try, i was wary as they run very high springs rates at around double the Msport setup which was a concern for comfort, however egg'd on by positive reviews i got an order in with one of my customers/suppliers at work so KW made some and shipped them over.
This was first time i had run a coilover setup on a 1series without the stock Msport springs with conventional dampers and bumpstops etc, first impression were good and with some tweaking to damping got a reasonably good compromise, the high springs rates however always felt just a bit to firm for my awful roads around here and also as sprint series ive been competing in was coming to an end i thought i should maybe look towards more comfort for road use, so with the KW up for sale we moved on.....
Birds B1 Dampers and Springs - OK everyone on here raves about this setup for road car usage so i just had to try it next, it was a close thing between going for these or the Ohlins R&T kit but i reasoned that the B1 is meant to be the ultimate road setup which is what i was aiming for really, track use is few and far between especially as winter approaches so Birds B1 it was.
Initally after fitting i was very impressed with this setup, a fast blast along some fairly bumpy A and B roads and it just soaked it all up, non of the rear bouncy issues a just very controlled and balanced feel, it did feel a little soft on rear especially after firm spring of the KW setup but i soon got used to that, day after fitting it was a 450mile roundtrip to Rockingham for the sprint seried final and i was worried it would feel a bit soft on track but it was very good and very controlled which was a bonus. Subsequent 600 or so road miles i started to feel the low speed comfort which is a lot of my usage just wasnt there, front end just feels a bit choppy at sub 50mph when pottering around bumpy back roads with family on board, its not harsh just annoyed me enough to start pondering other options and as i rarely get chance to go and have fun on my own in car i started to rethink the whole thing!, as you have probably guessed by now once i start thinking about changing it doesnt take long before another plan has formed....
Moving on......
Random pic added by moderator so this post can appear in Featured Threads!