Street/track suspension?

[Steve J.]

We're prepping an 88 m3 for the track, but its also going to be a semi-street car. Whats a decent setup considering the car has poly all around, rear sway bar, strut braces, and all reinforcements.

I was thinking just H&r/bilstein sport setup. Anyone else have an equally inexpensive quality setup compared to this?

thanks in advance :)

Later

[Bry]

Dangit, I just had a long post typed out, and my little cousin came up (3) and deleted everything...

Basically what I said earlier was H&R/Bilsteins or Eibach/Bilsteins. I've heard that Eibachs are a little bit better, but they are basically the same. You could also go with the Race springs. I know H&R Race springs were pretty good, and Rob89M3 used to have them. I've heard that they aren't too stiff. How much street driving are you going to be doing?

Also, in your post above, are you saying that you have the swaybars done? If I could do it, I would go with the Bilsteins/H&R race springs, even though they are some more $$$ than the sport springs.

You could always go Ground Control. You get springs all the way around (custom), and adjustable perches to set the ride height of the car. That is $400, which is a good deal. If you don't like the spring rates, you can always buy different springs and put them in easily.

[Bav///Man]

I also recommend ground control. $400 for the coilovers, then you just have to buy the shocks/struts. In my opinion, it is relatively the same price to go coilovers, so why not? Here is a great site that will tell you all you want to know (and much more) about GC coilovers.

http://e30m3performance.com/installs/GC_susp/GC_susp1.htm

[Steve J.]

Sorry i was at work when i wrote it and my post confuses me now as well, haha.

Only stuff we have done is euro airbox, F/R strut braces, new brakes, ss line, race brake pads, chip, short shifter, and a shiny fresh alpine white paint job ;) Oh yea its also stripped, with poly bushings all around, and a fresh overhaul on engine.

We're going to pick up the rear sway bar soon, and we're going to bolt in the roll cage and seats hopfeully in the next two weeks.
I think H&r/Bilstein sport setup should be good. We're also going to get all the small reinforcements, i got a whole list at home i'll post of the mods i plan on doing, but since i go back to escuela en quattro semenas, i dont got much time to do the e30 m3 and finish my vw. I just installd two shrot shifters, putting some spacers in the suspension wed, and cams/valve springs go in aug 5th, whahoo!
At our school formula sae shop We welded up a custom set of ground controls and konis for a friend's probe ... he wins his STS autoX class every year, now he needs to move into biger racing...road courses :)

I am not sure how much of a street car the e30 will be, b/c its like an extra car that we have for fun i guess. But i would say maybe every weekend if not every other weekend's use. But hopefully a lot of track sessions.

I plan on doing cam gear, a lil higher lift/duration cams(i think the combo is like 276, 282 or something?), also the MAF conversion V2.0 from SS. Get that dyno tuned real quick, and we'll slap on these victoracers that are on the stock 15" mesh rims and we'll hit the track!

We dont really need the adjustability of height b/c we're not competitively racing it (Yet :rolleyes: ) But what about konis and H&r? I like konis, and they seem to have one of the widest ranges in dampening control. But what about the E30 m3 koni setup, is it worth it? Or is the sport setup prety stiff compared to koni's lightest and hardest setting.

thanks again,
lates

[Bry]

I would reccomend the Suspension Techniques swaybars for the E30 M3. The rear bar is adjustable, so you can tune the oversteer/understeer of your car. It would also be good to do front and rear, so they would be matched.

For the price, the Ground Control is a very good deal. Just buying springs like H&R will be close to that price. Koni's are good, but I have no experience with them, and I found them hard to get when looking to buy some. The SA (single adjustable) and the double adjustable dampers are good for tuning your car. Of course, you could get the bilsteins revalved, but the adjustable of the konis is good for the track (so you can set how you want your car to handle). The only problem is that the koni's are kind of expensive.

I also highly reccomend the Ground Control rear shock mounts. The BMW ones WILL fail, no matter if you buy the newest E46 ones. The ground control ones are 99 bucks, they have a lifetime warrenty, and they will never fail. It is well worth the money.

I'm just curious, but what brake pads did you buy? Are you going to add a brake cooling kit? If so, the bimmerworld kit is basically the best one you can buy!

[Steve J.]

yea all that stuff is figured out already. Susp techniques rear sway, GC mounts, and a couple other reinforcement chassis/suspension mounts i got on the list. Brake pads are fine, we are not going to be cooking the brakes too much, so it wont be a big problem (until we push it, haha).

Well we with the GC we would need to corner balance the car everytime we adjust them, and if your just going to adjust them and leave them at a certain height, i might as well get a spring/shock/strut setup.

I recentrly was contacted with a supplier of custom eibach race springs, so i'll look into those as well.

thanks again, and please mroe track experience with suspension would help. I am gonna give dupont a quick call as well and see if he can get me anything, later.

[Bav///Man]

Let me know what the guy with the custom eibach race springs said because he contacted me too and I'm interested in what they are. Thanks.


Originally posted by 95m3racer
yea all that stuff is figured out already. Susp techniques rear sway, GC mounts, and a couple other reinforcement chassis/suspension mounts i got on the list. Brake pads are fine, we are not going to be cooking the brakes too much, so it wont be a big problem (until we push it, haha).

Well we with the GC we would need to corner balance the car everytime we adjust them, and if your just going to adjust them and leave them at a certain height, i might as well get a spring/shock/strut setup.

I recentrly was contacted with a supplier of custom eibach race springs, so i'll look into those as well.

thanks again, and please mroe track experience with suspension would help. I am gonna give dupont a quick call as well and see if he can get me anything, later.

[Steve J.]

No prob b/c <250 a set aint bad