FYI on ST e36 m3 coilovers (spring rates/compare with kw v1's)

[R0b0t]

I picked up an e36 m3 a few months ago and did some poking around as to whats available to freshen up the suspension. (I've done the searching and it's these ST's, KW V1's, Koni's and GC's, H&R and Konis, or H&R and Billy's).

Anyways, I couldn't find the following info so I asked...and they answered (in minutes!).

On spring rates:
"Front will be 400LBS/inch
Rear will be progressive."

On how close they are to V1's:
"Also, is the only difference between these and the V1's the exterior coating or is the valving better/more consistent on the V1's?"

"The biggest difference is our KW coilovers uses stainless steel oppose to galvanized. The warranty is also different with a life time on KW and a 5 year on ST . other than that all other components are the same. "

So, hopefully that clears things up for some people.

[oreoe34]

I had STs on mine and was amazed at what good quality $850 could buy!

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[propcar]

I think the ST's are a good buy for the money as an alternative to a spring/shock setup, pretty good for what you get.

[sageE36]

If only you could get stiffer spring rates...

[propcar]

You could buy them yourself?

[R0b0t]

true...I'm sure swift or gc would get you what you wanted.

Buuut then they wouldn't match the valving on the shocks.

Which leads me to a small bone I have to pick...with bimmerforums:
I have yet to see the engineering nerds talk about rebound matching spring frequency. On the old subaru forums I was delighted with tons of talk about this.

A lot of the community says H&R's + bilstein's are "rough" compared to koni's, which means that one of these options is not optimally damped to the springs.
So, I'm leaning towards the ST's because they should be pretty close to a match.

I emailed and asked for curves. They wouldn't provide them and said they only did for race applications, which I understand, because I am over analyzing a street and causual autocross/track suspension.