Best Coilovers

[Stompychannn]

I have a 2000 Bmw 528i touring and was wondering what are the best coilovers to use?
Thanks!


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[Liquidity]

Ohlins or Bilstein

[justinca540i]

Well depends strictly on your budget, how much are you looking to spend? What is your purpose and needs? Will the car hit the track? Are you looking just for stance and low-low? Good drop plus comfort?

The base B16 PSS Bilstein run really stiff valving so be aware of that, had them on my E39 and you would feel bumps and jolts. BCs have been a realitvely good entrance choice as theyre $1000 and include ride and damper adjusting

[richtone59]

Any thoughts on KW V1?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I’ve got BC Racing coilovers in my green 528 wagon, I like them, even though the rears really are not coilovers. Just the 10K springs that came with the kit, car handles fine.

[raftel]

I’ve got BC Racing coilovers in my green 528 wagon, I like them, even though the rears really are not coilovers. Just the 10K springs that came with the kit, car handles fine.

Just make sure you have upper rubber spring mounts on the rear, or you'll mushroom the upper spring perch. Ask me how I know .

[Liquidity]

I’ve got BC Racing coilovers in my green 528 wagon, I like them, even though the rears really are not coilovers. Just the 10K springs that came with the kit, car handles fine.

Coilovers from Taiwan have no business in a “best suspension” thread.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Uh huh..... well excuse me. The PNW is full of liberal turds that think smoking grass should be the new national pastime, you don’t see me telling you, you don’t belong in Umerica. Made in Taiwan, or not, they have forged the brand into the road going enthusiast society. How many overpriced Ohlins suspensions do you see on a daily driven car out on the roads? Let alone, on an E39 that really isn’t worth squat. Yeah, I thought so. Good stuff, but way overpriced. Have fun with that $200 burger, did you at least get some fries with it?
Let’s talk bikes. You ride bikes? I have a 2017 BMW S1000RR with Ohlins suspension, front, and rear. Yep, it rides great, got it tuned to my weight and everything. Don’t care much for the electronic crap that came with the bike, extra unnecessary weight for something I’m gonna set once or twice, and ride the balls off of. Amazing stuff, but I have 6,000 miles on them and already had to rebuild them once, so..... How great are they really? In the meantime, these cheap $1200 BC Racing coilovers are working great, a little over 5,000 miles in, no leaks, make my wagon handle great. Much better than my silver wagon with Bilstein sports, and Eibach springs, not coilovers, ok. I also have a set of Fortune Autos but have not messed with them yet. But Fortune Auto stopped selling them for E39’s, too many diy morons constantly b!tching about the spring rates, sending them back demanding different spring rates, they ordered what they ordered, then complain about the ride, Fortune made it easy for themselves and stopped selling it to just anybody. I can still get them all day long, can you? They are assembled here in the US, but of parts made in Taiwan too, guess thats not good enough for you. Oh well....

[justinca540i]

Lol god how I wish bimmer forums had a like button similar to E46fanatics.

But like honestly if you're going to give recommendations don't be a twat and a recommend shocks that 1) don't exist (yeah Ohlins don't make them for the E39) and 2) don't recommend a coil-over that doesn't do great on the E39 and has been widely shared and then trash BCs for being from Taiwan yet everyone is installing them. With that liquidity keep it up, great work

[jp5Touring]

Coilovers from Taiwan have no business in a “best suspension” thread.

Agreed pretty dumb statement.

I have Fortune Auto Coilovers on mine and pretty happy with them after five years or so. I had to have them rebuilt two years ago.
I would go BC or KW if I were to buy now. I haven't heard many good things about the Bilsteins just that there stiff and ride is horrible on the e39.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

As per above, what 'defines' best for you ? different people have different views.

For me, I prefer high quality, respected brands that develop and engineer their products properly and correctly and show extensive experience and knowledge in their product market. Suspension is no different, so after 13+ years on H&R springs all round for my Touring, I've now got KW V1 coilovers and very happy with them.



I will be running various sets of my wheels which are 19/20" and so I'd like the option to be able to adjust when swapping between sets with the eventual goal to have one set ride height that looks great on both wheel diameters. I know air ride would have given me instant ride height adjustments, but I'm not keen to sink the £3K+ on an install of air ride.

I had the H&R springs on standard/SE shocks from 2006 to 2019 ( a couple of damper replacements only over this time) and I was very very happy with how the car felt and handled. Ride quality was fantastic with not one single complaint ever in that time that the 'ride was too hard or stiff' etc. To push that home more, there's a lot of 'internet talk' that 19" wheels on the E39 'ruins the ride quality'. I used to meet a few of those guys who'd post those words up at car shows and meets and I'd take some on a 10 minute drive. They'd emerge out of my car looking sheepish/embarrassed/red faced as they'd now experienced an E39 on 19's and were amazed the ride was lovely and nowhere near 'ruined'!

If the H&R shocks were 10% more stiffer than OEM, then the KW V1's are perhaps 5-10% stiffer then the H&R/SE shocks setup I had. On excellent/good/average road surfaces, the ride is fantastic and almost on par with the H&R setup, it's only on more poorer surfaces that the KW V1's feel stiffer to the extent there's a bit of 'jigglyness' when going over those poorer surfaces. Seeing that you're in LV, and having visited there 7/8+ times now and had plenty of time driving there, I know the vast majority of road surfaces there are excellent/great/really good!

KW are a premium brand product and at the higher priced levels for 'coilovers' out there. If I had to go for mid level brand suspension, then it'd perhaps be Apex (not sure if they're avaialble in the US.

Cheers, Dennis!

[Liquidity]

“Forged a brand” that’s a good one. BC is just a junk taiwan brand like all the other ebay coilovers, stop being a fanboy. The only reason they’re so popular is because Chelsea Denofa is a brilliant snake oil salesman and you suckers eat it up. BC is just a Taiwan garbage company, the BC here in Florida is just the North American distributor of them.

[Liquidity]

Oh and by the way - Ohlins will make coilovers for anything. Just because they don’t have an item on the shelf that bolts directly on your car doesn’t mean they won’t make something. Sure, you have to pay for that, but this thread specifically asked “what are the best.” If you want the best, you have to pay. If you didn’t want the best, then why did you ask?

[Liquidity]

OK let’s assume you want something bolt-on, off the shelf. MCS should do the trick.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Talk about a fanboy, hey Liquid Schwartz, you have a set of Ohlins in your BMW less engined E46? If so, happy for you. You still have not said if you got fries with that. Oh wait, that’s right, this is the E39 forum, the hell you doing pissing over in this corner? Not enough friends over in the E46 pages? Anyway, opinions are like assholes, That is your right. But you don’t have to piss on everything. If it is such a big deal to you, pissing on us lowly bottom eating fish, maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself, what the hell are you wasting your time over on here for?

[jp5Touring]

“Forged a brand” that’s a good one. BC is just a junk taiwan brand like all the other ebay coilovers, stop being a fanboy. The only reason they’re so popular is because Chelsea Denofa is a brilliant snake oil salesman and you suckers eat it up. BC is just a Taiwan garbage company, the BC here in Florida is just the North American distributor of them.

Oh and by the way - Ohlins will make coilovers for anything. Just because they don’t have an item on the shelf that bolts directly on your car doesn’t mean they won’t make something. Sure, you have to pay for that, but this thread specifically asked “what are the best.” If you want the best, you have to pay. If you didn’t want the best, then why did you ask?

OK let’s assume you want something bolt-on, off the shelf. MCS should do the trick.

So doesn't own a e39 but recommends you buy a 10k coilover for your Touring, hard to argue that logic.

BC or KW if in your budget.

Dennis, your Touring looks great
and who is Chelsea Denofa

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

So doesn't own a e39 but recommends you buy a 10k coilover for your Touring, hard to argue that logic.

BC or KW if in your budget.

Dennis, your Touring looks great
and who is Chelsea Denofa

He’s a drifter with a girls name, sponsored by BC Racing.

[DennisCooper]

Dennis, your Touring looks great
and who is Chelsea Denofa

Thanks for the kind words !

I have no idea who that is?

Cheers, Dennis!

[Madman1369]

Those with coilovers, what spring rates did you go with and are you satisfied with the choice? I'm looking at bc racing coilovers with 8k front and rear springs. I have a set on my f30, so I'm cool with the quality. Going on an ls swapped touring.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Ten K on mine, I like em

[Madman1369]

Is the rear tight when you have things loaded? I don't foresee loading anything heavier than my overweight dogs or a water heater. I'm trying to limit sag. I'm currently running a set of E38 M-Pars, with 12mm spacers, on 275-35-18s and I get light rubbing on serious dips. Suspensions old, no SLS. Thinking 12k or 14k rear springs to keep it off the tires.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

It feels a bit stiffer than my other wagon with Bilstein sport shocks and oem sport springs. But it doesn’t jar my brain when I hit bumps in the city. I roll on 9” style 66 square, 15mm spacers all the way around, I think it just barely scrapes when I had a kinda heavy load in the back, wasn’t bad, have not been able to replicate it since, tires don’t have any scrapes or slices, I don’t know. I do have a couple sets of style 65, have not tried them on the wagons yet. Need to get rear tires.

[Madman1369]

Thanks for the info.

[circuit.heart]

Going with coilovers (any, not just cheap) is an exercise in how well you can tune the car - some people will get great results out of it, some people can't and will trash the brand not realizing that the problem is themselves.

I have vanilla H&R/Bilsteins on my E39 wagon. Good body control but the digressive valving is aggressive, so small bumps are reflected in cabin NVH. I have BC coilovers in my E34 sedan with almost 3x the wheel rate (9 and 10kg/mm on a much lightened car), and it rides softer than the wagon. Swift springs + linear valving "just strong enough" for the car's weight and spring rates results in good body control mostly through springs rather than damping, which leaves more give for bumps.

Dialing in 1-way KW, AST, Fortune Auto, Feal etc. is much the same pathway, just figuring out how much compression damping you have, how much range is on the rebound adjustment, and then picking springs appropriate for the situation OR changing the valving to improve the situation. Paying more for big-baller coilovers just (theoretically) reduces the work you have to put in to achieve a dialed setup.

FWIW I know some of the cheap brands don't last very long, but every BC setup I've put together has gone for 30k+ miles with no maintenance and very little signs of wear. The biggest complaint, not even a failure point, is that the pillow balls up top will start making quiet knocking sounds, as they wear and free up. $80 replacement if you care.

[danb1979]

Coilovers from Taiwan have no business in a “best suspension” thread.

Haha; what a load of bollocks...

A statement like that just shows you how much you DON'T know what you're talking about...