Euro Spec Eibach Spring Review

[gtrsam]

not to mention kw has a $100 rebate going on now for the H.A.S. Got an awesome deal from Justin at supreme too.

[MDIVISION]

Originally Posted by gtrsam

not to mention kw has a $100 rebate going on now for the H.A.S. Got an awesome deal from Justin at supreme too.

I thought the rebate is on V1 and up

[gtrsam]

Originally Posted by MDIVISION

I thought the rebate is on V1 and up

Justin at supreme told me they were on the has. I haven't checked yet to verify.

[TRKY]

They are on HAS as well.

http://www.carid.com/images/kw-suspe...ebate-form.pdf

[Carrerra RS]

Gentleman, just some honest feedback.

I put the stock springs on again and the floating at high speed has remained. So we can logically deduce that something went wrong during the initial Eibach Spring installation.

I have rechecked my alignment, the guys made some moderate changes to toe settings, which admittedly has helped but it's nowhere near 100%.

I am welcome to any suggestions.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by Carrerra RS

Gentleman, just some honest feedback.

I put the stock springs on again and the floating at high speed has remained. So we can logically deduce that something went wrong during the initial Eibach Spring installation.

I have rechecked my alignment, the guys made some moderate changes to toe settings, which admittedly has helped but it's nowhere near 100%.

I am welcome to any suggestions.

Good to know and thanks for sharing .

Maybe the Eibach aren't that bad after all .

[Carrerra RS]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

Good to know and thanks for sharing .

Maybe the Eibach aren't that bad after all .

I could have lived with the Eibach easily if the high speed issue did not crop up

Now I just need to understand what was done to have caused this

[Buddy Revell]

Originally Posted by MDIVISION

Thats due to faulty install

This problem is due to that, as well.

[MDIVISION]

I will install my KWs on Friday and will post here

[TRKY]

Had KW HAS installed last week. Been driving a lot since then. I really like the ride. Better turn in then before but that could be just the way the alignment was set-up. Does not get flighty over bumps. Really happy with them.

[MDIVISION]

YES! Can't wait.

[tr3flip]

Originally Posted by Carrerra RS

Gentleman, just some honest feedback.

I put the stock springs on again and the floating at high speed has remained. So we can logically deduce that something went wrong during the initial Eibach Spring installation.

I have rechecked my alignment, the guys made some moderate changes to toe settings, which admittedly has helped but it's nowhere near 100%.

I am welcome to any suggestions.

Thanks for the follow up! If the car is unstable at high speeds I would look at alignment and possibly even the shocks. I know it's a new car but something could be defective in the shock if the car is feeling floaty at high speeds.

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by z00m

When will you learn guys - stock or coilovers.

+1. The M division didn't take shortcuts designing our suspensions. Hours on the ring and constant tuning. If you want to "upgrade" the ride, you can't take shortcuts either. TC Kline, K&W V3/CS, Bilstein, JRZ, etc.

Those coilovers listed will outlast your car. You can set the ride how you like it vs paying someone to keep swapping springs out.

[tr3flip]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

+1. The M division didn't take shortcuts designing our suspensions. Hours on the ring and constant tuning. If you want to "upgrade" the ride, you can't take shortcuts either. TC Kline, K&W V3/CS, Bilstein, JRZ, etc.

Those coilovers listed will outlast your car. You can set the ride how you like it vs paying someone to keep swapping springs out.

I disagree. BMW spent hours and hours of testing to come up with a good balance of performance but also enough compliance so your wife doesn't complain about ride quality.

I also disagree with any coilover outlasting the car. Shocks are a wear item just likes tires and brakes.

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by tr3flip

I disagree. BMW spent hours and hours of testing to come up with a good balance of performance but also enough compliance so your wife doesn't complain about ride quality.

I also disagree with any coilover outlasting the car. Shocks are a wear item just likes tires and brakes.

There's a good balance of performance and daily driving, but the "M" is more track capable than the non "M" models = more sporty focused than driver comfort. It's much stiffer compared to the 335i for example, so the M3/4 isn't soft like a Licoln Towncare by all means. The whole design is very thorough, from the carbon fiber drive draft to aluminum suspension parts to reduce unsprung weight. The M3 chassis for example is more rigid than the Lexus LFA, so you can't say that the M division was focusing on comfort to make your wife happy. I'm willing to bet the stock M3 suspension will outperform most OEM suspension out there in the price range.

K&W / Bilstein / TC are known to last 80k-100k miles with lifetime warranty and rebuild-able shocks. Feel free to cross check my claims, you'll find forum members getting more than 100k miles from those brands (track and street). Not sure how long you plan on keeping your cars, but 80k+ with lifetime warranty is acceptable in my book.

If you slap on random springs to the stock shocks, the shocks aren't valved to deal with the stiffer spring rate = bouncy = faster wear on the stock shocks. The whole suspension is compromised by a $300 spring vs thousands of hours on R&D to make the M suspension near perfect. My thought is if you're going to upgrade, you'll have to spend a good chunk of change to "improve" the M suspension setup.

[DETSGTSTARSKY]

This is why I will wait until they do a competition package like the current M5 before trying to buy an M3. Hopefully it will be lowered another 10mm and have a little more power. Then I won't have to spend a ton of money on aftermarket parts and get a better car too.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

K&W / Bilstein / TC are known to last 80k-100k miles with lifetime warranty and rebuild-able shocks. Feel free to cross check my claims, you'll find forum members getting more than 100k miles from those brands (track and street). Not sure how long you plan on keeping your cars, but 80k+ with lifetime warranty is acceptable in my book.

I disagree as well. KW Clubsports are on another level compared to Bilstein & TC Klines but I definitely don't think they will last 80k 8/10 times. They might seem fine but I think even the MNFRs suggest a rebuild after a certain miles ... believe Ohlins suggest 50k.

[manticor]

if only kw made the v1 for this car... had the v3 on my evoX and they were great... but all i want now is to be able to lower the car

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by swifty

I disagree as well. KW Clubsports are on another level compared to Bilstein & TC Klines but I definitely don't think they will last 80k 8/10 times. They might seem fine but I think even the MNFRs suggest a rebuild after a certain miles ... believe Ohlins suggest 50k.

Why are KW CS on another level comparing???

They all use the same double adjustable twin tube design and fail to see any difference in construction quality...

Bilstein uses monotube shocks, which in theory should have faster and more consistent damping response than twin tube design. But you might as well go with remote reservoir JRZ or Motion Control if you want step up from KW and TCK level.


Anyway, lowering springs on stock shocks are just bad idea in general. You are sacrificing decent amount of suspension travel due to the lowering. Go with a properly paired spring/shortened shock combo or just get a set of coilovers if you want to do it right... These lowering springs and coilover conversion kit for stock shocks will do very little to improve the suspension, if not making it worse...

[swifty]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

Why are KW CS on another level comparing???

They all use the same double adjustable twin tube design and fail to see any difference in construction quality...

Bilstein uses monotube shocks, which in theory should have faster and more consistent damping response than twin tube design. But you might as well go with remote reservoir JRZ or Motion Control if you want step up from KW and TCK level.


Anyway, lowering springs on stock shocks are just bad idea in general. You are sacrificing decent amount of suspension travel due to the lowering. Go with a properly paired spring/shortened shock combo or just get a set of coilovers if you want to do it right... These lowering springs and coilover conversion kit for stock shocks will do very little to improve the suspension, if not making it worse...

Not sure the how the overall quality differs between KW CS and KW V1-V3. However, I've seen my old TCklines after 3 years of use and my friends KW CS. There is a significant difference in how they held up over those years in 4 seasons and it is further amplified when you try to sell it in the used market.

Regardless, I think everyone agrees that lowering springs are not the best solution hence why I never bothered with them on the 335. However, I read a lot about swifts on the GTR forums and the M3 forums after trying them out, I was surprised. It's been almost 2 years and though the drop isn't significant like H&R, the ride is not much different than OEM. Furthermore, the up and down motion improved a lot over bumps as the linear springs settled down quickly.

The issue with coils is that you need patience initially to dial it in which eats up a lot of time. And if you are not familiar, it means more frequent trips to the shop that installed it. Then there is the increase in NVH. Also if you do blow a shock or something, there is down time. Out of 10 ppl I know with coils, atleast 9 of them faced some kind of issue initially. Even with JRZ, an issue crept up with one of the shocks that JRZ took care of right away but it meant more money to take off, ship and install while also losing couple days of use of the car.

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by swifty

Not sure the how the overall quality differs between KW CS and KW V1-V3. However, I've seen my old TCklines after 3 years of use and my friends KW CS. There is a significant difference in how they held up over those years in 4 seasons and it is further amplified when you try to sell it in the used market.

Regardless, I think everyone agrees that lowering springs are not the best solution hence why I never bothered with them on the 335. However, I read a lot about swifts on the GTR forums and the M3 forums after trying them out, I was surprised. It's been almost 2 years and though the drop isn't significant like H&R, the ride is not much different than OEM. Furthermore, the up and down motion improved a lot over bumps as the linear springs settled down quickly.

The issue with coils is that you need patience initially to dial it in which eats up a lot of time. And if you are not familiar, it means more frequent trips to the shop that installed it. Then there is the increase in NVH. Also if you do blow a shock or something, there is down time. Out of 10 ppl I know with coils, atleast 9 of them faced some kind of issue initially. Even with JRZ, an issue crept up with one of the shocks that JRZ took care of right away but it meant more money to take off, ship and install while also losing couple days of use of the car.

Curious to hear the durability issue with your older TCK in comparison to KW CS. My TCK DA performs quite well so far (installed them early this year), but I have no long term experience with it at this point.

It would be nice to know these kind of information when I switch to the F80 platform down the line.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

Curious to hear the durability issue with your older TCK in comparison to KW CS. My TCK DA performs quite well so far (installed them early this year), but I have no long term experience with it at this point.

It would be nice to know these kind of information when I switch to the F80 platform down the line.

PM me for pics and I'll dig em up. BTW I had the SA so not sure how it compares and the roads are salted here in winter.