Lowering - Why??

Don't know why people with not even low cars have problems with speed humps? Mine is down a fair bit, and has X brace fitted which lowers ground clearance more. Can still fly over pillow humps without a problem :confused: Never had a problem with the stiffness on the roads either.
 
Coilovers dont have much of a place on the road, ime.

The spring rates are so much harder than normal lowering springs that you need such savage damping to control it, the ride is going to be terrible regardless and in some cases the car less driveable

Worse still are the £120 ebay special coilovers :(

Good coil overs are better on road, even when set to a lower ride height than OE, tried and tested, the coil overs give better ride quality even with a 30mm drop even with them set quite firm. Certainly works on the M3 for sure and very well, but my coil over kit is around 2k new and certainly an improvement. On newer carsand cars designed more for comfort your probably right as newer cars suspension have improved greatly in last 10 years.
 
Don't know why people with not even low cars have problems with speed humps? Mine is down a fair bit, and has X brace fitted which lowers ground clearance more. Can still fly over pillow humps without a problem :confused: Never had a problem with the stiffness on the roads either.

On mine ground clearance isn't great at the front, which is quite surprising considering the rally heritage.

Standard vs -40mm:

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The biggest problem is the exhaust bracket which attaches to the gearbox - no easy way to replace it and the U bolt acts as an easily replaceable sacrificial target.
 
Good coil overs are better on road, even when set to a lower ride height than OE, tried and tested, the coil overs give better ride quality even with a 30mm drop even with them set quite firm. Certainly works on the M3 for sure and very well, but my coil over kit is around 2k new and certainly an improvement. On newer carsand cars designed more for comfort your probably right as newer cars suspension have improved greatly in last 10 years.

If.they are so good why did BMW M not think to use them?
 
[TW]Fox;25565444 said:
If.they are so good why did BMW M not think to use them?

Cost, they need servicing, warranty claims/complications, very adjustable and car manufacturers only until recently did not want to sell cars where suspension could be adjusted by customer. Even BMW are now beginning to fit coil overs to some of their top M cars, so seems like BMW M are now using them. ;)

BMW offered a good all round package with good life which did not cost huge amounts of money with their Sachs dampers and always snapping rear springs.

A manufacturer has to try and please a very wide audience and wants to keep cost low and maximise profits whilst having a product which does not need servicing every two years or 20,000 miles. Some of the very expensive suspension such as Ohlins or Nitrons is simply superb but cost huge money and needs servicing regular.

The standard suspension on most cars can always be improved on whilst maintaining comfort when setup correctly if your willing to pay and happy with extra servicing the dampers might require.
 
Alpina tells me they use KW clubsport cool overs on their B3 GT3. There is an advert for them in this month's evo I'm looking at it right now. Because, our customers expect just the best from an ALPINA - Andreas Bovensiepen.
 
Alpina tells me they use KW clubsport cool overs on their B3 GT3. There is an advert for them in this month's evo I'm looking at it right now. Because, our customers expect just the best from an ALPINA - Andreas Bovensiepen.

There you go Fox and the Alpina no doubt cost more too, because it's better. :)
 
[TW]Fox;25565552 said:
That's more a track car than a road car.

Which is probably superb on the road too. :p

New Mini GP uses coil overs and according to reviews is sensational on the road.

Good (expensive) coil overs are better when setup correctly for road or track. Just most people set them up wrong, slam the car, it then rides terrible, suspension wears out faster or just buy cheap coil overs which are poor and break within 12 months.

The beauty of coil overs is they are adjustable, so you can set them for fast road, comfort or track it's just not easy and get the settings wrong and car will be unstable, ride terrible and just be damn right poor.
 
Don't know why people with not even low cars have problems with speed humps? Mine is down a fair bit, and has X brace fitted which lowers ground clearance more. Can still fly over pillow humps without a problem :confused: Never had a problem with the stiffness on the roads either.

It depends where you are, some councils have installed speed bumps that are excessively high. Even with a stock 9-5 Aero there's a couple in one of the estates in Skipton where my front splitter rubs slightly.
 
[TW]Fox;25565552 said:
That's more a track car than a road car.

It's true you know - my car has coil overs and it's shocking on the road.

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Oh, hang on a minute - it's actually the best handling car I've ever driven on the road.
 
I'm considering lowering my e46. I am however not going to skimp on suspension and buy something cheap and crap like £150 coil overs, even though my car is a T plate.
It's like people buying cheap crap tyres. It's a false economy.
 
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