Had these fitted over the weekend by iceberg, and i know all the geometry needs to be set up (tomorrow) but i very underwhelmed. I have come from std 75k dambers and cobra springs and i can say on warwickshire roads, over total distance the std suspension would hammer my car as it is. On a roundabout or smooth corners the koni's would and can corner 5 or even 10 mph more (although i think the breakaway point now has less warning) but overall they are so so hard its silly. I cannot put the power down if there are a few bumps as it just bounces and wheel spins its way down the road.I can now see what people say about bounce, they are scary above 100, and i would end up in a ditch if i hit a big hole i am sure. i have the rear set to 50% hard/soft which is too soft, and the front 25% closer to hard. the front is also a little too low putting too much weight over the front (i hope). So i have got to fiddle but to be honest i think these will be up for sale. stupid me has just sold my cobra springs, so thats 140 pounds i need to find again plus std dampers, but imho its worth it

all i can say is get them set up as i think mine are ace tbh changed the car so much i know what you are saying but i think setting them will make it so much better for you pot holes and the wheel spins you will get use to in time but give them a month to settlein and see how they feel then had mine for well over year can not fault them bar the darn pot holes

pot holes are okay, i can live with that. did you go from std straight to these? i think i was really fortunate with the setup i just had. they realy did seem well suited. i know everyne says don't fit springs only, but mine seemed well suited to the dampers and were probably the softest and least drop springs available (even though they say 40mm lol..)

You need to have them setup softer i think as i have found for most driving my coop is much better with my Konis setup on teh softes setting other than when i know im gunna cane it on smoother roads no certain times i can fiddle the front about a bit.

yes i did in my car but two of my m8s have differnt set ups to me so had a try out in these first both like the fk set up tbh i must say did not like them at first but i let htem settle in then had the set up now i love in it you can really hit the corner hard and not really worry imo but i think you should hold back on the sale and just try them for a month or two with differnt set ups every 2 weeks till you find one that fits your driving style hope this helps

okay then will fiddle... Can either of you recommend a good starting point for the front camber and toe in? think std is about -0deg 15min camber and 2 deg toe in. do i make the negative more to allow for the drop (about 40+mm)

will try get all the info from the bloke that set mine up but if you pm pistole he has good knowledge as he has just set his up but they are not fks but still should not be that much in it

I've heard that the Kws are much nicer in this regard.

I'm after some coilovers but I'm not decided yet since many mates report the same experience as Adam

I know that Kw are 200 pounds more but in regard of my safe bone structure and my coop chassis I think it's best to consider them

What about Fks highsports I've heard that they are much more polite than konigsports! Anyone

Kellys coop has KW's IIRc and not super low compared to what they can be but they are rock hard, and its very low, i had a misson to get the thing in the air!

So are you saying that's not much of a diference in ride between Fks and Kws

Any uprated suspension you go for in my experience is to any degree going to be stiffer and harder. thats what you pay your money for realy as it reduces the roll of the body. spring and damper suspension cant overcome this at all. hydro-pneumatic can to a certain degree but for the best result i would think that the Bose electro-magnetic system would be your best bet. the price for which im sure is 20,000 euros +....

??? are you kiding right

I'm just after a good setup. One that don't hurt my back and my car much but that can glue the coop well to the tarmac.

The thing is that we don't have many options because bilsteins b6 are not designed to ride with a lowered car

if you want that i would stick with standard or maybe just slighlty better shocks like the Koni adjustables like mine. not much harder than standard but still good and fairly soft as well. mine on softest feel softer than the standard setup on an NA i drive every now and again

Are your konis the yellow ones?

Think that those have the same dampening force as the coilovers don't they

Adam, your PM box is full!!

hi AJG,

your experience with your c/overs mirrors mine.

I had a shock (methaphorically and in reality) when they
went in because the ride immediately went to sheeet. I
could get no drive on uneven ground , my ABS went bonkers,
at high speeds it was truly (white knuckle) dangerous
because the entire chassis reacted to bumps.

BUT , you need to persevere.

Persevere because once you learn how to set her up and also
learn how suspension settings effect your ride/handling, its
truly a humbling experience.

when setup for the intended application (type of roads and
speeds) , the levels of control/grip and feedback are really
phenomenal.

I haven't even begun to tell you how good they are on track.
Bejeezus !

you need to back all your settings off completely to soft
(iirc , the Konis are only one-way adjustable ?) and start
from there. Choose the ride height that you want and send
the car in for alignment (fronts at least neg. 1 degree
camber and toe-in 1 degree).

Then start playing with the settings , start with fronts
first and raise the damping levels gradually till you find
the level that you want/comfortable with.

make a note (stick a masking tape to the front suspension
turrets to record your settings).

good luck and perservere.

cheers.

I agree, Pistole's method is very sensible .

I agree, it can take quite a time getting the car setup, and always check the alignment each time you do any new mods.

The Coupe chassis won't cope too well with really hard setups, she will skip all over the place on uneven ground.

Agree, adjust gradually until you are happy, and if you want to reduce the Coupe's natural instinct to understeer, then run the rear dampers firmer than the fronts .

joe

thanks all. i am not a trackday person so i have really bought the wrong product. i wanted a slightly lower stance than my springs gave me but i was 100% happy with the ride the std dampers and cobra springs gave me. i am not an out and out nutter so i was happy with having some comfort for me woring on the car is hard as i do not even have a driveway to play with, all roadside parking and limited time/no weekends to play.
i had assumed that making it even softer will give better traction but make it even bouncier? this is the truely shocking think about the coilovers. i am honestly too scared to go above 100 where 120+ was fine before. hope the alignment helps. ruined my chances of selling them on haven't i, lol

Hi Adam,

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm very concerned about ride quality and in preservering my bone struture as well as my coop chassis.

But I don't want to run anything that wasn't designed to run as is (Bilstein B6 that weren't designed to run with lowered springs for instance, but everybody seems to run it )

So if you opt to sell the fks in the near future post me a PM

Cheers

Nelson if you are concerned about ride quality you are wasting your time and money with coilovers. You seem to be making an issue out of the Bilstein with Eibachs combination where this setup has been tried and tested over many owners cars and many thousands of miles, with only good results. As I posted previously the B6 is a general sports damper to be used with standard springs or mildly lowered and uprated springs. There is no issue with using these shocks with uprated springs. If there was, countless people would have found it by now. The ride/ handling combination speaks for itself.

nelson, as much as i would be tempted to take you cash mate, for what you want (like me) you would be buying the wrong thing. these coilovers preserve NO ride quality. the std dampers and loweing springs worked better for me so far. nelson listen to cosmo, there will be NO issue with the billies and lowering.
TBH i bet the std dampers were never designed with lowering in mind either but no one person has been stopped by this
this setup will never be soft enought for what i want but i am gonna spend 2 weeks with them and see if after alignment and settings fiddle i can accept them on a daily basis.

@ pistole gonna try you neg camber and toe settings and see what it feels like, with that camber will i start getting bad inner shoulder wear on the tyres?

hi AJG,

not sure about the camber / wear issue ... my tyres didn't
survive long enough for me to take notes .....

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/pistole/P1010022.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/pistole/P1010023.jpg

please do try to learn the setup , as it'll pay dividends
later.

cheers.

hey,

I just realised that you're running 18' rims.

that's going to change your parameters. By how much I'm not
sure though.

cheers.

running the same radius though and same weight as std alloys and tyres ( put them on the scales before fitting ) so i hope it does not effect the susp setting too much? i use the std toe in now -2mm iirc, and have used 0 toe in/out before, but noticed no difference so went back to original. gonna set up the ride height tomorrw if the weather holds out, then wednesday i will try and get it set. unfortunately the best equipped place round here ( silverline wheels and tyres) are the biggest arses ever known and i did vow after i used them last time that i would never go back... the search is on for somewhere in cov/leamington area that can set it up do Prodrive to foreigners, only 20 mins down the road from me

Thanks cosmo. I know that many of us are running the Bils/eibach combo and that means that they are somehow proven.

But please understand that I'm a bit sceptic because the ones who told me DON'T use them with lowered springs in first place were the official Bilstein dealer for my country!!!

Anyway... I'll be waiting for Adam future comments on their Fks (even if he's going to stick on them) just because the Bisteins and Eibachs are in the same price league here as Fks online.

You are now seeing my dilema I think I can cope with a somehow harsh ride/better handling than softer/worse handling for the same price

I've now realized that Adam is running 18" wheels. That means he's running super low profile tires (I think!) and that's playing for sure a big role in the harsh ride as well.

I had become more astonished, and worried to be truthful, with the Adam comments regarding bouncing

I would expect everything but a bouncing car with such a harsh setup

nelson, the ride with std suspension and 18's wearing 225/35/18 tyres was not noticably worse than std. never did anyone get in the car and comment on the ride worsening. on 18's and lowering springs (cobra) the ride got slightly harder, but not as hard as something like eibach springs.
this is hard mate and it is not helping the handling at all on the roads i like to use. i have softened up the front to the minimum the kini's will allow and it is better, but not great. as above this looks like it will take time, but never be the solution i wanted. if i lived in milton keynes with 1000's of roundabouts then i would be fine must have added 5-20mph on the ones round here
i got mine for a good price second hand, but i still wish i had driven/sat in a car before i purchased them. nelson fancy coming over to england to have a play in my car, might save you 100's of euros

It really would be the best solution Adam if only I could travel to england now But many thanks for the disponibility

It's a pain choosing something on a conversation basis. Even when they come from fellow members that only want to help.

I think that everything should be like shoes. You don't buy them before you know that they fit. And this means that you try them

Spending 700€ on suspension alone doesn't bore me. If they do the job well of course!!! Besides... a good kit should last. At least it's intended to be that way.

Just to compare, I've bought a fully adjustable suspension to my bike and called my mechanic as soon as I enter my door step worried about how supple it was

He told me: don't worry! it's like that! You have much more confort than std but roll the trothle and you're going to see that you gonna find much more grip than std also.

And he was not joking! It was a HUGE improvement on all kind of surfaces at all kind of speeds but also on my back.

2 more questions Adam.

Are you using 100nm springs? or the 80s?

You refer many times the type of roads you normaly use. Can you describe why you consider that so much important?

Cheers

quickly before bed as far as i know they have the 100nm springs on the front, which would account for the HARD suspension, secondly on a really smooth road this setup would rule, no bodyroll, fantastic grip etc. agree try before you buy is best option, second is to listen to people. problem is we are all different. have you read cosmo's writeup on all teh different suspewnsion types? what is written about these coils is 100% right. Adam