coilover options

For my Dads Plus.

Seen the BC Racing ones and to be honest I had them on my E46 M3 and they were very good, good price, good build and good adjustability and actually a pretty good ride even in and around town. Widely used on the M3 forum too.
Also had KWs on another car, brilliant in every way.

Are KW available for the coop?

What are some other options for the coop?

1k max budget.

Cheers!

I looked at coilovers, but I wanted something that was more weather-proof and more "fit & forget"

I ended up with Osrav adjustables and Eibach springs - probably 90% as good as decent coilovers but with none of the disadvantages. Not cheap (I seem to remember about £650) but very good quality.

If I was going for new suspension, I'd probably go for BC Racing - we fitted them to a Coupe at Motormech and the quality was obvious.

Others include Gaz and Leda (although I have a feeling that there were issues with Leda, but I can't be bothered to trawl back through years of posts)

Thanks Nigel,

Yes at the moment I think BC Racing is top of the short list. Gaz is another good option actualy so thanks for that but no personal experience with them.

Ive seen on ebay KW ARE available for the 20vt too, so that throws another spanner in the works as they have a great rep and build quality and ive used them before and they were also great as were the BC R.

At the moment my Dads Plus is over 500bhp with Avo? shocks and standard springs and you cant keep the car in a straight line.

Brakes and tyres are all done to a great spec (as well as engine obviously) so suspension is last thing on the list with new bushes etc and then a good geo set up.

One of the problems with suspension on a very powerful FWD car is the compromise between cornering capability and straigh-line stability.

To get a Coupe to go round corners, you need a decent amount of camber (1-2 degrees negative) and a toe setting towards the "out" end of the range.

To get a Coupe to stay in a straight line (espcially under power and especially if a Quaife diff is fitted), you need modest camber (0.5 to 1 degree negative) and toe settings towards the "in" end of the range

My car is currently biased towards cornering performance and as a result, it's a bit lively in a straight line, especially when cresting over the crown of a road when overtaking.

I'll be glad when my new tyres are fitted this weekend, because it's difficult to drive at anything less than base boost.

Thanks Nigel,

Whats the standard settings like on a coop? As always found the people that do geo set ups just follow the screen and OE settings etc. Yes car has a quaiffe diff too.

Yes its fun going round corners but my dad is more likely to put his foot down in a straight line on a nice slip road etc than hoon it round corners too enthusiastically. Some sort of balance would obviously be nice but maybe edging towards the straight line feel of confidence etc otherwise it takes the fun away of having all that power in a way.

Im sure you have read a few posts of mine over the years regarding tyres, I look forward to you getting them on and seeing what you think, a full new matching set of premium tyres. Gives you confidence in your mind too as well as behind the wheel.

I've had Joe install a Quaife on mine while carrying out the rebuild. I've also had BC Coilovers on mine for a few years now so I'll be able to report on the handling of both combined pretty soon.

I haven't seen any mention of the issue with Castor that the BC's give us so thought I'd pipe up on it. Castor is reduced substantially, making the car a lot more nervous in a straight line. It also means you don't gain as much Camber when cornering - it's not great really. I've heard it's possible to modify the top mounts to claw most of it back however, but I've never had it carried out. It is very much on my project 'to do' list however, so again, I'll be able to report back on that at some point.

Once the cage is in (which itself will follow completion of the 'bulkhead-back' resoration, and suspension and brakes refresh), I'll be having the car corner weighted with a full fast-road geometry alignment to get the most out of the whole set-up.

Nigel, I have to wonder how much of this comprimise in regards to suspension set-ups is a result of the floppy chassis on these cars. I'm convinced the installation of a full cage will remedy a 'degree' of this!

A cage must make quite a difference to the handling because if installed well it should take out the flex that the car has - I think the only other car I've had on which the doors were as difficult to open when jacked up on one corner was a Triumph Herald convertible!

In terms of coilovers I've got a set of BC racing to go on mine, I read all the threads on here about alternatives and decided they seem to be a good compromise between adjustability (even if they are only done once rather than regularly this means they can be done to the owner preference), performance and price. I'm aiming to fit them in time for the 2021 hillclimb season.

BC coil overs seem to be very good value for money, I had a set on my Renault megane and they were fabulous. Nice damping adjustment and the fact you adjust the shock length and not compress the spring is the proper way to do it!! I would buy some for sure.