Quote:
Originally Posted by thakid22
I had FSD's installed on my 330i Sport Package.
These shocks do indeed provide stellar handling and a smooth ride at the same time.
The biggest surprise was the change in road noise. On stock shocks, I could hear the suspension "working" as the wheels travelled over bumps and surfaces. On FSD's, no more thump or bump sounds from the road. Pothole explosions? Gone too!
Tracking was dead straight and steering feel was excellent. In a straight line, the rough harshness of the road is no longer transmitted through the steering wheel. Only a muted and subdued thump makes it way to the steering wheel letting you know what's going on at the wheels. Feels quite nice.
Body roll and transient response is better than OEM Sport suspension, and on par with the Bilstein HD's I tried. Nose dive/rear squat, again, on par with the Bilstein HD's. Very secure to say the least.
FSD's are indeed firm over good surfaces, and smooth over bumps.
Fazman, tell me more about the instability you experience... I have a few ideas of what may be causing the issue. Is the wiggle/bobbing from the front or rear of the vehicle? Over sharp bumps? Smooth humps? Or all of the time? That bobbing seems indicative of tires not all pointing true as they should to spec.
The vibration you feel/see can be from one of several sources...
Powder coated wheels... The coating may not have been perfectly applied. If the coating has not been applied evenly and smoothly, you will get vibration even after balancing.
Reconditioned wheels.... A wheel that has been repaired or straightened can also be prone to bad vibes. Again, balancing will be tough if the repair left the wheel imbalanced in a couple different spots.
Front Control Arms... Worn (not necessarily damaged or broken) front control arms are notorious for their ability to introduce shimmy in the front end of E90's E60's and other Bimmers as well.
Alignment... Your alignment is only as good as your alignment technician. Did you know that BMW states that alignment must be done with a full tank of gas AND weights added to the trunk, rear seat and various places throughout the vehicle to simulate laden ride height?
This is important to know because aftermarket shops NEVER add this weight. They just throw it on the alignment rack and be done with it. In any event, if your alignments aren't "working" then something isn't right.
Oh, FSD's do come in a box. No telling where yours were sourced from if they didn't. Did you have any issues before the FSD's?
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I had the stock sport shock until one of them blew out and started leaking at about 104k miles (That's when i wanted to get the suspension refresh). I also ended up with one cracked stock coil spring on that same shock as the leak. So when we did the refresh I got the following done:
1) one new control arm (old one was worn)
2) replaced the cracks stock shock coil with a new stock one.
3) I'm suppose to be getting a card in the mail from koni with the warranty registration soon.
As for the alignment, I also bring it in with a full tank of gas but I don't do the weight in the car:
a) 150 lbs front driver seat
b) 150 lbs front passenger seat
c) 150 lbs rear center seat
d) 42 lbs trunk
e) full tank of gas
* I plan to take it to costco for a free wheel balance check as my first diag step.
* second step I plan to take it to my local Firestone who has worked on my car before (but not part of this new setup). Have them go over it just to see what the machine says.
If those don't fix the issue... I'll take it back to the mechanic to have him take it up with the wheel shop or his work.
As for the instability... I'm now on day 3 of driving the car, the car seems a little better now maybe things are settling in??? I still feel like the car feels a bit bouncy on the road (maybe more firm then what I was used to before) and expected since its a different shock and new shock?? The car at times seems to pull to the right of the road at time and sometimes to the left on a few roads. So maybe it is the crown of the road (but i don't remember it being like this before), i think that might be alignment?? Another change I made was to go with four rear style 162 rims (18x8.5 width) on staggered tires. previously I had staggered rims with staggered tires. So lots of changes in one go (plus it has been almost 4 months since I last drove the car).
But I agree with you on a few points:
* Koni FSD does not make any road noise like the stock sport suspension does when it would compress. The stock setup you could hear little air leaking like sounds as they were "working" that was since day one of ownership.
* Koni FSD does handle the bumps A LOT better than the stock setup. I am now getting over my fear slowly of non-perfect roads. I have not experienced any potholes yet to confirm "explosive" hit's yet... but my gut feeling is it will probably be like you said (Drastically improved).
If I can fix these silly problems with simple fixes... i think i would really like these Koni FSD's I just hope its something like it needs to settle or it needs a minor tweak to get it perfect like you have.
Now how many miles are on your set
thakid22 ? Mine are only at 125 miles