As my name indicates this is a daily driver 90% of the year so I'm not interested in making this a racecar, just a very well-behaving car for both. Alignment is aggressive for the street but way short of a spec car on the track.
I'm on eibach springs and koni yellows half a turn from firmest on front and full firm on the rear, stock swaybars, stock control arms. Springs are actually for the i, not the xi - they lower the car pretty drastically and still pair well with the yellows. With this setup and good tire pressures the car rotates absolutely fine, I can even induce oversteer whenever I want. There's just some roll I would next love to take up with a front bar, like e30_335i describes.
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Originally Posted by E30_335i
Save the money on coilovers, they do no good on track. Heavy sway bars ruin the handling too.
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Tend to agree.
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Originally Posted by E30_335i
Braking is always a problem till you move to a big brake system. The OEM calipers just can't take the heat.
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Disagree, but I think it depends on the track. For instance Watkins Glen is the hellspawn demon consumer of brakes and tires. I found some mild fade toward the end of my sessions but I was able to manage it. If cash wasn't tight, I would adore a BBK, but I found a half dozen other valuable upgrades for that $2-3000.
Personal note - starting with only shocks and springs I feel I learned the car mechanics more easily and my skills improved a lot faster. (I was even reluctant to put my first set of rcomps on and considered staying on my all-seasons, for fear of losing that rate of improvement.) I incrementally discovered and executed what I wanted to do next - I haven't been for want of too much other suspension change. Perhaps after ctr arms and a front bar I'll revise this post.