[rborane]

What is the overall feedback on ST Coilovers for daily driving?

Thinking of getting a set, but curious how the ride quality will be compared to my sport suspension...

[Denny347]

Originally Posted by rborane

What is the overall feedback on ST Coilovers for daily driving?

Thinking of getting a set, but curious how the ride quality will be compared to my sport suspension...

Noticeably stiffer than my factory sport suspension. It's not uncomfortably stiff but when I hit a bump at interstate speeds the car rebounds so quickly. I have about 25k miles on my ST and they still seem to be doing fine. It's a blast to run on a road course now.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by rborane

What is the overall feedback on ST Coilovers for daily driving?

Thinking of getting a set, but curious how the ride quality will be compared to my sport suspension...

I have had the ST V1s for about 3 months or so now, and I feel like they have just finally "broken in". I daily drive my car about 20k miles a year and for me they are just fine. That being said, I also daily drove my Z4M coupe for 3 years doing the same kind of mileage, so I may not be as sensitive to a harsher ride.

They can be harsh on certain bumps, but they're really predictable compared to the stock sport suspension. My biggest complaint with the stock setup was how it would bounce back up after absorbing a bump and unsettle the car with a "floatiness" feeling. With the ST's this characteristic is entirely gone. I would say they are as good as a coilover is going to get for the sub 1k mark.

Just be warned, if you pair these with the M3 control arm kit, you will notice quite a bit more NVH through the steering wheel. If you have the slightest worn bushing or bent/out of balance wheel, it will be 200% more noticeable with this setup.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

They can be harsh on certain bumps, but they're really predictable compared to the stock sport suspension. My biggest complaint with the stock setup was how it would bounce back up after absorbing a bump and unsettle the car with a "floatiness" feeling. With the ST's this characteristic is entirely gone. I would say they are as good as a coilover is going to get for the sub 1k mark.

The stock dampers lacked enough compression, and so the car would "crash" over a series of bumps. The dampers just blew through the compression stroke on any bump. Real garbage.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by chris82

The stock dampers lacked enough compression, and so the car would "crash" over a series of bumps. The dampers just blew through the compression stroke on any bump. Real garbage.

Yeah, thats the conclusion I came to as well. Over sprung and under damped in order to compensate for the garbage factory run-flats. As soon as you take the run-flats out of the picture, you can really notice how shit the stock suspension is.

[JeanCa]

I have ST XTAs on my e92 and I love them. The car is my daily driver and I have no complaints. They are more stiff than the stock M sport suspension but they are not uncomfortable stiff. The car will feel less floaty, also they noticeably reduce body roll. My car feels way more planted and capable when I do mountain road spirited driving.

[hellokitty]

I’ll post an update once I have them installed. Got a great deal on them over Black Friday. I am doing the entire suspension all at once so hopefully I can make some good comparisons against my F80 M3. Both are running PS4S tires.

ST E93 version, M3 arms front and rear, eibach front and rear sway, Bimmerworld aluminum subframe bushings, manzo toe arms, AKG rear lower mount with street poly bushing, AKG upper mount with street poly bushing, AKG front and rear street end links. Targeting -1.5 of camber (same as my F80 with camber plates.)

The stock m sport suspension is borderline unsafe when doing any sort of aggressive driving. Doesn’t feel planted or confidence inspiring at all.

I am thinking about adding the Dinan fixed camber plates as the cherry on top and will do diff bushings once I get a LSD.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

I’ll post an update once I have them installed. Got a great deal on them over Black Friday. I am doing the entire suspension all at once so hopefully I can make some good comparisons against my F80 M3. Both are running PS4S tires.

ST E93 version, M3 arms front and rear, eibach front and rear sway, Bimmerworld aluminum subframe bushings, manzo toe arms, AKG rear lower mount with street poly bushing, AKG upper mount with street poly bushing, AKG front and rear street end links. Targeting -1.5 of camber (same as my F80 with camber plates.)

The stock m sport suspension is borderline unsafe when doing any sort of aggressive driving. Doesn’t feel planted or confidence inspiring at all.

I am thinking about adding the Dinan fixed camber plates as the cherry on top and will do diff bushings once I get a LSD.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on your setup once you have it dialed in. I daily my car, so I am hesitant to go further down the suspension rabbit hole, but I also have a strong desire to fix all of the bad handling habits it has. Mainly looking at the subframe bushings and sways next.

If you're looking for -1.5 up front, I suggest doing the camber plates off the bat. With just the M3 control arms and ST coilovers I struggled to get much more than -1.0 on both sides up front.

[JeanCa]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

I’ll post an update once I have them installed. Got a great deal on them over Black Friday. I am doing the entire suspension all at once so hopefully I can make some good comparisons against my F80 M3. Both are running PS4S tires.

ST E93 version, M3 arms front and rear, eibach front and rear sway, Bimmerworld aluminum subframe bushings, manzo toe arms, AKG rear lower mount with street poly bushing, AKG upper mount with street poly bushing, AKG front and rear street end links. Targeting -1.5 of camber (same as my F80 with camber plates.)

The stock m sport suspension is borderline unsafe when doing any sort of aggressive driving. Doesn’t feel planted or confidence inspiring at all.

I am thinking about adding the Dinan fixed camber plates as the cherry on top and will do diff bushings once I get a LSD.

Thats sounds like a great set-up!!! would love to hear how the e92 compares to the f80 after all those mods.

Apart from the ST XTAs (-1.5 front and -1.8 rear camber) I also have front and rear M3 control arms and the M3 strut brace. For me it has been a huge upgrade over stock. Thinking of getting solid rear sub mounts and LSD soon.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by JeanCa

Thats sounds like a great set-up!!! would love to hear how the e92 compares to the f80 after all those mods.

Apart from the ST XTAs (-1.5 front and -1.8 rear camber) I also have front and rear M3 control arms and the M3 strut brace. For me it has been a huge upgrade over stock. Thinking of getting solid rear sub mounts and LSD soon.

Do the XTAs have built in camber plates or a way to get more negative camber in the front? I have the base STs and with the M3 control arms I was only able to get around -1 to -1.1 in the front on a performance oriented alignment rack.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on your setup once you have it dialed in. I daily my car, so I am hesitant to go further down the suspension rabbit hole, but I also have a strong desire to fix all of the bad handling habits it has. Mainly looking at the subframe bushings and sways next.

If you're looking for -1.5 up front, I suggest doing the camber plates off the bat. With just the M3 control arms and ST coilovers I struggled to get much more than -1.0 on both sides up front.

Thanks for the tip. Just ordered the Dinan fixed camber plates. Add that to my list lol

[JeanCa]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

Do the XTAs have built in camber plates or a way to get more negative camber in the front? I have the base STs and with the M3 control arms I was only able to get around -1 to -1.1 in the front on a performance oriented alignment rack.

Yes they do include camber plates

here are some pictures of the coils with the plates,

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by JeanCa

Yes they do include camber plates

here are some pictures of the coils with the plates,


Attachment 1953492

Attachment 1953499

Ah, that makes sense then. Looking back now, I wish I spent the extra couple hundred to get the XTAs. Oh well.

[Denny347]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on your setup once you have it dialed in. I daily my car, so I am hesitant to go further down the suspension rabbit hole, but I also have a strong desire to fix all of the bad handling habits it has. Mainly looking at the subframe bushings and sways next.

If you're looking for -1.5 up front, I suggest doing the camber plates off the bat. With just the M3 control arms and ST coilovers I struggled to get much more than -1.0 on both sides up front.

Yeah, I replaced the control arms with stock and JUST installed the Whiteline subframe inserts. Those inserts really tightened up the rear end. My car has 114k mi on it and the factory subframe bushings were worn out. I'm a little hesitant about going stiff on the bushings in fear that it would actually make the car less fun to drive.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

ST like KW are pretty practical for daily's. Well over 9/10 people daily their E9X.

I personally run KW but if you aren't in the salt belt, ST are a very good option.