[Ess]

Really looking forward to pictures and feebck on the ride vs m sport as this is the one I'm close to buying.

[Tim G]

Get some pics up! Let us know how much you've wound down the coilovers too & what's left etc.

[mjn77]

Will any camber adjustable top mounts for the front fit?

Fancy having -1.5 degrees to match the rears. But with the e90 having no camber adjustments on the front, i need new top mounts.

The HSD coilovers come with new top mounts for the fronts.

[webwysard]

OP how much your brother would charge others for fitting coilovers ? and have you had your car aligned on Hunter system afterwards ?

[Jackzillaaa]

I have had the car aligned yeah, 4 wheel alignment. Apparently it was only 1mm off on drivers side!

I have spoke to my brother, and he has said he would be able to fit Coils on "our" drive for £150 per car - and in his words "as long as they're not watching over my shoulder"
I am not sure what his price would be for a call out fitting.. But I can ask on request! (DM me)

And now! A right-up for my B14's!
I have driven to work and back all week on these wonderful coilovers! Something like 250 miles, plus a little more town driving etc. So I'd say I've done 300+ miles this week on them.
I'd say they have settled now nicely, and are low enough currently. But I do have the option to go down ever-so slightly more. I adjusted them twice to get them to the height I wanted, basically no arch gap so the arch sits over the tires.

Measurement wise, I have about 5mm on the coil left to go down on the fronts.
And i'm not even sure what the rears are, they are roughly 65% down, but Id say they could go alot lower.

The ride is very firm, and controlled. It handles a dream now, I have much more confidence in the car! It handles how it should, lots of grip front and rear, but I still have the option to get the tail out as and when needed!








Let me know your thoughts!!

[Ess]

Are there any pictures? Can't see them. I would be interested to hear you elaborate on "the ride is very firm". How does I compare to M Sport?

[tomwh85]

Interesting. I will be keeping a close eye on this subject.

[Jackzillaaa]

Hi, have changed the album settings to public.. Let me know if you still can't see anything.

And I'm unsure on how best to describe the firm ride compared to M sport. I have the original purchase receipt of my E92 330i se and it states that optional extra of "sport suspension" was purchased. So I am assuming that is M sport?
If so.. I can say that both drivers side front and rear shocks were leaking fluid which will only ruin the ride anyway!
But the car has almost no body roll, and it seems to follow the bumps in the road now.
Previously it would absorb a lot of the bumps/pot holes but now it really does follow the bumps and pot holes etc. You can feel the whole car moving up and down over the different elevations in the road. Its a definite 8/10 stiffness!

Please note that I am running none runflat tyres! The runflats were taken off within a month of so of owning the car!! They bloody ruin the ride!!

If there is anything specifically you would like to know, I can try to answer. But currently its pretty difficult trying to explain!

I shall say, that I'm going to drop it to the max on the front, and another 25-30% on the rear this week. So I could get some more pics!

[Ess]

I can see the pics now, looking good! Thanks for the extra info. Sounds like it's pretty firm. Would my mum describe it as uncomfortable?

[Jim1985]

Looks fantastic - could be interested in the fitting offer when the time comes around!

[AWSAWS]

I do wonder how much this improves an M-Sport Coupe.
My car has never felt that bad but I do feel I need an LSD on some uneven corners.

[Aragorn30d]

Low and stiff looks good, but it doesnt generally improve grip on typical uneven roads etc.

The lack of roll makes the car FEEL as though it handles better, but the stiffness means that when presented with uneven road surfaces the car can skip and bounce over the surface due to there being insufficient compliance in the system to keep the wheel stuck to the road.

Running an E90 that low means you've almost zero bump travel, which means the suspension has no way of absorbing impacts and your jammed into the bump stops all the time.

Its quite an odd scenario, as the reduced roll gives you more confidence in the car, it will turn in better and generally feel more sporty, when infact it can have LESS grip than a completely stock car in some situations due to the suspension being unable to do its job properly.

[AWSAWS]

My brother did coil over's on his Civic Type R.

Brutal!!!

Hit a bump and it hurts.

[AlanYoro35i]

I'm Still Waiting For My Beer As A Thanks Lol

[Jim1985]

Originally Posted by AWSAWS

My brother did coil over's on his Civic Type R.

Brutal!!!

Hit a bump and it hurts.

Either he bought cheap ones, ones not set up for UK roads, or he had them set too stiff.

When buying coilovers it pays to choose an item that can offer adjustable damping, or damping valved specifically for UK roads, and adjustable spring platforms so you can alter the ride height independent of spring travel/spring preload.

Ive ran coilovers on a good few of my cars. My MX5 coilovers were eBay cheapies (but replaced 3 leaking OEM shocks, so an improvement there I guess). They were very noisy, and didnt really tackle bumps. However, when raised to stock ride height, and they were fine over bumps.

The Meister Rs fitted to my Subaru Legacy were better than the Bilstein OEM shocks. These adjusted from harder than stock, to softer; and offered a great deal of well judged damping and comfort (if required). Specifically valved for UK roads and well regarded in the Honda & MX5 scene, I'll be investing in these when the time comes.

The HSD Monopro coilovers fitted to my Subaru Impreza STI were rather stiff, but thats because I had set them like that, and specifically wanted a track orientated setup on that car.


I'll be interested to see how you find the B14s. I did lots of reading up, and although I don't remember specifics, I remember thinking that they weren't for me.

[AWSAWS]

Originally Posted by Jim1985

Either he bought cheap ones, ones not set up for UK roads, or he had them set too stiff.

When buying coilovers it pays to choose an item that can offer adjustable damping, or damping valved specifically for UK roads, and adjustable spring platforms so you can alter the ride height independent of spring travel/spring preload.

Ive ran coilovers on a good few of my cars. My MX5 coilovers were eBay cheapies (but replaced 3 leaking OEM shocks, so an improvement there I guess). They were very noisy, and didnt really tackle bumps. However, when raised to stock ride height, and they were fine over bumps.

The Meister Rs fitted to my Subaru Legacy were better than the Bilstein OEM shocks. These adjusted from harder than stock, to softer; and offered a great deal of well judged damping and comfort (if required). Specifically valved for UK roads and well regarded in the Honda & MX5 scene, I'll be investing in these when the time comes.

The HSD Monopro coilovers fitted to my Subaru Impreza STI were rather stiff, but thats because I had set them like that, and specifically wanted a track orientated setup on that car.


I'll be interested to see how you find the B14s. I did lots of reading up, and although I don't remember specifics, I remember thinking that they weren't for me.

I actually live at the top of a hill that has the worst road surface you can imagine bar it being cobbles. It badly needs resurfacing.

[Aragorn30d]

The bit people seem to fail to understand is stiffness and rideheight are related very closely.

If you run a car low, you reduce the amount of bump travel left in the suspension. An E90 like the one pictured above might only have an inch or so upwards travel left before you've run out of travel, and is probably already touching the bump stops at rest.

You can then have two options, you run stiff springs to control bumps within that 1 inch of travel, or you run softer springs, which fail to control bumps within that 1 inch of travel and means your hitting the bump stops all the time. Both result in an uncomfortable nasty ride for a road car.

The best coilovers in the world cant get round these basic facts, if the suspension as no room to work, it will be horrible. As jim pointed out above with his nasty ebay coilovers on the MX5, once the car was raised back to stock height, they were now able to work properly, and became significantly better!

The factory MSport ride height already has pretty limited bump travel, only something like 2 inches, and much of that is already touching the bump stop. Next time your on a dual carridgeway, take a look at the wheels of the car next to you and note how much they're moving to absorb bumps etc, then realise your car only has 2 inches of travel to do that in.

In summary, if you want your car to remain comfortable, lowering it any more than stock MSport is a bad idea.

[Jim1985]

Whilst I agree in principle, surely on coilovers where you can adjust the ride height independant of the spring travel, there should be no adverse effect on comfort etc.

But I have noticed the amount of suspension travel on other cars on the motorway - normally while shaking my fillings on in the Subaru Impreza!

[Aragorn30d]

The problem is the travel is limited by the damper rod, not the spring. So regardless of how much spring travel is left, you've only got about 2 inches before the top of the shock is jammed hard against the top mount and cant go anywhere.

[Jim1985]

I'm with you

[ade146]

Originally Posted by mjn77

Will any camber adjustable top mounts for the front fit?

Fancy having -1.5 degrees to match the rears. But with the e90 having no camber adjustments on the front, i need new top mounts.

The HSD coilovers come with new top mounts for the fronts.

You can get about -1.5 out of the fronts on std struts. Just undo them and push them in.

[mjn77]

Thanks.