Originally Posted by Remonster
This really is the ultimate sleeper handling upgrade available for the 3 series, I chose to have my kit installed at the Ohlins-recommended ride heights which are visually indistinguishable from the factory M Sport suspension (my car has M Sport + Track Handling Package so I had the M Adaptive dampers, for reference) this means that nobody who climbs in is ready to have their neck snapped by the newfound agility but the difference between M Adaptive and a good set of coilovers with aggressive spring rates is truly night and day. I’m actually a very big fan of modern adaptive suspension systems, my last car was an E92 M3 ZCP and I never wanted to get rid of the EDC on that car. After supercharging that car and finding the acceleration squat annoying, I switched to Swift Spec-R springs with the stock EDC dampers and left it at that. I do, however, feel that the F30’s M Adaptive implementation is very weak. Comfort mode is exactly that and I actually really liked this setting as I drive about 15-20,000 miles a year and it’s mostly on the freeway. Anyone who’s been to SoCal knows our roads and freeways are FAR from smooth so a suspension that is that good at smoothing out bumps can be very nice in a commuter. Whether the dampers were in Comfort or Sport, I always hated how soft the suspension was in this car. It’s one of the contributing factors to the poor steering feel, there is a noticeable delay between turning the wheel and the car actually rotating in a new direction because weight transfer feels slow and imprecise. There are plenty of other aspects of the F30’s design that contribute to this but I’ll leave that topic alone for now. Sport mode is a little bouncier and feels a little tighter but using firm dampening to compensate for soft springs doesn’t work very well.
The Road & Track kit has been installed on my car for about a month now and have had the opportunity to try several different damper settings and to collect my thoughts on the way these feel and perform. This is a very interesting kit for the non-M F30s, its spring rates are very clearly biased towards handling and on-track performance and the results are truly amazing in that context. Body roll is simply eliminated and I’ve noticed a much higher level of grip. The Ohlins dampers have always been known for their ability to soak up bumps and make them virtually disappear, this is something that’s difficult to comprehend until you feel it for yourself because there are still times where I’ll come across some huge crater in the road surface during a high-G corner, when the suspension is fully loaded up, and have an instant of panic and consider slowing down. I’m usually glad I didn’t bother lifting off because the car simply glides through the rough stuff like it was barely even there, truly impressive. I’ve noticed the rear end is much more willing to follow my commands than before, I credit not only the stiffer spring rate but the fact that the rear suspension is about a third stiffer than the front despite the F30’s 50:50 weight distribution. This counteracts the F30’s natural tendency to understeer beautifully and the result is a very, very neutral handling balance. I feel completely comfortable throwing the car into a corner at ridiculous speeds, much higher than what was possible with the factory setup and at speeds much higher than where the tires would have given up their grip on the road when paired with that softer stock system. I kept the exact same tires on my car, Continental ExtremeContact DWs, but it feels like grip levels have gone through the roof.
I brought up the high spring rates earlier because it’s very important to understand this kit before you consider it for yourself, if you want drastically improved handling and composure out of your F30, this is the kit for you. If you’re looking to drop your ride down low and keep the smoothest ride possible, this is not the kit for you. You can set these a little lower than stock for a sporty stance but you can not get as low as you can with KWs or Bilsteins, this is designed for maintaining proper suspension geometry (without replacing arms, end links, etc.) over improving aesthetics. The appeal of this particular kit will be limited, in my opinion, by the fact that most people who are this particular about how their suspension feels would probably get an M3 and most people who upgrade the F30’s suspension are looking for the low-slung look. The relatively high rear spring rate (60NM front and 160NM rear, keep in mind that the F30 rear is not a true coil-over-damper configuration so the wheel rates are different from front to rear, you typically run twice the spring rate in the rear compared to the front since the rear spring is located further inboard on the rear control arm compared to the damper) can be slightly challenging to tame for street use. I found that with the rear damper adjusted towards the soft end of its adjustment range (10 clicks and higher), the rear was a little bouncy at times. In this configuration, the car was still extremely planted and stable when I pushed it hard but the rear end would pogo up and down a little when the road surface during normal driving. Firming up the rear damper solved this 100% and this kit is actually a lot more comfortable, in my opinion, with the dampers set relatively firmly.
These Ohlins dampers are very easy to dial in to your preference but the rear adjuster is annoying to access. Front adjuster knobs are right at the bottom of the front struts and can be easily reached by turning the front wheels fully left, then fully right. The rear adjuster is also at the bottom but it’s hard to reach between all the rear suspension arms and can be very difficult to move as you get towards the firm end of the adjustment range. I have very weak fingers so I really need to get a good grip on them to get them going, easiest method for me is to take the rear wheels off so I can get my whole hand around the adjuster wheel. You can also lie down behind the car and reach in from behind but this will be easier if you have smaller hands. Adjustment is done through a single knob, this adjusts both compression and rebound although it has a stronger impact on rebound than compression. As I said above, I feel that 6 clicks back from full hard is perfect for me. Click the adjuster firmer if you notice multiple bounces AFTER a big bump and softer if you feel like the car jumps up over an initial impact (an overly firm shock absorber will prevent the suspension from properly absorbing the initial impact) and that’s it.
I like my cars to feel very tight and planted and I absolutely hate uncontrolled body movements, my goldilocks setting so far is 6 clicks front and rear from full hard, it really feels great at all speeds and in all situations with the dampers set this way and I’m at a point where I can’t stop throwing my keys to my friends so they can go see how my car feels. I really can’t thank the guys at Ohlins enough for designing this kit and for helping me fall back in love with the steering and handling feel of my 340i, it really is something special.
Full disclosure: I work for HG Performance which is a dealer for Ohlins, I bought this kit myself after noticing there were surprisingly few people using it on the non-M F30 platform and hardly any reviews. I wanted to try them and share my findings, for better or worse, with the community. I’ll try to remain as un-biased as possible but I felt it would be dishonest of me to hide this.
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