[pdk42]

Title says it all really. Looking to take my ACS springs to the full Sports Suspension by adding the dampers. Anyone had this done?

[Tengocity]

@gtsussex does on his M235i

[gtsussex]

Originally Posted by Lobb

Is that not the "hairdresser" spec tho'?

And you're confused for what reason?

Yes, we went for ACS Sports springs and dampers on wife's M235i Vert as standard damping not great (although to be fair, daily comparison is with RS suspended M3).

Transformed it. Bit of a rush now but can explain more later.

[pdk42]

Originally Posted by gtsussex

And you're confused for what reason?

Yes, we went for ACS Sports springs and dampers on wife's M235i Vert as standard damping not great (although to be fair, daily comparison is with RS suspended M3).

Transformed it. Bit of a rush now but can explain more later.

Great if you could - thanks.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by pdk42

Greg if you could - thanks.

Guy

[pdk42]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Guy

Stupid autocorrect - should have been "great". Fixed now.

[gtsussex]

Originally Posted by pdk42

Stupid autocorrect - should have been "great". Fixed now.

Sorry for the delay in replying - ran out of time and then forgot!

So standard car is okay but there's room for improvement. So you go and put ACS springs on. This improves things no end, tightening up the car but what it can't do is save the dampers. When pressing on they simply run out answers.

The M3 is already on RS coilovers (and I had the same setup on my 335d). You most definitely know you're not driving something standard as the low speed ride some would find challenging (doesn't bother me) but once the speed builds up, the wheel control is just in another league even from the standard M3.

We didn't want that for the M235i - what we wanted was something in between. Get rid of the woeful damping of the standard car, not increase the spring rate too much or ruin the ride but just get way better car control.

ACS market this system as the middle option and it does what it says on the time. I would challenge anyone with a passive setup to have this fitted and say it isn't a win win. Ride quality really is no worse - just feels a little more 'connected'. You don't need to drive too far to detect the improvements.

Gone is the 'bounciness' the standard suspension had - vertical movement is now controlled in a way it just wasn't before.

It's made the car sooooo much better with absolutely no downside whatsoever. Ride height is near enough identical (which is what we wanted).

i can't recommend them enough.

[pdk42]

Originally Posted by gtsussex

Sorry for the delay in replying - ran out of time and then forgot!

So standard car is okay but there's room for improvement. So you go and put ACS springs on. This improves things no end, tightening up the car but what it can't do is save the dampers. When pressing on they simply run out answers.

The M3 is already on RS coilovers (and I had the same setup on my 335d). You most definitely know you're not driving something standard as the low speed ride some would find challenging (doesn't bother me) but once the speed builds up, the wheel control is just in another league even from the standard M3.

We didn't want that for the M235i - what we wanted was something in between. Get rid of the woeful damping of the standard car, not increase the spring rate too much or ruin the ride but just get way better car control.

ACS market this system as the middle option and it does what it says on the time. I would challenge anyone with a passive setup to have this fitted and say it isn't a win win. Ride quality really is no worse - just feels a little more 'connected'. You don't need to drive too far to detect the improvements.

Gone is the 'bounciness' the standard suspension had - vertical movement is now controlled in a way it just wasn't before.

It's made the car sooooo much better with absolutely no downside whatsoever. Ride height is near enough identical (which is what we wanted).

i can't recommend them enough.

Thanks for taking the time to do this write up Guy. Much appreciated. Just read a whole bunch of theoretical info on spring and damper design and it's clearly a complex subject. My conclusion though is that swapping both is probably necessary to deliver optimal results.

[Ads4]

Originally Posted by gtsussex

Ride height is near enough identical.

I take it you mean on the M235i? What was the drop on the 335d with the RS and do you know what the drop is with the Sports Suspension? Still toying with upgrading my suspension at some point in the near future but really want to keep at the same current ride height as the front splitter is already a hump catcher!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Ads4

I take it you mean on the M235i? What was the drop on the 335d with the RS and do you know what the drop is with the Sports Suspension? Still toying with upgrading my suspension at some point in the near future but really want to keep at the same current ride height as the front splitter is already a hump catcher!

The RS drop is considerable. Works absolutely fine for me, but I don't have the splitter. But when the car has this stance it doesn't really need a splitter the standard car does.

[Lorcan]

Our sports suspension uses the same springs as in our spring kits so the ride height is the same, and if you buy fit the spring kit you can retro-fit the dampers later for the difference in price (but only on passive damped, s-drive cars). RS uses different springs and is lower.

[duvetdo]

Originally Posted by Lorcan

if you buy fit the spring kit you can retro-fit the dampers later for the difference in price (but only on passive damped, s-drive cars). RS uses different springs and is lower.

Why not on the X-Drive, Lorcan?

[BnB]

Originally Posted by Lorcan

Our sports suspension uses the same springs as in our spring kits so the ride height is the same, and if you buy fit the spring kit you can retro-fit the dampers later for the difference in price (but only on passive damped, s-drive cars). RS uses different springs and is lower.

What are the options for adaptive damper fitted cars, Lorcan? Can you still fit the "normal" ACS suspension but at the expense of the adaptive capability (as it appears you can with the RS kit), or is the incompatibility (fault codes?) fatal?

Are the upcoming new springs for the 340i different from those you supply for the x-drives or 335i? And in what respect?

[Lorcan]

Originally Posted by duvetdo

Why not on the X-Drive, Lorcan?

There is no technical reason why a sports kit couldn't be produced, but AC Schnitzer say there isn't enough demand to develop a non-adjustable damper kit for x-drives, most of which have the adaptive damping option.

[Lorcan]

Originally Posted by BnB

What are the options for adaptive damper fitted cars, Lorcan? Can you still fit the "normal" ACS suspension but at the expense of the adaptive capability (as it appears you can with the RS kit), or is the incompatibility (fault codes?) fatal?

Are the upcoming new springs for the 340i different from those you supply for the x-drives or 335i? And in what respect?

For cars with adaptive damping we offer springs or RS (which deletes adaptive and uses electronic modules to prevent error messages). See my answer above about the sports kit.

The 335i and 340i share a spring kit with the 330d. The 330dx, 335dx, 335ix and 340ix also share a kit.

[F15CCT]

Originally Posted by Lorcan

There is no technical reason why a sports kit couldn't be produced, but AC Schnitzer say there isn't enough demand to develop a non-adjustable damper kit for x-drives, most of which have the adaptive damping option.

So ACS springs and dampeners aren't an option on a 335d or just use the s drive versions but knowing they are not tuned to the X drive? Wanted to get the springs and dampeners but don't want to go fully adjustable as I'd never use its capability.

[Lorcan]

Originally Posted by F15CCT

So ACS springs and dampeners aren't an option on a 335d or just use the s drive versions but knowing they are not tuned to the X drive? Wanted to get the springs and dampeners but don't want to go fully adjustable as I'd never use its capability.

It's not an option from us, sorry. You couldn't use, say, the 330d sport kit as the spring rates would be wrong (and you'd still need to find a way to delete the adaptive if you have it). Maybe Birds have something?

[gtsussex]

Just following on from ride height question, here is the M235i with sport kit on - it's hardly noticeable.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by F15CCT

So ACS springs and dampeners aren't an option on a 335d or just use the s drive versions but knowing they are not tuned to the X drive? Wanted to get the springs and dampeners but don't want to go fully adjustable as I'd never use its capability.

In this case I'd suggest you look in to Birds B3 suspension - they use custom valves Bilstein passive dampers and springs. I've driven their demo car with this set up and it's very good.

[F15CCT]

Cheers guys, yes I looked at both (birds and ACS) to get an idea of how many beer tokens I need to save but hadn't clicked the ACS system wasn't right for my car. You live and learn.

[monkeyninja]

You can also look at bilstein b6 and b8, they get good reviews online and can be paired with acs springs. The b6's work with standard springs and the b8's with lowering sprzings. But since there is not much difference maybe 10mm between msport and acs I'm unsure exactly which ones would be best.

[Lorcan]

According to Bilstein it doesn't make any difference.