[Sean@PSI]

Originally Posted by obriennathaniel

So will these return my car to factory like comfort and still keep it low, but get rid of the bouncy harsh feelings my H&R supersports give it?

Yes, they can go very low and are night and day from the harsh Super Sports.

I have kits in stock that can ship immediately.

[obriennathaniel]

Lol awesome. I just drive my car normally, no tracking so I wanted some of my comfort back. If the situation I'm dealing with with my KW V2's goes awry, I'll be sure to get some of these from you.

[f30luxline]

I have my dampening set at 15, direct middle of soft and hard. Very comfortable ride considering how much I am dropped.

[tboooe]

Price is definitely right on these. I'm deciding between these and Bilstein.

[obriennathaniel]

So these are basically KW V3's right? What makes these so much cheaper?

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by obriennathaniel

So these are basically KW V3's right? What makes these so much cheaper?

Made in Asia. Not sure if they are made out of stainless or not. If not, maybe more proper comparison is ST coilovers?

[Stubok]

So I just installed the BC Racing Coilovers on my 328 F30, and I've got to say I'm seriously impressed.

This is my first Coilovers set, though I've done quite a few spring only changes before, so I don't have much to compare to, but in my opinion they are well made and terrific value. Now they may not be made from stainless steel, but hey neither are the polish made BMW struts. The finish is really solid and everything seems very sturdy. I should add that I'm a mechanical engineer, so not a complete novice when it comes to manufacturing, part quality, etc.

As for the all important ride.... It's a complete transformation. Like others have said, the M-Sport suspension sucks! It's crashy over bumps and pot holes, making it seem hard, but then the body roll is all over the place.

The BC setup is smooth over bumps and pot holes (I purposely steered into some known bumps and holes I typically avoid) which I honestly was not expecting, given the fact that I'm on 20" wheels with pzero runflats! Also the body roll issue has gone away and even with the lower ride height the suspension is smooth and nimble. This is what the M-Sport suspension should be!

I chose to go with the standard springs the set came with and I have set the dampers to 10 clicks from softest to start with.As I said I don't have a lot of experience with coil overs and these adjustment, specifically with changing spring rates, but right now I couldn't see why I would need to.

With regards to height adjustment, I've dropped the car around 1" all around (1finger gap between the top of the tire and the fender arch), and that is only a fraction of how far these could go. I think the maximum I would take the car to is half way on the available range. Anything lower and I reckon I'd be rubbing in turns for sure. I'm about to install a Varis style CF front spoiler lip, so I may well be raising it up a little.

Something that is not a big factor (since it's mostly about performance) but is something I like... They are painted black. Not some bright color that screams modified. I like this subtlety. Good choice by BC racing IMO.

Obviously time will tell on the quality and longevity of the BC racing set, but I've got to say that right now I feel rather happy that I took the risk. The camber plates and damper adjustment are great features that I wouldn't have got if I had gone with another brand for what they cost. I'm quite interested to see what I can get out of these two features in future.

As for the install... It wasn't that difficult, but since it was my first attempt I took it slow. It took me pretty much all day, though I did have to go out and get a couple necessary tools. 1) spindle housing spreader and 2) Strut nut socket. Without those you would have a tough time. I'm sure you can improvise, but it wouldn't be much fun.

Tools I got before the job after reading other reviews: 21mm socket and 21mm wrench. I had metric tools (10 through 18mm) and Torx bits already. Oh and you definitely need a low profile jack, good jack stands, a breaker bar and a torque wrench (good for 160Nm).

I will try post some pictures tomorrow once the spoiler gets installed and car gets cleaned.

[tboooe]

NICE!! I am on the fence between the BC Racing and Bilsteins. With all coils I am most concerned with the ride height being too low. Like you I prefer about 1/2' gap between top of tire and fender. Could you have raised it a bit higher if you wanted? Did you get the car aligned as well? It would be interesting to see how the camber plates can help getting the alignment back in spec. Finally, how easy is it to adjust the damping settings? Can it be done from the bottom without taking the wheel off?

Looking forward to the pics!

[Sean@PSI]

Originally Posted by Stubok

So I just installed the BC Racing Coilovers on my 328 F30, and I've got to say I'm seriously impressed.

This is my first Coilovers set, though I've done quite a few spring only changes before, so I don't have much to compare to, but in my opinion they are well made and terrific value. Now they may not be made from stainless steel, but hey neither are the polish made BMW struts. The finish is really solid and everything seems very sturdy. I should add that I'm a mechanical engineer, so not a complete novice when it comes to manufacturing, part quality, etc.

As for the all important ride.... It's a complete transformation. Like others have said, the M-Sport suspension sucks! It's crashy over bumps and pot holes, making it seem hard, but then the body roll is all over the place.

The BC setup is smooth over bumps and pot holes (I purposely steered into some known bumps and holes I typically avoid) which I honestly was not expecting, given the fact that I'm on 20" wheels with pzero runflats! Also the body roll issue has gone away and even with the lower ride height the suspension is smooth and nimble. This is what the M-Sport suspension should be!

I chose to go with the standard springs the set came with and I have set the dampers to 10 clicks from softest to start with.As I said I don't have a lot of experience with coil overs and these adjustment, specifically with changing spring rates, but right now I couldn't see why I would need to.

With regards to height adjustment, I've dropped the car around 1" all around (1finger gap between the top of the tire and the fender arch), and that is only a fraction of how far these could go. I think the maximum I would take the car to is half way on the available range. Anything lower and I reckon I'd be rubbing in turns for sure. I'm about to install a Varis style CF front spoiler lip, so I may well be raising it up a little.

Something that is not a big factor (since it's mostly about performance) but is something I like... They are painted black. Not some bright color that screams modified. I like this subtlety. Good choice by BC racing IMO.

Obviously time will tell on the quality and longevity of the BC racing set, but I've got to say that right now I feel rather happy that I took the risk. The camber plates and damper adjustment are great features that I wouldn't have got if I had gone with another brand for what they cost. I'm quite interested to see what I can get out of these two features in future.

As for the install... It wasn't that difficult, but since it was my first attempt I took it slow. It took me pretty much all day, though I did have to go out and get a couple necessary tools. 1) spindle housing spreader and 2) Strut nut socket. Without those you would have a tough time. I'm sure you can improvise, but it wouldn't be much fun.

Tools I got before the job after reading other reviews: 21mm socket and 21mm wrench. I had metric tools (10 through 18mm) and Torx bits already. Oh and you definitely need a low profile jack, good jack stands, a breaker bar and a torque wrench (good for 160Nm).

I will try post some pictures tomorrow once the spoiler gets installed and car gets cleaned.

I'm glad you are impressed, that is the normal reaction we get from the BCs. The BCs are a great product and they are very impressive.

[Sean@PSI]

Originally Posted by tboooe

NICE!! I am on the fence between the BC Racing and Bilsteins. With all coils I am most concerned with the ride height being too low. Like you I prefer about 1/2' gap between top of tire and fender. Could you have raised it a bit higher if you wanted? Did you get the car aligned as well? It would be interesting to see how the camber plates can help getting the alignment back in spec. Finally, how easy is it to adjust the damping settings? Can it be done from the bottom without taking the wheel off?

Looking forward to the pics!

You can raise it higher than factory with the coils on the car. The camber plates definitely help align the car (depending on the settings) and how low the car is.

The dampening settings are on the very top and the top side of the strut, which could be accessed without removing the wheels (but on a jack). Let me know if you have any other questions, I have these in stock and ready to roll.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by Sean@PSI

You can raise it higher than factory with the coils on the car. The camber plates definitely help align the car (depending on the settings) and how low the car is.

The dampening settings are on the very top and the top side of the strut, which could be accessed without removing the wheels (but on a jack). Let me know if you have any other questions, I have these in stock and ready to roll.

Thank you...and it is confirmed that these will fit on a F36?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by Sean@PSI

You can raise it higher than factory with the coils on the car. The camber plates definitely help align the car (depending on the settings) and how low the car is.

The dampening settings are on the very top and the top side of the strut, which could be accessed without removing the wheels (but on a jack). Let me know if you have any other questions, I have these in stock and ready to roll.

This is the most painful part of these coilovers - damper adjustment accessibility - fronts are easy to access by popping the hood, but rears are a little bit of a PITA. I tried adjusting by just jacking the rears up, but the clearance is still a little low. I end up having to take off the wheels. I really wish BC allowed the rear extenders to be compatible with the F30 and be installed through the trunk area. I heard they nixed it because people were complaining to installers about the need to drill a hole... whatever. I would also complain about rear ride height adjustability (need to remove control arm to lower, then reset the tension in the spring), but it seems like all coilovers would suffer from this. Its not a BC limitation.

That being said ... i absolutely love my BC Racing BR-type coilovers I've had mine for about 6 months now, and have had absolutely no problems. I don't track the car. I have the damper setting at 24 currently (0-31 click range with 31 being the stiffest setting). I'm lowered about 3" and i need to not bounce around. 24 provides the best comfort at the absolute minimum stiffness i need to be able to go over anything without scraping/rubbing. I heard that at the softest setting (0-clicks), it will feel like a boat, but i can't think about going there because i'm lowered so much. So I've never tried that.

The springs and struts are matched and tuned to work together optimally. BC goes as far as dyno-testing each damper for their compression/rebound rates then matching the left and right units within a single digit percentage tolerance. I thought i read online somewhere it was around 3-5% variability/tolerance.

And just by visual inspection, i can see that the manufacturing of this part is high quality, made of durable and robust materials, and precise construction. I know its made in Asia, but things manufactured in Taiwan are typically way better quality than things made in China, but YMMV.

I hear the comments about BC's being "cheap" and "ghetto" versions of kW or other higher-priced coilovers, but i don't get it. To me, what matters are the real features that you will actually feel, touch, and see. I can't justify kWs that are anywhere from $2k-$3k with less features. At a minimum, i need:

1) ride height adjustability
2) damper setting adjustability for stiffness control
3) springs that are tuned/optimized/matched to the struts/shocks

And all this for about $1k. So the only other thing is durability. I've only had mine 6 months, so i can't say yet how durable they are. Ask me again in a year or two. But so far so good...

[Marshalltj]

Ordered, can't wait to get them installed.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

I would also complain about rear ride height adjustability (need to remove control arm to lower, then reset the tension in the spring), but it seems like all coilovers would suffer from this. Its not a BC limitation.

Can you please explain this more? I am relatively new to BMW, having only installed coils on my previous Audis. Adjusting the rear ride height just required me to take off the wheels. Why does the control arm have to removed?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Can you please explain this more? I am relatively new to BMW, having only installed coils on my previous Audis. Adjusting the rear ride height just required me to take off the wheels. Why does the control arm have to removed?

These are my first coilovers, so i'm not an expert by any means. i don't know the reasoning or motivation behind the way these things are constructed, but its due to the way the rear coilover is designed/constructed. I'm just guessing that all rear coilovers have to be designed this way, but maybe not (i hope not).

With that said, the issue is with the spring having to be pre-loaded to a certain tension to keep everything in place. Once you mess with this pre-loaded tension in the spring, you need to re-do it to get it back to its original pre-load tension. Otherwise, you risk your suspension parts coming apart as your car is bumping along on the road.

The way the front coilovers are designed, the spring and the ride height adjustment are completely separate and independent. So when you adjust your ride height there, the spring pre-tension doesn't get messed with. So for the fronts, a few turns of the adjustment collar gets your ride height set, and you are done in a few minutes.

For the rears, the spring and the ride height adjustment are in the same assembly. In fact, the ride height adjustment is sitting just above the pre-loaded spring in line with it. Its near impossible to change the ride height because the spring is pre-loaded against it, so you would have to be superman to change it. So what they have you do is remove the control arm to release the spring, so that you can freely move the ride height up/down to your liking. Well, now you've untensioned the spring, so you need to get it back to its pre-load tension. So after you adjust your ride height to where you want, you need to re-attach the spring against the ride height adjustment, then change the height of the shock/strut to pre-load the spring back to its original tension. Its a ROYAL PITA, and something i searched high and low in these forums and on the internet in general to find out how to do. Its not well documented, and the BC install instructions are almost completely worthless in that regard. Its very vague on how to adjust rear height.

I documented the issue here in this posting a while back. The picture i posted will help you understand what i'm talking about.

[tboooe]

^^ Thank you. On my previous coils (KW). all I had to do was adjust the collar. The spring and ride height assembly was also the same. It wasnt easy but definitely doable even with all the spring tension pushing against the ride height adjustment collar. I would imagine you can do the same with the BCs??? In looking at the image from the post you referenced, I dont see why you cant just turn the collars on top?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by tboooe

^^ Thank you. On my previous coils (KW). all I had to do was adjust the collar. The spring and ride height assembly was also the same. It wasnt easy but definitely doable even with all the spring tension pushing against the ride height adjustment collar. I would imagine you can do the same with the BCs??? In looking at the image from the post you referenced, I dont see why you cant just turn the collars on top?

Ok, so you've done it before and it's do-able. That's good to know. I sort of gave up on adjusting it because 1) the rear ride height was close enough to what i wanted and 2) i didn't want to go through all that trouble and mess with pre-load. Since you've done it on other cars/coilovers before, i guess it is do-able if you have the proper clearance, tools, and strength. But everything I've heard from people and read in other posts ... its near impossible without lowering the spring basket and taking off the spring first. But i have examined the area, and i will say that the space is tight and your area of movement in there is pretty limited.

But even if you were able to, the fact that you have now changed the vertical distance in the same column where the spring is loaded, it seems to me that this would change the pre-load tension of the spring (albeit slight), which would mean you would have to pre-loaded again to insure you meet the original spec.

Let me see if i can picture this correctly.... if you lower the ride height, collar shortens, and spring untenses. Increase ride height, collar increases, and spring compresses. If i'm thinking of that correctly, lowering the ride height would be easier than increasing ride height because its easier to allow spring to untense than to compress.

[Jera_Jakerz]

Confirm it fits the 335 x-drive, and Ill order it today...especially since blistein did not follow through as promised.

[obriennathaniel]

Yall are about to make me buy these lol

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by obriennathaniel

Yall are about to make me buy these lol

you won't regret it ... esp your wallet

[tboooe]

I would just like to get confirmation that the rear ride height can be adjusted without having to remove any of the suspension components.

@obriennathanial - still no solution to your KW issue?

[obriennathaniel]

Originally Posted by tboooe

I would just like to get confirmation that the rear ride height can be adjusted without having to remove any of the suspension components.

@obriennathanial - still no solution to your KW issue?

well i just bought these lol. and it turns out that the ones velos sold me ( i was under the impression they would work on my car cuz he said they would) are only for a car with EDC. i asked for my money back but i havent heard from then in over a week and a half. So now im stuck with some KW v2's without the EDC parts, so theyre useless to sell.