[Dr Forinor]

I had the KW Street Comforts fitted to the car yesterday, Ferodo DS2500 pads, Tarox stainless steel brake lines (and obviously brake fluid change (DOT 4)) and the 15mm rear ARB also.

As far as driving goes, I have only had a chance to go back home from the garage last night, and to work this morning so isn't a great deal. Tomorrow evening I will be going on a much longer drive, hopefully be able to test it out a little better.

On initial observations;

- Rear ARB: Can't really tell much, I haven't been over 25mph

- Ferodo DS2500: They haven't even bedded in yet and already they are performing much better than the standard pads, really can't wait until they are fully bedded in. They do have a squeal which I'm not a fan of, but if they give me better braking performance then I'll live with it.

- KW Street Comfort: The damping has been set to exactly mid way on all corners, and it seems to be damping slightly better than the original suspension I had (adaptive with SE springs). Control seems to be good.

I will update this thread after tomorrow's drive

Comparison pictures of before and after;

BEFORE




AFTER

[B58_Touring]

I'll be interested to hear how the street comforts perform on UK roads haven't heard much about them other than from people in the US.

[Dr Forinor]

From the 2 small journeys I have had, deliberately aiming for the potholes that I am familiar with, I would say they cope fairly decently. Obviously the runflats are not helping much. And the fact they are set to damping of 10 (out of 20) means I can have them softer too, but at the moment I like the way they are. They seem to be handling the imperfections better than the adaptive suspension was.

[R330dx]

looks to riding quite high for kw's, hope it all works well for you and delivers what your after.

[Dr Forinor]

Originally Posted by R330dx

looks to riding quite high for kw's, hope it all works well for you and delivers what your after.

I'm going to give it a couple of weeks for it to settle and see how it is.

It can go lower but I prefer it this way, still looks good IMO, much better than standard. Where I have to park for home there is a big dip and I don't want to be scraping the front end on it. The way it is right now I have no problem with that.

[R330dx]

Originally Posted by Dr Forinor

I'm going to give it a couple of weeks for it to settle and see how it is.

It can go lower but I prefer it this way, still looks good IMO, much better than standard. Where I have to park for home there is a big dip and I don't want to be scraping the front end on it. The way it is right now I have no problem with that.

I agree, looks much better and more practical at that sort of ride height. seems strange to have the brakes squeeling so soon, did they grease the pad backs ?

[Dr Forinor]

Originally Posted by R330dx

I agree, looks much better and more practical at that sort of ride height. seems strange to have the brakes squeeling so soon, did they grease the pad backs ?

They're not squealing too bad but noticeable. I didn't ask about the copper grease but I assume they did, they are not ones for taking shortcuts or cowboys or anything like that. Will see how it is as time progresses.

[McBeemer]

I am waiting with baited breath for your analysis on your new suspension !!

[Dr Forinor]

REVIEW

Last night I went out on a 130 mile round road trip from Aberdeen to Elgin and then back, which has a nice range of roads and bends.

In this post if I refer to my "previous" or "original" or "old" etc suspension, I am referring to my adaptive dampers with the SE springs.

I got the work done all at the same time, so as far as handling is concerned, I can't say for sure which new hardware has been responsible for which aspect of the handling.


Tarox brakes lines: There is definitely an increased firmness to the pedal that was not there previously, with increased feedback, I think that's self explanatory. Not much more to say really.


Ferodo DS2500: These perform so much better than the stock pads, actually providing good braking even from cold and really coming into their own from much higher speeds. The initial bite actually does a great deal in slowing down the car at town speeds with minimal effort. Slowing down from 70mph they do their job just as well, I would say decreasing the stopping distance a considerable amount. Last night it was 1-3 deg C, I didn't push the car too much being on summer tyres, so I can't really say how the pads perform on an extended period of hard braking.

The only thing that is massively getting on my t!ts is the brake squeal from them. I asked the garage and they did apply copper grease as necessary. A quick Google reveals this is a common problem with these pads, if anyone can assist me in shutting them up I would be eternally grateful.


15mm Rear ARB and KW Street Comforts: (suspension dampers set to halfway on all corners)

This is where the huge improvement has made me fall in love with driving again. It's what I would expect BMW's M Sport suspension to be like. There is improved feedback even in wet, I now know what the car is doing. On the old suspension it was really difficult to judge accurately, I didn't feel I could tell what the car was up to. Now I am so much more confident in throwing the car around as I have constant information being fed back to me.

I can feel the road surface, but in a good way. It's ironed out pretty much all of the minor imperfections (broken surfaces) and ripples on our British roads, but I can tell that they are there, if that makes any sense. The suspension almost "primitively glides" over the broken road surfaces. I say primitively glides and not glides as gliding would suggest Rolls Royce style of a ride, its not like that but it's more of "the broken surfaces now pose no problem to the car in that it wont upset it or affect traction in any way" but I can still feel that road surface isn't perfect, the car is still translating that back to me. The previous suspension did not do this. Over relatively minor broken tarmac the car would give me no appreciable feedback, which is great if that's what you want, but I don't.

Over the minor (meaning even in stiffer cars you wouldn't necessarily move over) potholes, it has transformed the car completely. The minor potholes are pretty much non existent for the car now, and I really pay no attention to them. It dampens them so well that I now just forget about them. Given that these minor potholes are absolutely everywhere this has now greatly increased my enjoyment of driving - rather than looking out for potholes. In the old suspension I still was aware of them, but given the adaptive nature I shouldn't have been aware of them.

Over medium (ones that you would normally slow down for - possibly avoid in stiffer setups, and expect some sort of thump etc) potholes, the suspension damping now shows it's magic. I can tell they are there, there is a minor drop of the car on that corner, but it's immediately settled. It doesn't upset the car, there is no thumping (even with runflats), no crashing, no wincing, no fear of "oh crap I didn't move over in time". In the original suspension this type of pothole would produce a definite crash thump and there would be an instant regret of "why didn't I move over". The damping was almost non existent and there would be a jolt through the car, horrible!!!

Over speed bumps, (this is what is at my local supermarket - which I feel require you to slow the car down the most out of the different types of humps out there), I would have to slow down to a walking pace before, and even then I would feel the bump, the car would crash down. Now I can go over at a quicker pace (not flying over it, just not a crawling speed) and it's properly managed, the suspension is doing it's job well!! I no longer hate going over them, but the speed bump still does it's job of slowing me down.

Around bends, and roundabouts we have 2 factors that have been improved - stiffness/levelness of the car, and the turn in. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!! THIS is how it should have been from the start!!
The car used to wallow and the suspension was really soft when you pushed on. Now the car stays level, no boat like wallowynes, no softness, no horrible uncontrolled unsettling of the car when you try harder around a bend. The car stays planted on all 4 corners, it actually sits and stays that way around a bend. You feel like you can just go faster, and then faster, and then faster. Before it was the crappy setup that was the weakest link in the car. My skill (I'm no Hamilton) was far better than what the car could offer, now I sense my talent would run out before the car would and THAT is how it should be! You don't get a fear of "oh crap I shouldn't have went that quickly" when you enter a bend at speed, now you get the sense "oh crap I should have gone quicker", it's so much more fun!! The car eggs you on!!

And the turn in! Aw man what a joy it is to now turn the car, and the car actually responds to your input, to follow the line that you want it to follow, to go in the direction that you want it to go!!! Before the car would be lazy in it's turn, and when it eventually did turn, it wanted to badly understeer, you had to fight with the car, what a pain. And now, ah what a wonderful sensation of the car following around in the manner that you wish for! Before the car felt disconnected at the back, now the whole car travels and follows and turns as a single cohesive unit and sticks to your line, oh man it puts a smile on your face! On my first tight bend I almost hit the kerb as I turned too much (turning as I would have in the old set up). The car feels lighter at the front end, I mean it's clearly no sports car but man it actually goes around a bend without struggling like it did.

Another thing I noticed, the car now seems to actually use more of the power available, or use it more efficiently? Like for like (ie comfort in the old setup vs comfort now, or sport vs sport) the car seems to be more responsive. The car actually translates my "foot on the accelerator" and "speed on the road" quicker now, less delay. It's as if the old set up was robbing me of power? Or not using the power properly? I'm not quite sure how to explain that one but my mate who was in the car with me felt the same.

On my 3-4 hour drive (I drove around a lot of city roads after the small road trip to test it on various road surfaces) last night, the car was such a pleasure to drive. The suspension does it's job so well that I could forget about trying to look out for and avoid crappy road surfaces and just enjoy the drive, enjoy the car, the way it is supposed to be. This is what I wanted my car to be like, this is what should be like, this is what a suspension should do, this is what damping should be like, this is how springs should support a car and maintain tyre contact with the road, this is how a car should turn! Obviously all of this is in comparison to what it was like, and with only relatively minor changes (ie not going to great lengths to change a whole bunch of stuff or spending a lot of of money - relative to what could be done).

Apart from the brake squeal, I am over the moon with the car now!

Thank you for reading my review if you made it to the end, I tried to cover most of the daily stuff we are likely to encounter on the roads. I did try and go over it, but I may have still missed some spelling errors or word placements.

[Tengocity]

Glad to hear you like it. I think most folk would fall in love with their F30 with a decent set of suspension on it!

My Alcon 6 pot brakes run with those Ferodo pads and I've never ever had any squealing from them btw.

[Dr Forinor]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

My Alcon 6 pot brakes run with those Ferodo pads and I've never ever had any squealing from them btw.

What do you think I can try to eradicate the squeal? I even tried hard stops a few times but that made the squeal louder...

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Dr Forinor

What do you think I can try to eradicate the squeal? I even tried hard stops a few times but that made the squeal louder...

Same discs as before? If so then I suspect what's happening is same as when I fitted yellow stuffs to my car a few years back- the new pads don't sit in exact same place as previous ones so the faint lip edge causes the squeal till it wears down to match the new pads. It took a month or so of use to sort out.

[RoShambolt]

Originally Posted by Dr Forinor

What do you think I can try to eradicate the squeal? I even tried hard stops a few times but that made the squeal louder...

To deal with the squeal on the m sport pads there has been a lot said about filing a chamfered edge on the edge of the pad wher the disk starts to go under it. I had bad squealing with my car, was told to persevere and it would go, it did just that. The problem with filing the edge of the pad is that eventually you will wear that away and it start again.

[Dr Forinor]

Yes same discs as before, but I can't see any real lip on the disc? Can a tiny tiny lip do this also?

I will persevere and see what happens, thanks.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Dr Forinor

Yes same discs as before, but I can't see any real lip on the disc? Can a tiny tiny lip do this also?

I will persevere and see what happens, thanks.

It's just needs to be a few microns and it would squeal but not feel it.

[Dr Forinor]

I see, ok fair enough, thanks.

[NISFAN]

Glad you like the improvement. These cars respond well to some decent quality suspension hardware.

[Dr Forinor]

It is a very good chassis eh, just ruined by some poorly designed suspension as standard.

[Dr Forinor]

Oh, thank you all of you who put up with all my questions about the suspension/handling and giving me the advice, it's because of you lot that I am now happy with my car.

Thank you!!

[Watsey]

Another passive suspension convert

Great to hear that you are happy with the upgrade and the very different ride and handling.

In terms of brake squeal, have you properly bedded the page and discs after the DS2500s were fitted ? If not, I recommend that you find a long stretch of quiet road one night and bed them. This will do a number ofd things : align the pad/disc surfaces and take out the imperfections; de-gas the pad material; transfer pad material to the disc surfaces to improve the friction properties.

Bedding does need to be done properly though. If in doubt, just ask.

[Dr Forinor]

I've never been one to go crazy about "oh adaptive suspension is the new best thing" but before I bought the car I just assumed they should be better than passive suspension. Oh I wrong I was, as far as the adaptive in the F3x is concerned anyway.

Ok I checked this morning and there is a lip around the discs, and I did bed them in as per instructions.

I will give it a little time for them to quieten down, given the lip.

[Dr Forinor]

I was down in Manch this week. A good friend there has a bad back (was broken when he was in his younger years by his elder brother doing a wrestling move on his back).

Due to his bad back he has to keep a cushion specially designed to keep his back in the most neutral position. Another downside to him having a bad back is he can't easily tolerate a car which is anything but comfortable - and his back is very sensitive about this.

We did a trip from Manchester to Birmingham and back, this Friday just past, and he said it was fairly comfortable. Coming from anyone else it's not a big deal, but this "it's fairly comfortable" coming from him is a massive compliment to the suspension's comfort.