[Razinho]

Originally Posted by johnung

FYI- When you read comments that a particular coilover is comfortable the key question is “Comfortable compared to what?” Coilovers in general are designed with much higher spring rates and many have mismatched dampers. They are inherently harsher.

If I was going to choose a coilover for comfort I would choose the KW V2 Street Comfort. It would be more comfortable than other coilovers but not as comfortable as the Koni Special Actives with stock springs or Eibach springs.

FaRKle! has written some excellent posts on this subject. One of them compares the Koni Red Special Actives to the Koni Yellow Sport shocks. The SA’s have no user settings, their two frequency valves are factory set. However the Yellow Sports are user adjustable for comfort.

So guys will often assume that if they are prioritizing comfort they should get the Yellow Sports because they could adjust them to the most comfortable setting and be more comfortable than the SA’s, but that isn’t true.

In actuality the two dampers overlap quite a bit but the range of the SA’s dips further into the comfort zone while the Yellow Sports dip further into the sport zone. So I often recommend to get the Yellow Sports if a car will be weekend tracking. It’s nice to be able to adjust the dampers from a preferred daily driver setting to a preferred tracking setting. But if a car is primarily a daily driver (like my own), the Special Actives can best handle rough potholes while still adjusting themselves to handle a sporty curve.

Note: Koni Yellows and Bilstein B8 are often considered by guys looking to lower their car and track it, or just ride more like a stiff track car. The two are very comparable. The B8’s are setup stiff at the factory. It has no user settings. The Koni Yellow Sports have that advantage of user adjustability to fine tune how the dampers will react whether on the street or on varying tracks.

The same analogy holds for coilovers. A particular coilover may be comfortable compared to other coilovers, but can’t compare the the Koni Special Actives on rough roads.

Hope this helps!

With your help and the research I’ve done I think I can definitely say for my personal use case the Koni Special Actives are the way to go.

Earlier you mentioned to cut the rubber bump stop half an inch piece, you explained why Ofc but is that from your own experience? Just As I’d rather not do it myself and I could ask the mechanic to do it but he may also ask me why in case it’s maybe not a common thing to do or if he isn’t aware.

[Razinho]

Originally Posted by johnung

Your link shows Koni Special Actives but the wrong part number because your VIN shows that your car has the M Sport Suspension. See photos for correct M Sport F & R Koni part numbers.

You said that you don’t want to lower, so just stick with your stock M Sport springs with the Koni SA’s. I attached the part numbers for Eibachs if you ever want to lower but no reason to.

I also attached the part numbers for front and rear spring perches. Most mechanics will just re-use the old ones because they will probably appear fine. But they are over six years old and rubber loses its resiliency so refreshing them with new helps comfort. Learned this from a buddy who owns a BMW shop.

When you eventually ditch the runflats it will improve comfort too.

Hope this helps!

Part 10 and 6 to replace? Correct

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Razinho

With your help and the research I’ve done I think I can definitely say for my personal use case the Koni Special Actives are the way to go.

Earlier you mentioned to cut the rubber bump stop half an inch piece, you explained why Ofc but is that from your own experience? Just As I’d rather not do it myself and I could ask the mechanic to do it but he may also ask me why in case it’s maybe not a common thing to do or if he isn’t aware.

FaRKle! has written a lot about bump stops, their function and why to trim them or replace them with shorter bump stops when a car is lowered with lowering springs. Search for his posts for more details.

You only need to trim your stock bump stops if you are also lowering with the Eibach spring kit at the same time. If you are keeping your stock spring height with your M Sport springs, then just use your stock bump stops.

A mechanic who just does repair and replacement might not be familiar with the concept of adjusting bump stop height along with lowering springs. But a mechanic who does mod installations should definitely be. A serrated knife must be used to cut the bump stops cleanly at the top.

I’m actually making a spring height change soon. I’m just going to buy a new set of stock bump stops, draw a line around them where I wish to cut, and then use a serrated kitchen knife on a cutting board. I’ll just hand them to my installer with the springs, perches, etc. That way I’m sure it’s done exactly the way that I want.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Razinho

Part 10 and 6 to replace? Correct

The ones in red

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Razinho

Thank you for your detailed reply.

I totally get that half the job would be done without the RFs but it’s not an option right now for me. So im looking to find other areas where I can make some ground on the comfort.

im leaning towards the Koni for comfort due to the info here and research I’ve done so far. I’ve seen a few places that for Comfort particularly the Konis are the ones to go for in this Bilstein/Koni price range.

Along with this it would make sense to fit with new springs, I don’t want shorter ones as Koni require the springs to be the OE ones. In my case would be the m sport suspension springs. The ones from the dealer are way overpriced and the aftermarket ones it’s very difficult to tell if they are the same sizing or not.

You refer to sachs, are they the OEM for BMW springs by any chance too? I could check those out if I can get a spring partner number from the dealer. Realoem doesn’t have the numbers for springs for some reason.

Also I want to ask a favour, in the diagram above can you point out the numbers relating to the parts you mention one should would replace while at the dampers
“replace all rubber bushings and mounts including the top hats front and rear. ”

It's not to say you can't have more comfortable suspension with some swapping of suspension components but without that tire change, you would be missing out on the biggest change. The thud you mentioned hitting the largest bumps is likely to be diminished somewhat with go flat tires. It is also likely at least one of your current dampers is in a highly degraded state. Many makes and models suffer this issue.

Sachs is a BMW OE for dampers. You can find replacements but I believe the Bilsteins are a better price and more widely available.

Here are the rubber parts to replace
For the front, top to bottom
Strut Mount - 31306881929 x 2
Spring pad with guard tube, top - 31306791712 x 2
Spring Pad Lower - 31336860788 x 2

For the rear, top to bottom
Covering cap - 33506863445 x 2
Gasket - 33506866038 x 2
Guide support - 33506862725 x 2
Spring pad upper - 33536764419 x 2
Spring pad lower - 33536764419 x 2

Check realoem.com for a reference.

[Prak903]

Originally Posted by johnung

FYI- When you read comments that a particular coilover is comfortable the key question is “Comfortable compared to what?” Coilovers in general are designed with much higher spring rates and many have mismatched dampers. They are inherently harsher.

If I was going to choose a coilover for comfort I would choose the KW V2 Street Comfort. It would be more comfortable than other coilovers but not as comfortable as the Koni Special Actives with stock springs or Eibach springs.

FaRKle! has written some excellent posts on this subject. One of them compares the Koni Red Special Actives to the Koni Yellow Sport shocks. The SA’s have no user settings, their two frequency valves are factory set. However the Yellow Sports are user adjustable for comfort.

So guys will often assume that if they are prioritizing comfort they should get the Yellow Sports because they could adjust them to the most comfortable setting and be more comfortable than the SA’s, but that isn’t true.

In actuality the two dampers overlap quite a bit but the range of the SA’s dips further into the comfort zone while the Yellow Sports dip further into the sport zone. So I often recommend to get the Yellow Sports if a car will be weekend tracking. It’s nice to be able to adjust the dampers from a preferred daily driver setting to a preferred tracking setting. But if a car is primarily a daily driver (like my own), the Special Actives can best handle rough potholes while still adjusting themselves to handle a sporty curve.

Note: Koni Yellows and Bilstein B8 are often considered by guys looking to lower their car and track it, or just ride more like a stiff track car. The two are very comparable. The B8’s are setup stiff at the factory. It has no user settings. The Koni Yellow Sports have that advantage of user adjustability to fine tune how the dampers will react whether on the street or on varying tracks.

The same analogy holds for coilovers. A particular coilover may be comfortable compared to other coilovers, but can’t compare the the Koni Special Actives on rough roads.

Hope this helps!

Apologies Razinho - not trying to hijack thread but you are in the same line of thinking as me.

johnung I was reading through your recommendation and it looks like Koni does not make special active for cars with EDC (makes sense they have their own solution). Would you recommend the KW Street Comfort in that case? I am on stock struts and H&R sport springs so ride is rough, with sport mode even rougher so want to get away from that while keeping the EDC functionality.

[Razinho]

Try searching here to see if they do have options for you

http://j13187.servers.jiffybox.net/c...chnik-excl.-m3

Just fill out your cars details at the top

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Prak903

Apologies Razinho - not trying to hijack thread but you are in the same line of thinking as me.

johnung I was reading through your recommendation and it looks like Koni does not make special active for cars with EDC (makes sense they have their own solution). Would you recommend the KW Street Comfort in that case? I am on stock struts and H&R sport springs so ride is rough, with sport mode even rougher so want to get away from that while keeping the EDC functionality.

What year & model do you have? RWD or XDrive?

The BMW Adaptive/EDC suspension is excellent. Many people swap out stock springs for aftermarket like you did. Unfortunately the H&R springs that you chose have really high spring rates, on the order of +30%, +50% or even higher. So the rough ride that you are experiencing is probably caused by the H&R springs, not the stock EDC dampers.

Also if the lowering springs went on with out shortening the stock bump stops, the harshness could be exacerbated by prematurely hitting the bump stops on rough roads.

Eibach springs lower the car with spring kits that are better chosen for the front & rear axle weights of specific models. Also their spring rates might only be +10% compared to stock, so some added control without added harshness. Bump stops need to be shortened for their lowering too.

I agree that the expensive high tech Adaptive/EDC system that you already paid for is well worth keeping. These dampers fail when one of them starts leaking fluid which seems to happen anywhere from 45k-95k miles, a broad range.

So when one leaks I recommend replacing just that front or rear pair. EDC dampers are more expensive that standard dampers so it is easier on the cash flow to only have to buy two instead of 4. And you could replace one pair and have the other pair last tens of thousands of more miles.

Bilstein B4-Damptronic is probably the closest to a stock EDC replacement. I’d avoid the Bilstein B6-Damptronic for a daily driver because it is setup much more stiff.

As for EDC coilovers, I would avoid Bilstein. Their spring rates are really high and mismatched for their EDC dampers. I have a buddy who likes a stiff ride and he hates the Bilstein B16-DampTronic coilovers. They are teeth rattling.

The KW V2 Street Comforts are a standard type damper. KW does make EDC coilovers that are called KW DDC. They are two versions. You would want the cheaper version for cars that already have the BMW Adaptive System. The more expensive version of KW DDC is for cars that have standard dampers but want to add an EDC system to their car along with the KW DDC coilovers.

Hope this helps!

[Prak903]

Originally Posted by johnung

What year & model do you have? RWD or XDrive?

The BMW Adaptive/EDC suspension is excellent. Many people swap out stock springs for aftermarket like you did. Unfortunately the H&R springs that you chose have really high spring rates, on the order of +30%, +50% or even higher. So the rough ride that you are experiencing is probably caused by the H&R springs, not the stock EDC dampers.

Also if the lowering springs went on with out shortening the stock bump stops, the harshness could be exacerbated by prematurely hitting the bump stops on rough roads.

Eibach springs lower the car with spring kits that are better chosen for the front & rear axle weights of specific models. Also their spring rates might only be +10% compared to stock, so some added control without added harshness. Bump stops need to be shortened for their lowering too.

I agree that the expensive high tech Adaptive/EDC system that you already paid for is well worth keeping. These dampers fail when one of them starts leaking fluid which seems to happen anywhere from 45k-95k miles, a broad range.

So when one leaks I recommend replacing just that front or rear pair. EDC dampers are more expensive that standard dampers so it is easier on the cash flow to only have to buy two instead of 4. And you could replace one pair and have the other pair last tens of thousands of more miles.

Bilstein B4-Damptronic is probably the closest to a stock EDC replacement. I’d avoid the Bilstein B6-Damptronic for a daily driver because it is setup much more stiff.

As for EDC coilovers, I would avoid Bilstein. Their spring [...]

This is awesome, thank you for the write up!
I have a 2018 440i xDrive GC. The H&R sport springs came from previous owner, and I do like the ride height, but not the roughness. Do you know if the Eibach will have similar ride height? I would like to keep the EDC shocks for now and maybe replave the springs, later on I can remove the edc shocks and go with the Bilstein or KW.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Prak903

This is awesome, thank you for the write up!
I have a 2018 440i xDrive GC. The H&R sport springs came from previous owner, and I do like the ride height, but not the roughness. Do you know if the Eibach will have similar ride height? I would like to keep the EDC shocks for now and maybe replave the springs, later on I can remove the edc shocks and go with the Bilstein or KW.

Assuming that you have the sport suspension, the H&R and Eibach estimated drops for your car are the same. See photos. Eibach part number is in the photo.

[Prak903]

Originally Posted by johnung

Assuming that you have the sport suspension, the H&R and Eibach estimated drops for your car are the same. See photos. Eibach part number is in the photo.

That's great news! Was reading another thread about the 05 vs 06 debate and the F80 bumpstops were mentioned, would you recommend I grab those and just replace them while I have the suspension out anyway?

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Prak903

That's great news! Was reading another thread about the 05 vs 06 debate and the F80 bumpstops were mentioned, would you recommend I grab those and just replace them while I have the suspension out anyway?

You definitely could. I used to recommend the F80 bump stops. But I found that the stock bump stop heights vary on different cars, so now I think it’s more accurate for each application to just trim some off the top of that car’s stock bump stops. Anywhere from 3/8” minimum to about half of the expected drop is my guideline.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Prak903

Apologies Razinho - not trying to hijack thread but you are in the same line of thinking as me.

johnung I was reading through your recommendation and it looks like Koni does not make special active for cars with EDC (makes sense they have their own solution). Would you recommend the KW Street Comfort in that case? I am on stock struts and H&R sport springs so ride is rough, with sport mode even rougher so want to get away from that while keeping the EDC functionality.

FYI, there is a Street Comfort V2, which like the KW V2 allows for rebound adjustment and lowering of the car. The V2 does make it possible to lower the car more than the V2 Street Comfort. I wonder how the Street Comfort V2 compares to the Street Comfort V1.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by casualDIYer

FYI, there is a Street Comfort V2, which like the KW V2 allows for rebound adjustment and lowering of the car. The V2 does make it possible to lower the car more than the V2 Street Comfort. I wonder how the Street Comfort V2 compares to the Street Comfort V1.

There is no Street Comfort V1. There is the V1, V2, V3 all with the same spring rates and lowering ranges, which begin at an aggressive minimum drop.

And there’s the V2 Street Comfort with a less aggressive rear spring rate and a different lowering range which is plenty but provides a less aggressive minimum drop to start.

All of the above are standard traditional type dampers. There’s also a KW DDC model for cars with BMW Adaptive/EDC dampers from the factory.

[Prak903]

Originally Posted by johnung

There is no Street Comfort V1. There is the V1, V2, V3 all with the same spring rates and lowering ranges, which begin at an aggressive minimum drop.

And there’s the V2 Street Comfort with a less aggressive rear spring rate and a different lowering range which is plenty but provides a less aggressive minimum drop to start.

All of the above are standard traditional type dampers. There’s also a KW DDC model for cars with BMW Adaptive/EDC dampers from the factory.

Hi johnung,

Reaching out to you as you’ve answered my questions in the past when I wanted to install Eibach springs on my car. I’ve recently felt like my adaptive suspension may be nearing end of life (around 57k miles) and was looking in to the koni special actives that you mentioned you are running, and deleting EDC. Unfortunately I looked at the catalog and it looks like they don’t make special actives for a 440i xdrive GC, only sport shocks. Is this correct? If so - would the sport shocks be any different (I assume firmer and more harsh).

Also I am running the 05-22 springs, and I’ve seen your thoughts on “koni speak” , do you think these will be too low to run with special actives? I replaced the stock bump stops with f80 ones as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Prak903

Hi johnung,

Reaching out to you as you’ve answered my questions in the past when I wanted to install Eibach springs on my car. I’ve recently felt like my adaptive suspension may be nearing end of life (around 57k miles) and was looking in to the koni special actives that you mentioned you are running, and deleting EDC. Unfortunately I looked at the catalog and it looks like they don’t make special actives for a 440i xdrive GC, only sport shocks. Is this correct? If so - would the sport shocks be any different (I assume firmer and more harsh).

Also I am running the 05-22 springs, and I’ve seen your thoughts on “koni speak” , do you think these will be too low to run with special actives? I replaced the stock bump stops with f80 ones as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I’m not a fan of ditching the expensive high tech Adaptive/EDC system. They can last from 45k-95k miles, a large range. They usually fail when one of them begins to leak fluid. Then just that pair can be replaced with Bilstein B4-Damptronic which are designed as stock replacements. (B6-DampTronics are stiffer/harsher)

B4-Damptronic were in short supply for awhile but seem to be available again. Typical Bilstein with up/down supply for consumer products. They prioritize car maker plants.

I’ve actually talked to Koni about why they don’t list a Special Active for your car. They said that the car is already lowered from the factory and premature hitting of the bump stops confuses the FSD two valve damping system in the SA’s. They have SA models that would fit perfectly but they haven’t tested them in terms of the bump stops to be able to make a correct recommendation. But as you said the Koni Yellow Sport dampers are a bolt on replacement..

[Prak903]

Originally Posted by johnung

I’m not a fan of ditching the expensive high tech Adaptive/EDC system. They can last from 45k-95k miles, a large range. They usually fail when one of them begins to leak fluid. Then just that pair can be replaced with Bilstein B4-Damptronic which are designed as stock replacements. (B6-DampTronics are stiffer/harsher)

B4-Damptronic were in short supply for awhile but seem to be available again. Typical Bilstein with up/down supply for consumer products. They prioritize car maker plants.

I’ve actually talked to Koni about why they don’t list a Special Active for your car. They said that the car is already lowered from the factory and premature hitting of the bump stops confuses the FSD two valve damping system in the SA’s. They have SA models that would fit perfectly but they haven’t tested them in terms of the bump stops to be able to make a correct recommendation. But as you said the Koni Yellow Sport dampers are a bolt on replacement..

Appreciate the input. Do you think having the M3/M4 bumpstops will allow me to do a direct replacement with the Koni SA when the time comes?

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Prak903

Appreciate the input. Do you think having the M3/M4 bumpstops will allow me to do a direct replacement with the Koni SA when the time comes?

Possibly not. I’d compare heights of front and rear stock bump stops to see the difference. Then compare that to the expected spring drop.

I have the Koni SA’s on my car. But if my car had come from the factory with BMW Adaptive dampers then I’d be replacing them when necessary with B4-Damptronic to keep the expensive high tech EDC system

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by johnung

FYI- When you read comments that a particular coilover is comfortable the key question is “Comfortable compared to what?” Coilovers in general are designed with much higher spring rates and many have mismatched dampers. They are inherently harsher.

If I was going to choose a coilover for comfort I would choose the KW V2 Street Comfort. It would be more comfortable than other coilovers but not as comfortable as the Koni Special Actives with stock springs or Eibach springs.

FaRKle! has written some excellent posts on this subject. One of them compares the Koni Red Special Actives to the Koni Yellow Sport shocks. The SA’s have no user settings, their two frequency valves are factory set. However the Yellow Sports are user adjustable for comfort.

So guys will often assume that if they are prioritizing comfort they should get the Yellow Sports because they could adjust them to the most comfortable setting and be more comfortable than the SA’s, but that isn’t true.

In actuality the two dampers overlap quite a bit but the range of the SA’s dips further into the comfort zone while the Yellow Sports dip further into the sport zone. So I often recommend to get the Yellow Sports if a car will be weekend tracking. It’s nice to be able to adjust the dampers from a preferred daily driver setting to a preferred tracking setting. But if a car is primarily a daily driver (like my own), the Special Actives can best handle rough potholes while still adjusting themselves to handle a sporty curve.

Note: Koni Yellows and Bilstein B8 are often considered by guys looking to lower their car and track it, or just ride more like a stiff track car. The two are very comparable. The B8’s are setup stiff at the factory. It has no user settings. The Koni Yellow Sports have that advantage of user adjustability to fine tune how the dampers will react whether on the street or on varying tracks.

The same analogy holds for coilovers. A particular coilover may be comfortable compared to other coilovers, but can’t compare the the Koni Special Actives on rough roads.

Hope this helps!

This is accurate.

I've had the M Performance Suspension and I currently have the updated Ohlins R&T + Millway Street Camber plates on my 2014 335i RWD M Sport.

The Ohlins R&T are great for track as it stays relatively flat due to the higher spring rate. But no matter what, that comes at a cost when it comes to street driving. For reference, my tire/wheel setup is 18" Apex ARC-8 18x8.5 ET38 with Michelin PS4S tires. (If I had to do this all over again I would opt for a 18x9 wheel with an ET in the 30-32 range as it would provide better clearance to your aftermarket coilover options).

Since I don't plan on tracking the car this season, I'm planning on going to go back to the M Performance Suspension kit. Instead of using the M Performance Suspension Kit struts/stocks, I'm considering using the Bilstein B8s. I think the M Performance Suspension Kit springs are similar to the stock Sport suspension springs in design but with higher spring rates so I can't imagine the Bilstein B8s being completely mismatched.

The body roll with the M Performance Suspension Kit (and factory anti roll bars) felt excessive. I do plan on considering an aftermarket option but read that the H&R may be too much and that the Eibach roll bars may be more appropriate.

[f30bmw340i]

johnung - we meet again John My RWD 340i has the 2VF suspension but it still feels exactly like cfm56d7b explained it

I sense you are dissatisfied because the suspension doesn't react quickly enough to road imperfections

Is there anything more comfortable than the 2VF suspension?vI've already swapped the RFT's for the Conti DWS 6+ as well as gone 18" but still when I hit bumps on the highway, it's like the entire car feels it. Is there any way to better the ride? Will B4 Damptronic offer a more comfortable ride?

I understand it's an unpopular opinion, but I'm trying to make the car as comfortable as possible for daily driving.

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by f30bmw340i

johnung - we meet again John My RWD 340i has the 2VF suspension but it still feels exactly like cfm56d7b explained it



Is there anything more comfortable than the 2VF suspension?vI've already swapped the RFT's for the Conti DWS 6+ as well as gone 18" but still when I hit bumps on the highway, it's like the entire car feels it. Is there any way to better the ride? Will B4 Damptronic offer a more comfortable ride?

I understand it's an unpopular opinion, but I'm trying to make the car as comfortable as possible for daily driving.

f30bmw340i, can you share how many miles your car has at the moment?

[f30bmw340i]

cfm56d7b Approx 27k miles