KW/Weitec Suspension kits?? Are they any good on an E30??

Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:43 am

Right iv been on hear for the last couple of weeks trying to establish a good suspension set up for my car and needs. The car been a 1990 320i 2dr 45mm struts, my needs been a daily driver with reasonably comfy suspension a small drop for the looks and a good kit for reasonable handling. The car will never been going on a track. I know the common choice is eithier B6's or B8's with Eibach Pro's but they are a bit expensive and excessive for what i need. The car currently has a jamex kit which im guessing is 60/40 and not really in good condition and pretty much doing my head in. I have looked at the b4 route but unsure on springs, i have looked at the spax psx route but herd they are quite hard and also just the bilstein streetline, and various others such as weitech and koni. But not herd a single thing on a KW kit so wondered if there was anyone out there with one of these kits.
This would be the one for my car
http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/ ... ct=3872263

Could anybody shed any light on this situation?

Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:02 am

A friend on mine has that kit on his E30 and I'd recommend it. The ride is very good, not uncomfortable or crashy.

Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:48 pm

Well thats good at least one person says its a good kit anyone else car to give me some feedback???

Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:45 pm

I have the 60/40 kit on my touring. It is quite firm, can be a little crashy on sh1te roads but its better than the H&R cupkit, which I had on my iS.
HTH

Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:36 pm

uwe and Jhonno both have experience with KW set ups

Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:14 am

Kos wrote:uwe and Jhonno both have experience with KW set ups

Good, bad or indifferent experiences

Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:40 pm

There doesnt seam to be much of a following for KW stuff on an E30 that maybe a reason to give it a miss then.

Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:50 pm

KW are very good kits. The race e30 M3 i went out for 8 laps in at the ring had a V2 set and i loved the ride. It all depends on what you want out of it. If its for road use then youre probably not going to care much about spring rates etc but its still a good indication on how the kit will feel.
Personally anything from KW, Weitec, H&R or eibach/bilstein are going to be top quality. Its just bloody hard finding out the best kit for you're needs without being able to try it.

Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:25 pm

Well i looked at the weitec stuff but wasn’t sure what the quality would be so found the KW kit in my budget of 300-400 also KW i believe are currently been run on various BMW race cars. Like i said before sporty comfort with a small amount of lowering but obviously good quality for longevity. But thanks to everyone who has replied much appreciated day off work tomorrow so think im going to come to my conclusion and actually buy something.

Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:32 pm

gooner1 wrote:
Kos wrote:uwe and Jhonno both have experience with KW set ups
Good, bad or indifferent experiences

positive

Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:11 pm

So then what would people choose between these two kits or would you think they are pretty much the same just pay that little bit more for the KW name as appose to the sister company name of Weitec. They both seam to meet my need comfort,quality and in budget sooo..

The kit i was originally asking about
http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/ ... ct=3872263

or

A very similar Weitec Kit
http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/ ... ct=3878292

Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:55 pm

What's with the whole strut diameter thing and the bit on using M-Tech stuff lowering by less than 20mm? Like the look of the KW kit personally

Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:03 pm

All tourings and 325's had the larger 51mm front strut's (not sure about cab's) and the factory M-Technic suspension had a lower ride height than the normal suspension.

hope thats of some use.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:05 pm

the road spring kits they sell give nice ride and all the good things of lowering it. However my only gripe is the amount they quote for the drop isn't what the actuall drop is. IE 60/60mm spring only drop 40mm and the 40mm springs give an m-tech ride height

Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:17 pm

Am i right in guessing the stated and actualy ride hight issue is a generic issue across the KW and Weitec stuff?? Im not after super low but the car came with a jamex kit although it rides really bad it sits rather nice i think it may be a 60/40 kit but 40/40 would do me fine. Or should i just stop messing around trying and do the obvious and conceed with some form of bilstein setup. Also just throwing it in there is Poly bushing a must or just kudos when it comes to road set ups.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:28 pm

So a 60/40 drop would really equate to a 20/40 drop because the suspension is all round 20mm lower with MTech suspension? Sorry dumb question, but I have to ask being a n00b...

Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:37 pm

Well kind of im led to belive an M-Tech kit is 15-20mm lower than standard ride hight, and all the stated lowering highs on aftermarket kits are based on the standard ride hight. So if you currently have M-Tech Springs a 60/40 Front/Rear would only lower you car a further 40-45mm on the front and 20-25mm on the rears. Hope that helps.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:22 pm

Could anybody shed any light on the quoted and actual ride height with the Weitec stuff as im after a 40/40 drop but not sure what people recon that will sit like with weitec. Also any more opinions from people who have weitec stuff would be nice.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:30 pm

I have Weitec 40/40 kit on my touring, with decent dampers and I was impressed with the ride, but I was running 60 profile tyres which made it a bit squidgy so I could never truly tell how good it was.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:34 pm

I have Weitec 40/40 kit on my touring, with decent dampers and I was impressed with the ride, but I was running 60 profile tyres which made it a bit squidgy so I could never truly tell how good it was.

I see so you just have a the weitec springs, im looking at the full kit springs and shocks. You tourer looks to be sat quite nice if you ask which red is it?? Red e30's are the best IMO.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:50 pm

I bought a KW 60/60mm kit... For my Saloon.

The front I am more then happy with, the rear end iks a different story!

When i recieved my conformation email it stated that they were for a Cab, so I emailed them straight away and was assured that they were the same even though there is about 110kg difference in weight

Obviously this is mainly over the back end to compensate for the lack of tin up top.

Give them their due they are trying to rectify the problem, and I cant praise Europerformance enough for their customer service.

I have driven Benjys car, which I think is a nice firm ride and corners very well, which is why I ended up going for my -60/+15 kit

Oh and Weitech is made by KW

*Poly bushes on the road are pretty w4nk, just uprate with M3 eccentric items and original BMW bushes all round with E46 cab rear top mounts

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:55 pm

Triple L wrote:So a 60/40 drop would really equate to a 20/40 drop because the suspension is all round 20mm lower with MTech suspension? Sorry dumb question, but I have to ask being a n00b...

When ordering a kit they should ask what size shocks are fitted to the car, so the springs they supply should compensate for any difference...

Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:55 pm

i

I bought a KW 60/60mm kit... For my Saloon.

The front I am more then happy with, the rear end iks a different story!

When i recieved my conformation email it stated that they were for a Cab, so I emailed them straight away and was assured that they were the same even though there is about 110kg difference in weight
Obviously this is mainly over the back end to compensate for the lack of tin up top.

Give them their due they are trying to rectify the problem, and I cant praise Europerformance enough for their customer service.

I have driven Benjys car, which I think is a nice firm ride and corners very well, which is why I ended up going for my -60/+15 kit

Oh and Weitech is made by KW

I see so it could be fine just that they have sent you the wrong rear springs. Im not after a super hard kit just something nice to drive as such on par maybe with an m-tech set up. As for KW making weitec yer thanks iv spent quite a while on there website reading through so not going to be able to complain about the quality as they will be top notch.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:07 pm

I have just edited my original post above (about bushes)

If your not overly fussy, get your self some front legs from a Touring, IS or 2.5 (51mm)
Pay the extra £20 odd and get the KW 40mm kit.

Personally I would go for 60/40, I dont know if Benjy has any photos of his car up?

I sold a nice set of Eibachs -40's about a month ago, their very good but about £30 on top of the KW items... Eibach I am lead to believe are usually spot on with 'droppage'

Hopefully I will get a set of Chromey springs (pre 87) as they have a different part number, the thing is Benjys sits lower then mine on the rear and mine were ment to be 60

What about Apex??

Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:21 pm

To be honest carnt be bother with changing the struts iv got new control arms and tie rods looking at new roll bar bushes and control arm bushes. And then obviously the new shock and springs. Yer i looked at apex but not really sure what the general opinion is and only her good things about the weitec stuff. Also looked at the Eibach stuff with billies just carnt justify the money for what i use the car for.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:05 am

Triple L wrote:So a 60/40 drop would really equate to a 20/40 drop because the suspension is all round 20mm lower with MTech suspension? Sorry dumb question, but I have to ask being a n00b...

:D

got the bilstein b8 with jamex lowering springs on my 325isport and and the car definitely sits higher than 40mm,not sure about kw/weitec but the bilstein are more heavy duty shocks so thats why the car sits higher.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:12 am

**Sorry for the hi-jack

The more I look at it I think I'm better off getting the Spax RSX kit for sake of spending a little more, you have way more flexibility and scope for fitting different wheels if needed plus it's got two dampening adjustability as well as being height adjustable at the front, just seems like the best package for the price instead of buying something which you don't really want...

The only thing that would concern me is the ride quality, anyone got some of these?

Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:30 pm

I know I've just signed up so I'm a 'newb', but here's my 2cents.

KW used to use Koni dampers, but they don't even have that quality any more. Weitec are the same. Eibach, same again. Jamex, Gmax, PI and Vmaxx quite literally use the same parts!
H&R use a mixture, but its better quality!
Spax, Bilstein, Koni, AVO and Gaz all produce their own dampers.

Springs are a whole different matter though, they pretty much all come from various places :p

For the price of that first KW kit, you could get, for example, the Spax PSX kit. Which offers you adjustable damping - surely thats a pro? Too hard - make it softer, and vice versa... And you know its produced and tested by Spax themselves. (As an example.)

Del777 - dampers dont affect the ride height at all! How can they?! They just damp. (not a dig, just pointing it out!)

Benji - I've got some 51mm struts I can sell you if you're interested. Postage would probs be more than they're worth though.