E30 Zone

Hi,

I've got a 318 iS and ive been offered a set of Bilstein B4 for around £60, in good condition.

Are these shocks any good? Are they an imporvement over the oringinal ones? What will the ride be like, stiff or soft?

Please help!

Thanks!

Please anyone!?

B4's are excellent dampers - very similar to the OE ones, or as they were 100,000 miles ago.

i have the b4s on the rear of my car and they are excellent.

I have B4's all round, with Eibachs, just finished fitting them on Thursday. Very good.

spook wrote:i have the b4s on the rear of my car and they are excellent.

Whats the ride like on them?

thanks

even with eibachs which are not progressively wound the ride is good and handling spot on

I've just had a set put on my 'pina and they are firm but not to the point I need to see a spinal surgen and a dentist from the ride.

b6's if your car is lowered more then 40mm

B6's are better for 60mm drops, but they are very firm

£60 for 4 or 2? I also now have eibach springs and B4s all corners - very impressed with the handling but also nice an smooth over crappy roads

just a quick question...

I got 60/40mm drop

Are B4's a viable option? Or is B6's a must?

or maybe even B6 fronts + B4 Rears?

(B4's are soooooooo much cheaper)

B4's and eibachs all round on mine, love it

hartge bilsteins up front with h/r -35mmm springs and b4s and h/r -35mm at the rear, super stuff
i may get round to putting the hartge bilsteins on the rear.

SeymourCake wrote:just a quick question...

I got 60/40mm drop

Are B4's a viable option? Or is B6's a must?

or maybe even B6 fronts + B4 Rears?

(B4's are soooooooo much cheaper)

Simple answer - get rid of the silly "my suspension has collapsed" 60mm springs! At 60mm below standard the handling is ruined anyway, so the quality of the dampers is of no great importance.

Brianmoooore wrote:

SeymourCake wrote:just a quick question...

I got 60/40mm drop

Are B4's a viable option? Or is B6's a must?

or maybe even B6 fronts + B4 Rears?

(B4's are soooooooo much cheaper)

Simple answer - get rid of the silly "my suspension has collapsed" 60mm springs! At 60mm below standard the handling is ruined anyway, so the quality of the dampers is of no great importance.

what a load of sh!t. There are correct springs and dampers to use on a 60mm drop. Ever heard of shorter shocks ie B6 bilstein to keep damper travel with lowering springs! The quality of the dampers on a 60mm drop is of the GREATEST importance!

Suspension that is lowered by 60mm will NOT handle as well as suspension that is lowered 30mm, whatever the dampers are! It will handle much worse if the dampers are bottoming out, but it will still be relatively poor even with dampers that have the correct travel.
To lower a E30 properly you have to raise all the suspension mounting points, effectively lowering the shell over the chassis.

where not talking M3 race cars here. They don't bottom out with the right shocks and springs where are you getting this info from? I've never bottomed out even round the ring Theres about 5 foot of suspension travel engineered into an e30, taking 60mm away from it and using the correct shocks and springs with the correct offset wheels ie BBS mean that it will out handle a 40mm setup. You don't need to raise the top mount locations for this!

no point arguing with someone set in their E30 ways

On a 60/40 drop ride comfort will go out the window (but no worse than a mini cooper S with 18" wheels and runflats!) but handling will be much improved due to less body roll.

As simon says, with the right shock and spring combo there is still suspension travel.

I personally prefer a 40mm drop for looks and i think it handles good enough for the road.