E30 Zone

I have an e30 325i which I am setting up for the ttrs, at the moment it is on Eibach srings and bilstein b8 dampers. It currently rides quite high, so I want to lower it. I know a lot of you run coilovers, is this the only option or are there some new springs that you can recommend?

cheers

www.dfaulkner.co.uk has some of the shelf springs which are bit lower than Eibach and harder.
I think I actually know somebody who is selling some. Will drop him a message

What do you want from the springs? Less roll? Looks?

To be honest, I wouldn't waste any time / money on playing with the std. setup for race use.
Save yourself a lot of grief and save up for a set of coilovers. Gives you infinite adjustment of ride height / corner weight and the only way to be anything like competitive in a race situation.
If you can't afford new (who can at the moment?) then look out on this or the SELOC forum, where I'm sure I've seen you post, for a secondhand set.
We've got Ledas and although not the ultimate, are relatively cheap, often available secondhand, and can be rebuilt easily to bring them back to as new condition (or to change the valving characteristics).

Kim.

How much for the Ledas? Are they coilover rear or just the standard setup?

Leda went bust and the rights were taken over by another co. up north somewhere, so not sure if theyre available new at the moment.
Our car has coilovers all round, although I know some use coilover front and std setup rear.
A lot of the production BMW guys are using GAZ and seem to like them. Full set of four is around £700 I think. My son is running GAZ coilovers on the front of his 205 GTI-6 and he reckons they're OK for the money.
Kim

I thought coilovers would be about £1,000 for a full set and I can put in some new springs to get a lower ride height and stiffer for about £200.

Are coilovers really that good? When I start racing i wolud have thought that my level of skill would be the biggest drawback! : )

Saying that why spend the £200 if I am going to need to put coilovers on eventually. Does nobody run without coilovers?

cheers

You're right, when you first start, the limiting factor will be you!!
But you said it yourself, why spend £200 now, then throw it away to go the whole hog later.
Dont forget also, if you want to trim your ride height, you will need yet another set of springs @ £200. Unlikely you'll get it cock on first time!!
I think that there are a few who run the std setup in Prod BMW, but I would think for TTRS the level of development / tuning is that much higher. You need to get Shorty73 to comment, he runs a 325 in TTRS, so he'll be better able to give an opinion.
TTRS (and Prod BMW) are racing at Silverstone this weekend, if you're interested ADMISSION FREE, just turn up and walk in!! Can't be bad.

Kim

cheers - will go to a race weekend soon. Want to wait for my new Brian James Trailer (hurrah!) and then will take my car and try and get a scrutineer to look at it to see if it would pass.

by the way, where is the best place to by Gaz Coilovers?

and what am i asking for?

they only other alternative if you don't want to run coilovers is Grp N springs from BMW or Eibach with the matching Bilsteins. But if you can't find them second hand you will be bettor off with GAZ IMHO.

You can have "normal" Bilsteins revalved to Grp N spec (£80-100 PER shock) and just use new springs.

The best place to buy Gaz coilovers is from Gaz themselves!!! They are based in Basildon, Essex and actually run a couple of cars in production bmw themselves.

We run Gaz coilovers on the race car and have no problems with them, in fact probably most of the field run them, they are £626 + vat, but they need some front struts (exchange) I have some 45mm ones if you need them??

http://www.gaz-shocks.co.uk/index.html

cragles wrote:I have some 45mm ones if you need them??

Thought you needed 51mm struts to convert? I've never heard of a kit to convert a 45mm strut, though I suppose it could be done using 2" springs.
I was going to add that finding decent shocks to suit could be a problem, but a quick search shows that Koni make them.

I have heard that Gaz just cut the strut clean off at the bottom so either 45mm or 51mm struts are fine for exchange.

there are pictures of ours on our site www.team156.co.uk

cheers guys will give them a call

Dave Lyons is the man to speak to - 01268 724585. I ordered my set on Friday, £740 delivered inc. VAT. As mentioned above, he'll need your front struts. They don't need your rear top mounts any more though as now they supply billet aluminium ones. Have a think about what spring rates you want to use too, then chat with Dave about it - he's very knowledgeable and helpful.