Coilover choice

[snott]

Im turning my 318is into a track day toy. Im stiffening up the chassis (bushes etc) but im having trouble deciding on what suspension to run.

Ive been looking at Bc coilovers and also Gaz.

What is everyone else running on they're track cars?

[Mikey_Boy]

Here's a can of worms!!!

A lot of folks use Gaz - depends on your budget really! Please ignore all the budget coilovers you see on eBay - Just wasting your money there. I am not a huge fan of Gaz on my E30 but they work very well on my Mazda MX5 so maybe it's just me.

Bottom line - spend as much as you can afford, and make sure you do every bush and also uprate the anti roll bars as well - I like the Eibach bars but I am sure there are many preferences on here.

Good luck!

[rix313]

Suspension and brakes is the area to spend the money so as Mikey says, get the best you can afford. At a minimum look to get GAZ golds, also consider you will need some good top mounts as well.

[Mikey_Boy]

Ah yes - great point!!

Decent top mount both front and rear are critical...

[rob0r]

I'm impressed with the lower spec'd gaz GHA (true rear coilover)

[jimbom30cab]

Can you still get KW varient 1 coil overs? I'm running a set and I think they are brilliant.

[snott]

Thanks guys for your replies.
Uprated arb's are on the shopping list. Ive gone off the Bc coilovers after reading some bad reviews when they were used on track cars.

I'll probably just go for Gaz Gold's, do they come with the spindle or is it a weld on job?

[Mikey_Boy]

Should come complete - have at look at the RPM thread on here, they should be able to sort you out...?

[Muzz2676]

Had AST II's on a couple of cars, always rated them

[Mikey_Boy]

How long did it take your ASTs to arrive???

[steve_k]

as a few others have said, go for gaz gold, had them before & found them to be pretty good,

also as mikey says, eibach arb's are very good for the price, couple those with mondeo rose jointed drop links, fresh bushes, & that will tighten the chassis up a lot,

as for top mounts, try eibach/spc adjustable's. not cheap but more than up for the job. avoid the cheap ebay ones as they are shyte.

[Mikey_Boy]

Steve - do you have any details of the mondeo drop links to use??

I agree as well - Gaz golds would be a great starting point...

[snott]

Taken from Wiki

ARB Drop Links
A surprising discovery was made regarding the front drop links that hold your Anti-Roll Bar; you can replace them with the rear drop links from a 2000-2007 Ford Mondeo Estate. These units are rose-jointed, giving a firmer, stronger hold over your anti-roll bar, so they should last a while. They're also available from Lemforder who, being an OEM manufacturer for BMW, guarantee that you're not polluting your E30 with Ford scrap. Lemforder part number is LMI 2581102

This upgrade is pretty much mandatory as part of a front suspension rebuild.

[steve_k]

Mikey, se above lol,

Looking intonincan use them on the rear arb aswell.

Dirt cheap upgrade as well.

[Mikey_Boy]

^^^ thank you both!!