Hello,
I have recently bought a 325i to use on track days only. The car will be towed to the track so the only consideration is track performance and ...... cost. My budget is about £1000 for the whole project of wich I intend to spend £300 on upgrading the shocks and springs. I would be very grateful for any advice on good kits, how much to lower the car, etc I see that they sell a Jamex kit in ebay for £200 it lowers 40mm. Would this be any good?
I also intend to fit strut bars, replace any bushes as necesary upgrade brakes, etc
Any pointers welcome but please bear in mind that I have to work to a budget.
What suspension setup for Track use only? e30 325i
Moderator: martauto
Forget road suspension if its a dedicated track car.
Leda or GAZ Coilovers are what you want. GAZ are considerably cheaper than LEDA and some think its even better. Bother are height and bump/rebound adjustable. The height I think can vary from around -30mm - -60mm front and rear.
Powerflex Bushes are a must . (Subframe, control arm, trailing arm)
This lot wil cost about £1000 if ordered through the E30Zone Shop.
Leda or GAZ Coilovers are what you want. GAZ are considerably cheaper than LEDA and some think its even better. Bother are height and bump/rebound adjustable. The height I think can vary from around -30mm - -60mm front and rear.
Powerflex Bushes are a must . (Subframe, control arm, trailing arm)
This lot wil cost about £1000 if ordered through the E30Zone Shop.
Thanks for the reply,
Leda would be nice and also GAZ coilovers. Unfortunately my complete budget is £1000 and I am planning to spend about £300 on new shocks and springs. I need to leave some cash for bushes, brakes, bucket seat and harness, possibly a LSD, etc.
I am thinking that since the car is going to be track only I would not need to adjust the ride as much. I could choose a suitably hard setup to begin with and stick with it.
Do you have another recomendation for a shocks and springs kit around the £ 300 mark?
Leda would be nice and also GAZ coilovers. Unfortunately my complete budget is £1000 and I am planning to spend about £300 on new shocks and springs. I need to leave some cash for bushes, brakes, bucket seat and harness, possibly a LSD, etc.
I am thinking that since the car is going to be track only I would not need to adjust the ride as much. I could choose a suitably hard setup to begin with and stick with it.
Do you have another recomendation for a shocks and springs kit around the £ 300 mark?
IMPOSSIBLE! With that amount of cash you won't be able to get race suspension. There are some cheaper ways to get a race suspension, but it would still be above 500 pounds. Even normal sportshocks from Bilstein/Koni are almost 300pounds. Bilstein MSP shocks are around 430pounds which is about the cheapest you can go. I have an Intrax non-adjustable set for my E30 and that was 1100 Euro's. That's very very cheap, but that's almost 750 pounds! This included F&R coil-overs + helpersprings with camberplates and rear solid top-mounts. Anyway there are a lot of low budget racers out there which race on basicly street suspension. It's way to soft, but go for it if you want to.
How about the HR cup or the Spax kits advertised for around £350 in the e30 shop?
I know that with enough money I could buy a fantastic piece of kit but I am only after a bit of fun doing track/airfield days. Can't quite bring myself to make my kids go hungry....
All pointers however greatly received
I know that with enough money I could buy a fantastic piece of kit but I am only after a bit of fun doing track/airfield days. Can't quite bring myself to make my kids go hungry....
All pointers however greatly received
The H&R kits are good and guys have used them on track. However don't expect the kit to be anywhere near as good as the Coilovers. Used with the Anti Roll bars (£250) it does give a very very good setup.
Used with good tyres you will have alot of fun.
If you after having some cheap fun then this is a good way.
Some cheaper Coilover kits are to be avoided as even on their softest settings they are just way too hard. All you'll get is a car that has no grip and skates all over the place.
Used with good tyres you will have alot of fun.
If you after having some cheap fun then this is a good way.
Some cheaper Coilover kits are to be avoided as even on their softest settings they are just way too hard. All you'll get is a car that has no grip and skates all over the place.
If it helps at all IMHO, our car a 2.7 with LSD, is mainly for track days and we have got the H&R cup set up with F&R ARBs and I would say its a pretty good set up (the ARBs are adjustable) to start with for track days but maybe not good enough for racing.... good quality very low profile tyres also help. We bought some secondhand Dunlop replicas of the Advan A008s which helped it stick...