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      02-07-2021, 09:25 AM   #94
supercleanm3
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Drives: M3 E92
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Selangor

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Quote:
Originally Posted by cannga View Post
I recently installed Ohlins Road & Track Coilover and wrote about it here (with more information on spring rates, alignment and height settings, etc.): https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=99

Summary of my experience with Ohlins - As previously mentioned, as I put on the miles in the M3, I've noticed some problems with the stock M3 suspension: Comfort setting is overly soft with lots of body roll, Normal setting not much different from Comfort, and Sport setting very harsh/jittery, yet still with body roll. There is an overall ponderous/lazy feel to the M3. In many ways the problems here are similar to my P. Turbo: it's much more of a grand touring, than a true sports car.

After much reading/research, I narrowed the choice down to the Ohlins Road & Track and had it installed by Auto Talent in LA. Initial impression was, thankfully, what had bothered me most about the stock M3, the lazy/ponderous handling, has been taken care of by upgrading to the Ohlins coilover.

Ohlins Road and Track has made the M3 fully competitive with my Bilstein Turbo in "fun factor." My M3 is now a more tightly wound sports car and hugs mountain roads beautifully. The excessive body roll of stock M3 is gone, so is the jittery stiffness of the sport setting. Stock M3 also has a certain laziness in steering response that bothered me greatly and that has now been eliminated. The more sporty Ohlins suspension is firmer, but there is definitely more grace in handling road imperfections. Suspension mod btw alters the subjective sensation of power delivery (more immediate), and the BMW V8 engine is shining even more brightly (what a gem of an engine). I really was thinking about selling the M3 before this mod as it wasn't getting much used, not anymore.

Alignment settings: A change in alignment is equally important in getting the most out of the M3 - see settings in post above. With zero toe and more negative front camber, car has excellent steering response, very fast turn in, and less understeer characteristic. The change in alignment is as important as the addition of Ohlins. I believe my setting above is a good start for aggressive street driving (you'll likely need more neg camber at the track, etc.). Zero toe is not jittery at all, in fact helps to make steering response wonderfully fast.

Bilstein Damptronic's "Automatic Adjustment" in Porsche versus Ohlins "Manual Adjustment" in BMW: The Damptronic Bilstein's advantage is that it is more convenient, the Ohlins' advantage is that with the 20 or so "click" adjustability front and rear, it could be tailored to your taste much more closely. With Ohlins, you could try to adjust the rebound force exactly to your liking, front versus rear for example to affect understeer/oversteer behavior, or both to affect comfort. With Bilstein Damptronic, you are limited to the 2 or 3 factory settings of Bilstein. One could say the Bilstein is more convenient, whereas the Ohlins allows more personalized setting and more choices. I enjoy both systems equally.

In short if you are looking for a more "aggressive" M3 (personal preference, no right or wrong), I would recommend the Ohlins without reservation. Simply put, it transforms the feel of the stock M3, towards a much more aggressive sports car like the GT-class Porsche.

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Pics of rear Ohlins - high quality components that look fantastic.

hello there,
would you mind sharing the spring, damper and height setting.
hope to hear from you soon
Appreciate 0