GAS monoball kit in a street car?

[drwankel]

I am considering installing the GAS monoball kit:

https://germanautosolutions.com/stor...l-arm-mset-v2/

Was curious if there were some folks here who have had a decent amount of seat time with this kit, and how you feel about the kit while on the street?

I'm aware of what the kit is and does, but I'm guessing however small, there is bound to be some level of NVH increase. I would love to hear peoples experiences with this in regards to regular street driving and long distance cruising.

[spammysammich]

Originally Posted by drwankel

I am considering installing the GAS monoball kit:

https://germanautosolutions.com/stor...l-arm-mset-v2/

Was curious if there were some folks here who have had a decent amount of seat time with this kit, and how you feel about the kit while on the street?

I'm aware of what the kit is and does, but I'm guessing however small, there is bound to be some level of NVH increase. I would love to hear peoples experiences with this in regards to regular street driving and long distance cruising.

I have the turner version of the thrust arm monoball but I'm away from Seattle for a bit so I can't check the other bushings/arms. The car is on KW clubsports already and I've never driven a stock M3, no context for how one should feel. When we meet up for a drive or something you're welcome to check it out.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by drwankel

I am considering installing the GAS monoball kit:

https://germanautosolutions.com/stor...l-arm-mset-v2/

Was curious if there were some folks here who have had a decent amount of seat time with this kit, and how you feel about the kit while on the street?

I'm aware of what the kit is and does, but I'm guessing however small, there is bound to be some level of NVH increase. I would love to hear peoples experiences with this in regards to regular street driving and long distance cruising.

Depends what you're after. My car is mostly track driven but I loved this addition. I did it while the suspension was still stock and subsequently added the Ohlins track day kit.

It meaningfully tightened up the front. If you're after pure stock plushness, I'd pass.

Steering feel tightens up and you can feel more imperfections in the road. There is really no N or V, just a bit of H.

derbo turned me onto it and might have some thoughts too.

[PandaM3]

I have the GAS kit on my M3 up front with Bilstein edc coil overs. I've also got a full rear monoball conversion and a bunch of SPL parts.

The rear is tight and quiet.

The front is tight and handles great at speed. However at low speed (under 25) over rough roads they do pop a little. Worth it if you want to track the car. However if you're not gonna track it then you'll get a huge improvement just replacing worn bushings.

I've asked a bunch of local shops that do Dinan and they say it's the same kind of noise.

[SGM_E90]

Night and day difference on the track. Not sure you'll feel much difference driving on the street though

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by SGM_E90

Night and day difference on the track. Not sure you'll feel much difference driving on the street though

You definitely feel it on the street. I noticed it immediately after install. Assuming your suspension is stock. I could see it being less pronounced if you were already on suspension

[SGM_E90]

Originally Posted by slcook54

You definitely feel it on the street. I noticed it immediately after install. Assuming your suspension is stock. I could see it being less pronounced if you were already on suspension

Maybe that's what it was. I already had tckline DA installed. Albeit I only drive the car once a week and almost all city.

[nycplumber]

I have had turner, Dinan and gas. Gas is the best and also priced the best. Great mod for street car

[derbo]

large bumps with high damper velocity were more pronounced but not intolerable. I would agree with slcook54 here: neglible additional NV, but noticable H on large fast impact bumps. Steering felt better on large lateral weight transfers switchbacks and braking felt better when under heavy near-abs thresholds.

I would recommend it as a must-have option for spirited driving.

G.A.S. offers the best price as it is pre-pressed into new TRW arms for the same price of just Dinan Monoball kit uninstalled.

[drwankel]

Thanks all. To better describe what my goals are here. I recently moved to some wider wheels and tires, and have been getting a steering wheel vibration between 70-80 intermittently. Got a better road force balance done, and the issue is improved, but still remains.

My car has a bit over 60K on it, and as such, it is likely time to address the thrust arm bushings. People have commented that they can cause these symptoms. Even if it isn't the cause, replacing them will be good for preventative maintenance. My general thought when replacing anything, is if there is an upgrade available, now is the time to do it.

That being said- I currently don't track the car. its a weekend car, so some aggressive canyon carving is definitely part of the use case, but so is just long distance cruising. The monoballs seem to offer benefits I would appreciate, but I don't want to muck up the streetability of the suspension too much, as I am pretty happy with the factory ZCP setup.

[Redd]

You will get better turn in and less dive on braking with front monoballs. It's not a major difference but noticeable. Not really the first mod I would recommend but it will not hurt NVH too much, and if it's due for a replacement might as well upgrade it.

That said, if monoballs don't solve your vibration issue, there is a chance it might make it more noticeable just cos there will be less rubber in the front suspension to soak up vibrations.

[slcook54]

If you're trying to fix a vibration, which I also dealt with, I found mine was combination of 3 things unfortunately

- bent wheels
- control arms
- brakes

Once I replaced all 3, vibrations were eliminated. Unfortunately it's a process of elimination but you can check these things individually

[Redd]

Originally Posted by slcook54

If you're trying to fix a vibration, which I also dealt with, I found mine was combination of 3 things unfortunately

- bent wheels
- control arms
- brakes

Once I replaced all 3, vibrations were eliminated. Unfortunately it's a process of elimination but you can check these things individually

I agree. I doubt the tension arm bush is a source of vibration cos its not a spinning part and very far inboard. It may make noise when worn but I doubt it will cause vibrations.

[spammysammich]

Do you have the ability to swap to another set of wheels to double check that it isn't the new set?

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by spammysammich

Do you have the ability to swap to another set of wheels to double check that it isn't the new set?

He said he did a road force balance which should be able to flag a bent rim

[spammysammich]

Yeah I saw that but the fact that the vibration stuck around even after road force balance is super weird. That's always cured my rolling vibration problems in the past. If he had a second set it would be pretty low hanging fruit to double check. He got a new set of Avant Gardes recently.

[drwankel]

I still have the original wheels, but I've already pulled the tires off of them. Tires were due for replacement anyway.

I had a very very slight vibration with the old wheels, but it had been quite a while since I had the tires balanced. I figured it was just due to wear, and the tires needed to be re-balanced, which is something that I've experienced before.

Since I was replacing the wheels/tires anyway, I figured that would cure it.

What I'm suspecting is one of two things:

1. The vibration was actually due to the thrust arm bushings, and the wider wheels made it more pronounced.

2. The wheels are flawed somehow, and the source of the vibration. There is precedence for this, I found many very old threads where people complained of vibrations with the AG M359s that they never eliminated. Those were the old cast versions vs the new flow formed versions, but still its enough to be suspect. Some claimed that the hubcentric portion of the wheel was ever so slightly too big.

Anyway, I figure replacing the thrust arm bushings would be a good next step, just to rule it out. People have commented that it was a source of vibration for them. Even if its not the cause, I think refreshing them is worthwhile for preventative maintenance anyway.

[drwankel]

Originally Posted by Redd

I agree. I doubt the tension arm bush is a source of vibration cos its not a spinning part and very far inboard. It may make noise when worn but I doubt it will cause vibrations.

Completely agree with you. I struggle to understand why the trust arm bushings could cause a steering wheel vibration, but I've read plenty of posts from others that claimed it was the cause of theirs.

If that doesn't fix it, I may go back to the stock wheels. One of the things I love about this car is how smooth it is at higher speeds. Although I love having the traction back, I'm ultimately never going to be happy if I can't get these steering vibrations controlled.

[wyatth]

Originally Posted by nycplumber

I have had turner, Dinan and gas. Gas is the best and also priced the best. Great mod for street car

Curious what you found better about GAS over Dinan, other than price? Not many people have handled both.


I have the Dinan kit which I think the GAS is designed after. Street driven but still very happy with them. @slcook54 nailed the description.

[nycplumber]

Gas have a better bearing and are machined to a MUCH tighter tolerance making install easier

"Consider this, the control arms bores of the E90-M3 and E82-1M are 0.003 inch smaller and 0.034 inch narrower than their non-M counterparts, but we are the only monoball manufacture that makes different specific models for each! To us, 0.003 inch is a huge difference! In fact, 0.003 inch is six times our manufacturing tolerance!"

[wyatth]

They both claim to use OE bearings, I think. I don't see that on Dinan's website now, but I know it used to specify that.

Can't speak to the tolerance issue. I know my shop had no issues fitting the Dinan bits into new TRW arms, they were well made and fit right.

[nycplumber]

I compared the manufacturing # on the bearing itself. You can only know that # by looking at the bearing. I'm not a Dinan fan due to their horrible customer service since the company was sold so I'm glad these are better for cheaper