MCS Settings

[POINTBY]

For those of you running the 2 way MCS non remote coilovers, what settings front and rear are you using?

My E92 M3 is currently staying a street car for now and on a Conti DW tire.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

P.S. - spring rates are 600F/800R

[surlynkid]

For the street, about 5C and 7R all the way around. I have 700/1000 lb springs. Because these dampers are valved a lot different than the remote reservoir, I am either maxed out all the way or max C and two clicks from max on R for track use.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by POINTBY

For those of you running the 2 way MCS non remote coilovers, what settings front and rear are you using?

My E92 M3 is currently staying a street car for now and on a Conti DW tire.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

P.S. - spring rates are 600F/800R

Originally Posted by surlynkid

For the street, about 5C and 7R all the way around. I have 700/1000 lb springs. Because these dampers are valved a lot different than the remote reservoir, I am either maxed out all the way or max C and two clicks from max on R for track use.

My MCS 2WNR kit is going in next week, nice to have a reference point, thanks!

[warp10]

800/1000 springs

Front:

Rebound: 14
Compression: 9

Rear:

Rebound: 9

Compression 7

[M3SQRD]

You could start with what MCS recommends - 7C & 9R Front and Rear - and then adjust from there.

What type of setup are you looking for - street or track or both?

[POINTBY]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

You could start with what MCS recommends - 7C & 9R Front and Rear - and then adjust from there.

What type of setup are you looking for - street or track or both?

Street for now.

Is that their recommendation specifically for the E92 M3? With my spring rates?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by POINTBY

Street for now.

Is that their recommendation specifically for the E92 M3? With my spring rates?

It's more of a general recommendation for the 2WNR damper. I found it to be a very good starting point for a street setup with 500/800 spring rates on my E92 M3 and F82 M4.

Are you looking for a compliant street setup?

[Richbot]

I ended up running Less bump than rebound in the rear and more bump than rebound in front. Seemed to take bigger hits on the throttle better with a little less compression in rear. So rebound was close to the same all around but more bump front than rear.

[///Mobbin]

Just had my MCS 2WNR setup installed and it's truly amazing, can't wait to hit the track!

I'm curious if anyone else has a slight rattle in the front with their setup? At first I thought it was the top nut not being tight enough on the Vorshlag camber plates but those are now air gun tight and the rattle persists. I am also thinking it may be the bimmerworld spherical sway bar end links. Thoughts appreciated!

[Richbot]

Probably the end links. Try adding a bit of preload (like 1 turn) to one end link. Or sell it all to me for a dollar

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Probably the end links. Try adding a bit of preload (like 1 turn) to one end link. Or sell it all to me for a dollar

Spot on, the end links were set too short, also not sure I like the mounting hardware of the BW links so I pulled them out and put the factory links back on for now. The noise seems to be gone.

[///Mobbin]

So the rattle/clank sound occurs way less now, maybe 10% of how often it occurred before but it's still there in the right conditions. Almost sounds like the front springs tapping against the spring perch but I'm not sure how that would happen. Maybe it's the bearings in the camber plates chattering? Everything functions fine so no big deal, just curious where the sound is coming from.

[///Mobbin]

So I went over a bump, heard a loud clang and the noise is gone. Pretty sure it was the sway bar or endlinks tapping against something (perhaps they were mis-aligned or stuck?). I'll visually inspect it again but just glad it's gone.

warp10 I am trying your track settings on the street today. Car is tight, I like it! Any tweaks you would do for 600/900 spring rates?

[Richbot]

Hey guys had a bad noise happen but then a really bad noise happened and now I don't have either noise anymore so problem solved

also my car's upside down

[///Mobbin]

Unfortunately the clack/rattle sounds has returned and the car is now back in the shop for the day. We've pretty much ruled out the sway bar and end-links and believe it's coming from the Vorshlag camber plates. They're planning to disassemble and reassemble the front strut stack, tightening the top nuts off of the car. I'm hoping this fixes it as the noise is quite annoying for a DD.

Vorshlag has been quite helpful in diagnosing the issue and also recently put together this video about why this can happen:

[///Mobbin]

And yet another update. The Vorshlag plates were not the source of the noise, likely the tire or wheel pushing against the wide 60mm springs. Getting some spacers and will report back if that solves it.

[///Mobbin]

5mm spacers are in along with helper springs and torrington bearings. Noise is still there!! Really frustrating.

I think I'm going to try the Dinan swaybar and their endlinks next. Any other thoughts?

[Richbot]

You can figure out if the bar (or bar attachment/load transfer system) is the problem by simply driving the car without a bar installed

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by Richbot

You can figure out if the bar (or bar attachment/load transfer system) is the problem by simply driving the car without a bar installed

Sage advice, thank you! I may try that next (and before I order another sway bar).

Bimmerworld had assured me their end links were the correct length for this setup (when properly extended) so I had my shop put them back on last week, adjusted to be longer. Well, I just put the OE links back on myself (second time I've done this) and inspected everything again. Much quieter. I also couldn't see any contact points whatsoever. Need to drive to and from work before I know for sure. Hopeful this is it though.

[Richbot]

I have turner endlinks and they make some noise as they take load from the bar over low speed bumps but are otherwise quiet this is with RD bar and stock struts with adapter sleeves for the stock countersunk hole. But turner or bimmerworls u less they used some crap Heim joints I don't see why they'd be different. Did they by any chance use the beveled sleeve some link kits include for use with stock struts ts with the mcs struts which probably just need a flat washer?

[///Mobbin]

The BW endlinks did include metal bushing/sleeve inserts and washers. I was originally told to use the bushings top and bottom but they wouldn't fit in the MCS strut. Got back to BW about this and they then said to just use the bushing on the bottom with the sway bar and use two washers on the top. I asked them to send me some extra washers since they weren't included and they actually wanted to charge me for them, ridiculous, I found my own. At the end of the day though the endlinks BW sold me were just too short so I am sticking with OE for now. It wasn't the spherical bearings causing the noise either.

Fast forward, I still had a slight occurrence of the noise in parking garages (incline/decline) and particular bumps. Emailed Greg Smith to see if he had any thoughts and he suggested turning up comp/rebound. Voila, noise totally gone. Slowly dialing it back down now to dial in a bit more comfort but interesting what a change that made. I was at 5/7 before (and sometimes lower) and 10C/12R fixed it.

Still not sure if it was the dampers themselves making the noise or something else in my system, with the damping just greatly effecting it.

Anyway, good to know now and curious if anyone else has had this same issue. Maybe my particular ride height and spring lengths contributed as well: slightly lower than ZCP front ~10mm and lower in the rear, ~20mm lower than ZCP, 7" front, 9" rear springs.

[dbyrd]

Great to hear that you got this sorted, Ryan.

Back to settings, I have the MCS singles with 600/900 spring rates. I've been running them very stiff at the track. Last weekend, I ran them at full stiff for the first time, and they still didn't feel too stiff or firm, and I was able to apply throttle early with the rear sticking. Turn in remained good as well. Remember that I only have rebound adjustment.

BTW, for street use I adjust them to close to full soft - anywhere between 2-8 clicks.