Ohlins Road & Track with Adjustable End Link

[cannga]

Posted this in another thread but probably more appropriate here. Just want to share some impression after replacing stock front end link with Turner Motorsport Adjustable Front End Link. From my measurement, the stock end link is around 13.5" measured between the mid points of the two end bolts, whereas the Turner Motorsport link is adjustable and my tuner (Zolti at Auto Talent) has adjusted it to approximately 12.8".

I had a choice between Turner Motorsport, which uses plastic bushings, and SPL , which uses solid/metallic spherical bushings, and opt for the Turner, for now. I had the solid type in my Turbo and quite liked it. End links with solid/metallic spherical bearing (heim joint) are more planted, but at the cost of NVH of course.

To my surprise, at same settings, the shorter Turner Motorsport makes Ohlins suspension less bouncy and more compliant. Take with a grain of salt as this is purely seat of the pants impression, but I think I've had enough time with either to make a good evaluation, and am used to subjective suspension comparison from the non ending messing around with the Turbo's Bilstein LOL.

I believe the better compliance is a result of the shorter Turner end link allowing the sway bar arm to be more horizontal as the end link acts on it. I think front sway bar of the M3 has a sharp curve to it and having this curve arm be horizontal with the shorter end link reduces the bounciness. Just want to share this with fellow Ohlins owners. Hope it helps with your enjoyment of this great car. In the future I probably will add rear link, and experiment with solid bushing link as well.
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[Redd]

Thanks! Pls keep the reviews coming! What height is your Ohlins set at?

[cannga]

Originally Posted by Redd

Thanks! Pls keep the reviews coming! What height is your Ohlins set at?

I asked the tuner Zolti/Auto Talent to install with the least amount of lowering possible as car is daily driver in LA. As a result, the mid front fender to ground is 26.5 inches before Ohlins, and 26 after. So it appears the car is lowered 1/2 inch with Ohlins.

I am pretty sure rear end link is coming next. I might just try the SPL one with solid/metallic spherical bearing.

I've found from messing with my Turbo that every replacement of stock rubber/plastic component with after-market solid/metallic ones will add a little NVH. (The reward is a decrease in excessive suspension motion and that fantastic "planted" sensation during cornering.) So I tend to add things slowly, one at a time, until my ears and derriere say "stop can't take it no more."