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      12-24-2010, 07:46 AM   #1
Caddyshk
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Z4M Coilovers - What to Buy?

Thinking of buying my own Christmas present! (thanks for the idea UUC!).

I have read all the threads from the various forums and there's no real consensus.

Application

- Weekend street use 7 months per year
- 4-6 HPDE's per season
- Would like to dial in a little more front camber
- Like a 1" drop
- Staying with OE wheels - 235/265
- Like the idea of changing Compression & Rebound on dampers
- Ease of changing the Compression & Rebound
- < $3,000

My application requirements take a couple of manufacturers out immediately. I have read negatives on the GC's (camber plates), the H & R's have no adjustability, the TC Kline's have had mixed reviews for fit and noise. The KWV3's or Clubsports appear to have the most satisfied customers followed by the Bilstein PS10's. Feedback please.

Thanks!

Bilstein
GC
KW
TC Kline
H & R
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      12-24-2010, 07:58 AM   #2
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I would put my vote towards GC. The only issue is the way the camber plates adjust. It is not a huge deal just takes a tiny bit more effort to dial in camber but if your like me I set it once and have yet to touch it again. The reason I choose GC over TCK was because everybody complains about clunks, bumps, and noises with the TCK. From what I read before buy the GC didn't have these noises. Now that both my brother and I have had these for a year I can confirm that they don't have any clunks or other noises. Infact another member on here contacted me because he was looking to ditch his TCK for a set of GC to get rid of the clunks. He ended up getting the GC and couldn't believe how much quiter they were.
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      12-24-2010, 08:12 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
I would put my vote towards GC. The only issue is the way the camber plates adjust. It is not a huge deal just takes a tiny bit more effort to dial in camber but if your like me I set it once and have yet to touch it again. The reason I choose GC over TCK was because everybody complains about clunks, bumps, and noises with the TCK. From what I read before buy the GC didn't have these noises. Now that both my brother and I have had these for a year I can confirm that they don't have any clunks or other noises. Infact another member on here contacted me because he was looking to ditch his TCK for a set of GC to get rid of the clunks. He ended up getting the GC and couldn't believe how much quiter they were.
Which GC set did you both get? It looks like there are 2 on the GC website. Thoughts on spring rates too.

Thanks
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Last edited by Caddyshk; 12-24-2010 at 08:25 AM..
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      12-24-2010, 09:19 AM   #4
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Hi,
I really like My KW V3's (with camber plates). I use my car as a daily through the summer, and 2-3 HPDE's a year. on the recommended settings i find the car comfortable on the street, and planted at the track. Ive been reluctant to change the settings much, as you need to either cut holes in the interior, or remove panels to adjust them from the top. I chose these because of the progressive spring rate for the street (and they are quiet).

with stock wheels they work fine, once you put 245's on stock wheels on the front you need a spacer, or you'll run into the spring.
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      12-24-2010, 09:56 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by schwank View Post
Hi,
I really like My KW V3's (with camber plates). I use my car as a daily through the summer, and 2-3 HPDE's a year. on the recommended settings i find the car comfortable on the street, and planted at the track. Ive been reluctant to change the settings much, as you need to either cut holes in the interior, or remove panels to adjust them from the top. I chose these because of the progressive spring rate for the street (and they are quiet).

with stock wheels they work fine, once you put 245's on stock wheels on the front you need a spacer, or you'll run into the spring.
Thanks - who's camber plates did you use?
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      12-24-2010, 11:40 AM   #6
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nice Christmas present.
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      12-24-2010, 11:55 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by inTgr8r View Post
nice Christmas present.
How about a group buy - by 2?
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      12-24-2010, 11:57 AM   #8
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I've got other things on the list before that.
The Koni yellows will do for now.
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      12-24-2010, 12:03 PM   #9
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I need struts and shocks - no options available off the shelf for the H & R's - custom $$$ - so the decision to upgrade is easy!
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      12-24-2010, 12:25 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
I would put my vote towards GC. The only issue is the way the camber plates adjust. It is not a huge deal just takes a tiny bit more effort to dial in camber but if your like me I set it once and have yet to touch it again. The reason I choose GC over TCK was because everybody complains about clunks, bumps, and noises with the TCK. From what I read before buy the GC didn't have these noises. Now that both my brother and I have had these for a year I can confirm that they don't have any clunks or other noises. Infact another member on here contacted me because he was looking to ditch his TCK for a set of GC to get rid of the clunks. He ended up getting the GC and couldn't believe how much quiter they were.
+1 I run GC as well and I could not be happier, I have the Track school kit.
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      12-24-2010, 12:44 PM   #11
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I like my TCK DA coil over suspension (500# front, 600# rear) with TCK camber/castor plates. With rebound and compression set on the soft side the ride is firm but not harsh.
A fellow track rat recently swapped his KW Club Sport suspension for the TCK setup so he could get more choice with his spring selection.
I run a GC suspension on my E30 PRO3 race car with good results.
You can't go wrong with either GC, KW, or TCK; they are all good products that have been track tested.
Enjoy your Christmas present.
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      12-24-2010, 02:24 PM   #12
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FWIW, although the PSS9/10 systems don't seem to be too common, I personally got feedback from a few E46 M3 guys that used them and quite liked them. Good adjustability, nice ride, improved feel and handling. The PSS10s have better external adjustment knobs now too.

Just thought I'd mention it - I was browsing Turner's website and saw that they have a PSS10 kit for Z4M. Up until this point, I had not seen a PSS10 kit available. Maybe worth while to just call them and ask their opinion, they generally have a reputation of giving unbiased opinions based on what your needs are.
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      12-24-2010, 02:30 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caddyshk View Post
Which GC set did you both get? It looks like there are 2 on the GC website. Thoughts on spring rates too.

Thanks
I am not sure the exact kit I have because I basiclly called Jay at GC and had a set-up tailored to my needs. This is what I also recommend you do. Call up Jay, tell him exactly what you want to do with the suspension and the two of you can hash out exactly what set up will best meet your needs. I can though tell you the different parts that my kit consists of. I have the double adjustable front struts, single adjustable rear struts, 525lbs front springs, 650lbs rear springs, and the hybrid camber plates. My brother runs the exact same set up. I am though planning to up the front springs to 600lbs and the rears to 750lbs in the spring. The current set up is actually very comfortable when I turn the dampening to full soft which takes me all of two minutes to do. To complete the set up both my brother and I are also both running the GC roll bars.

I could not be happier with the GC set. Although I have not run any other suspension on the Z4M the in the GC. I did have the PSS9s on my E46 but I found the springs rates to be soft. A great street up though. I can say the performance of the GC over stock was amazing. I matched my previous best time at Cayuga that was set on Toyo R888s r comps, aggressive alignment, and H&R springs with the GC setup and I was running my 19s with Yokohama AD08s street tires. Good enough for a first place finish in the CSCS Time Attack
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      12-24-2010, 03:33 PM   #14
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Thanks - The GC looks like the best value; comes with camber plates and you can choose the spring rates. In addition I like the option to match with GC sway bars. What bars (diameter) did the two of you go with? In addition; Why are you changing the springs?

Thanks!

The PS10 system on Turner looks very good too but would require camber plates pushing the price towards $3K.
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      12-24-2010, 04:21 PM   #15
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I had KW Variant 3 for years and still do on one of my M cars.

My best setup I ever ran was Aragosta (Tuned by Top Secret) over the years on my NSX and S2000. Nothing beats those to this day. Maybe a good Moton setup.

For the Z4M I would go KW 3's.

Those will be under $3000. Aragosta will be over $3000.
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      12-24-2010, 08:10 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caddyshk View Post
Thanks - The GC looks like the best value; comes with camber plates and you can choose the spring rates. In addition I like the option to match with GC sway bars. What bars (diameter) did the two of you go with? In addition; Why are you changing the springs?

Thanks!

The PS10 system on Turner looks very good too but would require camber plates pushing the price towards $3K.
I have the gold front bar which is the large and the white rear bar which is the small. My brother has the Gold front bar and the red rear which I believe is the medium? I am changing the spring to get more performance out of the car. The car is great with the 525/650 but the ride is so good that I think I could get away with the 600/750 set up. Most of the time thought I will run the 600/650 set up on the street because the rear spring is stupid easy to change. When I have the wheel off to either change my brake pads or my track wheels it would take me less then 10sec to pull out the 750 rear spring and set the 650 in its place.
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      12-24-2010, 08:12 PM   #17
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Hello again... The camber plates are simpson motorsports. I bought the KW V3's on this forum use from a guy in the UK and they came with them. you can find them here:
http://www.simpsonmotorsport.co.uk/b...12&product=155
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      12-24-2010, 08:30 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
everybody complains about clunks, bumps, and noises with the TCK.
The clunks, bumps, and noises were from older TCK production models. The set of D/A's I have is all updated and has no issues whatsoever, so I like them quite a lot

I have them and TCK camber/caster plates corner-balanced and set to...
Fronts:
-3 degrees camber
0 toe
full positive caster

Rears:
-2.2 degrees camber
3/16" toe-in

The only downside is that I'm currently running 500# springs front and rear. The previous owner provided me an option of 450# or 500# fronts, and since he claimed that the 450# fronts felt soft, I put the 500# in to start with when I did the suspension overhaul. Even though it's better to have front to rear bias, the 500# F/R felt good on track, so I never changed it out

Last edited by mfanatic325; 12-28-2010 at 08:48 PM..
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      12-27-2010, 09:00 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
The clunks, bumps, and noises were from older TCK production models. The set of D/A's I have is all updated and has no issues whatsoever, so I like them quite a lot

I have them and TCK camber/caster plates corner-balanced and set to...
Fronts:
-3 degrees camber
0 toe
full positive caster

Rears:
-2.2 degrees camber
3/16" toe-in

The only downside is that I'm currently running 500# springs front and rear. The previous owner provided me an option of 450# or 500# fronts, and since the 450# fronts felt soft, I put the 500# in to start with. Even though it's better to have front to rear bias, the 500# F/R felt good on track, so I never changed it out
Glad to hear they were able to fix the issues with this kit! I wonder if they will replace shocks in the earlier kits that have the issues?
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      12-28-2010, 04:54 PM   #20
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In order:

tckline
kw
everything else
ground control.
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      12-28-2010, 05:19 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
In order:

tckline
kw
everything else
ground control.
Wow that was one of the most uninformed statements I have heard come out of your mouth. Maybe instead of just shooting bull out like that you should back your statements up with some reasons why? There are plenty of instructor/advanced level drivers out there that use this kit on their Z4M to great effect. Besides the camber plate adjstment process this kit is every bit as good as the TCK. Based on the driving videos I have seen you post you have a long way to go. TCK had their fair share of problems with their kit that are well documented.
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      12-28-2010, 05:55 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
Wow that was one of the most uninformed statements I have heard come out of your mouth. Maybe instead of just shooting bull out like that you should back your statements up with some reasons why? There are plenty of instructor/advanced level drivers out there that use this kit on their Z4M to great effect. Besides the camber plate adjstment process this kit is every bit as good as the TCK.
The only problems with the TCK kit are that the koni shocks are a little noisy (and they don't let you "slam" your car ). Don't get all hurt because you own a kit from a manufacturer I consider to put out poor products, you yourself own one of the examples of how they can cut corners, so don;t try to argue otherwise. A company that KNOWINGLY puts out poor products belongs at the bottom of any list. If they purposefully put that little care into any product that IMO all their products are compromised.

Quote:
Originally Posted by F360C View Post
Based on the driving videos I have seen you post you have a long way to go.
Haha, you are pretty clueless. You have literally seen a selection of videos from weeks of seat time purposefully selected as the worst moments on track I've had and if you had a clue you would realize that a lot of them demonstrate very good car control.

Please tell me about how you never have any hairy moments on track now so I can entertain you.

By the way, I run very low 2:30s (1s 2s 3s) around sebring, why don't you look up "how far I have to go" from that bit of info. I'll give you a hint, it's pretty damn quick. So while everyone has room for improvement, your asinine comment further cements you in my mind as well...


Edit: sorry for rant, ignorant people who think they can judge a driver without having ever been in the car with them or even at the same track are a pet peeve of mine.
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