Please tell me if i have made some decent choices so far.. I had an E46 M3 with every mod you can think of on it and im new to the "MB World" pardon the pun.

Wheels: BBS RS-GT 19x8.5(F) 19x9.5(R) (Custom Fitment)

Tires: S03's (Of Course)

Coil-Overs: H&R's.. Ordering in a week or 2

Brakes: C32 Front Brake Upgrade / Brembo Rear Rotors

Exhaust: Eisenmann Race (Oval Tips - 2x90x70)

Other Goodies: OEM Rear Spoiler, Silvervisions (Soon), Painted Front Reflectors, Valentine1, Ipod (A Must Have)


C230K Sedan: Silver Ext. / Black Int / Manual (Of Course) / NAV / Changer / Leather / Xenons

Questions? Comments?

-Alex

 

You can't go wrong with any of that stuff. Be sure to post some pics after you get your wheels and coilovers.

 

Those are good mods, but I wouldnt put it in the "mod mania" catagory yet. There is still a long road to go. Car mods is really a never ending story. You are just throwing in what an owner with a slightly deep pocket will do to his car.

But looking at this trend, perhaps you will end up be spending as much as getting a C32 (or even more).

Keep up the good work, we'll all be waiting here to see your yet to be finished project!! :v

 

I'll be posting them by the 4th of July, major stuff done.

 

Great list,

You can get Bilstein PSS-9 adjustable for similar price to H&R C/O. I think Harris is one of the few in North America that can provide them.

 

I havent heard of great success w/ Bilsteins and M3's.. infact it seems the people on the BMW boards loathe them.. Any particular reasoning? Harris please chime in.. I am rather ignorant when it comes to differences in brands of C/O's

-Alex

 

Well, the PSS-9 is no ordinary Bilstein. This is the best CO available for our W203/209s. It is a 9-way adjustable suspension system so that you can "tune" your car EXACTLY as you wanted. This is the "ultimate" CO for our cars!! We are suspecting that the PSS-9 is, in fact, the Carlsson RS CO. But we will never know because Carlsson will never tell us. I cant speak for BMW owners because I never own one and I never will, but as far as I know, a lot of Porsche and BMW owners give very high praise to the PSS-9.

Someone is in the process of installing the CO on his C32 as we speak. I am sure he will give us a full review within the next day or two. Stay tuned!!!

 

Hmmm. I would swap out the painted reflectors for Euro impact strips and NOT get the OEM spoiler. Other than that...looks good.

 

i have heard good things about the PSS9 over on the bmw side!

JErry

 

I'm going to have to disagree about adjustable dampening for the street...

1. How many people are really ever going to adjust the dampening? I'd prefer to have one that rides awesome from the factory. Hech, once I have the height where I want it, I don't touch that either.

2. On their softest settings, most adjustable dampening systems are too soft for the springs, and then end up hitting the bump stops, which is not the way you want to drive. This is uncomfortable, not good for handling, and will shorten the life of the strut. Ultimately, this usually leaves the stiffer settings (7, 8, and 9) as optimum for driving, however they are almost always too stiff for a daily driver.

3. If each spring as one optimum setting, and the dampeners have 9, then does the kit come with 9 springs? No. Only 1 setting is actually optimum for the spring, so again, why not have your kit come like that from the factory?

Alex is right. On the M3 board, I have seen several adjsutable dampening customers switch over to a single-valved H&R coilover. But don't take my word for it; come drive Vadim's car!

Thanks,
Ben

 

i agree w/ben! dat is why i choose the H&R coilovers... you won't be changing the setting anyway.

Jerry

 

For me, I'll knew I'd probably never change the height of my suspension anyways, so I opted for the H&R cup kit. Why pay the extra $$ for CO if I'm not even gonna take advantage of height-adjustment feature?

 

hmm i wanna mod car too but dad hates people who mods he goes with all the money they throw in the car why don't they just get a better car instead.

i have money to mod but i dont' know if that will **** dad off lol afterall its not my money..prob have to do it little by little while hes away on business trips eheheh....so he won't notice as much but he ain't stupid eheheh lol

 

You shouldn't worry about dad's opinion *too much. Also, explaining that modding is what you want to do, and it provides a way to improve what you want to improve making the car better for you, as no car comes 100% perfect for everyone as they are designed in a general acceptence model might help.

A friend with adjustables at the last autoX dialed the rebound after each run and between that and adjusting his tire pressures, he went from a 56 - a 52. There are some benefits. Also, as the strut inevitable wears out, you can adjust the settings to maintain the correct ride.

 

And I can give you a list of about 50 that I personalyl know that HATE the PSS9's!

Adjustability is NOT beneficial for the street user for many reasons. Please get some personal experience with these coil-overs before recommending them! We have, and we will NOT sell them, we have had too many come back!

We CAN provide them, we just WILL NOT! I don't like customers who are unahappy with the product they just spent $1000+ on!

FYI, to truly dial in an adjustable suspension it takes:

1. a tuner who knows exactly what settings work based upon HOURS of road/track testing

2. you to spend literally 10's of hours road and track testing.

You should see how long it takes us to dial in a race car with an adjustable suspension!

Also, this really should include spring adjustments.

IMHO, overly adjustable suspensions for the street are "feature" used to sell not a true "benefit" for the end-user.

Surely none of that time gain was becuase he was learing the track???? C'mon, it is not ALL due to adjustable suspsnsion, in fact, I would guess very little was due to the coils and most was his ability to learn the coarse and push harder.

Thanks

Brad

 

Besides the adjustability, coilovers usually are the best-handling suspension upgrade offered by a company. Granted, you are paying a premium for adjustability, but in most cases you also get a better tuned suspension. Don't get me wrong, the H&R cup kit is a great setup for the street, we just prefer something a little tighter

Thanks,
Ben

 

Ben/Brad.. im probably never going to change it once its in.. Should i just go with the Cup Kit and save some money which i am going to make up on installation and alignment Id like a nice 1-1/2 inch in the front and like 1-1/4 in the rear... Does this sound feasible with the H&R cup kit? Plus correct me if im wrong.. With the cup kit i dont have to worry about counter weighting the car because i know the springs are identical in height on each respective pair?

-Alex

 

Alex,

The cup kit is going to lower the car about 2" in the front and 1.5" in the rear. Based on the handling of our C with H&R coilovers, I would recommend the coilovers. Most of our customers use the height adjsutability simply to fine tune the ride-height to be exactly where they want it. From there, you can leave it at your own customized setting.

 

I recommend the H&R coilovers too... I love the ride on mine... almost factory ride but a tad bit stiffer... but all in all its a really smooth ride... and you get added flexibility of adjusting the height to whatever you prefer like Ben said... then after that never had to adjust them again...

 

Ok im sold.. ill be ordering them shortly than

-Alex

 

You wont regret it...

 

Sorry for the ignorance, but let me get this straight. Is it possible to adjust the ride height on the H&R coilovers, but not the stiffness settings? Also I assume the coilover will work on the coupe as well?

 

yea! Of course!

 

Brad: I will have to disagree with your comments. Firstly, let me start by saying I respect you a lot and I respect all the research work that Evosport have made. I might get over excited that I'll have a chance to try out the PSS-9 soon and got carried over. It was never my intention to discourage anyone to buy H&R CO. I am just trying to give my personal point of view in here. According to Bilstein NA, the PSS-9 for W203/209 has never been introduced to North America and it will never be in the foreseeable future. I think your statement of "too many come back" refers to PSS-9 on BMWs and/or other cars, right? But my question is: it seems unfair that you're using a "PSS-9 equipped BMW" as a reference. Perhaps the PSS-9 might not be the optimum solution for Bimmers, but may I ask if you have any personal experiences with PSS-9 on a W203/209? If not, how can you draw to a conclusion that since PSS-9 does not work on a BMW, therefore, it will not work on a MB? I am, in fact, installing the PSS-9 on my C32, and I will, for sure, give my most honest review after I've set everything up. If its not as good as it claims to be, I will definitely say so & tell people not to buy it. I might be your 51st people who hates it in the end.

I know not many people will make the adjustments after installing the CO, but the point is you have the freedom to change the CO to the best possible setting when you NEED to. If you think its too stiff or too soft, you CAN go back & tune it exactly to your liking (it might take many tries or it might take many hours like you said, but at least the feature is there). The set back about the H&R is it is sort of like a "one-size fits all" thing. You may say the H&R is the best CO for a C32 (to your liking), but I might not think so. Its just a personal preference. I think a company like Bilstein must have spent a lot of time on R&D and tried to develop a product with a reason. If its for gimmicks more than practicality, I think if they make it 6 way adjustable, that will already be pretty cool.

I am sure I dont have as much suspension knowledge as you because you race a lot and I dont. And your experience in car tuning have far exceeded a lot of people in here. I have absolutely no doubt about that. I havent made a single comment that H&R COs are no good. I heard about the PSS-9, did a bit of research, I am sold, thats why I am putting it on my car. I guess TIME WILL TELL whether this is an alternative to W203/209. And I am not the only one who is trying this out.

I am only suggesting on behalf of myself. My ultimate goal is trying to improve the handling of my car. I hope you can have a better understanding on my point of view after reading this.

 

Thanks.

Harris, how can you say it is the best CO ever if you have never even tried them????

OK, let me restate this. EVERY car we have ever experienced with the PSS9's has had the same problem. I have dealt with suspension engineers in Germany and our race engineers and we all agree it is endemic to the system, not a chassis. If you run them really stiff, you will be ok though.

How will you know if it is as good as they claim? Have you tried the H&R? Are you a suspension engineer? Have you done testing before to know the difference? Seriously, these are valid questions.

You made a post that said they were the best thing ever, but what was that based on. Apparently it was 100% based on what Bilstein has told you, not on what you have really tried or from any of your own or any qualified experts testimony. Is that fair to say? If so, I feel it is totally inappropriate to mislead board members with the type of post you made. It does not help anyone to hype a product without having any actual experience. That is what vendors and commercials do, not good tuners and shops!

And how in the world will you or anyone else who is not an experienced suspension technician/engineer know what is the best possible setting?

Also, think about this. A spring rate only corresponds with ONE ideal bump/compression setting. How can you change the shock and not the spring and expect the system to be optimal?

Wrong. It is 9-way because it uses the basis shock that they used for the H&R race system for BMW and Porsche back in 1995/1996. They used this shock because they have it, it was there. They did not build it specifically for the PSS9. The valving is of course different as the settings. We have this suspension on one of our BMW race cars. Built to H&R's specs and with the help of about 20 sets of springs we have been able to dial the car in perfectly! Further, H&R is releasing their version on the PSS9, the PCS, and we will not endorse that either. There are bump-stop issues and travel issues with these systems.

Harris, thanks again. I am glad you are trying them. I am glad you have sold some! Many shops sold the BMW ones, and I have a dozen pissed of customers who brought the cars to us afterwards and spent money twice to replace them with H&R. Time will tell. I am sure there will be some who love this kit. Some may not know better. I hope you love it!

Yes, but understand mine. You said it was the greatest thing in the world, and you have never tried it. How do you think that translates to people?

I really just don't want people to spend 5% of their car's value on something based upon a recommendation that is based on manufacturer hype rather then hard facts! Can you understand that?

Harris, I am happy that you are entering this market and I want you to do well. However, trust me when I tell you that real facts and hard proof will give you a lot more credibilty in the long run then hype passed on by your vendor!

PS - The Carlsson RS suspension is NOT the same as the PSS9. Again, the same shock body does not equal the same suspension kit.

Thanks

Brad