I'm goin to spoil myself this xmas and upgrade my 3 year old bc coilovers for some kw v3. Basically my car is slowly becoming a track car. Im at the point now where I'm not so bothered about comfort. The rear is fully stipped its got a half cage, bucket seats, different backbox, 30mm front roll bar, bbk etc so it's quite alot lighter than stock. I'm just after some advice on the best spring rates to go with when I order my v3s?? I know theres better track coilovers out there but for my budget v3s are miles better than the old BCs I have. Can anyone advise please??? Probably going to try and snap up a black Friday sale so would like to know the specs before hand. Cheers guys Rob
I dont know yet, I assumed you must be able to get different springs, I've seen threads where people have changed them to the kw clubsport springs etc. Was going to speak to Martin and see what he says also.
I always thought that they purchased the KW v3s and then an extra set of springs, in which case why not go for the 2 way clubsports as doubt they would end up being much more after springs and camber plates/top mounts are purchased.
Yea that's what I'm realising. Any other suggestions for track coilovers of similar budget?? £1500ish quid. I see BC ER series and consider bcs very good to be fair. Not as quality as kw, but could get different/better track springs with them when buying.
St xta coilovers come with camber plates/top mounts and have linear front springs, they are 'race' style 2.25" or 60mm or whatever i.d. springs so huge range of alternatives available for front at least. Not sure what you would need for the back, I know either Ground Control or TC Kline have either the barrel springs or they also use the regular 'race' springs so they may sell whatever spring cups/height adjusters are needed to hold the spring in place.
Hi Rob, As Ian mentioned you can't custom order springs for KW Variants, or Clubsports for that matter, so you would need to order them separately. Sounds like you have a pretty serious track car with half cage and BBK etc so I would suggest a good quality coilover with camber adjustment to make the most of the other mods. If you add the cost of V3's, linear springs and top mounts together you would be at Clubsport money. I appreciate you might not have the budget for them right now but it would be worth saving for longer and buying the right coilovers for you. The ST XTA do have camber plates and linear front springs but they are only 80Nm which is quite soft for track. The KW Clubsports have 120Nm front springs for comparison. Let me know if we can help with anything else. Cheers, Scott
You may also want to consider whether KW V3 or ST XTA will be able to handle the damping of the spring if you are going for too higher rate. Ps - I have no idea what spring rates they will work with, just a thought.
KW in general (whether Variant or Clubsport) are considered to be on the softer side when it comes to track usage. However, as per Auto Attune you will be better off investing in a set of Clubsports rather than V3s which are essentially a fast road coilover. Nevertheless you may be able to obtain a set of lightly used Intrax or Nitrons for a tad more than your budget which would probably be a better option for a track focused car.
Hi Scott, can you buy stiffer springs for the 2 way club sports? Particularly for the e92? I’ve only done 1 track day on mine but I was expecting more, appreciate set up could be a factor here. Cheers
Thanks for info. Ive been tracking it for the last 1.5 years on bc br coilovers with camber top plates and been pretty happy to be fair, now im at a point where I've slowly upgraded the car over the last 2 years and now I'm at a point where better suspension is next on the list. What do you think to the BC ER series?? they're advertised as track coilovers and I think they have linear springs on the front and can be optioned with different springs also
Yes, we are KW dealers so this is not a problem. When you say expecting more, can you explain? As you mentioned, setup along with other factors play a big part
Then KW V3's are definitely not for you. As R60BBA mentioned, used Nitrons or Intrax would be a great buy but there's always a risk when buying used parts. Don't rule out Clubsports though as there's some very fast guys out there on Clubsports, especially when you upgrade all the bushes. I've not used BC personally so can't offer any help there unfortunately.
I suppose I was hoping for the “night and day” difference most owners experience. In my old m3 I went from standard suspension to eibach springs and millway camber mounts and really noticed the difference. Didn’t get that feeling this time round with the coilovers, also felt a little bit soft. Need to get another day in, in December. Cheers
Agreed on the risk aspect, this can however be mitigated by getting them rebuilt, but then this will increase the cost (at which point you might as well have bought new). If it were me I would save up and buy new (whether Clubsports or Nitron/Intrax depending on my intended use). Another benefit of this is you retain a warranty also.
For that kind of usage I’d be going for Clubsports, not V3s. It is worth however investigating the after sales support, cost for rebuilds etc - e.g. a couple of years ago I had a squeaky rear shock and to rebuild both Clubsports was around £660
Thanks for the info but I really dont want to spend over 2.5 k on suspension just yet. In a year or two I'll upgrade to some dogs nasties nitrons / intrax etc. Just as a midway point, I'd like to upgrade my old basic bc br, hence why I was thinking v3 but I know they are more road based and to soft. I keep going onto to thinking the BC ER may be a better middle ground than v3 for track. They are about £1600, they have linear springs, external canisters and rebound/compression adjustment. I'm thinking they are probably a better "track orientated" coilover than the v3. The only thing that keeps me coming back to wanting KW v3 is that they are almost definitely going to be a better damper. Do you know of any other options available for under 2k?? Theres kw v3, bc er, I've seen yellowspeed do one that they use on their cup cars for about 1700 so must be good but I know yellowspeed arnt the best of brands. Any others??
Have your current BCs worn out in 3 years? If so I wouldn't even reconsider them. Otherwise why not stick with what you have and save for what you really want and not spend £1500+ for a interim setup means affording the KWs/Nitrons quicker. Just my opinion. Have you looked into Gaz Gold coilovers?
Ohlins Road & Track is around the £1,700 mark iirc. They’ll offer more than the V3 but less than the Clubsports from a track perspective. Could be the middle ground you are after...
Honestly you should just put on the final Suspension set you want and not bother with a middle ground. Installation labour and corner weighting + alignment would be around £700 so it’s rather a waste to do it twice
