[Fraggy]

Well, I took the risk and added FSD to my H&R Sport Springs. Trust me, I was and still am a little nervous.

First impression: These shocks have tighted up the car nicely. Anyone who says that ZSP shocks can handle H&Rs are wrong. But now with FSD the car is nice and tight, especially in the rear.

Second Impression: FSD have a nice and firm feel. They are not soft or wimpy at all. You feel it as soon as you sit in the car, it just feels stiffer. But the firmness is really nice, not harsh at all, just strong.

Third Impression: They do not smooth out larger bumps as much as I expected. This could be due to using them with H&R rather than Eibach as its pretty much assumed that H&Rs are stiffer springs. I so far like the feel as they dont feel as muted as others have experienced and still give plenty of feedback from the road. I also dont have the smoothest tires and I have pumped up pretty high at 35 psi.

It could also be that they are not operating perfectly within their "sweet spot" as the H&Rs sit a bit lower.

But in their own weird way, these shocks are smooooooth. Man holes covers are hardly noticed as are many other types of roads such as breaking pavement, and sharp bumps.

Road anomalies where there is significant and sudden elevation change in the road still find their way into the cabin. They are toned down a bit over ZSP, but not a whole lot, but enough to make them seem feel more acceptable.

So far, this only an initial review as I only drove about 50 or so miles relatively conservatively since I am using in a manner not recommended by Koni. But so far I am very pleased. They are much more firm then expected but pleasantly refined as well, and they have tamed the H&Rs that beat up the ZSP shocks. I will keep you all updated as I get more experience with them. But so far, I am very pleased with the results.

[montreal_bimmer]

glad you like them... i installed my koni yellow this week with H&R Race springs... difference of night and day, but im not exactly sure how to stiffen the rears... i followed the same direction as the fronts, so counter-clockwise for stiffer.

but the car handles AMAZING now...

[Fraggy]

Dont the rears have to be removed from the car to be adjusted?

[montreal_bimmer]

yes, i installed them as i got them, and they were soft, so i removed them and adjusted them 2 turns towards stiff.

but the problem is that i used the front adjusting tool as a guideline. i didnt know which way stiff was on the rear struts, so i turned counter clockwise and they feel stiffer.

do you have experience with these??

how do you properly adjust the rears???

[montreal_bimmer]

i just notice that i totally hi-jacked you thread... sorry, disregard my previous 2 posts....

congrats on the FSD's.....

percentage wise, how much better would you say your handeling is now??

[Adham]

nice writeup. glad you like them ... ive never known much about the FSDs.

[ScBlacksunshine]

FSD is da bomb

[Fraggy]

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

yes, i installed them as i got them, and they were soft, so i removed them and adjusted them 2 turns towards stiff.

but the problem is that i used the front adjusting tool as a guideline. i didnt know which way stiff was on the rear struts, so i turned counter clockwise and they feel stiffer.

do you have experience with these??

how do you properly adjust the rears???

I had them once and at the factory setting the rears were way too soft.

[Fraggy]

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

i just notice that i totally hi-jacked you thread... sorry, disregard my previous 2 posts....

No problem man, were all here to exchange ideas. I just wanna get a few more miles on these and be confident to tell folks that they do work with H&R.

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

congrats on the FSD's.....

percentage wise, how much better would you say your handeling is now??

I dont know yet and Ive been driving pretty tame but I can only imagine it will get better than stock.

[obLu]

Let me know if you get any weird pogo'ing of the rear end during hard cornering. I'm not sure if it's my tires (since they squirm a little under load) or if it's the suspension ... or worn bushings for that matter.

But on big freeway ramps, when I'm really hammering the corner under full acceleration, usually top of 2nd gear, I get a weird little up down oscillation. If I forget and leave dsc on, it happens right before it kicks in. And as soon as it does kick in dsc tames it.

[Fraggy]

As I get more comfortable/trusting of the setup I will see if that happens to me too. So far so good though.

[Orb]

The problem you are describing does sound more like a roll problem than a specific dampening setup. If the case this was a dampening setup issue then less compression and more rebound damping would help on the rear or dropping the rear tire pressure 2 PSI. This applies if you mean you are losing grip or stability mid/end of a corner and you have no roll issues.

Unfortunately, when you do a modest lowering the roll center drop more than the center of gravity thus increasing roll couple. The non RFT will only induce more side wall to flex causing tire to roll thus losing grip; although, non RFT are more compliant and have superior grip. The small change in your rear wheel offset also contributes to less effective stiffness in the rear roll bar and slight reduce effective rear spring rate.

Putting stiffer sway bars (front + rear) on will make the biggest difference than all you modification you have done to date and should completely correct the wallowing\unplanted feeling you are getting. If you do consider this then be careful what you chose as only a small change in bar sizes has a huge effect.

Originally Posted by obLu

Let me know if you get any weird pogo'ing of the rear end during hard cornering. I'm not sure if it's my tires (since they squirm a little under load) or if it's the suspension ... or worn bushings for that matter.

But on big freeway ramps, when I'm really hammering the corner under full acceleration, usually top of 2nd gear, I get a weird little up down oscillation. If I forget and leave dsc on, it happens right before it kicks in. And as soon as it does kick in dsc tames it.

[purplewidow]

yeah i was strongly advised by evryone i talked to at my dealer to NOT put springs over the stock shocks as you will wear out the shocks really really fast!!!! just get a true koni setup... i have one on my e34 dinan540i and i love it!!!! it made the car into a true sports sedan! and it made the ride quality awesome since it was only stage 1 everyone i met that did stage 2 all of 3 people took theres back and got stage one within 2 weeks!!! i know my car is 12 years old but damn i am deff gonna put a similar koni setup on my e92 335 within 3-4 months after i get her if i am not gonna grab the m3 right away!!!
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How To Vaporise Weed

[HighlandPete]

I also went ahead and fitted my FSD’s this week. I understand I’m the first to fit FSD’s to an E91 in the UK.

I’ll try to give an unbiased and fair judgement of how the FSD’s feel. I’m driving an E91 330d SE touring on standard (non sport) suspension, running my 17”x8/8.5” wheel set with Goodyear Eagle F1’s.

Fitted the rears first and went for a quick spin, was definitely better controlled, very subtle, but better.

The first brief drive with the fronts fitted, I was getting the right feeling, softer ride over the broken stuff. It is 'definitely' smoother, 'less bobbing' about and corners flatter and more controlled.

Second day travelled my usual patch and had a chance to run at a lower temperature from cold (4-degrees Centigrade).

Certainly the best drive I’ve had in this car. But it doesn’t blow you away, it isn’t radical, in any way, it is all very subtle. The car now runs as I’d have liked it to be from day one. The ridges and bumps are cushioned better and get damped out with the proper ‘single thump’ we expect from a BMW. The ride is firmer and slightly less roll, so it really is a bit of a contradiction on softness, but feels so better planted and doesn’t bob about as on the standard OEM dampers. Obviously corners with a solidity the standard damping lacks.

At the colder temperature the ride was still a bit jittery; this does indicate that the suspension does harden up when cold, as I’ve suspected. The RFT’s are not the only problem when the weather cools down, I do suspect all the softer bushing to cope with the RFT’s becomes a two edged sword. Fine at higher temperatures, but makes a bad problem worse when cold. Once the ambient temperature warms it is fine. The FSD’s seem to better balance out the softness and keep the car more controlled.

Now as to whether the RFT’s will work better on this set up, I’ll find out later in April, when they will be fitted for a couple of weeks including a weekend away with a full car and boot.

My feeling, at present, I’m happy with the result, I’ve got the car I was seeking. But I wouldn’t shout “get some fitted” to others. We need to clearly know what we want from the car. The changes could be totally different with other models, those with sport suspension or M-sport models. And/or different wheel packages.

I’d say Koni’s comments to me, are about right for fitting FSD's (no spring change and on a non sport model). The comfort is slightly better, on the Goodyear’s.

"This Kit will not lower the car, but the ride is more improved in terms of handling and roll. The comfort is about the same as original, but the handling level has considerably been increased. Also the rear was a bit out of balance with the front, which now is corrected with the FSD kit".

The comfort is slightly better, partly possible as I'm on the Goodyear’s. Not the RFT's.

HighlandPete

[Fraggy]

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

percentage wise, how much better would you say your handling is now??

Well, its better no doubt. Feeling a little more confident today, I started having a bit more fun. I went out to one of my favorite groups of on and off ramps and started playing. Handling was excellent as well as was corner entry. Ive noticed the steering being more sensitive, but that might be due to the stiffer shocks and springs coupled with the H&R Rear sway bar.

I was able to up my speeds by about 5 mph but with time I may be able to up it some more. But the beauty is that the car is no longer beating me up. With the RFTs out of the way and these shocks, the car is super smooth and still handles better than ZSP.

I could give this car to my 70 year old mom to drive and she'd be as comfortable as could be. Its not harsh like a sports car, but handles very well.

Im sure other shocks would handle even better, like maybe Yellows or Bilstein. Yet to have a lowered great looking car, that handles better than stock, yet rides way smoother than stock is a perfect compromise for me.

And lastly, and Im sure everyone is gonna say Im crazy, including myself, but I swear the front now rides a bit lower. I know shocks arent supposed to change ride height, but I swear its there, visually. I measured fender height and its the same as when installed, maybe a 16th of an inch lower at best.

[montreal_bimmer]

great review

im really happy with my koni yellow's too....

money well spent by the both of us

[Fraggy]

I wish I could drive your car and compare. I just took a ride to look at some specific issues. One thing I noticed, and Im hoping its just because of the stiffness of the springs is that when going over a bump that the front and rear occilate at different times. Its hard to put into words, like maybe the front and rear and compressing and rebounding so quickly, that where a softer sprung car, the whole car bumps up and down together.

Its like front has already kicked up and is now compressing by the time the rear is being kicked up, and it give a nose dive feeling. Its kinda weird.

Is there is problem or is this kinda normal for low car. I dont remember it from my first E46 that was on H&R and Bilstein, but it might have been there.