Raceland

[Xenocide]

A suspension system is not something that can be bought for $300 with the proper dynamics setup. Damping, rebound ect. These units are pure garbage and are seriously dangerous if pushed on a track. They are not predictable, and the springs are crap.

Suspension, if done wrong is something that can EASILY kill you, it blows my mind that people buy ebay **** and put it on their car. One bad weld on a spindle bracket and your wheel could fall right off at highway speed. It has happened before with these cheap kits and will happen again.

[cooljess76]

I agree with BlueBimma 100%. The man knows his stuff. As you can see in his threads, he's researched and experimented with almost every suspension configuration you can think of. Aside from being a 318ti encyclopediahead, he once did an engine swap in his driveway by lifting the entire car/chassis off of the engine + tranny + suspension and front subframe then placing the new car right back on top of it

[dubshack1]

I like how this simple but really meaningless post I started is going. It builds the argument that me and my felow technicians talk about all the time.I simply took possibly the cheapest BMW I could buy and installed the cheapest set of suspension I could buy. At the time it was just a simple install of a part that was said to be un-installible and see how it works and has managed to send be down a path of certin death. Basicly i either spend a grand on a set of coilovers or die. I will agree that the ride may not be as good as my vw bus but it does ride better than my mini cooper s with full bilstine suspension and springs with bigger swaybars and brembo brakes. Do what you like but im happy with the ride and have money in my pocket.

[THAT318]

i didnt know how long you've had them, and have read mixed reviews on them. figured id put 1 and 1 together.. i guess i bite my tongue now lol

[Xenocide]

No one said spend a grand on coilovers. A set of bilsteins (4-500$) will outperform this raceland set without a doubt. My coilovers cost $2k all said and done, no one asked you to spend that money. For 99.5% of people a traditional McPherson strut setup will work better.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by Xenocide

No one said spend a grand on coilovers. A set of bilsteins (4-500$) will outperform this raceland set without a doubt. My coilovers cost $2k all said and done, no one asked you to spend that money. For 99.5% of people a traditional McPherson strut setup will work better.

^^^+1000,000,000

I don't know where kids got the idea that cheap knock off coilovers are "better" than quality shocks and springs. I've even heard idiots on bf.c refer to coilovers as "the right way to lower your car" As if a Bilstein or Koni/H&R or Eibach setup is somehow inferior to to their Chinese crap. The whole "Stance/Vdub" attitude makes me sick to my stomach. People that actually "drive" their cars care about handling and performance. Slamming your car until the chassis is on the bumpstops and the oil pan is touching the ground is just silly IMO. Then you have the kids who will argue, "well at least with coilovers, I can raise and lower my car when necessary". BS!!! What are you going to do when you need to go up a driveway fast to avoid getting hit by an oncoming car, get out jack your car up and adjust the collars? "No, you learn how to drive a lowered car blah blah blah..." BS!!! You still pull into driveways slow and make everyone wait while you take your sweet ass time. I see kids driving Hondas at stock ride height going over speed bumps at an angle. It's obvious they're just screaming for attention "Hey everyone look at me! My car has rimzzz and tint!" 99.999% of people who have coilovers set them at a certain height and leave them there indefinitely. And even if you did experiment and adjust them frequently, you'd have to get the car realigned each time you make an adjustment. The cool kids usually set them at the lowest possible setting even if it means removing the adjustment collars and spring pads. So the dampening is already maxed out, it's no wonder why they break so often. You might as well just cut your stock springs and drive on blown out shocks. Half of the people don't even know which spring rates to go with, they just buy whatever one of their fanboy friends tell them to or use whatever comes in the kit.

For the record, there's absolutely nothing "wrong" with the traditional McPherson strut/spring setup. Coilovers are overrated by the whole stanceworks/vdub/lowrider trend. Yes I understand that most NOT ALL modern racecars are fitted with coilovers, that doesn't mean coilovers are any better and those cars spend 100% of their life on a racetrack and the suspension is frequently custom tuned to the track conditions. The 318ti is a passenger vehicle, no matter how many auto X's, DDE's or track days it sees. If you drive it on the street, it's a passenger car. Stop watching fast and furious movies. Sorry for the rant, it's a sensitive subject for me

[elmonte318]

Yes the 318i/is, 325i/is rear shocks are longer than the 318ti rear shocks. The compressed length is the same. So if you put i/is rear shocks on a ti, they are within the travel range. Look at the specs on other manufacturers for ti/i/is rear shocks overall length and compressed lengths before you state yes or no. Raceland rear springs are adjustable so they can be adjusted in the proper range to have stock to lowered heights.