Re: Koni vs Bilstein for street E36

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"Greg Steinke" <GSTEINKE@domain.elided> wrote:
> I have a 1992 BMW 325i into which I have transplanted the
> shocks/springs/antiroll bars from a 95 or 96 M3. (forgot which). After 
> 80k miles or so of use, the shocks are feeling a bit floaty, more 
> floaty than on my wife's new 2002 325iT w/o sport suspension. 

No kidding.
Stock OE E36M3 Boge's are shot by 35-50K miles. You are riding on your 
springs/bump stops.

> So I want to get new shocks/struts. The main choices are Bilstein 
> and Koni. I want to keep the M3 springs and antiroll bars, so this
> dictates use of M3-oriented replacement parts due to the difference
> in the way the anti roll bar mounts. 

Only with the Bilsteins.
Koni's are sold as inserts only, so you get to reuse the OE strut 
cartridge. 

> Bilstein: Sport option is what is available for M3. No comfort or HD. 
> For what it is worth, some of the columnists in Roundel were recently
> singing the praises of Bilstein.

Bilstein really screwed up the E36M3 shock design. 
The strut is too long and you will be riding, or more like pogo stick 
bouncing, on Bilstein bumps stops most of the time. That is unless you 
disassemble the Bilstein cartridge and trim the bumps stops. By which time 
you had voided Bilstein's lifetime warranty.
Don't get me wrong - I had put 120+K miles on Bilstein HDs with my E30 and 
they were as good as new when I sold the car. But Bilstein really missed 
the boat on E36M3 Sport shocks.

> Koni: Koni offers Red (Special) and Yellow (sport) varieties. It looks
> like only the Yellow is available for M3. It comes as an insert, but 
> it does not seem to be too difficult to put into the strut. 

Greg, you are either in Europe or looked really hard to find the Red 
(soft) Konis. 
Most US E36M3 owners ride on Koni Single Adjustable (SA) shocks. Some 
shell the extra bucks for Koni Double Adjustable (DA) shocks. Some pogo on 
Bilstein sports ;-)
The initial shock of having to cut and gut the OE strut cartridge is out 
there, but once you realize that Bilsteins also need to be opened to cut 
the bumps stops the installation complexity between the two is the same.
TC Kline, Dinan and most other tuners sell exclusively Koni's ins their 
E36M3 aftermarket suspension kits.
Koni's are adjustable (single == rebound only) and come with lifetime 
warranty. I recommend them to friends.

> The overall question is, which is better for a street application? And
> everyone's definition of "better" is different. So to be precise, how do
> these compare in stiffness to the stock M3 equipment? For example, the 
> Koni may be stiffer than the Bilstein, which in turn is stiffer than the
> stock. And how much range of adjustment does the Koni have? 

A lot.
But 95% of the 'stiffness' comes from the springs. Adjusting the shocks 
will not change the ride quality much, at least not without rebound 
adjustability (mega $$ Koni DAs).
Generally speaking, the stock POS Boges are the softest.
Koni SAs set to the softest rebound setting are softer than Bilstein 
Sports. 
Koni SAs set to the stiffest rebound setting are stiffer than BS's.

Hope this helps,
alex f

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