E36 Coilover Options for Budget Ballin'

[schroedin]

So far no complaints!

[Hinman]

seems like the racelands get a lot of decent reviews over in the vw scene...my friend and me are doing a little E36 project and will probably be picking up a set of the racelands haha

I personally know 2 people (MK3 jetta and MK4 GTI) running them and they haven't had anything bad to say about them.

my friend with a MK4 GTI ordered some and they should be here Thursday, and Saturday morning we are driving about 300 miles or so to a car meet/ BBQ. i am very interested to see how they ride on a trip like that. if they ride good, i will probably pick a set of them up.

[1985zcar]

seems like the racelands get a lot of decent reviews over in the vw scene...my friend and me are doing a little E36 project and will probably be picking up a set of the racelands haha

I personally know 2 people (MK3 jetta and MK4 GTI) running them and they haven't had anything bad to say about them.

[325irollin]

$250 for coilovers. hmmm. I'm sure someone on the bmw forums has some nice used ones for sale

[EThirtySicks]

Racelands scare me a little bit, to be honest. I was thinking about getting em but at this point I think I'm just gonna save for DDM coils and/or keep looking through classifieds to see if I can pick up a used set of GCs or FKs.

[Natedogg]

what are DDM's? can you get these in the UK? i have choice of Hot Tunning (Belgian) @ about £250 sterling or FK at about £800 sterling. No in between.

[Morbid]

I would get racelands over DDM. I've never seen DDM's in person, but I have seen racelands and comparing them to some of the pictures I've seen online, the racelands look better. Only problem with them is you will probably need to go with stiffer springs if you have a very aggressive wheel setup.

They are both probably pretty shitty, but the racelands will cost you only a fraction of the cost. Why pay more if it's not really that much of on upgrade? If you're going to get DDM's, I would spend a little more and get fortune auto's or FK's or if you want to go even higher on the price scale, GC.

I am personally probably going to go with Fortune Auto's. They quoted me $1175 shipped for coils for my M with custom rates and valving.

[slocar]

comming from someone who has owned both sets ,ddm with 500f 600r slammed, and racelands slammed. The ride on the DDMs was way better, the lower you go raceland the bouncier it is, I cared about my e36 a little bit more than the jetta and I planned to stance the e36 so I wanted something a little better. but I do love my racelands.

The higher bounciness the lower you go is gonna be true of any coilover that doesn't have dampening adjustment ... no way around it.

But really it's not that bad. I find that it's only really bouncy at lower speeds when you hit a series of bumps just right (my local Walmart parking lot is the worst I've come across).

[Bimmerteck]

Friends don't let friends buy cheap suspensions. But then again maybe you don"t have any friends to stop you?

Erik

[schroedin]

Good thing I don't have a steep driveway :

[e36rjbmw]

comming from someone who has owned both sets ,ddm with 500f 600r slammed, and racelands slammed. The ride on the DDMs was way better, the lower you go raceland the bouncier it is, I cared about my e36 a little bit more than the jetta and I planned to stance the e36 so I wanted something a little better. but I do love my racelands.

[dinanm3atl]

I made that post before I saw your car. I gotta admit, your stance is locked in. I really didn't think you could have such a flush stance with such ridiculously low rates. Props on that, I was just saying.. I run 700lb in the rear and I still rub occasionally, I coudn't imagine having those rates being that low.

Same.

Backing out of driveway it rubs really really bad.

[Ollie]

how do you figure? i went out on a limb and picked up a set of racelands for my 325 a)because i could care less about tracking the car (i doubt 99% of the ppl on this site do so as well), b) 99% of ppl on the boards talk shit about them yet have never owned a set or have rididn in a car with them and c) because if they suck and end up blowin oh well im out less than half a weeks paycheck :yawn:

ive had em for over 1k+ miles and have yet to have any isseus with them, no weird noises theyre not blown, go low as f**k and do everything i need them to and then some

a buddy of mine has a 98 M3 with DDM coils and i can honestly tell you that i like how my car rides 10x better than his, no bounce and no werid noises comin from the rear like ive heard on DDMs. Although i would love camber adjustment at this point it wasnt worth an extra $500 to me. Im extremely happy with my racelands

I made that post before I saw your car. I gotta admit, your stance is locked in. I really didn't think you could have such a flush stance with such ridiculously low rates. Props on that, I was just saying.. I run 700lb in the rear and I still rub occasionally, I coudn't imagine having those rates being that low.

[schroedin]

Victorryyyyyyy.

[dinanm3atl]

DDMs don't ride to great if you go with their recommended spring rates.


I can't image the rear of the racelands do very well with 300# rear springs... It is not a true coilover and is ~180lb spring once mounted...