Dr T Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 I had a set of HSD coilovers fitted at the end of January this year and thought i'd share the experience should anyone else be thinking about getting a set. Firstly a bit of background: My original suspension was standard SE spec and pretty tired. I'd been wanting to get a good kit on the car for a while but was concerned about making the ride crashy. My only reference point was my brothers Vectra Sri which he lowered 30mm all round with an eibach springs with standard dampers. The shocks were fine with the old springs and the car was pretty taught as standard. The ride with the eibach springs was bit crashy, especially under compression (i.e. coming off a speed bump). It really felt underdamped and over sprung. Why the HSD kit: The HSD kit looked like exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a complete kit that someone would standby and say 'we've checked this works for you car'. I also wanted a monotube design as my internet research said that this is a better design. Cost was important, I wanted the best I could get with my bracket (less than £600 if possible, my car cost less than four grand and it'll be worthless by the time i'm done with it. Also I wanted to have the kit professionaly fitted not spend all the cash on hardware and not get the most out of it by having to DIY the install. Not having any experience with modifiying I wanted some reassurance from someone that I was getting the right kit. Ben at Driftworks was very helpful, answering al my questions including my biggest concern about spring rates and that the spring rates would be fine despite the kit being designed for the e46 M3 (my biggest concern). My experience of the kit: I have run the kit for a couple of months now and the springs have settled. The improvement over the orginal stuff is so vast it's not worth covering. The ride is harder than my Brothers 330i Sport but not as hard as his old Vectra Sri. There is still a little flex when pushing in roundabouts fast. It maybe that I need to look at arb's or strut braces to address this, I most certainly need some bolstered / bucket seats. The feed back is amazing, I can feel what the corners of the car are doing and no longer feel like i'm going to be tipped out of my seat. Sea sickness is most definitely a thing of the past. Ride height wise, i'm as low as I can go and still get on my own driveway. I'm only on 17's and am very happy with the look. To be honest this was really an exercise in making the car better to drive, you can tell by the number of times I don't wash my car that image comes second to driving. For the first 3 months I ran the softest setting, when I first picked the car up the guy at the garage said it's very stiff but a lot of fun. As always I have got used to the firm ride and fancied stiffening it up a little to improve cornering feel. I have now had the ride height's re-adjusted now the springs have settled and have had the shocks stiffen by 5 out of a maximum of 15 clicks. The front drop links did need to be tightened so I will know to keep an eye on this in the future. Car feels tight as a drum now. Can't really notice any reduction in comfort after stiffening just a bit bumpy at slow speeds. At speed though this is all ironed out and the car just follows the road with out issue. It's so composed that it is actually more comfortable that my wallowy old suspension once you're up and running. There is a bit less body roll in roundabout (there wasn't much on the softest setting tbh) but I think I can feel more what the tyres are doing now, it's certainly easier to get the traction control to cut in on roundabouts. Overall i'm very happy with the result. Job Jobbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchy Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Love mine......Plus fitted Eibach ARB's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Very good review - informative and well judged/compared. Also I wanted to have the kit professionaly fitted not spend all the cash on hardware and not get the most out of it by having to DIY the install. There is no way doing a DIY will mean 'not getting the most from it' though? If you are confident and familar with a cars' suspension system, and have the correct tools and means to DIY, then there is no reason why you cannot fit it yourself. In my case, I feel better doing it myself as I know I have done the job properly. I source correct torque information, and torqued all bolts to the correct settings when I do work on my car. I'm sure there are a number of mechanical competent people on this forum who would agree. The only thing I cannot do is accurately 4WA which I then paid for afterward. Did you say the above in relation to youself, or in general? If it was just in relation to yourself then fair enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr T Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 just in relation to myself. I'm happy to do simple things like brake discs/pads etc but having DIY'd alot on my motorbikes I had more than enough experience of spending precious free time trying to do something only having to take it to a garage when i get stuck onone thing, also it the view of value, for me these days I get such little free time that it's better value to pay someone if I can afford it that spend my time doing it. I love the driving more than the work, plus this is my daily an I can't be without a car mon-fri so getting stuck halfway would have been a real issue. I appreciate that many will be more capable than me though, enjoy doing the DIY and have the time to do it properly. Another important aspect of having a garage do it was that I was keen to have a the car familiar to a local tuning company so that I could feel comfortable taking it back there for everything, they're not the cheapest place but when the forecourt is full of Porsches and M3 I get the impression they know there beans and I've been very impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Job Jobbed ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Fair enough buddy Job Jobbed ?? You not heard that Daz? Job done, jobs a good'n etc. Hits 40 and has lost touch already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted April 30, 2010 Report Share Posted April 30, 2010 Erm no ! Ive heard of "Job Done" obviously ....But not Job Jobbed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
