The Web Page of Kristopher Linquist

Power was out for 20 1/2 hours...Sunday 9:30PM to Monday 5:00PM. It was hot.

Spent the day Saturday cleaning out the garage... then spent the day Sunday installing new shit:

1 - New Koni FSD shocks
2 - Rear shock mount gasket
3 - Turner Motorsport rear shock mount reinforcement plate (for good measure)
4 - New rear shock mount
5 - Upper shock bearing w/ Turner Motorsport anti-crowning reinforcement plate
6 - New bimmerworld control arms
7 - New Powerflex polyeurathane lower control arm bushings

I've only driven about 30 miles on these so far - 1 1/2 commutes (5 mi each way x 3) + my local mountain road testing ground, which is approx 13 miles round trip from my house.

One thing that I believe BMW does better than any other car manufacturer is suspension tuning - pairing the right components with the right valving or spring rate values together to get the best compromise of handling and comfort. I had an E30 325is on which I installed H&R springs and bilstein sport shocks - and I hated them. It handled marginally better while the ride decreased signficantly. I must say I was hesitant to change the shocks for this reason.... but after reading the reviews, I decided to go for it. I love having a comfortable daily driver that I can autocross or do BMWCCA HPDEs with on the weekend, and the FSDs seemed to deliver the best of both worlds.

You should remember that I changed my front control arms & installed powerflex poly bushings at the same time as the shock change. Therefore, I may not easily be able to separate differences that each may have caused.

During the commute yesterday, I must say I was underwhelmed. I expected to feel more of a change than I did. Avalys, in his review, started with a sport package car. I started with a performance package car, which has stiffer springs & shocks as well as different control arms. The FSDs felt a *little* stiffer, maybe 10%. However, it's true that they seemed to soak up the big bumps better than the stock shocks...but once again, not considerably. I didn't go looking for potholes and the roads on which I commute are pretty smooth. Based on these findings, I can tell you that the OEM shocks were still in good shape after 50k miles.

I must say that one negative point is that the front of the car seems to be a *little* less planted over small bumps (such as bott's dots)... steering feels a little loose over them. Once again, this could be due to the shocks or the powerflex bushings, I don't know.

At the end of my commute yesterday, I was still undecided as to whether they were worth it.

Last night I decided to do my test loop. It didn't take more than a few corners to realize that I was going a lot faster than normal. I felt significantly more "preciseness" out of the steering - this is probably mostly a result of the powerflex bushings and the new control arms (which have stiffer ball joints). The car was firm on its feet and with the rear stiffened up a bit, I started really having fun steering with my right foot. Here, it doesn't take much difference in stiffness to make a dramatic increase in speed. Up in the hills, I really like these FSDs a lot. The car just felt more alive than I ever remember it feeling.

In summary, coming from a performance package car... these bushings & FSDs really are the best of both worlds - it's slightly more comfortable on the street and it's definitely more fun in the hills. For a sport pkg car, I think these things would be even a bigger upgrade. I'm not completely blown away or anything, but I'm still very happy with my purchase.

For those that are afraid of polyeurathane bushings, I can tell you that I haven't noticed any excessive noise or vibration from the powerflexes.