E46 Coilover Review

[TomRS]

I have had my E46 coilovers fitted now for about two weeks and have covered around 2000 miles, I just thought I'd do a little review to anyone who actually cares! Haha.

Firstly I'll list down the parts needed and then the modifications done in order to make the kit work correctly with the ZT and finally I'll put a little review – Skip to the bottom if you just want my review

• E46 Coilovers – I chose some half decent ones, Pillow ball top mounts/Camber adjustable/Height Adjustment and separate spring tension.

• E39 Drop links – Any OEM/Aftermarket drop links will work.

• 5mm Spacers – These are needed as the spring arrangement sits close to the tire and I wanted to be safe

• 2x Jubilee clips – The requirement for these will be clearer later on in my explanation

• Lots of Patience – ok not really a requirement but setting them up for the first time takes a while


Installation

I'll give you a brief explanation of the install and the modifications I had to do in order to make these fit (turbo Dave and myself carried out this conversion)

So firstly,
• Remove all orginal suspension, this ones fairly straight forward so long as all the bolts come nice and easy

• To make the front struts fit you will need to re-drill the strut tops with two new holes, one can be re-used but the other two need to be re-drilled, there is a top mount which a member on here found that has adjustable bolt holes so this would void this step if you wished to not re-drill

• The front assembly is fairly straight forward and is a like for like swap for a stock unit, it sits 10mm higher than the stock strut (inside the cup) and with some camber dialled onto the adjustable camber plate we can get the wheels to a perfect oem angle therefore not wearing down the inside edge any more than normal, you'll need to cut your old brackets (the ones that hold your brake lines etc onto the strut and then using the jubilee clip attach them to the new strut, I debated welding these onto the new struts but with them being new I wanted to give them a good test first (warranty would be void if I welded brackets onto them) so this is how its been done for now in case of any warranty work. ( see below pic)

• Put your drop link on and your 5mm spacer, once happy with its height tighten up and refit the wheel.

• The rears are even more straight forward, all you need to do is remove the new top mount and replace with the oem rover mount (E46 one has top bolt holes in a slightly different place, then drill out the main bolt hole to the hub by 2mm… voila they bolt up and fit simples

• The rear springs do fit fine but you have to set the ride height lower than stock in order for the spring to sit correctly under tension due to it being shorter.




Review –

Ok so onto the review, having driven a 190 on stock suspension to one with lowering springs and now finally with coilovers I can give a good opinion on all 3 setups, the stock setup is very good at what it does however in my opinion it's a little too soft and has flaws in the design that warrant snapped springs/failed top mounts and an appetite for drop links, the lowering springs are a reasonable all-rounder I suppose, they lower the car 30mm but put an increased strain on the already old or new dampers, i also found my lowering springs to be horrendously bouncy over rough road and not very stiff.
Onto the fun bit, the coilovers.

My first impressions were good, looking at the car lowered down on all 4s I was very happy! The first drive and subsequent 2000 miles have been a blast, the overall handling is utterly transformed, the pillow ball top mounts add a precise feel to the point of the car, it turns crisp and quickly, there is very little body roll on medium/low speed corners and you can quite happily take motorway slip roads or long sweeping bends at motorway speed without any worry about falling out the window.
Overall ride comfort is completely dependent on your setup, I have my spring tension set a little stiff (its a heavy car) which does turn bigger road dips/bumps into something you can feel, but 80% of the time it drives like its on stock “hard” suspension.
I also wish to point out that all 4 of my oem struts were shot, they had no dampening left in them what so ever and needed replacing, this was my justification for the coilovers, a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing all 4 struts and springs.

So overall im very happy with the look and feel of the car.. I think I will be lowering her some more now that its settled and “bedded” in and I may or may not loosen the spring tension just a tad to make the other 20% of the road less bumpy, but then again If I do that itll soften the overall suspension so Ill probably leave that be.. because im a child and enjoy taking corners at speeds and estate car shouldnt be able to do.

[Neil1]

Good review.

Surely the ZT sits low anyway, mine does and the handling is amazing although a tad hard but I have got used to that now.

[TomRS]

Originally Posted by Neil1

Good review.

Surely the ZT sits low anyway, mine does and the handling is amazing although a tad hard but I have got used to that now.

It does sit a bit lower than a factory 75 yes, i plan to have the front tire in line with the arch.. thats as low as i wish to go.
But that'll be a long job on saturday as it means taking everything back apart again to lower it all.

[Neil1]

Originally Posted by TomRS

It does sit a bit lower than a factory 75 yes, i plan to have the front tire in line with the arch.. thats as low as i wish to go.
But that'll be a long job on saturday as it means taking everything back apart again to lower it all.

I wouldn't want to take mine down any lower due to the huge speed humps I have to negotiate every time I drive out of the culdesac where I live.
Absolute nightmare they are.

[Sheraton]

Good write up/review/explanation be interesting to see how it goes in the long run.

oh aye, we need to see how she sits


Paul.

[TomRS]

Originally Posted by Sheraton

Good write up/review/explanation be interesting to see how it goes in the long run.

oh aye, we need to see how she sits


Paul.

Thanks,

I'll get some daytime pics and some more close ups of the coilovers when i get her on the ramp and lowered this weekend.
On the handling note though, There's a twisty section of road on my way to barrow, its not very long and not often clear of traffic, but today it was perfect... i had a new Golf GTi behind me (we'd been keeping pace for a while) we entered the twisty section and the first corner the golf was right behind me, and it then slowly dropped back and dissappeared until he caught me back up at the roundabout.
We drove all the way into town and he pulled next to me at some lights, he actually put his window down and commented on either my shear bravery or the cornering ability of the Zed... i told him i'd just fitted some coilovers, and he noted that he couldnt keep pace with me.

So that made my day life in these old dogs yet!

[barney bear]

Originally Posted by TomRS

Thanks,

I'll get some daytime pics and some more close ups of the coilovers when i get her on the ramp and lowered this weekend.
On the handling note though, There's a twisty section of road on my way to barrow, its not very long and not often clear of traffic, but today it was perfect... i had a new Golf GTi behind me (we'd been keeping pace for a while) we entered the twisty section and the first corner the golf was right behind me, and it then slowly dropped back and dissappeared until he caught me back up at the roundabout.
We drove all the way into town and he pulled next to me at some lights, he actually put his window down and commented on either my shear bravery or the cornering ability of the Zed... i told him i'd just fitted some coilovers, and he noted that he couldnt keep pace with me.

So that made my day life in these old dogs yet!

So was that the A590 heading up towards Greenod then Tom

[mbonwick]

Lovely bit of road that, going to be chaos in a few weeks when they close the eastbound bit of dual carriageway on the other side of the roundabout to finally sort the rockface out though....

[TomRS]

Yes guys thats the place haha!

It is a lovely strech if you manage to get it clear, had a real blast in the ZT... we need to sort a local meet out.
there's 3 of us... thats enough for a party haha! should be fun!


And really not looking forward to all the planned road works stretching the 590 over the next few weeks

[barney bear]

Originally Posted by TomRS

Yes guys thats the place haha!

It is a lovely strech if you manage to get it clear, had a real blast in the ZT... we need to sort a local meet out.
there's 3 of us... thats enough for a party haha! should be fun!


And really not looking forward to all the planned road works stretching the 590 over the next few weeks

I don't live up there, I just worked in Barrow for 5 years I know that road very well indeed, I also hate that road with a vengeance because of the amount of people up that way who don't realise it's a National speed limit road and insist on doing 30mph all the way along it