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Old 07-23-2005, 11:15 PM   #1
rumatt
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Koni's rock

Autox'd the 330 today for the first time with the DA Koni's. They're great! They handled the r-comps MUCH better than the stock suspension. Last weekend my front suspension was moaning and clunking like crazy with the 710's. With the Koni's it's totally fine.

My car is mostly setup for D-stock:

- Koni DA's
- H&R front bar
- M68's with 245/45-R17 V710's

Observations 1: The car is actually a lot of fun! For a long time I avoided D-stock for the "stupid" SCCA rules: stock sized wheels, front bar only, etc. But my car was farily neutral today, and quite a bit of fun, even with 245 wheels jammed on 7.5" front wheels. The 710's are a blast.

Observation 2: Now that I drive on R-comps I get wicked engine tick. Sounded even worse than Andy's in Toledo. I overfilled about 1/2 quart and it seemed to mostly go away, but it was still there. I had started out full, but not over full.

Observation 3: Having a competitive car is FUN. I attended a somewhat small event in south jersey (75 competitors). I won my class and somehow managed to get second place overall in pax. Were there a lot of national level drivers there? No. Did the car make me a better driver? No. But I'm already doing what I can to become a better driver. It's fun to have some small, fun victories along the way, on my journey to take over the world.

Observation 4: Changing tires absolutely sucks. Between that and the expense of r-comps, I may run street tires at many of the local events from now on. It's not ideal to switch back and forth, but we get a lot of runs at events up here, and I do an event almost every weekend. I can't afford $100/week on tires. Either I do some on street tires, or I do fewer events. Given that I still have a ton of learning to do, doing fewer events seems like a bad idea.
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Old 07-24-2005, 11:17 AM   #2
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt
Autox'd the 330 today for the first time with the DA Koni's. They're great! They handled the r-comps MUCH better than the stock suspension. Last weekend my front suspension was moaning and clunking like crazy with the 710's. With the Koni's it's totally fine.

My car is mostly setup for D-stock:

- Koni DA's
- H&R front bar
- M68's with 245/45-R17 V710's

Observations 1: The car is actually a lot of fun! For a long time I avoided D-stock for the "stupid" SCCA rules: stock sized wheels, front bar only, etc. But my car was farily neutral today, and quite a bit of fun, even with 245 wheels jammed on 7.5" front wheels. The 710's are a blast.

Observation 2: Now that I drive on R-comps I get wicked engine tick. Sounded even worse than Andy's in Toledo. I overfilled about 1/2 quart and it seemed to mostly go away, but it was still there. I had started out full, but not over full.

Observation 3: Having a competitive car is FUN. I attended a somewhat small event in south jersey (75 competitors). I won my class and somehow managed to get second place overall in pax. Were there a lot of national level drivers there? No. Did the car make me a better driver? No. But I'm already doing what I can to become a better driver. It's fun to have some small, fun victories along the way, on my journey to take over the world.

Observation 4: Changing tires absolutely sucks. Between that and the expense of r-comps, I may run street tires at many of the local events from now on. It's not ideal to switch back and forth, but we get a lot of runs at events up here, and I do an event almost every weekend. I can't afford $100/week on tires. Either I do some on street tires, or I do fewer events. Given that I still have a ton of learning to do, doing fewer events seems like a bad idea.
You could get a cheaper, longer lasting set of R comps.
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Old 07-24-2005, 12:13 PM   #3
rumatt
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
You could get a cheaper, longer lasting set of R comps.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I thought about mounting a set of Victoracers on my 17x8 wheels once the Azenis wear out. But if I'm going to have compromized grip, I'm wondering if I might as well just use streets and avoid needing to swap tires. Both seem like reasonable options.

JST, Now that your ZHP is legal in D-stock, we need to get your car setup too.
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Old 07-24-2005, 12:47 PM   #4
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
You could get a cheaper, longer lasting set of R comps.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I thought about mounting a set of Victoracers on my 17x8 wheels once the Azenis wear out. But if I'm going to have compromized grip, I'm wondering if I might as well just use streets and avoid needing to swap tires. Both seem like reasonable options.

JST, Now that your ZHP is legal in D-stock, we need to get your car setup too.
There's a big spectrum between the grip available on street tires like Pilot Sports and even "weak" R compounds. I've been pretty happy with the Dunlops, which offer A LOT more grip than street tires, though not as much as Kumhos or Hoosiers.

I'm not spending any money setting up the ZHP. That car either goes back at the end of the lease or gets turned into a family truckster. Either way, big money on the suspension isn't happening.
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Old 07-24-2005, 01:09 PM   #5
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
You could get a cheaper, longer lasting set of R comps.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I thought about mounting a set of Victoracers on my 17x8 wheels once the Azenis wear out. But if I'm going to have compromized grip, I'm wondering if I might as well just use streets and avoid needing to swap tires. Both seem like reasonable options.

JST, Now that your ZHP is legal in D-stock, we need to get your car setup too.
There's a big spectrum between the grip available on street tires like Pilot Sports and even "weak" R compounds. I've been pretty happy with the Dunlops, which offer A LOT more grip than street tires, though not as much as Kumhos or Hoosiers.

I'm not spending any money setting up the ZHP. That car either goes back at the end of the lease or gets turned into a family truckster. Either way, big money on the suspension isn't happening.
Well, the ZHP isn't legal in DS yet. But I do believe that the proposal will go through.

For the amount that JST autocrosses, a set of 710s should have no problem lasting a full season. For rumatt, a full season might be stretching it...but not by much.

Suspension mods for the ZHP... there's no reason that you couldn't find a used set of Konis and a used front bar that you could resell for close to your purchase price when the next car comes along. In the meantime, you'd have a car that would probably even feel a little more fun to drive on the street than with the OE stuff.
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Old 07-24-2005, 01:09 PM   #6
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
I'm not spending any money setting up the ZHP. That car either goes back at the end of the lease or gets turned into a family truckster. Either way, big money on the suspension isn't happening.
My used Koni's were $700 and they will last for years. That's like 3 months of r-comps budget ( ).

Based on my one data point, I'd say if you're even remotely interested in autox, they're worth it. But given that you have managed to avoid being sucked into the autox-obsession-money-pit and only autox occasionally for fun, keeping your car totally stock is a very reasonable choice.
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Old 07-24-2005, 01:47 PM   #7
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde
Suspension mods for the ZHP... there's no reason that you couldn't find a used set of Konis and a used front bar that you could resell for close to your purchase price when the next car comes along.
I agree... But to be clear, my point wasn't to try to convince people to mod their car when they're not interested. If you're happy stock, definitely stay there.

What am I advocating is the "if you're going to do it, do it right" strategy. I think I'm with Andy on this one. While you definitely don't want modding your car to get in the way of learning, if you're going to mod it, I say do it right and get it out of the way from the beginning. It puts the whole "should I mod the car" issue to rest and you can focus on driving.

Doing one mod at a time over the course of a season is the worst option. You're frustrated the whole time and always focusing on the wrong thing (what does my car need next? Should I do it now or wait longer? etc...)
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Old 07-24-2005, 10:16 PM   #8
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt
Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
You could get a cheaper, longer lasting set of R comps.
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I thought about mounting a set of Victoracers on my 17x8 wheels once the Azenis wear out. But if I'm going to have compromized grip, I'm wondering if I might as well just use streets and avoid needing to swap tires. Both seem like reasonable options.

JST, Now that your ZHP is legal in D-stock, we need to get your car setup too.
There's a big spectrum between the grip available on street tires like Pilot Sports and even "weak" R compounds. I've been pretty happy with the Dunlops, which offer A LOT more grip than street tires, though not as much as Kumhos or Hoosiers.

I'm not spending any money setting up the ZHP. That car either goes back at the end of the lease or gets turned into a family truckster. Either way, big money on the suspension isn't happening.
Well, the ZHP isn't legal in DS yet. But I do believe that the proposal will go through.

For the amount that JST autocrosses, a set of 710s should have no problem lasting a full season. For rumatt, a full season might be stretching it...but not by much.

Suspension mods for the ZHP... there's no reason that you couldn't find a used set of Konis and a used front bar that you could resell for close to your purchase price when the next car comes along. In the meantime, you'd have a car that would probably even feel a little more fun to drive on the street than with the OE stuff.
I haven't been paying attention--do Konis for the E46s come as full struts? You don't have to cut and weld like you do with the E36s, right?

710s might be on the radar next year, depending on what happens, but I'm concerned about cording them. Does my stock camber setup have enough camber to keep them wearing evenly?

Honestly, for street driving the ZHP setup is about as close to perfect as I can ask for. It has nice, solid handling and a firm but very livable ride; it is, IMHO, much better than what you get with an M3. As far as autocrossing goes, the car has a good deal of body roll in transitions, and I'm sure Konis would dial that out. With the same size tires all around, I don't find understeer to be an issue, and the tail has a decent bit of rotation (not RX-8 level, but not bad).

The big problem that I have with autocrossing the ZHP has nothing to do with the suspension or handling. It's the power (or lack thereof). After getting used to the rip the tail sideways power of the M3, the 330 just feels slow.
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Old 07-24-2005, 10:19 PM   #9
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by JST

I haven't been paying attention--do Konis for the E46s come as full struts? You don't have to cut and weld like you do with the E36s, right?
Full strut, just bolt it on and go.
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Old 07-24-2005, 10:25 PM   #10
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Re: Koni's rock

Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde

For the amount that JST autocrosses...
I'd autocross a hell of a lot more if someone other than the BMWCCA and SCCA would put on an event someplace closer than Aberdeen.

We need a lot.
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