Quote:
Originally Posted by Hawkeye59
I have the Dinan sway bars and the coilover kit, and I like them both, though there's no doubt you notice the effect of the sway bars more than the springs. The bars are set to 'minimum', which Dinan calls 'neutral', and according to my SA means the car maintains its stock tendency to modestly understeer at the limit, which is fine with me. I worried that the springs would make the car too bouncy, but so far that hasn't been the case unless the pavement gets very rough, in which case you can feel the added stiffness. I got the coilover kit because I wanted to the overall effect of added spring rate, and more camber from lowering the body. The dealership set the height at Dinan's 'recommended' level which is .75 inches below stock. I'm taking it back in tomorrow because I think the rear is too low and I want them to raise it so that the front and rear wheel wells are closer to even height. (It looks droopy in the back.)
With the springs and sway bars, I am much happier driving the non-CP car. Turn in is crisper and the car is much more stable when you take a hard corner and load up the suspension and tires. It's still a heavy car, and though the weight isn't gone, I notice it less and enjoy throwing the car around more. I went through a series of E90 and E93 M3's before buying the M5 and I missed the 'happy puppy' feeling of my old cars. I feel like it's back now.
It might be coincidence, but the car seems to hook up better when launching (with or without launch control). I went to a dragstrip last night and ran 11.97s at 119.26 mph on a bone stock motor. The car hooked up instantly and the run was great. (I did not use launch control or brake torque the motor. Just rolled into the throttle when the last yellow light flashed.) I'm not enough of a suspension expert to know if the mods really helped or if I just got lucky at launch, because my second pass wasn't as good as the first (more wheel slip and 12.58s).
Summary. I like the total package. More control, more stability, no appreciable impact on ride quality. The downside? It was pricey...
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Great review.
But it's still pretty competitive option (in terms of $$) for KWV3.
With Dinan, you can adjustable coil over (while keeping EDC functions), front/rear sways and negative camber control arms for same money. So it's pretty good option I think.