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H&R Coil Overs
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Sold: see what replaced it

H_R Rear Spring and Shock According to Roland at H&R the spring rates for the "Street" coil-over setup are 270-375 lbs/in front and 340-400 lbs/in rear.  Of course the fact that the rear springs are mounted inboard of the wheels means that the actual wheel rate at the rear is less than the spring rate.  The front and rear springs are progressive due to the fact that as they compress, some of the coils will touch (bind) and gradually reduce the number of active coils.  Furthermore, as the front suspension compresses the bump stops come into play which raises the rate a bit if you really work the car.

I asked Roland about possible choices for going a bit stiffer.  He said that on the front I could go with E36 M3 springs which can be had in either 315 lbs/in (37% stiffer) or 340 lbs/in (48% stiffer).  For the rear I could move up to  "Group G" Race springs.  These start at 570 lbs/in which is 68% stiffer than the baseline setup.  Roland felt that the baseline damper valving would still be appropriate for these higher spring rates.  I would have to try that for myself I suppose, but Roland knows more about dampers than I ever will.

Comparison of Spring Rates


Spring Type
Front Rate (lbs/in)
Rear Rate (lbs/in)
E30 M3 Stock
?
?
H&R Sport
185
380
H&R Coil Over
270-375
340-400
H&R Race
315
570-680
Eibach Race
160
455

Roland offered that the H&R Sport Coil Over baseline spring rates are not particularly stiff.  But he claims that most people like the setup this way.  In fact, he said that many people who end up trying stiffer springs eventually return to the baseline springs.  I must admit, the ride is incredibly well controlled considering how comfortable it is.  The package is definitely well engineered.  The car will understeer through slow tight corners, but is beautifully neutral through fast sweepers and will go a little loose under certain conditions (cold tires!).  I run about 3° negative camber all around right now.  The K-Mac (TMS) front camber plates are set full negative up front.  The rear gained some negative camber with the lowering of the H&R kit.  I have some K-Mac rear camber/toe bushings.  Once I install them I hope to reduce the rear camber to about -2.5° which should reduce understeer a bit more as well as improve traction under acceleration.  Even so, tire temperatures are quite even accross the tread both front and back with 225-50-15 Kumho's on 15"x7" OT20 wheels.

In terms of ride height, the rear was lowered about 0.5-0.75 inches.  I did not measure it exactly.  The front is adjustable of course.  I have the perches set about 30% down from the highest point.  This still lowered the front quite a bit.  Probably a little over 1.5".  I think that I will raise the front a bit in the near future as I do not want to overly disturb the front suspension geometry and induce bad camber curves, additional roll couple and possibly additional bump-steer.

All in all I would highly recommend the H&R coil over kit.  It is very well made and performs exceptionally.  Also, the customer service provided by Roland at the U.S. H&R headquarters is second to none.  Now if only the dampers were adjustable 8^)



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