8+ Best BMW E30 Coilovers: The Ultimate Guide
Are you looking to buy coilovers for your BMW E30?
The BMW E30 is an incredibly popular car, considered by many to be one of the best cars ever made.
Having a long and successful history in Motorsport which continues to this day, the factory suspension system was designed extremely well and the car handled amazingly, which is one of the things that makes it so popular.
However, almost 40 years have passed since the first E30 models were released, and suspension technology has moved on quite a bit since then.
If you are looking to get the most out of your E30, whether it’s an M3 or a non M model such as a 318i or 325i, coilovers are one of the best upgrades you can do.
In this guide I’m going to give you all the information you need to select the right kit for your E30 as well as give you a list of the best coilover options on the market today.
Top Coilover Picks For the E30
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The Best Coilovers for BMW E30
Here are the best coilovers on the market today for the BMW E30.
BC Racing BR Series
Best For: Street with occasional track use
Lowering: 1-3 inches (Extreme Low goes 2-4 inches)
Price range: $1195
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld-in
One of the most popular coilover kit on the planet, the BC Racing BR Series has everything you need from a coilover kit and more, all for a fantastic price.
What makes this kit so popular is the sheer amount of customizability. BC Racing lets you specify also every aspect of the kit, from the spring rates to the valving and more, to put together the perfect kit no matter what your needs are.
A huge number of people use the BR Series coilovers for everything including daily driving, track use, drifting and maximum low, and they prove themselves times and again to be able to handle anything thrown at them.
Ride height on these is adjusted by the shock body, which ensures you get maximum suspension travel at all ride heights, making for a more comfortable ride and a longer life of the dampers.
Lowering is 1-3 inches lower than factory on the standard kit, and BC does offer an Extreme Low kit which will go 2.5-5 inches lower than factory.
The dampers are monotube with linear valving and give you 30-levels of dampening adjustment (simultaneous compression/rebound) to fine tune the ride to your liking.
BC Racing specifies the spring rates for each car, with matching valving. However, you can specify your own spring rates, and BC will valve the dampers to match. They also offer Swift Springs as an upgrade option if you want the absolute best.
These coilovers are also completely rebuildable and BC Racing will sell you all the parts you need for a rebuild, as well as do there build and revalve them to new specs if you so desire.
Considering the price, the customization options, the support BC provides and the fact that these coilovers continue to prove themselves in both performance and longevity makes these one of the best kits available on the market today.
BR Series features include:
- Ride height adjustment by the shock body. 1-3 inches lower on the standard model, 2.5-5 inches lower on Extreme Low option
- 30-level dampening adjustment
- Monotube dampers
- Aluminium strut mounts with camber adjustment on the fronts
- Custom spring rates available with matching valving
- Swift Spring upgrade available
- Fully rebuildable with parts available from BC Racing
- 1 year warranty
Here is where you can get the best price on the BC Racing BR Series coilovers (select your E30 model 0n the next page):
GET E30 BC RACING BR SERIES FOR THE BEST PRICE
KW V3
Best For: Street and track use
Lowering:
Non M: Front 1.5-3.0 inches, rear 1.2-2.4 inches
M3: Front and rear 1.0-2.2 inches
Price range: From $3714
Weld-in or hub integrated: Hub integrated
The KW V3 is a very popular and highly regarded coilover kit which provides the perfect balance of comfort and handling. These coilovers are made to handle both street and track.
KW have been making suspension since the beginning, having been the first to make a complete suspension kit to get approval from the Technical Control Board in Germany back in 1995.
Ever since, they have been making very high quality suspension kits that provide excellent ride comfort and handling performance for a very wide range of cars. They also have a long and successful history in motorsport, which they are involved in to this day.
Along with the many aftermarket suspension kits they make, KW also make OEM suspensions for several high end car manufacturers.
One of KW’s biggest strong points is their absolutely industry dominating INOX-LINE stainless steel shock bodies, which have been proven to withstand the harshest weather conditions, and has been salt spray tested for 229 hours with no corrosion.
The V3 coilovers provide the perfect blend of performance and comfort, and allow you to independently adjust compression and rebound to set the ride exactly how you like.
KW also offer a lifetime warranty on the V3 kit which shows how much they stand behind their products.
If you are looking for a coilover kit that will give you a great ride, handle performance driving and withstand hard weather, it’s going to be hard to beat the KW V3’s.
The V3 features include:
- Ride height lowering (done by spring perch) from 10-50mm (1/4 to 2 inches)
- 12-level independent low speed compression adjustment
- 16-level independent rebound adjustment
- Stainless steel inox-line which has very high durability against corrosion
- Composite spring perch to further prevent corrosion
- Springs and dampers fine tuned to each specific vehicle
- Divorced rear setup
- Made in Germany by KW
- Limited lifetime warranty for the original purchaser with no mileage restriction
- Rebuildable (but must be sent to KW in Germany)
You can get KW V3 coilovers for your E30 at the best price here (select your E30 model 0n the next page):
GET E30 KW V3 FOR THE BEST PRICE
Fortune Auto 500
Best For: Daily drivers with occasional track use
Lowering: 1 – 3 inches (2.5 – 5 inches on the Super Low option)
Price range: $1799
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld in
The Fortune Auto 500 Series is one seriously impressive coilover kit. Fortune Auto have spent a considerable amount of time and effort to make a high quality kit that ensures you “never have to buy another coilover kit again”.
Their coilovers are very high quality, with every kit being hand assembled at their facility in Virginia, USA, and every single damper tested on a shock dyno and matched to within a 3% tolerance.
But what makes them really special is that they are modular. That means that when you decide you need to step your game up, you can upgrade your 500 series to 510 spec and even 2-way spec with external reservoirs and independently adjustable compression and rebound.
If all that wasn’t enough, they also offer a 5 year warranty which is one of the longest in the industry, proving they really stand behind their product.
They will even custom make a kit for you to your specs, so you can get exactly what you need.
The 500 Series features include:
- Ride height adjustment by the shock body (giving you full suspension travel at all ride heights)
- 24-level rebound dampening adjustment
- Monotube dampers with high pressure nitrogen and high flow digressive valving
- Divorced rear on E30s
- Fully rebuildable
- Super Low Option
- Upgradeable to 510 and 2-way spec with independent dampening adjustment and external reservoirs
- Hand assembled in USA
- Swift Spring upgrade option
- 5 years warranty
- And lots more
You can get the Fortune Auto 500 series for the best price here (select your E30 model):
M3 E30 FORTUNE AUTO 500 SERIES FOR THE BEST PRICE
NON M E30 FORTUNE AUTO 500 FOR THE BEST PRICE
KW V1
Best For: Daily drivers & street use
Lowering:
Non M: Front 1.5-3.0 inches, rear 1.2-2.4 inches
M3: Front and rear 1.0-2.2 inches
Price range: $2614
Weld-in or hub integrated: Hub integrated
If you are looking for a high quality street coilover for your E30, the KW V1 is a great option.
The V1 kit is designed as a height adjustable kit to allow you to set the ride height to your liking and enjoy a comfortable ride.
While these don’t have dampening adjustment, KW has spent a lot of time fine tuning the dampening settings for each specific vehicle in order to give you the best ride comfort and performance possible.
They do feature all the other technology that KW coilovers have including the INOX-LINE stainless steel shock bodies, trapezoid threads, composite spring perch, and so on.
The V1s are definitely a quality coilover kit, and if you are just looking for simple ride height adjustment for your daily driver or street car and don’t need to adjust dampening settings, this kit is for you.
The V1 features include:
- Ride height adjustment by spring perch
- Proven, high quality construction that will last the test of time in all weather conditions
- Springs and dampers fine-tuned for each vehicle
- Made in Germany by KW
- Limited Lifetime Warranty with no mileage limit for the original purchaser
- Fully rebuildable (but must be sent back to KW in Germany)
You can get the KW V1 for the E30 here for the best price (select your E30 model on the next page):
GET E30 KW V1 FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
AST 2000 Series
Best For: Daily drivers & street use
Lowering: 30-65mm (1.1-2.5 inches)
Price range: $1349
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld-in
AST are well known for their extremely high quality track suspension setups. Offering a wide range of coilovers, they make everything from street kits to full race spec setups.
The 2000 series is their street kit designed to give you a comfortable street ride and allows you to adjust your ride height settings. This kit is similar in specs to the KW V1.
Designed to work with the OEM top mounts, this kit is made for the driver who is not planning any track time but wants a quality kit for the road that they can enjoy on spirited drives.
They use a twin-tube damper which is selected for the ride comfort over monotube dampers.
2000 Series features include:
- Ride height adjustment by spring perch
- Twin tube dampers for increased ride comfort
- Use OEM top mounts for increased ride comfort
You can get the AST 2000 for the best price here (select your E30 model on the next page):
GET E30 AST 2000 SERIES FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
D2 Racing RS Series
Best For: Street use with occasional track days
Lowering: Not specified
Price range: From $1020
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld-in
D2 Racing has designed these coilovers as the perfect setup for modified street cars that will see the occasional track day.
The height adjustment is done by the shock body, which gives you full suspension travel and allows you to set the spring-load. The dampers are a monotube design.
The shock bodies are made from 6061 aluminium and are anodized, and the mounts are powder coated to prevent rusting. The springs are made from SAE9254 materials so that they are resistant to sag.
The upper strut mounts are rubber pillow-ball and are camber adjustable on McPherson strut models (including E30s). This is to combine the handling of a pillow-ball top mount with the comfort of rubber mounts, according to D2.
These coilovers are a great buy at just over $1000.
RS Series features include:
- Ride height adjustment by the shock body
- 36-way dampening adjustable monotube shocks
- Camber adjustable rubber pillow-ball strut mounts
- 6061 aluminium anodized shock bodies
- SAE9254 springs
- Divorced and true-rear options available
- Rebuildable
- 1 year warranty
You can get the D2 Racing RS Series for the best price here (select your E30 model on the next page):
GET E30 D2 RACING RS SERIES FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
Megan Racing Euro II
Best For: Street use
Lowering: Not specified
Price range: $874
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld-in
Megan Racing coilovers are an excellent budget option for street cars.
Designed primarily as a street coilover, they are made to allow you to lower your car on a budget and retain a comfortable ride. Despite the low price tag, they have an incredible amount of positive reviews and happy customers. I have even found numerous reports of people using these on the track and for autocross events with good success.
Having proven themselves on both street and track, these coilovers are a fantastic budget build option which have a wide range of features including ride height adjustment by the shock body, dampening adjustment, aluminium strut mounts and more.
They also come with a 1 year warranty so you can be sure you won’t have any issues any time soon.
If you are on a tight budget the Megan Racing Euro II kit is a good option.
Features include:
- Ride height adjustment by the shock body
- 15-level dampening adjustment
- Aluminium camber adjustable strut mounts
- Monotube dampers
- 1 year warranty
- 45mm and 51mm versions available for E30
You can get the Megan Racing Euro II for the best price here (select your E30 model on the next page):
GET E30 MEGAN RACING EURO II FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
Ground Control
Best For: Street & track
Lowering: Not specified
Price range: From $2144 depending on specs ordered
Weld-in or hub integrated: Weld-in
Ground Control coilovers have been a popular option for E30s for a long time and were one of the first to offer a coilover setup for the E30 Chassis.
Ground control use a combination of Eibach springs with adjustment sleeves, and Koni adjustable shocks to put together setups for E30s.
You can either get the kit from them and install it yourself (which usually involves cutting off the factory spring perches from the front shock bodies and welding on a platform to support the sleeves), or you can send your shock assembly in to them and they will weld on the coilovers and powdercoat them for you.
Ground Control are considered to be one of the highest quality coilover options for the E30, and give you a good range of customizability such as spring rates and camber plates when ordering so that you can get the perfect setup.
Ground Control features include:
- Ride height adjustable by the spring perch
- Eibach springs at your specified spring rates
- Koni adjustable shocks, can be custom valved or 2-way adjustable shocks optional
- Front camber adjustable strut mounts
- Will do the welding service for you, and will powdercoat the whole assembly (need to send your shock assembly in)
- For 51mm struts only
Alternative Option: Coilover Sleeves
If you are really on a budget but want to get adjustable coilovers for your E30, one option you have is to get an adjustable sleeve and spring kit and install that onto your shocks, giving you an adjustable setup.
This will usually require you to cut off the factory spring perch from your front shocks, and then slide the adjustable threaded sleeve onto the shock bodies, which then gives you the ability to set the ride height.
While this can work, be aware that the factory shocks are usually too long which will leave the springs uncaptive, and they will not be valved correctly to handle the higher spring rates, so you will blow your shocks quickly.
You can get high performance dampers to work with the higher spring rates, however this process is neither simple nor cheap to do right (trust me, I went through this on my E28), and in the end you usually end up with a worse end result than if you had just bought a proper set up to begin with. When I did this, there wasn’t anywhere near as many options as there are today.
So, while this is an option, I wouldn’t really recommend it, and would sooner suggest you get one of the kits listed above.
The Top Coilovers For The BMW E30
Here are my top two choices from this list to help you decide which coilovers to get.
Best Value for Money: BC Racing BR Series
My choice for best value for money easily goes to the BC Racing BR Series.
These coilovers give you so much for the relatively small pricetag and are within the budget of most car enthusiasts.
What’s great about these coilovers is that they have proven themselves for so long now that buying them is a safe bet that you are getting a quality product.
There are few kits on the market, especially for E30s that can compete with this value for money.
If your E30 is primarily going to be a street car with the occasional track day, you will struggle to find a better kit for anywhere near this price.
GET THE E30 BC RACING BR SERIES FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
Best Overall: KW V3
The KW V3 is one impressive kit. KW have put an extreme amount of engineering into their suspension to make a very high quality product, and it shows.
What’s also good about these is that the hub is integrated into the shock, so no welding is required. You simply install all the parts and you are good to go.
If money is not an issue for you and you just want the best kit for your E30 that will see both street and track, this is the kit to go for.
GET THE E30 KW V3 FOR THE BEST PRICE HERE
Benefits of Coilovers for the BMW E30
Installing coilovers on your E30 is going to bring out the best in the car both in terms of handling performance as well as looks.
Let’s be honest, E30s sat quite high from the factory, and even if you are not wanting to scrape your frame rails on the ground, you have to admit that a bit of a drop does wonders for the car’s looks.
On top of that, the factory suspension will have long since past its use-by date, as well as any replacement that was installed since.
A set of coilovers is going to refresh your suspension, giving you much more responsive handling, quite possibly even a better ride, and will allow you to fine tune the setup to your liking.
Ride Height Adjustability
One of the biggest reasons people buy coilovers is for the height adjustability. Lowering springs never quite sit right, and don’t allow you to adjust the height at all.
Coilovers, on the other hand, let you set the ride to within the millimetre, so that your car will sit exactly as you want it to.
They also allow you to adjust the ride height fairly quickly, so if you decide to change your wheel sizes, for instance, you don’t need to now buy a whole new suspension setup as well.
Matched Dampers and Springs
A good set of coilovers will have dampers that are matched to the spring rates chosen for the car. This is crucial to both a comfortable ride as well as good handling.
Incorrectly matched shocks and springs cause a range of problems from a bouncy ride to unpredictable handling, which is a common issue when installing lowering springs.
Many of the best coilover brands these days allow you to select custom spring rates and will valve the dampers to match, so that you can get the perfect setup for whatever you plan to use the car for.
Dampening Adjustment
Most coilovers these days offer dampening adjustment as a feature. This allows you to quickly and easily adjust the damper settings to your liking, usually by turning a knob at the top of the shock shaft.
The point of this is to give you the ability to fine tune the ride to your exact liking, and be able to quickly change between harder and softer settings – for example when going to a track day and then driving home.
It’s very rare to find this feature in shock and spring setups, and is another benefit of installing coilovers.
Things to Consider When Choosing Coilovers for Your E30
Due to the E30’s suspension design, selecting coilovers is not quite as easy as most other cars where you just buy a kit and bolt it in.
Front Shocks – Either Weld-In Or Integrated Hubs
On the E30, the biggest obstacle to coilovers comes in the way the front shocks are designed. The hubs are part of the shock body, which means you can’t just unbolt the shock and replace it.
In order to replace the factory shocks, you would normally remove the insert and replace it with a new one.
The problem is that this does not allow you to install the coilover, because the spring perch is welded to the outer shock body that does not come off.
So, you have two options:
- You need to cut the shock body off and weld in the new coilover to the hub
- The new coilover kit needs to come with the hub integrated so you can swap the whole thing in (which requires installing new bearings etc).
In either case, you must be prepared to spend a bit more than you would for other cars, as you will either need to pay someone to weld them on (unless you can do it), or you’ll have to buy a kit with the integrated hub which will cost a bit more.
Shock Diameter 45mm vs 51mm
The E30 came with two different sized from shock bodies. Pre 1987 cars (pre-facelift) came with 45mm shocks, and post 1987 cars (facelift) came with 51mm shocks. All M3s had 51mm shocks.
You need to know which your car has in order to get the right kit. Most coilover brands make kits for the 51mm, so if you have a 45mm setup you may want to look into sourcing and swapping in the 51mm assemblies (this is a good upgrade anyway) and then you’ll have a much wider choice in coilovers.
M3 vs Non M
There are also some significant differences between M3 and all other E30 suspension setups.
While it would be possible to get the M3 gear to work on the non M cars, unless you are prepared to go through that hassle and spend significant money on buying the M3 parts, it is best to just get the coilovers that match your car.
Divorced Vs True Rear
The factory BMW setup on the rear contains a spring that is mounted separate from the shock. This is known as a divorced rear.
Most coilover kits for the E30 are made in this same manner, however some kits do offer a “true-rear” style setup with has the spring around the shock like it does in the front.
However, on the E30, the rear strut towers are not designed to handle the forces of a spring, and need to be strengthened to run a true-rear style coilover.
The benefits of doing this are negligible unless you are racing the car, so if you are getting coilovers for your road car just get a divorced rear and keep life simple.
Conclusion
I hope that this guide has helped you to select the right coilover kit for your E30. If you have any questions or would like to suggest another coilover kit for this list, feel free to post it in the comments below.
If you have another BMW model, be sure to check out our other BMW coilover guides:
Cars owned: Mk2 Golf with 1.8T swap, BMW E28 with M30B35 swap, BMW E36 328I Mtech, BMW 750IL, Nissan 300ZX, Honda Civic EF
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