REVIEW: Street Edge Coilovers E46 M3

Bimmerfest CA - after getting a voucher in one of my raffle tickets to thesuspensionsource.com, I ordered a set of discounted coilovers from a relatively new-to-me, and apparently unseen on E46 M3s, Street Edge, I was told to come up with a review of what I thought.

The purchase was done through Kris Ash from thesuspensionsource.com
Before I go further, I just want to add a disclaimer. They have amazing customer support. Kris worked with me to use my raffle voucher that I won, to get me the best set up at the lowest cost to me. Any emails were very promptly replied and helpful. And best of all, hiccups during install, were solved with a quick phone call on the spot.


Sold as a daily driver improvement to stock, this setup has preset everything (besides adjusting ride height with perches)
Sway bar links are solid, and 'made in germany' parts. I think on the kit itself, the only 'cheap' looking you get is the plain black. Because you don't get the flash of glossy white/silver TCK or bright yellow Konis. But it's suspension, barely seen anyways. Yes, TCK, Koni, Bilstein, blah blah blah will get you intensive adjustment ability, and is great for track w/ daily use. But some people just cant lay over a grand on suspension. Enter Street Edge. At $500 price point, you'ld think you're getting nothing. And while the kit is basic, it is the necessities for your average daily driver. So far, it rides smooth and solid, no body roll (however stay tuned for updates, once springs settle and I venture out to a spirited mountain run or something) My ZCP set up had little over 35k on it, so I'm keeping it as a back up incase I feel like switching back, or simply tossing them on when these die, and I'm waiting for a grand to upgrade again

The Kit: http://thesuspensionsource.mybigcomm...-00-06-m3-e46/

(courtesy of thesuspensionsource.com )

Installation?
Well, I ventured out to do it myself. Tough, nerve-pushing, but doable. Not gonna bore with the whole "how to install" because there's plenty of DIYs out there. But I did get some shots along the way. Enjoy
The hardest part, I would say was my original removal. I guess most people say it's easy, but as with the lightbulb, I found a bunch of ways of how NOT to remove a spring.
Adjusting the rear perches was quite easy, because I just lined them up together, and from there adjusted equally once mounted.
Front? not so nice. beyond having lost my cool while removing the front assembly (PIA) the new apparently went on 'easy' once said and done, but I'll be going to SonicMS for an alignment and adjustment later.

Ride quality? I'll update as I put more miles on them. So far, I've only gone like 50miles in the city. What I can say from first glance (maybe will change as springs are settled, and I get proper ride height or what not) is that they are nice and firm. Compared to the ZCP set up, these seem to damp and bumps, but transfer any discrepancies in the road, to your seat. I'm probably not the go to guy on comparing suspension (as this is the first I'm getting into) but it feels less squishy than ZCP.








http://s1144.photobucket.com/albums/...t=DSC_5392.jpg

I don't see adjustment perches for the rear. How do you adjust?

No offense, but you have an M3 Competition Package and you can't
afford to put decent shocks/springs on?

Originally Posted by Alex323Ci

I don't see adjustment perches for the rear. How do you adjust?

No offense, but you have an M3 Competition Package and you can't
afford to put decent shocks/springs on?

I agree.

perches couldnt be seen from the angle I first posted, my bad.



(off topic from review)
no offense taken. it's a forum - always different opinions. Let's just say I put my money towards the car, and since then life has thrown things my way that i've spent on and atm I dont have a 1500 budget for say KW V2s.
I can dump all money in one sector, or weigh options and get different parts... in that same sense, I have a competition package, but I got a one-off euro-spec csl diffuser.. and a scorza dbl sided cf trunk. so will I take offense to that? it is what it is.
(now back on topic k?)

lol sorry you have to put up with that elitist crap. I appreciate your review (would like to know long term results though), and I totally understand not having a large sum of money to spend on one sector of your vehicle. The attitude on this forum is generally dissappointing because of the stockers who crap on anyone for not using BMW OEM only no matter what the cost. I've been thinking about purchasing an "economy" coil over set up lately, but I had rokkors in mind. Do you think this is worth the extra couple hundreds for the street edge because I'm not sure if the rokker's come with shortened sway bar end links?

^They weren't crapping on it because it's not OEM, they were crapping on it because he has the nicest M3 available in the states and cheaped out on a very important component of the car. I'm with them, I could see putting these on a non-M, but on a ZCP it's almost sacrilegious... at any rate, I hope they work out for you, keep us posted on how they hold up. I had a Vogtland Cup Kit on my last E36 and they turned out to be a great buy, they were about the same price.

^+1. Has nothing to do with OEM this or that or being elitist.

hate the coilovers you chose for this, but damn that is a beautiful car

Nice car man! That thing looks like it just came off the production line! At least you bought some coilovers, it doesn't matter the brand or cost. Good luck!

Do you go to Embry-Riddle?

Originally Posted by InZain08

Nice car man! That thing looks like it just came off the production line! At least you bought some coilovers, it doesn't matter the brand or cost. Good luck!

So because some guys can mold something into a particular shape and call it coilovers, that's all that matters? Wow. Good to know!

Not necessarily, the set of coilovers Charlie bought was specifically designed for his M3. Sure they're not a big name brand but I bet they will perform. He even stated that he has his OEM setup in case he ever felt like going back.

Originally Posted by InZain08

Not necessarily, the set of coilovers Charlie bought was specifically designed for his M3. Sure they're not a big name brand but I bet they will perform. He even stated that he has his OEM setup in case he ever felt like going back.

Every single part for every single vehicle is made specifically for that vehicle. Because you can bolt something on doesn't mean you should.

I can bake a loaf of cornbread and drill holes in it and mount it anywhere on an E46. Does that mean I should?

Now I'm hungry

well if I won a raffle prize at bfest, id give it a try too. Im leaning towards st's, but will still check out your review once you log more miles.

Originally Posted by chucktea

lol sorry you have to put up with that elitist crap. I appreciate your review (would like to know long term results though), and I totally understand not having a large sum of money to spend on one sector of your vehicle. The attitude on this forum is generally dissappointing because of the stockers who crap on anyone for not using BMW OEM only no matter what the cost. I've been thinking about purchasing an "economy" coil over set up lately, but I had rokkors in mind. Do you think this is worth the extra couple hundreds for the street edge because I'm not sure if the rokker's come with shortened sway bar end links?

it's all good man. it's a forum, it is what it is. I don't expect people to agree with the way I do things with my car. Had a crazy flame out on m3f for instance when I posted that I did the ///M stripe on my fender... screw it, I like it, it's my car, I'll keep it. Though I might change it out later for a side skirt stripe.. idk

Originally Posted by EverydayGetaway

^They weren't crapping on it because it's not OEM, they were crapping on it because he has the nicest M3 available in the states and cheaped out on a very important component of the car. I'm with them, I could see putting these on a non-M, but on a ZCP it's almost sacrilegious... at any rate, I hope they work out for you, keep us posted on how they hold up. I had a Vogtland Cup Kit on my last E36 and they turned out to be a great buy, they were about the same price.

I understand that these aren't top name race coils. but I want to try em out - it's not like I'm tossing out my factory-amazing zcp setup. it's still in the garage when I either get bored of these, or need new - it's not gonna just suddenly total the car for putting these on. to each his own.
But yes, I hope they work for me too I mean, for being won at a raffle, you know it's not so bad to try.

Originally Posted by InZain08

Nice car man! That thing looks like it just came off the production line! At least you bought some coilovers, it doesn't matter the brand or cost. Good luck!

Thanks bud, I try and keep 'er clean, but it's always the dust/sand, or careless people. I can only do so much still gotta line up my bumpers better.. kind of off.

Originally Posted by tock172

Do you go to Embry-Riddle?

Yup! I think I recognize that car?

Originally Posted by InZain08

Not necessarily, the set of coilovers Charlie bought was specifically designed for his M3. Sure they're not a big name brand but I bet they will perform. He even stated that he has his OEM setup in case he ever felt like going back.

truth

Originally Posted by MachRc

well if I won a raffle prize at bfest, id give it a try too. Im leaning towards st's, but will still check out your review once you log more miles.

For sure man! I'll do 5k mile updates (too much? haha)

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Every single part for every single vehicle is made specifically for that vehicle. Because you can bolt something on doesn't mean you should.

I can bake a loaf of cornbread and drill holes in it and mount it anywhere on an E46. Does that mean I should?

Now I'm hungry

Lmfao you tell me boss!

you have to put up with that elitist crap.

Some more elitist crap here, but I find it disconcerting that the aftermarket parts industry has basically made it so people think anything that says "coilover" on it is automatically something that will make their car better. I understand the OP still has his stock suspension. But what I don't understand is removing a well designed, high quality suspension setup with tons of great engineering behind it, and replacing it with unknown dampers, secret spring rates, no adjustable dampening, ect.

Coilovers are designed for people that require the extra adjustability of being able to pick spring rates they want, set dampening properly to accompany those spring rates, set ride height at proper ranges to optimize roll center, suspension travel, and rake, balance the weight of the car, then use camber plates in conjunction with stock adjustments to align the car properly in supplement to the suspension setup.

It's nice to experiment. But did you find out what the spring rates are on these and how they compare to stock? Do you know how much travel the dampers have and whether or not your ride heights are going to bottom them out in compression or droop? Did you measure the stock ride heights before removing stock suspension so you could reproduce any right to left bias built in to compensate for driver weight, then calculate compression at your new spring rates with you in the car so sway bar preload isn't an issue? Did you disconnect the sways when setting ride heights so the ride heights could be set without them interfering and you could check for preload at the new heights? Did you measure damper travel to be sure you're not riding on your bump stops? Did you record ride heights so you can check and make sure the adjustment collars aren't slipping and messing up your alignment? What specs did you align the car to? Did you reset the preload on the RTABs and other bushings so there not twisted at the new ride height?

Those are the things you need to take into consideration to properly set up a suspension setup with adjustable ride height. If you ignore that stuff, you're really just playing with the car, downgrading from what BMW put on it, and possibly causing issues as well.

I'm not trying to attack you personally. But I see too many people that are the product of ill-informed information that gets regurgitated over and over again. Pulling well designed suspension off a $50K BMW to throw a $500 spring and damper kit with threaded collars on it? Meh.

You have a great car. An amazing car. In the future, I'd urge you to learn about the engineering before you change it. Learning doesn't cost anything.

Curious about long-term results. Not that I'd ever buy them, I'm stock4lyfe yo, but curious nonetheless. Hope they work out well. If they turn out being crap at least you have your stock suspension and for the time being you're keeping the miles off of it.

Originally Posted by Alex323Ci

I don't see adjustment perches for the rear. How do you adjust?

No offense, but you have an M3 Competition Package and you can't
afford to put decent shocks/springs on?

Ditto, I would rather not do coilovers if they're not gonna be KWs or equivalent. You really don't wanna be messing around with lower end stuff on an M3 especially with suspension. Your car is gorgeous though it looks great