I wanted to do a review of both the install and the set up now that I've had a few days to drive on them and got an alignment. I had 145,000 miles on my oem shocks and have been doing increasingly frequent track days and am getting to a point where I can tell the factory shocks are limiting my development and don't want one to blow out in a corner resulting in stuffing my car. The decision came down to Bilstein HD or these. These won due to the added benefits of adjustments and ride height control. Disclaimer: I'm not including what size ratchets you need or lb/tq for spec because I didn't write it all down and should be obvious for sizing tools and torque specs are out there. Nor is this write up the end all or be all of how to install this system.
Second, while the system is very in-expensive and entry level, there's a reason Bimmerworld sells them and that as of now 3 of the shop employees have them on their cars. It's tremendous value and includes the camber plates and rear shock mounts. I sprung for the rear shock adjustor extension as well.
Here is what you get when UPS drops off the box at your front door.
The front shocks come pre-assembled so you don't have to worry about assembling them, everything you see is straight out of the box. It includes the tools to adjust ride height and 4 allen wrenches to adjust the shocks on top too. The rear shocks are 2 piece as you see the shock body and bottom where it bolts to the spindle screw together as I'll go over in the install. And it includes the sway bar linkage.
Public service announcement on Warranty claims and getting additional parts:
Be prepared to wait a LONG time to get replacement parts. BW only carries full kits so no replacement parts from them so you have to go to ISC-NA directly. Everyone you talk to on the phone is nice but the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. I was promised tracking information on a rear bottom mount (had a shock leak oil, got the replacement shock body, but the locking collar was so soft it had fused the bottom mount on and therefore had to buy one to fix the shock) 3 days in a row on the phone and never got any. Then after being sworn I'll get the part before my track day last Saturday at NCCAR I got it the Monday after.
The office culture of the North America headquarters seems to be "tell the customer whatever they want to hear so they get off the phone and then get around to what you told them weeks later." I'm still very satisfied with the product but the service has been terrible all due to lack of honesty. If you don't have the part and need to get it from the factory, just tell me! Don't lie to me and say you have it then weeks later when I'm inquiring tell me it your inventory turned out wrong. Don't tell me I'll get a tracking number today and not send me follow-up explaining why you couldn't because you don't have the part you told me you'd send!!!!
It's this EXACT reason I tell forum members to buy Non-Asian made coilovers when they can. There's a reason why someone gets so many
Bells & Whistles at a cheaper price point, but it's not a good reason.
Update, front right shock is blown (now 2nd shock to go) and leaking oil all over the wheel well. Probably not getting covered under warranty because it's 4 years old and shocks are only covered under a 2 year time frame. :/
So it turns out ISC had a front shock here stateside and I went ahead and had them ship it to me with new collars (after a lot of difficulty with the rear shock collars being seized up I wasn't going to try to reuse). I'll post some pictures when I get them off my phone to home computer. Really easy process once I separated the bottom mount and the shock body. It got me back to normal just in time for SVT Superfest at VIR which is a great 3 day event, I attend as a Track Club USA member since I'm clearly not in a Mustang. The car handled great, I ran down everything from new 5.0s to 350Rs, C7 Vettes, of course mainly driver difference but none-the-less these shocks really are great value.
I came across a set of Bilstein Sport coilovers that need one rebuilt for the set to work. I asked James Clay, owner of Bimmerworld and friend, if I should transition to those from the ISC N1s and he said absolutely not. I'd probably have a more cushy street ride but they wouldn't perform nearly as well as the ISC on track.
So with that advice I've gone ahead and proactively ordered another front and rear shock to refresh my whole set up. It's only $75 for a replacement shock and $5 for a collar (if needed). Talking with a lot of racers and track enthusiasts, getting as much life out of these shocks over the last 4 years is actually really good. I'd guestimate I've had 50+ track days on these shocks and 4 years of daily driving (48k miles total).
I certainly was frustrated when I found out my shock was leaking oil before an event earlier in the month but I am back in full swing a fan of these.
ISC also let me know they had gone thru an admittedly poor season of customer service and availability of parts in part of 2016 and certainly this has been a different experience than when I got my rear shock replaced.
So I have a set of the Track version in the mail, so I'll see what I get, but I thought I would relay what Bimmerworld just told me about the camber plates. Because of some of the posts above about camber and caster adjustment I asked them if the current model is camber only or camber and caster combo (as the OP has indicated) or what. They said they have seen this vary (kind of scary, not sure how that is possible from a manufacturer's standpoint) and that what ISC considers the correct plates are camber only, but some are machined at an angle which allow caster adjustment as well, which is good. If they are the "correct" plates and have no caster adjustment, and are sold as universal for all E46 models including the M3, they will have the factory amount of caster for an M3, which is more than a non-M has. So in other words, caster improvement for a non-M, and it doesn't reduce the caster on an M3. We'll see what I get with my roll of the dice...
On my set, and I believe all that I've seen, the cast is only adjustable by rotation the plate, but you trade off camber adjustment when you do that.
So you either have 100% camber adjustment, 100% caster adjustment, or 50/50 camber/caster adjustment with the slot 45' between.
So I got the typical camber only "version" of the plates. Based on what Bimmerworld told me about the caster, I didn't care. Except when I took it to the shop to have them installed, the shop tells me the opposite, that it will remove caster from my M3. I just called ISC and Bimmerworld and they both confirmed what the shop told me. FML
So - How important is this? Everyone talks about camber in relation to handling, tire wear, etc., but rarely do I see the merits of caster discussed. I know what it is, and I know typically when getting a performance alignment with plates that are adjustable, the caster is maximized. What happens to the handling if it's actually reduced from factory spec on these cars? Does it place further stress on the strut mount area of the chassis? ISC noted that they've sold a lot of these kits for track focused cars and never heard of a problem. The OP on this thread hasn't mentioned this. Does it matter?
I use my car for auto-x and track days mostly, and occasional back road fun, not a DD.
Usually you want as much positive caster as you can get, as it adds dynamic camber. Dynamic camber gives you more negative camber on your outer wheel (and less on your inner) when you turn the wheel, which is just when you need it most.
The downside is that steering effort is increased. Way too much caster could prevent your wheel from returning to center on its own.
There are also weight jacking and other smaller effects. http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArtic...ur-Caster-King-Pin-Inclination-and-Scrub.aspx
Ok, so update. I adapted the N1 to fit the Turner camber/caster plates I had, got everything installed, and it feels nice and tight. Here's a question though: The rear ride height is about 5/8" higher than I wanted, and I've got the spring seat screwed all the way against the perch. If I understand how this works correctly (and I may not), the spring and its adjustable perch determines the ride height, and the screw adjustment on the shock body determines the droop, so in combination they determine the suspension's effective range. If I'm right that means I can't go any lower, but I have a hard time believing that because I'm really not slamming it. Low yes, but not slammed. Shooting for 13.0" ride height in the back, which is a pretty common number. For a race car like the OP's I would be surprised if he wouldn't be as low as I'm shooting for.
this is ancient old, but curious on all the ISC still performing?
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