Greetings all. My '12 R56 was ordered as an S and had many JCW bits added by the dealer prior to delivery. The car has covered 65k miles (end of 2021), and is a blast to drive; however, it can always be better. I upgraded with a Stage 1 tune a couple years back, so although the engine's responsiveness is better than stock, the handling isn't quite as strong as I'd hope at speed on the track, or maneuvering between cones during autocross, even with H&R lowering springs and a Hotchkiss rear sway bar.

Since I use this car as my daily, I need coilovers to soften the driving experience for daily use (more pot holes where I live than craters on the moon), while being able to stiffen things up for the smooth track tarmac.

I'm not a wealthy guy, and would like to keep the initial purchase price of the coilovers under $2k, so although my budget isn't excessively restrictive, it's not open-ended either.

As for use, my track time is essentially 2-3 HPDEs every year, and 3-5 autocrosses. The rest of the time I'm carving local country roads, trying to avoid pot holes and winged/legged members of nature.

Please give me your thoughts. I am new to coilovers and could use advice, not only on brand and model, but also on settings. I understand I'll p0robably need the installing shop to do some camber work.

 

Have you considered just getting a set of Bilstein B8s and keeping the H&R springs?

Failing that, if your budget is ~$2000 and you want a decent daily driver coil over, I might suggest looking at Ohlins….

 

Any particular Ohlins would you recommend?

I'll check out the B8s. My only concern with replacing struts is they're going to either be good for the road, or good for the track, but probably not both.

 

I'm new at this but from your needs posted I'm thinking a fresh JCW set up with maybe some stiffening. X brace, 25mm bar etc. Slot car daily driver.
Simplest is bestest