TSW's new coilovers...
 

After a LONG wait, we're finally ready to show some pics of our new coilover offering... The initial sets will be street oriented (yet track friendly), and we'll be developing these into dual and triple adjustable track MONSTERS over the next several months.

Initial spring rates are 285 lb/in front and 228 lb/in rear, linear. Front has a tender spring. Top adjustable, a la Koni style struts. Monotube design, floating piston, nitrogen charged, and killer, KILLER performance at an affordable price. Anyone up for ~$1400 a set? Made in Holland... TUV approved.

These are made by AST Suspension - do a bit of research and you'll find out why we went with AST. Piet Kreeft, the company owner, is a very well reknowned suspenion guru - from Indy and IRL, to F1, motorbikes, and endless touring cars, Piet knows his stuff! We've hooked up with our local pals here to be the exclusive dealer of AST's MINI offerings in the USA.

The first three sets will be installed very shortly for testing...

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3.../coilovers.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...coilovers2.jpg

man, those look sweet! makes me wish i haven't just done the fsd's with your springs, or i'ld be there! keep us informed.

woh woh woh! OK, I'm going to ask the obvious here. You've been stressing ever since releasing the TSW springs, that using the same spring rate front and back is the best way to go. Why the change of heart?

I look forward to the pricing, but the cheapskate deep inside me sez they'll prolly be out of my reach.

nice thick shaft :thumbsup: they look sweet.

Great Success!
 

Looking forward to positive reviews! ;-)

Looking forward to all reviews. As long as they are objective. I am coming up on new shocks, so this just might convince me to spend a little extra. Will these work with IE camber plates? And pardon my ignorance, but what is a tender spring?

also, what is the purpose of the one thin spring?

Looks like that's the "Tender Spring" http://e30m3performance.com/tech_art...ings/index.htm

AST makes nice stuff. We've installed two sets this year for an Englishman -- one Sportline I and one Competition Kit. The Sport Line I seems to ride nicely on the street -- soft and compliant. The Competition Kit has yet to hit the track (and won't this weekend either has the high for Pocono all weekend long will be 35). Enjoy…

What about adjustment. Are they on the top on the rears?

Any idea how the sport line does on the track or was that schedualed for this wintery spring weekend also? Two days ago it was 80, less than 24 hours later there was snow on the ground. :sly:

ahh cool link

On street-oriented coilover suspensions (like our Leda Sport setup and this AST Sportline setup), we do spec different rates front and rear... The 250/200 setup should be very, very supple on the street and yet very, very fun when you dial it up. But, AST's stuff is way, way more than capable of handling track or AX work - even the Sportline. They overbuild the internals... Also, remember, it's all about spring rate and valving... :nod:

While our local partners were visiting the factory in Holland, checking out all the machinery, processes, etc., they saw a Competition kit there for a rebuild that looked like it had been through all hell - it was 5 years old. It had 5 race seasons on it. When they pulled it apart for the rebuild, the internals looked like brand new.

The adjustment on these AST's is on the top - in the rear as well. Since this is a street-oriented suspension, we'll find the ideal setting in the rear that works with various settings in the front (kind of like the Koni Yellows, where the rear works well set right in the middle for street/AX/track and you can dial the front up for track/AX fun).

In the near future, we'll be developing our own DA and triple adjustables off the AST platform. On the DA platform, there's an adjustment on top and bottom - on the triples, there's a remote reservoir with the third adjustment. We'll offer a couple spring rate packages in stock and be able to do custom valving and spring rates upon request. Custom work will include upgraded units, dyno testing to match the valving to spec'd spring rates, etc. - and, we'll be doing ALL of that work in-house. We'll also offer remote adjusters for the rears...

We'll be making our own very, very bulletproof camber plates to pair with these in the very near future (and other coilovers and struts as well). Center section and bearing retainers are already done - working on the top plate now, and will then be checking stack height, etc. Plan on installing a proto set soon and beating the crap out of them for awhile.

This is the start of a truely custom suspension program for our cars - at a decent price.

awesome stuff :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

height adjustability?

Yes .. the bottom threaded portion and the spanner wrench nut shows it would be adjustable

Heh... I think they might have meant the range of adjustment? :)

I'll post more specs and pics tonight.

That works well for me, I know better than to continueally screw with things...i mess them up. :lol:

Is there more travel with these coil overs than stock shocks?

How long on those camber plates?

I still would like to know if these will work with IE camber plates. I would rather not spend more money on something I already have. Modding budget being tight and all.

These look like a great compromise for a daily driver/track car. Similar rates to my KWs V1s (280 F/230 R), but with the nice benefit of dampening adjustability ... COOL!

Will know on 4/15 when we install the 3rd set... He's got IE camber plates already!

The travel should be at least what you have stock, but the bodies appear to be shorter than OEM. I'll take measurements when we pull the first set on Saturday and post again.

Camber plates should be proto'd in about 2-3 weeks - and, we'll test them a good month or so before release. The big difficulty is getting the stack height right for use with different struts... the bearing we'll be using is gorgeous and 2x as beefy as the Aurora's. They've been in use on several STU-prepped BMW's for years now with nary a failure.

So how low can you go? :)

Didn't get to finish the first install on the GP - forgot that we needed those pesky inserts for the aluminum rear control arms. There is a TON of adjustment, though, and the rear bodies are a good 1/2" shorter than the JCW rear shocks. The fronts are quite a bit shorter than OEM, too.

Anyhoo, I'll take measurements on Friday when we finish up the first install.

Sounds good. If we can put the front lip on the ground...you may have a customer :) :thumbsup: