[xingqianli]

Hey guys, I just installed the B16 damptronic to my M240i. I noticed a few things that I do not totally understand. I'd appreciate if you can share any thoughts.

1) I do NOT feel the difference between the comfort mode and sport/sport+ mode. Isn't the sport mode supposed to be much stiffer?

2) The car drives great on the road, but horrible on track. I took it to Laguna today, it's so bouncy at corners with compression, for example T6. The nose of the car bounces a lot after the compression. Is it lack of rebound damping, or is it riding on bump stops (I used the OE bump stops)?

BTW: I lowered the car by one inch both front and rear. When I drove off the car after installation, a chassis malfunction popped out but went away after one minute and the car showed 'all system checks are OK'. The error message never came back.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[spidy512]

heya,

1. From the reviews I read, there is a pretty significant difference from what others have said between the different modes. So that does not sound so great you are not feeling a difference. Did you feel a difference with the stock struts? I certainly can in my car stock.

2. Certainly sounds like under dampened if you are bouncing around that badly. I can't imagine its the bump stops. They don't mention trimming them, but possibly at 1" lower they need to be trimmed accordingly?

After re-reading others reviews yours seems to be the opposite. Others have claimed decreased lap times, much stiffer in sport+, etc. I am confused as you are.

Oddly, there are a few others who have put these on their cars and since they have gone silent. B58_Bomber has not put up a review yet, so I am wondering if there are as great as others have reviewed. Gepeto put up a good review, but he did not comment on the difference between modes. Possibly reach out to him and see if he can help.

Either way, keep us in the loop. Mine are sitting here on the floor waiting to be installed....

I guess possibly check all connections?

Possibly you got a bad set?

josh

PS Are you willing to take pics of your shocks/spring perches so I can gauge where to set mine initially during the install? PM me if you like...

[xingqianli]

Hi Josh, thanks for your reply. Yes I believe I should be at least tell a difference between the two modes, something must be wrong. The difference is quite obvious for the stock shock so my EDC was working. What I do not understand is that I'm able to select driving modes, not locked to comfort like other guys reported if the wires go bad. I just can not feel the difference between modes.

I did go below the recommended ride height and I'm wondering if that contributes to the results. I'm gonna adjust the ride height to near stock and see what happens.

Sure I can share pictures of the perches location once I got this fixed. thanks!

[spidy512]

Ok, cool.

You said you went 1"? Take pics before and after you raise it back up in you can.

And when you say below recommended height, is that below the recommended distance from perch to strut bolt that the directions refer to?

I have a hard time believing the height would mae that much of a difference. I guess I would want to know if the H&R/Dinan lowering springs would caulse the same thing on stock struts?

Thinking deeper. The switch is basically changing something (a valve is my guess, probably reducing flow) to create the stiffer ride characteristics we are looking for. Why would it matter if it was too low? Whatever the shock is doing to create the stiffer ride should not necessarily stop doing its job the lower it goes. Unless whatever it is limiting has been reduced to a point the system cannot make up for the difference (thinking fluid, air) due to a lack of volume. I hope someone smarter than me can chime in on the logic....

I really hope you can figure this out.

josh

PS Thanks for the PM, I will reply here when I get home from work...

[xingqianli]

Originally Posted by spidy512

Ok, cool.

You said you went 1"? Take pics before and after you raise it back up in you can.

And when you say below recommended height, is that below the recommended distance from perch to strut bolt that the directions refer to?

I have a hard time believing the height would mae that much of a difference. I guess I would want to know if the H&R/Dinan lowering springs would caulse the same thing on stock struts?

Thinking deeper. The switch is basically changing something (a valve is my guess, probably reducing flow) to create the stiffer ride characteristics we are looking for. Why would it matter if it was too low? Whatever the shock is doing to create the stiffer ride should not necessarily stop doing its job the lower it goes. Unless whatever it is limiting has been reduced to a point the system cannot make up for the difference (thinking fluid, air) due to a lack of volume. I hope someone smarter than me can chime in on the logic....

I really hope you can figure this out.

josh

PS Thanks for the PM, I will reply here when I get home from work...

You are right josh. It's not the ride height. Since it's the only thing I can adjust to it I gave it a try to raise it up to near stock height. Tested today in Sonoma, still bouncy on any road bumps, not drivable.

The I unplugged one of the wires on the shock. Guess what, I'm locked in comfort mode but no more bouncy ride! Till this time I'm convinced that EDC is having problem with the damping valve control. But which component exactly went wrong I'm still not sure. At least the mechanical damping of the shock is ok.

One thing I noticed after unplugging the wire is that the car doesn't feel that stiff. Not like other people reported that the shock will fall back to the stiffest setting by default.

Now I'm still stuck because I can not turn off dsc on the track, which interfere and cut y power like crazy.

Anyway, ride height ruled out, still need to find the root cause.

[spidy512]

Nice work!

Thanks for the update. Like you said, at least something is working right in the shock. I meant to ask you if you had any issues with the included Bilstein cables that came with the kit. I can only imagine the relief when you had SOME damping after you disconnected.

I am very curious what Bilstein has to say about this. I feel for you as you spent all that time to install them only to find they are not working right. I really hope it is something super simple.

josh

[xingqianli]

Originally Posted by spidy512

Nice work!

Thanks for the update. Like you said, at least something is working right in the shock. I meant to ask you if you had any issues with the included Bilstein cables that came with the kit. I can only imagine the relief when you had SOME damping after you disconnected.

I am very curious what Bilstein has to say about this. I feel for you as you spent all that time to install them only to find they are not working right. I really hope it is something super simple.

josh

Finally got it figured out yesterday at Sonoma. I disconnected the car battery and let it sit for a while. Then I reconnected the battery, started the car and it worked! The comfort/sport mode difference is obviously there and quite sensible.
Who would have thought that is the culprit had Greg not kindly advised me the solution on a Sunday noon. (Greg is the owner of my favorite BMW shop in the Bay Area, their inst @performancedynamicsj ).
Thanks BMW! You really reminded me the era when I just reinstall the whole damn windows system had anything went wrong. Not a smart design though.

Then I drove in the sport mode of the shock for some laps on the track. It's very bumpy. The car almost flied over every bump on the surface. It was yesterday that I realized where every little bump is on the Sonoma race track after driving there for hundreds of laps.

I suppose the shocks are working in the normal condition now. If that's the case, the sport mode has too much compression damping and not enough rebound damping in my opinion. It's definitely not ideal for track use. I'm thinking my next steps. Maybe some EDC coding to change the damping characteristics. Any one had experience with EDC coding?

[spidy512]

Wooohooo!

Stoked to hear you got it working. You must be relieved.

Not sure on the custom coding. Dinan has their shockware software, but I do not think it is customizable. Maybe they may be a recourse though?

How are the GC plates treating you NVH wise? I am still debating these as a few are coming back in stock soon..

josh

[xingqianli]

Originally Posted by spidy512

Wooohooo!

Stoked to hear you got it working. You must be relieved.

Not sure on the custom coding. Dinan has their shockware software, but I do not think it is customizable. Maybe they may be a recourse though?

How are the GC plates treating you NVH wise? I am still debating these as a few are coming back in stock soon..

josh

yes the shocks are at least working now. I sent emails to Bilstein for the bumpy ride, they suggested me sticking to the ride height range in the manual. I'll play with the ride height a little more to be 100% sure I followed the specs.

I did not install camber plates because I installed SPL control arms to gain camber. Also per Bilstein, they suggested using the OE top mounts.

[spidy512]

Keep me in the loop on what Bilstein says.

Glad I got all new OE stuff. I have also decided against any camber plates for now.

If you are willing , pics would be awesome....

cheers!
josh

[spidy512]

morn,

I was re reasing the directions this morning, and it occurred to me that you may be riding on the bumpstops a bit. Hence why Bilstein says to adjust your height.

You probably already thought of that, but I at least wanted to bring it up. I have had a set of Koni shocks blow on and old STi of mine and I was on the bumps for a while until I was able to swap out the suspension. Th bumpy ride you are describing sounds similar to bumpy ride I experienced.

anyway, looking forward to an update.

josh