I really appreciate your honest review on these Ohlins. Coilovers are definitely on my short list of things that I need to do, and currently I'm leaning toward the Fortune set, so this is a very interesting take. As for the SMG, I have the Frank Smith CSL tune on mine, and I absolutely love it. Rev matching on the down shifts is absolutely spot on!

Love the content mate, especially with the older M stuff, totally need to do a unedited Pov drive to capture the sound of that carbon intake. Appreciate your honesty in your videos its very refreshing

Great honest review mate. Just some food for thought maybe it’s worth raising the fronts back to standard ride hight, 10m might not seem much but i think with the ohlins it allows the damper to work more as it should, from extensive hours of research with the ohlins kit It seem the don’t take to kindly to being dropped even by as much as 10m. Also I know it seems counter intuitive but slack of the dampers a touch, it will allow the tyers contact patch to rebound more controlled and less harsh. Would be interesting a part 2 when you have played with it? 👍

I’ve got the ohlins, had them for 5 years. I fitted them after trying koni yellows and new standard. After getting the ohlins set up at centre gravity. It made a difference and then changing to Michelin from Bridgestone and going back to original 18s even better. It’s so much better than standard, it’s doesn’t pogo and bobble. Body control and damping are suberb. You need adjustable camber arms on the back. I’ve got mine set up midway as the roads are shite and I daily it. On track there’s still a bit of roll but I’ve not upgraded the anti roll bars because it’s used mainly on road. I like you thought of kws with variable reviews and nothing but praise for the ohlins. Yes it’s a lot of money but so is a carbon air box or a big brake kit. I’ve got the common six pot 135 upgrade with Porsche 996 4 pots on the back, csl discs, braided lines. That wasn’t a cheap upgrade but worth it. Putting them all together and it transforms the car for £6k which is a lot more money. Think in need an S85 in it. 💰😳😂

Excellent, looking forward to this!

Glad to see a decent review on the Ohlins R&T. I've got a convertible and initially thought the Ohlins might be overkill and a waste, as in 'unusable performance'. I am so glad in my decision, as they completely transformed the car. I feel the road, have so much confidence in cornering ability and traction, and generally they've put me more in touch with the the M3. In and around London all dampers are on fully soft (20 clicks from fully firm), simply because the roads are shite. Out of town, I set the damping to -12 from 20. I am yet to take it to a track where I'd experiment further. On -12, the rear does tend to skip on crap surfaces. (I'm running PS4S' at 36psi. The wear on them is absolutely even across the width of the tyre). I used original BMW front top mounts and new rogue engineering mounts and RTAB's on the rear, with strut tower reinforcement plates on both. Height wise - the top of the arches are level with the top of the tyre walls f&r which gives the car a beautiful rake. A question I have for others is - did you keep original front sway bar end links or did you upgrade to adjustable ones? Hope this info has been useful ✌🏽

Quality as always 🤙🏽

Great video mate 👌

Great video as always I reckon you probably need adjustable top mounts to dial them in. I'm just waiting to collect mine after a geo set up so will be interesting to see how they fair against the v3s they replaced.

Fantastic review and love your honesty after spending that kind of money, I also think when 100% set up and it settles in when you get to a track this is where the margins would be really noticed between a kit of that quality and say someone lower down the price range, on the road I’m not sure how much anyone would really notice, and with your car already well sorted it’s probably slightly incremental the improvement.

What’s next for the car then? A carbon roof would be cool to get rid of the heavy sunroof + csl theme

I did consider going with Ohlins my self but after having AC Schnitzer suspension on cars in the past I decided to go with Schnitzer RS coilovers which are a bit more expensive than Ohlins and I'm very very happy with them, they strike a great balance between compliance and handling.

It easy to adjust the front dampers. Just turn fully in either directions and u reach them fine without lifting the car.

Been waiting for this almost as long as you waited for the kit ! Admire your honesty about the set up , considering the outlay. It's certainly a kit I personally cannot justify buying , and this video kind of made me feel happy with my standardish set up. The kit itself looked amazing - especially laid out on the carpet lol Car itself is beautiful , sits nice and sounds the business. Front seats look the part too. Another great video mate 👍

In my experience, I think time and adjusting the settings to your preference will make them better.

Nice vid mate. Be good to see if the rear sketchiness goes away after a geo 👍

Nice, I 've been patiently waiting for your opinion on the R&T's. Truly admire your honesty, I mean wow, beautifully made of course(haha only a little envious), I just couldn't justify it and bought new Sachs and Eibachs. But had I gone coilovers, it would always have been Ohlins. Not saying it's truth, but did read on cutters an Ohlins guy took off his stiffer front ARB, and posted that it made the car handle better. That might make sense as the R&D guys in Sweden must've developed them for a 'fairly' standard M3. But hey, I might be totally wrong, and so might the cutters guy. Lovely work James, I'm sure you'll dial it in eventually, and feel the investment was worth it, but presently, respect your honesty

Great, informative content as always, wondering if you’d ever go for a charger, if so would it be on the E46 or E92...

I put BC coilovers on mine from standard suspension and the Improvement was mega..goes without saying that proper adjustable suspension improves handling no end

Hi James, Great video - I’m sure you’ll sort out the Ohlin set up, but think you should have gone for the KWV3’s. They’re so tried and tested by M3Cutters owners. Got them on my E46 CS and think they’re superb for fast road use 👍🏼

Sounds bloody mega!!!!!

Afm in Ipswich can corner weight and have a hunter alignment they do race cars.

I had a similar feeling after getting the R&T kit installed, but it only makes sense once you're pushing on or on a track. If you want to be blown away, fit a solid steering coupler 👍

Such a pretty car. It really highlights how far BMW have fallen with the latest monstrosities they’re churning out. You can never get bored of that induction noise. It’s probably a mission from you, but I can highly recommend Centre Gravity. Very well known in Porsche circles but they do a lot on BMW’s too.

to try and qualify that, I believe what the guy meant, was that in order to enjoy that quality oily plushness of ohlins, (especially on road), he must have felt the softer ARB helped acheive that balance. Again, I might be waay under qualified to interpret that correctly ☺

Looks lovely mate. I guess each to there own. Did the ARB's give a good transformation without the coilovers? Got mine booked in for the Bilstein PSS10's tomorrow and was tempted to get some ARB'S while it's opened up. Plan to track it 2/3 times a year. All the best!

Interesting. I do think psychology plays in a lot on us, I swapped my simple Eibach Pro springs for KWV3 on my Z4M Coupe. If you ask on any forum, you’d hear the difference will be astronomical.. Which made me expect much more than I actually got! Sure, it rides better in soft settings and I can turn them up for trackdays. But really for general driving it is NOT astronomical...

Sad to hear that you arent happy straight away. but i think you would see the benefit of the coilovers on the track (nürburgring). im sure you will notice that that car has a way better connection to the road as with the stock suspension. you would really need to go at unsave speeds on the road to feel the full potential of the suspension. changing to a CUP2 tyre would also make your car drive much sharper and make a huge difference on the performance. they are a bit stiffer on the sidewall which makes you "feel" the suspension even more. im using the KW comp. suspension with 265 CUP2 all arround and on the road the car feels "normal" too, no real WOW moment there but on track it really comes alive ;)

Cute car, I'm thinking of installing these on the mk6 golf tdi, what is the range of ride height adjustability, my guy?

I'm surprised with your thoughts on the Ohlins. I put them on my E46 about a month ago and was blown away by the difference. I also had Eibachs on OG dampers which felt fine. I have polys all around on mine, Millway top mounts & PS4S'. Ive had it corner weighted and a fairly agressive alignment for the road. (2.5 Degrees Camber on the rear and 3 on the front) Not telling you how to suck eggs at all but maybe if you have it corner weighting and have a play with the damping it may improve? As you say though it could just be the case of differing perspectives. Watching this though a carbon airbox is definetly next on my mod list. Sounds awesome. 👍 * Also I have 10 clicks from hard on the front and 12 on the rear.

Bro, wack an Eaton true trac diff centre in and it will improve cornering and acceleration dramatically

So what is the verdict, I have a 135 a BMW 2011 and I’m looking to purchase the road and track suspension kit,, I live in Toronto Canada and the roads are horrible after a long Winters of the roads heaving and creating potholes from the cold weather….Looking for a sporty but yet comfortable suspension, thank you in advance

At what speed would you honestly be able to notice difference with the ohlins?

Proper tires will determine the capability of the suspension.

Imo stiffer arb is not a good solution for uk roads

I have Ohlins.. JUST DIAL THEM BACK !!!! .... they will be much nicer set softer 👍👍👍.

I simply don’t get it - why spend all that money on the best suspension on the market and not get a pro to install and align???