Once we raised the car, it looked great and had additional travel and more road clearance to be practical in daily driving.
We were amazed how just lowering the car made it look so much better.
In our street test drive, even though we had set the car to ST’s harder sport driving baseline setting, the ride was pretty decent. We ended up leaving the car as is almost but reduced the rear high-speed compression two clicks to reduce some sharp bump impact harshness. The difference in handling is pretty amazing. The ride comfort isn’t much different than stock even with front springs over twice as stiff. With good damping, the spring rate doesn’t necessarily correlate with ride comfort. Body roll, nose dive, and squat are greatly reduced and the car is more stable in bumpy turns. Next week we will be testing the car on the track to get more feedback but because of the way the car now feels, by our experience, we probably won’t have to touch anything.
Having three-way adjustment is a huge advantage in tuning and setting up your car to different driving conditions and even variables such as different tires and compatibility with other aftermarket suspension parts. Previously 3-way adjustment was out of reach for most enthusiasts but now ST has made it available for a lot more people with the XTA Plus 3! Hats off to ST Suspension.
8 comments
Would you equate this to being a KW v3, but without the proprietary steel, and a limited warranty?
KW’s V3 is only 2-way adjustable, this is something totally different.
You don’t need to spend the money or waste the space mounting the silly EDC boxes. Find someone who is competent coding BMWs and it’s one of the easiest things to code out. It takes me longer to unplug the EDC module than do the actual coding. They can code out TPMS at the same time if you don’t want to have sensors in each wheel.
Otherwise, it’s interesting to see KW have a 3 way coilover kit released by its “lesser” brand.
Good to know. Is it doable with the BMW factory scan tool or do you need to use second-party software?
Not trying to be rude, but I don’t know what “BMW factory scan tool” refers to. I don’t think you’d be able to do it with ISTA which is dealership level diagnostics/programming/coding software. I use NCS-Expert for it, which is BMW factory level coding software for E chassis. You can find the software for free on forums, it’s just a bit of a time commitment to get it up and running and connected to a car.
I imagine you might be able to do it with an Autologic, Autel, or Snap On scan tool. The idea is you unplug the EDC module and remove 223 from the vehicle order which is the EDC option code. You then code the instrument cluster and the center display (if you have one) with the modified vehicle order and the car never knows it had EDC to begin with.
Honestly, find a good independent BMW shop near you that isn’t scared of technology and they should charge you around $50-$70 to code something like that out. That’s what I’d charge.
What would you charge to walk me through setting up a dedicated laptop for my E46 M3? It’s Dinan tuned with a supercharger and I’m interested in digging around the code to see if I can get it to pass DEQ in my state. The O2 sensor won’t ready up (as it was replaced with a wideband sensor) which makes it an automatic fail. I haven’t had much luck finding a guide to hardware and software setup online (for instance, I have a laptop and a k-can cable but I don’t think it’s the right cable as my laptop does not see the ECU when it’s hooked up).
Sorry, seeing this about a month later.
My advice is go to bimmergeeks.net and buy their K+DCAN cable and download the standard tools from their downloads section. Download E46 SP Datens and get those loaded on. There are plenty of guides around, bimmerforums is a good resource. Your first goal is to open INPA and have it show ignition on. That means you’re connected to the car.
But honestly you have a much bigger issue than getting INPA connected to your car. If you need all emissions monitors to pass with wideband front O2 sensors, you need a pretty good BMW tuner. Not something you’re gonna do at home.
I’ve been a big fan of ST for years. On my second set of X street coil overs . First set was passed down to my daughter when she started driving.. bought a new set for my new car in 2015. Currently considering upgrading or replacing the rear shock that recently failed out of warranty.. Unfortunately the 8v Audi chassis doesn’t allow top adjustment with out removing the shock/strut. I felt like they did a good job of matching the shock and spring in the X setup for basic sporty height adjustable street use. Just sent a request for replacement cost of the rear shock.
PS having trouble with the pictures, project Z in the back ground is quite blurry. My first experience with ST was adjustable bars on my slick top same time frame as project Z build. Glad to see I’m not the only one that can’t part with analog cars in the digital age.