cjones

I was in Tucker (suburb of Atlanta) today and saw 3 Black M5s all in a row in traffic today. One looked to have some pretty slick black wheels.

Anyone on here?

I then saw a silver M5 on I85-south. I haven't seen an M5 around town in weeks and then see 4 at lunch today.

Teutonaddict

Yup. We were in the midst of a three-way suspension comparo. JonB from this board, another local CCA'er and I got together at the Old Hickory House for lunch and a car-swapping drive out around Stone Mountain Park.

Jon's got the S3 Dinan suspension, I've got the KW coilovers, and the other driver had a stock suspension and is in the market for an upgrade. We found a good route out by the park for some spirited laps, and did some A-B-A comparisons. Pretty cool!

As an aside, I also got to compare three different aftermarket exhausts. I've got the SuperSprint x-pipe and exhaust, Jon's got the TubiStyle cat-back, and Dave had the Dinan exhaust. Man, do I dig the Dinan exhaust!! Still way pricey, but I like its throaty character.

__________________
BOTH SOLD!!
'00 Carbon Black/Black All-Leather/Sportive
'01 Imola Red/Black 740i Sport
#101421
Kinesis K-58s full polish ~ StopTech 355mm BBK ~ KW var.2 coilovers ~ Dinan 17mm adj. rear swaybar ~ SuperSprint exhaust and X-pipe ~ UUC s/s and Rogue tranny mounts ~ a/d/s/ 2x10” a-series subwoofer ~ MTX Class D monobloc sub amp ~ MBQuart component drivers ~ Hardwired V1 & BCT-12 ~ Schroth Rallye 4 harnessbelts ~ M-Technic brake ducts ~ Angel Eyes
NOW: '05 X5 4.8is Sapphire Black/Black Nappa

Teutonaddict

By the way, my wheels are Kinesis three-piece with painted black centers and polished lips. I bought them from FAST4DR from the board. Jon's got three-piece BBS RX-IIs that he bought off Apples' pre-Nowacked beast.

__________________
BOTH SOLD!!
'00 Carbon Black/Black All-Leather/Sportive
'01 Imola Red/Black 740i Sport
#101421
Kinesis K-58s full polish ~ StopTech 355mm BBK ~ KW var.2 coilovers ~ Dinan 17mm adj. rear swaybar ~ SuperSprint exhaust and X-pipe ~ UUC s/s and Rogue tranny mounts ~ a/d/s/ 2x10” a-series subwoofer ~ MTX Class D monobloc sub amp ~ MBQuart component drivers ~ Hardwired V1 & BCT-12 ~ Schroth Rallye 4 harnessbelts ~ M-Technic brake ducts ~ Angel Eyes
NOW: '05 X5 4.8is Sapphire Black/Black Nappa

cjones

When you guys were at the light at Lavista and Northlake Pkwy I went by on the other side of the road and gave a quick wave.

I've got the Dinan Stage 3 and also the Supersprint exhaust. What do you think of the KW coilovers vs the Dinan S3?

atomic80

teutonaddict: Can you tell us the results of the three way comparo? I'd be curious to hear what all three of you guys thought after comparing the three suspension setup.

__________________
Jason
Lighting Guru & Picture Poster Extraordinare!
'05 Range Rover w/mods
'05 K1200S w/mods
'07 997TT w/mods

EBMCS03

Wow look at all theses M5ers on the board... u run into a M5 yup they are on the board.
Wish that was the case for LA and SD.

__________________
Next: Interlagoes Blue E60 M5

Teutonaddict

I can give you my impressions:

The Stage III Dinan and the KW coilovers were more alike than dissimilar. Both corner significantly sharper than stock, and have a firm, yet compliant ride. Both offer a vast improvement over the stock set-up. Whichever you choose, either is a highly-recommended upgrade!

First, the set-ups:
JonB: Dinan Stage III suspension set at Dinan-recommended specs (outermost holes on anti-roll bar; additional negative camber from stock in front and rear)
Teuton: KW coilovers at Apples' Nowack-recommended height settings; dampers set at about 60% of full firm (1/4 turn past dead center)
Dave: bone stock (suspension, that is--he's got the Dinan CAI and exhaust)

We concluded that the Dinan S3, with its fixed front camber plates, gave slightly sharper turn-in than the KWs (that were aligned using the stock specs of -1.0 degrees camber).

From outside the cars, it appeared the KW Beast cornered flatter than the Dinan Beast. The Dinan Beast, however, seemed to have slightly less bounce after road irregularities than the KW one. Not sure if that's a matter of spring rates or shock firmness, but the Dinan car felt the slightest bit more settled when cornering at higher speeds.

I should note that these tests were not at all scientific; merely repeated laps over the same suburban circuit. Traffic levels varied, so speeds through the same sections were inconsistent. Nonetheless, it was fun to sample three E39 M5s back-to-back!!

Hope you found these few impressions helpful!

__________________
BOTH SOLD!!
'00 Carbon Black/Black All-Leather/Sportive
'01 Imola Red/Black 740i Sport
#101421
Kinesis K-58s full polish ~ StopTech 355mm BBK ~ KW var.2 coilovers ~ Dinan 17mm adj. rear swaybar ~ SuperSprint exhaust and X-pipe ~ UUC s/s and Rogue tranny mounts ~ a/d/s/ 2x10” a-series subwoofer ~ MTX Class D monobloc sub amp ~ MBQuart component drivers ~ Hardwired V1 & BCT-12 ~ Schroth Rallye 4 harnessbelts ~ M-Technic brake ducts ~ Angel Eyes
NOW: '05 X5 4.8is Sapphire Black/Black Nappa

chunpng

Thanks so much for this very informative suspension write-up. Just wondering, is the KW coil-over varient 2?

Reason I asked is that Fred Courtort's car started with Dinan Stage 3 suspension, then switched over to KW varient 2. Daniel, who bought Fred's car, drove both set-ups and felt that the KWs are FAR superior to the Dinan stage 3 set-up.

I drove Tako's M5 (with Dinan Stage 3) and mine (stock) back to back over the same route and felt that the Dinan Stage 3 is much better than my stock. So it's great to have your input also.

CP

__________________
CP
00 Titanium Silver: 6/00-1/05 RIP
95 Black Metallic RUF BTR-2
07 Meteor Grey Cayman

atomic80

Pong,

I do believe that these are the KW2 coilovers, yes. It all started with CM5GO.

Teutonaddict: Thank you for the extremely informative writeup! Nice to know what its like between the two aftermarket setups. You can't go wrong with either one! Most folks will probably pick the KW2's over the S3 for the look that it creates.

__________________
Jason
Lighting Guru & Picture Poster Extraordinare!
'05 Range Rover w/mods
'05 K1200S w/mods
'07 997TT w/mods

Teutonaddict

You're welcome, Pong. I don't know if the other comparo participants have any other observations to offer. Anyone?

Indeed, mine are the Variant 2 KW coilovers from the second round of the KW group buy. As such, they're height AND rebound adjustable.

I didn't feel that one set-up was vastly superior to the other. I bought the KWs for two reasons: overall adjustability and cost savings (about $2300 installed, vs. Dinan's $2800)

I might feel differently about the relative strengths and weaknesses if I had the chance to do back-to-back comparisons on clean track out at Road Atlanta, but for everyday street driving, it was a challenge for me to discern a significant difference between the two aftermarket setups.

As I said before, I think either would make a most welcome upgrade for any Beast owner!

__________________
BOTH SOLD!!
'00 Carbon Black/Black All-Leather/Sportive
'01 Imola Red/Black 740i Sport
#101421
Kinesis K-58s full polish ~ StopTech 355mm BBK ~ KW var.2 coilovers ~ Dinan 17mm adj. rear swaybar ~ SuperSprint exhaust and X-pipe ~ UUC s/s and Rogue tranny mounts ~ a/d/s/ 2x10” a-series subwoofer ~ MTX Class D monobloc sub amp ~ MBQuart component drivers ~ Hardwired V1 & BCT-12 ~ Schroth Rallye 4 harnessbelts ~ M-Technic brake ducts ~ Angel Eyes
NOW: '05 X5 4.8is Sapphire Black/Black Nappa

MariettaM5

Hello

I'm the other Dave with the stock suspension M5. Dave and Jon were kind enought to let me drive their's back-to-back... what a treat. As for evaluations, Dave's comments are going to be more accurate for you than mine since he has so much more track experience than I do. My observations are that both the DINAN and the KW offer much firmer cornering over the stock setup that would be very beneficial on the track. The KW car was lower than the DINAN but that might have been simply due to the adjustments. I got two fingers between the rear tire and body of the DINAN and about one and a half on the KW compared to almost three on my stocker.

The mods I have to date include DINAN CAI, AFM, and FFE. I just installed the UUC Short Shifter which I really like.