Ohlins Road & Track Coilovers

A more than 40 year long tradition of high-end racing commitments and state-of-the-art solutions within advanced suspension technology is now available for street cars all over the world. The focus has been clear from the very beginning - superior road handling without sacrificing comfort in your day-to-day transports. The time of compromises is over. All shocks have suffered through vast corrosion tests according to ISO 9227. The end result is a worldwide 2-year limited warranty on all of our products.

The Ohlins Road & Track suspension gives our customers a true racing experience, with their own cars, without losing comfort when commuting to work. Our unique Dual Flow Valve (DFV) technology allows you to quickly change the stiffness of the shock absorber. When arriving to the racetrack, just turn the golden knob clockwise on the damper to set it in race mode this action changes all four areas in the damper; low and high speed compression and rebound damping.

With Ohlins Road & Track coil overs you will experience a car with blistering response times, improved bump absorption and a massive amount of grip to increase the safety when driving your car on the limit. The car will be easier to balance on the edge of what the tires can handle before losing grip. You will be much quicker on track. The DFV suspension prevents you from losing the racing line when hitting bumps or curbs. The DFV components within react quickly and keeps you in control of the car and in contact with the track. When driving to and from the track, just set the dampers in road mode for a more relaxed and comfortable drive, still with more grip and quicker response time than ever before.

General Features:

• DFV technology (Dual Flow Valve)
• Individual height adjustment
• Rebuildable
• Corrosion salt spray tested (ISO 9227)
• 2 year warranty

Features Front:

• McPherson strut, upside down
• Compression and rebound damping with one adjuster
• Spring preload adjuster
• Separate ride height adjustment
• Approx. 15 - 35 mm lower than standard with recommended setup
• Spring rate 70 N/mm
• Use with original top mounts (Non M3 models will require M3 top mounts)

Features Rear:

• Conventional shock absorber
• Compression and rebound damping with one adjuster
• Spring preload adjuster
• Separate ride height adjustment
• Approx. 5 - 30 mm lower than standard with recommended setup
• Spring rate 110 N/mm
• Use with original top mounts (Non M3 models will require M3 top mounts)

Purchased Parts Package:

• Coil over kit incl. springs and mounting parts
• C-Spanner (for spring preload adjustment)
• Owners manual and mounting instruction
• Sticker set

Documents:

• Owners Manual Ohlins Automotive Road Track (English)
• Mounting Instruction Ohlins Automotive BMS MI30 (English)

Vehicle Fitment:

• BMW 3 Series E46 (requires OEM E46 M3 top mounts for installation, not included)
• BMW M3 E46

What is DFV?

It is Dual Flow Valve technology - and it sets us apart from our competitors

With DFV, the dual flow valve gives the same characteristics on rebound as it does on compression, thanks to the damper fluid having a consistent path of flow in both ­directions. This means that the wheel and tyre can quickly and effectively resume their important position back on the ground, providing grip and traction. The new Ohlins R&T range uses DFV technology on every single fitment, making it the perfect upgrade for the enthusiast that needs comfort and agility in the one unit.

Benefits of DFV

Because DFV opens more quickly and easily on minor road imperfections, ride comfort is surprisingly supple and more akin to an OEM strut than a coilover set-up. Over undulating surfaces, the compliancy of the R&T units allows the car to crest bumps and pot-holes, whilst still keep stable and in control. Traction is always maintained at its optimum level. When comparing suspension, why settle for second best?

How It Works

Figure 1: (Compression flow)

At low shaft speeds, oil flows mostly through the shaft jet bleed (lower dotted arrow). At higher shaft speeds, oil flows mostly through the compression ports in the piston (upper dotted arrow). At very high shaft speeds, or during sudden shaft accelerations, oil can also escape through the compression ports in the DFV, increasing comfort.

Figure 2: (Rebound flow)

At low shaft speeds, oil flows mostly through the shaft jet bleed (lower dotted arrow). At higher shaft speeds, oil flows mostly through the rebound ports in the piston (upper dotted arrow). At very high shaft speeds, or during sudden shaft accelerations, oil can also escape through the rebound ports in the DFV, maintaining tyre contact with the road.

Vehicle without DFV

Without DFV the oil can not flow through the piston quickly enough on the rebound stroke after hitting a bump, so the tyre is not able to stay in contact with the road.

Vehicle with DFV technique

The DFV valve opens, letting the oil flow quicker through the piston on the rebound stroke after hitting a bump, enabling the tyre to stay in contact with the road.

Other features

When adjusting ride height on coilover units, it's worth comparing how it's done. On many inferior designs, height is adjusted by raising or lowering the lower spring platform. This has the effect of compressing or extending the spring, which can limit the suspension travel that may cause topping out. The Ohlins method is to leave the spring seat in its perfect position, whilst the lower flange spins easily on the threaded body, to allow you to adjust with absolute precision whilst maintaining the perfect characteristics that we took so long to design in! Once you've set it all up, the adjuster simply locks off to maintain your exact settings.

These kits all work well 'out of the box', but there's still plenty of adjustment for you to set things your way. You like stiff and reactive? Or soft and forgiving? It's all there. Too much low speed rebound damping can have an adverse effect on grip, so the easily accessible adjuster at the base of the Ohlins units allows small, but positive increments of fine tuning, so you can take into account every single parameter. Sounds complicated? Nothing could be further for the truth. Just a few clicks either way from our factory settings will soon have your car responding precisely to your inputs and driving style.

Thermal Expansion

Dampers will get hot. That's one thing that you can be sure of. As the piston moves within the damper, it generates friction - and therefore, heat. Although we can't stop heat, we can deal with it, and this is yet another way that Ohlins differs from the ­competition. As the heat increases, the viscosity of the damper fluid can change, altering the car's handling characteristics. Our unique needle bleed valve expands with temperature, closing the gap that the fluid travels through, maintaining a ­consistent damping rate. The best thing of all? You won't even notice! All you'll feel is that the car responds consistently, lap after lap, turn after turn. Allowing you to concentrate on braking points and apexes whilst the Ohlins technology takes care of the damping.