How To Make Your F82 M4 Handle Better On Track & Street [AST 5100 Competition Suspension]

Do you want to improve the handling of your BMW F82 M47? Learn how this owner transformed their driving experience with a performance coilover upgrade, improving handling and driving enjoyment and adding adjustability.

The Problem

The BMW F82 M4, with its siblings, the F80 M3 and F87 M2, are as much as 11 years old now. With many miles on the factory suspension, they're pretty worn out, and if, like this customer, you have aftermarket suspension installed, the quality and performance from some kits are worse than the factory; there has never been a better time to enjoy an upgrade. This particular customer's BMW F82 M4 was delivered to us with an issue on one of the front dampers. Once we got it into the shop, we could see the top damper nut had come loose and stripped the thread, causing a critical failure on that side. After discussing with the customer, he explained that since fitting those coilovers, he couldn't get the damper nut to remain torqued, which led to this failure. The opposite side was also showing signs of impending failure.

Faced with these problems, the customer decided to not only replace the coilovers but upgrade significantly to the AST 5100 Competition Coilover Suspension.

The Solution

As this customer's use case is for a track, fast road use, and desires an aggressive aesthetic, we spec'd an AST 5100 Series Competition. The “Competition” designation in the AST 5100 indicates that this coilover system comes with advanced features designed for high-performance use. Both the front and rear of the system include top mounts, with the front benefiting from camber-adjustable top mounts. With the factory front suspension, the camber is not adjustable; you can't add in more negative camber to improve grip on the front axle and increase tyre to outside arch clearance needed for larger wheel and tyre setups. The AST front camber adjustable top mount solves this issue. This allows for precise camber adjustments and benefits from a spherical bearing that eliminates the bush deflection experienced with the factory rubber top mount, which dramatically improves the front-end feel. In the rear, the AST coilover replaces the standard rubber top mount with a solid top mount, eliminating any deflection that occurs with the stock bush for a more direct feel. The rear coilover is also a true coilover design; typical aftermarket coilovers for the rear feature a ‘divorced' setup where the spring and damper are separate, like the original setup. With the AST, 'true coilover' broadens the spring choice available to dial in the performance.

One common concern of performance top mounts is increased noise and durability; most aftermarket top mounts have a noisy bearing and offer no/insufficient environmental sealing, which leads to noisy operation and a short life. The AST top mounts have an environmental seal for the heavy-duty, silent bearing on the top mount, resulting in a long, silent service life. The AST 5100 coilovers are 1-way, 5200 2-way, and 5300 3-way. On the 5100 series kit for the F81 M4, the damping adjustments are conveniently located at the bottom of both the front and rear dampers. This allows the customer to easily fine-tune the suspension's dampening characteristics to suit their driving style, specific track conditions, or as their build changes over time with more grip, power, or weight. Additionally, the full-threaded body of the coilover enables ride height adjustment, providing further optimisation of handling dynamics and stance.

Another key feature of the 5100 Competition is its inverted damper design, which is particularly important on a McPhearson strut car, like the F82 M4. As the F82 M4 corners, a bending load goes through the damper; thanks to the inverted design, the front damper can resist these loads much better, reducing deflection and extending service life.

As part of the upgrade, the customer also opted to replace the tyres with a set of Nankang CR-S tyres. These tyres are designed for superior grip and handling, further complementing the improved suspension setup and enhancing the overall driving experience.

Purchase the related products:

1. AST 5100 Competition Coilover Suspension.
2. Nankang CR-S tires

Watch the installation of the whole package in the video below:

If you’re interested in a package like this for your car, you can talk to a Performance Specialist below: