Vash,

I personally have not had an opportunity to drive/ride in KW3 equipped cars, so I can only speak from a comparison to OEM shock/spring. Would I recommend CKS setup? YES, I would definitely recommend. I had a pleasure of driving and owning E36 and E46 M3s prior to E61. With CKS, it gave me a sense of "typical" BMW feel I had always wanted from E61

Yes, John from CKS did provide me with number of different parts. I am not too certain, but I believe our first group buy might have been their first run for Xi specific coilovers. In the end, I have received (2)-front shocks (shorter version), (2)-different type of lower mounts. Fortunately for me, I did not install my sets immediately after the purchase, so I believe I had less "incidents" than 04TL. In the end, I did install new front shocks with new lower mount. The only major issue I had with mine was the lower mount which had an incorrect swaybar end link location. Needless to say, John did address the issue immediately.

To answer your questions:

0. Not exactly sure on the type... (sorry not much of help here) Ask John @ CKS
1. Since I was not after "slammed" look, I have both front and rear set on 1.5-finger gaps.
2. Adjustability as in drop (I can slam it if wanted to) or dampening (24-ways).
3. CKS provides adjustable link and shock for rear (retains stock air bag).
4. While 04TL (I believe it was him) said spacer necessary to clear shock, I did not have to have it, but for the visual/apparance, I have 10/12mm spacers front/rear, respectively.
5. Height and dampening adjustment is same as other coilovers. For the rear, it is at the bottom of the shock, so no need to take off your interior panels to make a necessary dampening adjustments.
6. Friend of mine had installed it for me in his garage for free. I had asked BMW dealer for installation, their quote was about $1200 with alignment (no thanks!). As far as the installation, my friend said rear was super easy, as a matter of fact, he was done with rear in 1.5-hr at most (including time to take off and put back on interior panels). For the front, he did run into a bit of issue due to the lower mount with incorrect swaybar end link, this had resulted in swaybar hanging down about 2" lower than stock. Again, this was addressed immediately by John @ CKS, so it was all better following day. Overall, nothing on the vehicle side was altered, so if necessary, I can put stock parts back on.


Lastly, yes, the people who were on the first group buy might have had unnecessary "incidents" with CKS coilovers, BUT, at least from my experience, John @ CKS was always willing to address the issue immediately. I have not had such a great customer service before from any of the venders. So, that alone made a huge difference on my experience with CKS. As for the actual ride comfort/quality, as I had mentioned on the previous posting, it is NICE. Since the original posting, coilover have settled bit more, so it is even nicer now. Highly recommended!!!

If you have more questions, PM and I can try to asnwer your questions.

 

Thank you Killercalf for clearing things up!

Does any one have pictures of these coil overs installed or not? I am esp curious now about rear air suspension parts.

 

I just might get these.

 

Highly recommended

 

Maybe i missed it, but where/how can we order?

 

I would like to update this thread.....

I am the person who installed killercalf's CKS coil overs on to his car for him. (which was a complete train wreck) I have since purchased the car from him with the CKS coil overs installed. I purchased the car from him in August of 2014. I will soon be removing the CKS coil overs because they are complete junk. Let me elaborate. I installed the kit somewhere around 9/1/13.

1. The kit came with the wrong parts. The replacement parts were wrong as well. I finally had to physically take measurements and send them to "John" for them to MAKE the right parts. The front lower shock mounts and the sway bar trailer arms were completely wrong for the car. I would think this would be taken care of before SELLING the kit to people. Had I been an install shop, it would have cost Killercalf a ton of money considering how many times I had to take parts on and off the car.

2. There were absolutely no instructions of any kind for installing the kit. I know, installing a coil over kit is not rocket science, but as to what exactly was needed was a mystery. Killercalf had purchased WAY too many extra parts from BMW for the install, because it was not known what would be needed.

3. We had asked John for initial set up measurements for the shocks, then could fine tune it from there. His measurements were WAY OFF. I spent way too much time taking everything apart and putting it back together based on his measurements. An "I don't know" would have been better.

4. The build quality of the kit is TERRIBLE. The adjustable links for the rear suspension height sensors rusted and broke within 6 months of the install. Killercalf had to have the car towed to the dealership and have the stock links put back on in order to drive it.

5. Along with the links rusting and breaking, the rest of the kit is rusted and falling apart. The front sway bar links are completely covered in rust. The front shock bodies and adjustable collars are totally rusted and frozen. I think the rear shocks are shot due to them starting to bottom out on hard bumps. I attempted to adjust the rear shocks but can't because they are rusted and frozen.

We contacted John about the issue, but he would not work with us. I don't see how a kit can be completely rusted and no longer adjustable after 1.5 years of use. I have used 3 sets of BC Racing Coilovers on some of my other BMW's without an issue, and they are considerably cheaper than CKS kits.

I will be removing these for something a little more reliable.

JUNK.

 

Thanks for the reply. It was much needed.

 

Love the CKS coilovers on my E61!! Soft enuf for the wife but when dialed up the car rotates unbelievably!!

 

How do we go about ordering a set of cks?

 

A few vendors sell them for the RWD E60s. You need to call CKS direct if you want them for the Xdrive models. They are still available.