Coilovers And A Proper Alignment Have Transformed My E36 M3 Into Perfection

Last December, I bought one of my dream cars. I didn’t check it over as thoroughly as I should have done, which bit me in the ass pretty hard. The car was rusty as hell underneath, you could poke your finger through the floor and certain suspension components were well past their sell by date; for those of you wondering, that’s why I affectionately refer to the car (aka Colin) as a ‘Lemon’.

With the rust straightened out, and a missing anti-roll bar mount plus bush fixed back in place, I was finally free to enjoy the M3. But enjoy I did not. The car understeered, the rear wheel rubbed like hell on the arch and my 90s super saloon felt more like a super let down. Of course, it was fast in a straight line, but where was the handling that I’d been promised? And why was I never confident pinning the throttle through the corners?

The answer was simple: the car’s suspension just wasn’t up to task. It was a bit like asking Usain Bolt to run 100m in skinny jeans and bowling shoes. Clearly then, something had to change, and so I made the decision to put my lemon on coilovers.

For those of you who follow Car Throttle on Snapchat, you’ll remember that I already attempted an install, only to be thwarted by a pair of standard M3 drop links that were too long to fit into the suspension struts and anti-roll bar. A few days later, Ceika Performance (the brand of my adjustable coilovers) sent a set of adjustable drop links through, and so it was that the install went smoothly, taking my buddy Gareth and I no more than four hours (or more like six with adjustments…car fixing always seems to speed time up by 1.5).

Using man maths and a cracked plastic ruler, we managed to set the ride height pretty evenly, and guessed at the camber settings. I wasn’t worried, though, because the M3 was booked in with Spires Performance in Leamington-Spa the very next day (Sunday) for a full and very thorough few hours of alignment work, including adjusting the camber, caster, and making sure that the corner weights were all spot on.

Amazingly, Spires owner Matt was fairly impressed with the way in which we set the suspension, but there was a lot of work to be done; Colin was hitting the track two days later (video coming next week) so I wanted it to perform better than new.

With the ride height lowered further and following multiple adjustments to the top plate of the front struts (which annoyingly meant the suspension had to be unbolted and dropped), my M3 lemon was sitting straight and true.

But how would it drive?!

Well, if I told you that the transformation to the car was massive, that’d be a huge understatement. Even with worn front tyres, the M3 gripped more keenly than I ever thought possible, cornered smooth and flat and gave me the confidence to bury the throttle through the first few corners I made eye contact with.

Seriously, these Ceika coilovers and a proper alignment by Matt from Spires have genuinely transformed my E36 M3 lemon into the perfect sports coupe (OK, minus the bits that break on occasion), and since then I’ve been looking for any excuse to drive it!

But the best bit? Colin is now sitting on a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres - the same set as on our brutally fast Civic Type R - and with full grip enabled, incredible handling and wonderful poise, I’m convinced that this car is now better and faster (through corners) than the day it rolled off the production line some 20 years ago.

You can see just how good Colin is in the next Living With An E36 M3 episode that we’ll release next week on Wednesday.