Reviews Opinions on BCRacing coilovers on 996 c2

Hi guys, new here, some may know me from fb groups most may not hobby mechanic dealing with 996es 997s have questions regarding performance of BCRacing i have installed a set for a client on 2003 996 carrera 2 and the front ones clunk like hell. rears are silent. the dealers footballs me away, even BCRacing UK try to tell me that is normal. having had great experience on 996 AWD or 997 C2 with them, it is hard to believe that is the case. i know those are cheap budget ones but since previously they performed great on street and maybe occasional trackday seemed best path to go for (money for value wise) the dealer and BCRacing themselves say all this is due to bearing (uniball) top mounts, which again is hard to believe since i have installed different coilovers with metal top mounts and none have had this bad of clunks even on harsh roads and harder driving. here is a link to 1 min long video of street driving at 20-30km per hour 996 c2 clunk as a precaution to exclude any other sources of possible noise (the car was silent with old stock dampers) i replaced both coffin arms, both tuning forks and stabilizer links, checked 10 times that everything is tightened after working with cars for 15 years the distinct impression is that there is no oil in them. it is very hard to believe this is normal and people accept this.

avoid coil over kits, not a fan and they are false economy they are made for plug and play mass produced sports cars, of course the dealer would swear by them because on software hatchbacks they seem to work regular top mounts work fine and better, might also check how the engine mounts are doing BC Racing made good budget products out of Taiwan, but it's Porsche

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that is true, but it is more about the principal, you sold a damaged product (possibly) then deal with it, i have ohlins on my own car but i have 3 more cars on BCRacing BR series around here and 1 even is driven hard on local racetrack slammed to the ground and there are no noises.

smooth race tracks aside, as everything works on smooth tarmac i've had random issues even with Bilstein which were unexpected the problem is they all have an also impossible warranty claim clause, unless your supplier also fits this and they offer a replacement probably a bad batch and when they're in the volume market, there is not much else they are going to do

sadly it seems to be the case. i want to have opinions from other 996 C2 owners to make sure that there have been positive experiences and that dealer and BCRacing ar feeding me with BS

who is the dealer or is that BC Racing UK

I only know of @RetroRob that has fitted them. Details are in the following thread. No issues have been reported. https://911uk.com/porsche/koni-sa-vs-bc-coilovers-and-which-coffin-arms.126715/ ​

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dealer is outside Uk and until this is cleared don't want to mention him, although the way this is being handled is just horrible. i installed an awd set purchased from him and on that 996 everything is amazing for 500-1000km since april. drove the car myself and it handled beautifully as well as all the adjustments worked flawlessly on street car

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thanks will ask him to chime in

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if you're having issues on European quality roads then it's an issue, UK roads are harsh in comparison

I have no experience of coil overs but that clunking is unacceptable - something is wrong. I had a defective front Koni SA damper fitted to my 996 last summer which chattered away even on smooth tarmac. The video sounds like a combination of chattering from the damper and as for the clunking, I would assume that something is not right in the top mount area. When my 996 was on a lift or jacked up on that corner with the defective damper, there was no damping, the wheel could be lifted up and down with ease with only the spring offering resistance. I initially suspected that the standard top mount had been incorrectly installed but it turned out that was not the case - only the damper to blame. All other hardware (coffin arms, links etc) was replaced at the same time. A replacement damper resolved it.

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there is basically no damping at all with the front ones, the rears are perfect.

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i had a 996 c2 with yellow bilsteins and right one was doing almost identical clunking, when removed and removed the spring the shock rod just dropped down, these don't do it as nitrogen/gas pushes the rods back up, but they sound utterly empty.

Tough situation to be in. Either you exchange the defective items for the same but properly functioning coilovers at no cost if it is a manufacturing fault / bad batch and if these have been fine in other applications. Or, go after a full refund if it is a case of "they all do that sir" which is due to a design fault and then your faith is lost. To do either the dealer needs to play ball. I am no lawyer but you must have some rights - consumer law, the dealer's returns policy, or if the dealer didn't make any statement about top mounts before the sale. A few arguments to be had rather than accepting their total BS.

yeah we do have consumer rights agency over here as this is obvious misleading and avoiding of accountability.hopefully they will come to their senses and resolve this but it doesn't seem to be going in that direction.

Got the message and just listened to the video. Mine certainly do not make that noise. Yes you feel bad pot holes but I get no clunking front or rear. Ride - set quite hard they are too jittery for poor road surfaces. Idea for track I expect. Set close to soft they are a definite improvement over the stock dampers on typical roads. Something is not right. Assume of course the spring collars are set with no slack the locking ring is tight?

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yes everything is tight and even tried to increase pretention and that clunking sound does not change with softness setting. very strong impression defective pair with no oil in them.

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can you please do me a favour and take pictures of the numbers on dampers, there should be serial numbers/part numbers on side or bottom of them. would help greatly.

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do you have an idea to how that is going to help?

Did you set the ride height to standard? As in the ARB drop links are unloaded static. I am running mine lower but fitted adjustable drop links. My BCs came set quite a bit lower than standard ride height out of the box. While one faulty damper wouldn't be impossible a pair seems less likely.

Ps, my son has BCs on his bmw and those make no noise either.

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they were almost stock height on this particular car, maybe some 10mm lower but not more than that

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maybe some batch of them or something. i unstalled couple weeks later another set on awd car and those were perfect. silent no clunks

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plus the dealer is told by BCRacing Finland that it is normal and ONLY on carrera 2. and on the phone BCRacing Uk tells me with a straight face that the clunking driving 20-30kph is perfectly normal on this particular model of 996 series, i kid you not, noone is asking about settings checking if everything is tight etc, it is just normal - they all do that, while two 997 rwd are silent and 996 awd as well, all are BR series shocks.

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which bmw? is it maybe F30?

My lad has them on an E36. My 996 is a C2. No clunks.

What about if you disconnect the front sway bar and go for a drive just to rule out the drop links?

Would be interested to know if this issue ever got sorted. I'm interested in the same set of coilovers for my car and so gave one of their dealers in the UK a call as they have them for a good price on their website. The guy I spoke to made a point of letting me know that this particular kit is known for noise from the the adjustable top mounts, and that BC say this is normal. I also think it's a bit crap that they're happy to sell them like that and haven't made any changes to the kit to reduce the noise.

So I ended up getting them but I got them without the adjustable top mounts which is an option. I've done about 4000 miles on them now and they are great without any noise. I also went for slight softer spring rates of 3.5 kg mm front and 6.5kg mm rear which was also an option they had.

That's what I'm leaning towards also. Can you tell me, are the top mount mounting holes slotted on a standard 996? So you would have some camber adjustment from factory just not as much as with the BC adjustable top mounts?

Yeah they are slotted but you don't get much camber really. I have mine set to give the max negative camber and I was able to get 2.1 deg when it sat very low but I raised it about 15mm and Max was then about 1.5 from memory. I saw that design 911 now have some offset bushes that go in the coffin arm that can get more camber at much cheaper price than gt3 arms and shims.

i bought a second set and i have to say they are crap, rears are ok, the fronts clunk again, i did everything and still clunk at times. rebuilt steering rack so there is no play, ALL the ball joints are new, installed the stock rubber top mounts, it became better but still random clunks especially on slow speeds, the damping is also subpar, if i adjust them harder they are too stiff and i get kind of jumping nose on relatively smooth highway on softer setting they seem bit jelly like. i have another c4 with them on my clients car, those seem great but c2 version seems crap already the second time.

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BC coilovers are a bit budget but you still expect them to work without issues or noises and expect a bit more from the manufacturer. I ran a R8 for 3 years on KW V3 coilovers without a single issue.

I know folk have good experiences with these and seem generally happy with them however for every one of those their appears to be someone not happy. That's not a great success rate! BC are more about getting the stance right for very little cost on a vehicle that's going to cruise/do coffee meets/ burger carpark action/shows etc. Next choice up from cutting your springs!

I’ve got a set of bc coilovers on my van they are definitely not the best quality but also not the worst either. You’ve probably already checked but I’d be looking at the drop links first if they are the ones that came with the kit. Also worth checking the locking ring on the shock body too as this can also cause a knock if it’s not TIGHT!!

This reminds me of an old E92 330d I had as a cheap track car. BC would have been a bit premium compared to the inexpensive Maxpeedingrods coilovers I used. These had pillowball mounts so I was expecting clunks and noise. Incredibly, the front coilovers were actually very successful with no noise or clunking at all. They handled very well considering the low cost. The rear had separate shocks and springs, which were bith ridiculously soft, even on the hardest setting. These went in the bin but the kit was still cheap for two usable front adjustable coilovers. This anecdote is not specific to the 996 other than to suggest that inexpensive coilovers should not clunk and be serviceable if in good order. My other BMW l, an M2 with genuine BMW Motorsport coilovers - effectively rebadged KW V2/3, were also nice and quiet. Only when I changed the front top mounts to camber adjustable nylon plates did I get any noise, and this is just a light dink noise when hitting a bump before the car has warmed up.

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I disagree . They are on the budget end but they are far from the cheapest and they still do a decent job of damping.I have been very happy with mine and no knocking noises either. In fact I just came back from a 2000 mile trip around Scotland and UK and the car was perfectly comfortable.

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Which bit are you disagreeing with? That’s some folk have good experiences and some folk don’t? Or that they are more about stance and cruising over outright performance hybridised comfort? That’s interesting to hear, your experience. What specific kit do you have and on which car? 996C2? I have a C4S and live in Scotland. Can’t justify something like the KW modified Werk96 kit but also fear a simple spring and damper change isn’t going to yield the results I want.

I don't think they are just about stance. They do improve performance as well. I'm not comparing them to high end coilovers but compared to stock suspension they are much more adjustable and do a decent job of keeping the damping under control. I have the BR series which is just the basic one with combined bump and rebound adjustment. I specced them with slightly softer spring then they come with usually so I have 6.5kg mm rear and 3.5kg mm front instead of the usual 7 and 4 and I have the non adjustable front top mounts. I found 7 clicks from full soft front and 13 clicks from full soft rear to be about my favourite settings.

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Ahh, yeah I read of greater uk success with the lower spring rates and also when running on the softer side of things. My other option is Koni SA with Eibach or just the damper on the C4S spring which I understand is firmer than C2/C4 but softer than M030