Moton Street Sport BMW E9X M3 Suspension Set

After years of refinement, Moton has finally released their Street Sport line. Incorporating technology gleaned from years of involvement with motorsports (and numerous championships in both the US and Europe/Asia), the Street Sport suspension kits represent the ultimate combination of track capability and performance, as well as street manners and ease of use. This demanding combination which is typically impossible to truly satisfy now has an answer. There are several kits on the market that can perform well in smaller sections of this range of use, but there is not one suspension that can satisfy the full spectrum to this level.

We performed the track testing of the Street Sport suspension for Moton recently at Sebring International Raceway in Florida with the BimmerWorld E92 M3 project car, driven by BimmerWorld owner and professional racer James Clay. The test car was factory weight and equipped with racing brake pads and race tires for track use and then street tires and pads for a subsequent street shakedown session to evaluate the everyday manners of the kit. The following evaluations are a combination of feedback from this test:

TRACK EVALUATION - Sebring is a very bumpy racetrack. We performed a back-to-back test using the stock suspension with H&R Sport springs as a baseline. The E92 M3 performs very well in a normal street environment, even when pushed to a higher level, but fast turns, quick direction changes, and hard braking zones overload the stock suspension quickly. Once the Moton kit was installed, the car came alive, dropping lap times 5 seconds on the first outing. The spring rates provided in the Moton kit are high enough to support the full weight of the pure-stock car, meaning less roll and sluggishness and even more importantly, the rear of the car is much more controllable at high speed supported properly. The damping ability of the shocks speeds up reaction in quick transitions, reduces dive in braking zones to allow the car to stop more effectively, and controls squat under power making the car launch out of turn exits. Additionally, the high-speed bumps no longer cause the car to lose grip - an area the stock dampers completely failed in. Additionally, the adjustability of course allowed the driver to dial the car in to suit preferences and track conditions.

STREET - After a couple of days on the racetrack, with an obviously capable and track-worthy suspension, we put on the street tires and brake pads to determine how well the Street Sport suspension can adapt to the street where our car will spend 90% of its time. After dialing the dampers back to a softer street setting, we were off. The stiffer springs are well-controlled by the dampers so that additional harshness is minimal. The fact that we used the street version of the kit which uses factory front upper mounts meant that the clunkyness that so many performance suspensions can't avoid was not an issue. While currently owning several street cars with high-end performance suspensions that have gotten annoying to drive on a regular basis, the street manners of the Moton Street Sport kit are a refreshing change and something we have never experienced in a suspension also so capable of immediately doing a Jekyll/Hyde transformation to attack the track so aggressively.

This is a true plug and play suspension kit in a box with superb performance, both on the street as well as the track. This suspension is unquestionably the best non-remote reservoir system on the market today. For the more demanding driver requiring the flexibility to change spring rates, an optional race kit including race springs and camber plates will be available soon.

The Street Sport damper is double adjustable with separate rebound and compression controls. Each has seven adjustment levels, to help you dial in for every condition you encounter. The Street Sport suspension is designed to be extremely comfortable while driving on daily roads and can be easily adjusted for track conditions. When adjusting dampers, each click will make a distinct difference that the driver can feel. The unique blow-off valve system for rebound and compression controls provides for both excellent track performance over bumpy surfaces and a smoother ride on the street.

The Moton Street Sport kit is currently available only for E9X M3 model cars and is a complete kit, including (4) dampers, (4) springs, and height adjusters for all four corners. Will fit (and dramatically improve the factory components on) cars equipped with electronic damper control, but will require deactivation of this feature.

Moton suspension
From Anthony Machado of Toronto, Ontario on 6/22/2009.