AST 5100 and 5200

[Mechatrosonic]

Thanks to great review which Ricky wrote on this thread, I'm thinking of getting AST for my M3 for a few times track use a year.

Anyone has it installed or installed AST5100 or AST5200 suspension? Could you tell me how you felt when you drove on track with AST5xxxx series?

Some specialists say AST is far better than Moton n others and car with AST can beat the self time record which someone had made before.

[kitw]

Uh, https://www.facebook.com/ASTUSA

AST is not better than Motons. Both are probably better than 98% of the drivers on the message boards, if you're fast enough to need a good quality suspension, it's probably worthwhile to develop a relationship with a vendor who can support you locally. Both AST and Moton can work fine on a street car, but you're going to want to run a spherical bearing camber plate and those are not the best things for street cars (although admittedly, the streets in Japan are a LOT nicer than the crap roads we get here in the US)

[zsapphire7]

apparently motion just got bought out by AST !

[signes]

This was posted on the Vorshlag board:

In summary: AST Suspension (Holland) purchased Moton Suspension (Holland) this week. Moton USA headquarters will move into the same AST-USA facility located in Dallas, just 5 miles down the road from Vorshlag, on Monday. Things are happening fast, but the reality is a great shock brand and their long standing catalog of shock models has been saved from the chopping block by the folks that own AST.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian @ AST-USA
We will be releasing more information soon, probably at the beginning of next week. This all began with a conversation over dinner while I was in Holland. Moton (in Holland) was filing for bankruptcy. My suggestion was instead of celebrating, why not continue a brand which is one of the top brands in the world? And that is what we plan to do. While there is some overlap that we will address, in the grand scheme of things there isn't much that needs to change. So the combination of the two companies is a compliment to the hard work Moton did in building the loyal following it has today. I don't know all the details yet, but here is what I do know.

Moton will operate as a separate company from AST.

This means Moton parts go in Motons. AST parts go in ASTs. I'm sure down the road there is a possibility of sharing but never to diminish one product for another or to save money. If anything, both will be stronger. We will operate (both AST and Moton) in North America out of one facility, but Holland will keep two separate facilities. This makes sense since the Dutch companies are 45 minutes apart and the U.S. ones are 800 miles apart.

Rebuilding a Moton or an AST is more similar than you might think. We already have most of the tools and will be able to service Motons very soon. Holland is beginning to ramp up production as well so we will have inventory up again very soon.
Don't take this as bad news for Moton - this is a good thing. Rest assured, Moton build quality will only go up after this, and the great things you love about Moton will still be here.

There should be no issues with current Moton customers with respect to service, rebuilds, and upgrades. The best products Moton offered before will still be around and only get better, as there wasn't much direct shock model overlap between AST and Moton (with a few exceptions). There was and is some commonality in "design philosophies" between AST/Moton, in certain models, which means rebuilding one is very similar to the other. Just like there are some common design similarities in other monotubes like JRZ, Penske and Ohlins.

There have been things going on in the background for a few weeks with the acquisition, and for the past year with respect to Motons money trouble. Basically a company losing market share that was in major financial arrears has been bought by a company growing massively in market share in much better financial shape, that has proven quality and performance (see: 2011 GRAND AM dominance), and that has a dramatically larger machining capability.

Also, Vorshlag will become a Moton dealer, which we've been planning for the past few weeks. We have already been working with and providing camber plates for Moton customers for many years, have seen them apart, know the dyno plots, work with the various strut and shock models, and driven them at the track many times. We already know the best Moton models, the models to avoid, the options that work, the ones that don't. We will add the appropriate Moton shocks to the Vorshlag website shortly. These will compliment the already thorough range of shock options AST already makes, with even more car model coverage that Moton is known for.

Stay tuned for the press release and more details.

Thanks,
Terry @ Vorshlag

[aus]

That deserves it's own thread. That's BIG news that Moton was going under.
They definitely had a LOT of issues with the E9x M3 suspension.

.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by takuya9280

Thanks to great review which Ricky wrote on this thread, I'm thinking of getting AST for my M3 for a few times track use a year.

Anyone has it installed or installed AST5100 or AST5200 suspension? Could you tell me how you felt when you drove on track with AST5xxxx series?

Some specialists say AST is far better than Moton n others and car with AST can beat the self time record which someone had made before.

Have a look here and ask Justin any questions you may have:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...light=ast+5200

[Justin(OKC)]

As Harold noted above, I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have. I have since sold my 135i and have a E90 M3. Along with that switch, I send the 5200's in to be converted into 5300's. Total overkill for what I need on the car but decided to take the plunge and learn how to tune these things.

The 5200's with the Swift springs were by far the best setup I have ever had on any car both on the track and even more so on the street. My wife could not even tell that I put something different on the car and never complained about how poorly the car handled the streets. That was not the case with the previous Koni SA and Koni DA setups I had on my E36 M3s. Ride quality with these is just flat out superior to anything I have ever owned or experienced in someone else's car.

Harold at HPautowerks gave me suggestions on spring rates and what to do on the car. A lot of the suggestions were against what I was used to doing but I took a leap of faith. I was amazed at the ride quality on the street but was concerned with how they would work on the track. What I found was that I had much more mechanical grip and less understeer than I was used to with previous setups on other cars I have run. Just for reference I ran the car at an autoX that was on a mini-roadcourse at a Sheriff's training facility in OKC.

Just so happens I love these so much I'm fitting 4200's with Swift springs on my E30 M3

[flipm3]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

As Harold noted above, I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have. I have since sold my 135i and have a E90 M3. Along with that switch, I send the 5200's in to be converted into 5300's. Total overkill for what I need on the car but decided to take the plunge and learn how to tune these things.

The 5200's with the Swift springs were by far the best setup I have ever had on any car both on the track and even more so on the street. My wife could not even tell that I put something different on the car and never complained about how poorly the car handled the streets. That was not the case with the previous Koni SA and Koni DA setups I had on my E36 M3s. Ride quality with these is just flat out superior to anything I have ever owned or experienced in someone else's car.

Harold at HPautowerks gave me suggestions on spring rates and what to do on the car. A lot of the suggestions were against what I was used to doing but I took a leap of faith. I was amazed at the ride quality on the street but was concerned with how they would work on the track. What I found was that I had much more mechanical grip and less understeer than I was used to with previous setups on other cars I have run. Just for reference I ran the car at an autoX that was on a mini-roadcourse at a Sheriff's training facility in OKC.

Just so happens I love these so much I'm fitting 4200's with Swift springs on my E30 M3

Did you end up installing those 5300s on your E90?

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by flipm3

Did you end up installing those 5300s on your E90?

Put them on last night but haven't driven on them yet. Alignment scheduled for Friday morning.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

Put them on last night but haven't driven on them yet. Alignment scheduled for Friday morning.

Have you taken any photos?

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Have you taken any photos?

Harold, no step by step photos really this time, but I can get some photos with them installed. Installation was much easier this go around since I didn't have subframe bushing and swaybars to do. AST have me hoses a bit too short to put the rear canisters in the car so I'm bummed about that. The front canisters fit perfect. I'll get pics for you guys. Can't wait to see how they feel on the car.

BTW, I definitely needed the helpers on the front to take up the slack at full droop. Luckily I do have enough wheel clearance. Tonight I will set all the heights and such. I think it is possible that my swaybar links are a bit too short. I'll verify on the alignment rack.

[Justin(OKC)]

Here's a preliminary post:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...02#post9837602