Whether you've got shocks or struts on the corners of your BMW, you've got BMW Coil Springs holding you up off the ground. When the engineers looked at the various ways to suspend your vehicle, they had leaf springs, coil springs, and torsion bars at their disposal. From both a packaging and a handling perspective, coil springs are the best choice, so that's what you got. They're easy to see: Just look in one of your wheel wells and you'll see a coil of thick wire. Not surprisingly, that's where the term "coil spring" comes from.

Your BMW coil springs work with your shocks or struts to provide a smooth ride and excellent control in dips and corners. Every suspension system is set up differently, but the engineers at BMW seem to have a direct line to handling heaven. BMWs are widely regarded as some of the finest-handling cars in the world, and those BMW coil springs play a large part in the equation. So, next time you're washing your car, take a peek inside the wheelwells at your BMW coil springs. They may not look like much, but they're partly responsible for the grin you get whenever you drive your car.