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      04-10-2012, 08:39 PM   #13
Bimmer-Bob
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Drives: 2010 128i
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Anacortes, WA

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So, just picked up my car a couple of hours ago. Didn't get too much of a chance to push the car, but my very early impression of these dampers is this: they are incredibly refined. At first they almost felt too soft because of the way they just soak up bumps (there are still occasionally "jarring" bumps, but much less frequently than before), but upon pushing the car it really does handle quite well in spite of the "softer" ride (bear in mind I'm comparing to PSS9's, not stock). The suspension is dead quiet, too.

I have since dialed in a bit more firmness in the dampers (I doubt I'm done tweaking yet) and now they feel even better - plenty stiff, super composed, but only the very worst bumps jar the cabin. What's kind of incredible is I swear I can feel the tires being pushed back into the road - grip feels great. I also had an alignment done and had negative camber maxed out (-1.8° with Dinan camber plates), so turn in feels very crisp, too. Overall I'm very happy and look forward to exploring what this set-up is capable of.

Now for the bad: ride height is not where I want it, at all. Just peeking into the wheel wells, it looks like the fronts are set all the way down, and I still have a two-finger gap all the way around. My Bilsteins had my tires nearly flush with the fenders, and I had gotten really used to that look. I don't know, maybe the springs will settle over the next few days, but I kind of doubt it.

I'm thinking about pulling the wheels off tomorrow to have a closer look - if I can get my car say 1/4" lower, will I totally ruin the alignment I just had today? And if I can't get the spring perches any lower, will different springs help? I was most likely going to upgrade to Swift springs from HPA at some point anyway, but I may end up doing so sooner rather than later if I can't get this car lowered any other way.

Thanks for any info. Will post pics tomorrow, by the way.

See my review of the shop that did the work, DBC Performance, here. Really good shop, IMO - a great resource for Central Texas.
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Last edited by Bimmer-Bob; 04-10-2012 at 09:54 PM..
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