Gaining Front Shock Travel

[sle39lvr]

Setup
I have FK Coilovers that have Koni shocks. Running stock 18's and I am about 0.25" below stock height I would say. I never track my car, yet I want the best combination for ride + handling.

Bumpstops
After a long time researching for proper bumpstops and trying many of them, stock non-sport (cut), stock sport cut and E36M/Z4M), I came back to stock sport bump stops (without cutting). I feel like this gives the best "tight + smooth feeling between all above.

Front Strut Mounts


I have not mess with the camber (though I have M3 front arms), and I do not plan to get camber adjuster plates.

When I installed the coilovers, I did put in new oem strut mounts.

What I want

I want to gain a small amount of shock travel up front without raising the ride-height, or without cutting or changing the front bump stops. I feel like, if BMW made slightly shorter in thickness strut mount/bearing for the front, I would be golden.

Why
With above mentioned coilovers/bumpstops, I have about 0.25" front shock travel I need. On highway speeds, it bounces around due to lack of shock travel, not matter how I adjust the Koni shock dampening.

[arcticcat522]

What I want

I want to gain a small amount of shock travel up front without raising the ride-height, or without cutting or changing the front bump stops. I feel like, if BMW made slightly shorter in thickness strut mount/bearing for the front, I would be golden.

This would be nice for large front tire fitment also. Raise the spring perch with out getting shorter springs or raising the car. One can dream...

[chris82]

Originally Posted by arcticcat522

This would be nice for large front tire fitment also. Raise the spring perch with out getting shorter springs or raising the car. One can dream...

Extend the top mounts lol, that'll cost ya. Seen it done to race cars where they want the car lower, but want to retain the amount of travel

[MightyMouseTech]

Is this not exactly what front camber plates do?

[sle39lvr]

Do the M3 Strut mounts fit ours? I think they are shorter in height.

[MightyMouseTech]

Hmmm.....

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-11...ht-e9x-m3.aspx

Front Upper Strut/Shock Mount - Left or Right - E9X M3

This item fits the following BMWs:
2011-2012 E82 BMW 1M
2008-2012 E90 BMW M3 - Sedan
2008-2012 E92 BMW M3 - Coupe
2008-2012 E93 BMW M3 - Convertible

[sle39lvr]

So whats your opinion on this? Won't fit?

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Hmmm.....

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-11...ht-e9x-m3.aspx

Front Upper Strut/Shock Mount - Left or Right - E9X M3

This item fits the following BMWs:
2011-2012 E82 BMW 1M
2008-2012 E90 BMW M3 - Sedan
2008-2012 E92 BMW M3 - Coupe
2008-2012 E93 BMW M3 - Convertible

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by sle39lvr

So whats your opinion on this? Won't fit?

I have no idea. Order them up and try!

I would be interested to know.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

I have no idea. Order them up and try!

I would be interested to know.

Hehe..They would mount on the car fine I would imagine. May be the tunnel where the strut goes through and screws the nut is not tall enough? IF there's a play there, that would not work at all, making the strut rattle

[MightyMouseTech]

ECS has a good pic of them. They look a lot beefier than our stock one.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

ECS has a good pic of them. They look a lot beefier than our stock one.

Only if a supplier can show us comparison shots of the height and strut tunnel height

[MightyMouseTech]

Maybe Harold will chime in?

HP Autosport

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Maybe Harold will chime in?

Hopefully If fit's I am sure many people would go for this...

[tracer bullet]

Something doesn't sound right - if I understand the first post the car is only 1/4" lower than stock and yet there is only 1/4" total travel available before bottoming out?

*IF* that is true, then it sounds like either the coilovers are awfully designed or there's a serious installation issue.

Hopefully I misunderstood.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

Something doesn't sound right - if I understand the first post the car is only 1/4" lower than stock and yet there is only 1/4" total travel available before bottoming out?

*IF* that is true, then it sounds like either the coilovers are awfully designed or there's a serious installation issue.

Hopefully I misunderstood.

Your question is very valid. I do have coilovers with narrower spring design. I do think this is inferior to wider design that mimic factory style.

-¼" Lower in overall height. Yet, I am not using FK given bump stops or E36M bump stops. I am using OEM M-Sport Bump stops. This is the main reason I am lacking shock travel.

[E82MSport]

I'm reading through this and trying to understand your logic of reducing the mount height in order to increase spring/damper travel. Based on the image you've provided the front coilovers have one primary adjustment (height) and one secondary (spring preload, although this also adjusts height).

By taking a look at the overall height of the stock mount (let's call it 70mm) and the M3 mount (roughly 45mm) you have a delta of 25mm or slightly over 1-inch. By installing initially without making any adjustments from where you are at now you will be approximately 1.25" lower than the stock configuration. In order to get back to your previous height you will need to raise the lower perch by that delta amount and by doing so you will be decreasing the available spring/damper stroke.

If your front coils actually had height adjustment separate from preload you would be able to increase spring/damper travel by raising the vehicle by the desired amount of available travel and then lowering with the preload adjustment. Now there's a problem with doing this because first, if your springs are too short to begin with you will run out of adjustment and you will have a loose spring. Second, there usually a predetermined amount of spring preload needed for most coilovers in order for them to operate properly.

In short, the height change needs to be at the bottom of the damper rather than the top in order to increase spring/damper travel due to the way it's adjusted in your case. The drawback to this is if you're using the same spring it will essentially be moving the lower perch further down and this will decrease the available clearance between the wheel/tire and lower perch. In order to fix that you would need a shorter spring to position the lower perch back above the tire for maximum clearance.

Edit: Before you do anything I would suggest getting the stroke spec from the manufacturer and compare that with your current setup. The should be able to provide you with spec for both the dampers and springs. You might be out of usable adjustment if you start making changes.

Oh, and you could always raise the height by .25 and that will give you your increase in travel but I'm guess that's not what you want to do.

Edit again: has to had

[E82MSport]

Originally Posted by chris82

Extend the top mounts lol, that'll cost ya. Seen it done to race cars where they want the car lower, but want to retain the amount of travel

This is exactly what I've done. Spacers at the bottom of the damper and spacers on top of the camber plates. By doing this I've increase my ride height by 8mm and decreased my spring preload by 12mm, thus gaining more spring/damper travel to avoid engaging the internal bump stop. I'm also running shorter springs.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by E82MSport

If your front coils actually has height adjustment separate from preload you would be able to increase spring/damper travel by raising the vehicle by the desired amount of available travel and then lowering with the preload adjustment.

Preload adjustment?

I believe I only have height adjustment. These are FK Kingsport Coilovers.

They have similar design:

[E82MSport]

Originally Posted by sle39lvr

Preload adjustment?

I believe I only have height adjustment. These are FK Kingsport Coilovers.

They have similar design:

Sorry, I meant to say HAD instead of HAS.

Here's an example of a damper that has both height and preload adjustment.


For the sake of making things less confusing you only have height adjustment.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by E82MSport

Sorry, I meant to say HAD instead of HAS.

Here's an example of a damper that has both height and preload adjustment.


For the sake of making things less confusing you only have height adjustment.

Oh understood. Yea, I kind of regret my choice on these coilovers I have. I will elaborate more on the next post.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by sle39lvr

Why
With above mentioned coilovers/bumpstops, I have about 0.25" front shock travel I need. On highway speeds, it bounces around due to lack of shock travel, not matter how I adjust the Koni shock dampening.

I missed this when I first read your post. So when you hit a bump on the highway, you are bouncing a little bit afterwards? So that would mean your dampers are not able to control the energy of the springs effectively. Turning up the rebound should help them do this. But you are saying the adjustments aren't helping at all? I am curious to know the spring rates.

[sle39lvr]

Originally Posted by chris82

I missed this when I first read your post. So when you hit a bump on the highway, you are bouncing a little bit afterwards? So that would mean your dampers are not able to control the energy of the springs effectively. Turning up the rebound should help them do this. But you are saying the adjustments aren't helping at all? I am curious to know the spring rates.

Think of it as, the main reason for me to have this issue (and post on here) all because I am using stock M-sport bump stops (front and back). These are a little taller than E36M/Z4M bumpstops. I fixed the back having reduced shock travel by putting in Dinan 10mm shock mounts. They gave me 10mm more travel and fixe the issue. Now the back is PERFECT. Just the front left. Only way to fix this without raising the car ¼" is to gain ¼" shock travel. Only way to do THAT with these coilers is to somehow gain some space at the strut mount.