Help Needed - Rubbing Issues on 128i

[dhaval]

Forum peeps,

I have been chasing a rubbing issue that has plagued me since I upgraded my stock springs and shocks a few months ago.

Vorshlag installed the following parts for me a few months ago:
Koni Yellow + H&R Springs + Vorshlag Camber Plates

When they installed the above setup, I had already had all M3 suspension bits installed on the car. The front end of the car was very dropped after the install. Vorshlag acknowledged this and I thought that the 'extreme' drop was due to the H&R sport springs. In an attempt to solve this, and after seeing successful installs on the forum, I switched out the H&R sport springs for Swift R Springs. The front was still dropped. I have rubbing on the fender lip when I turn the wheel and the car hits a bump or goes over an incline.

Last week I emailed the below photo to Harold at HP Autosport and he acknowledged that the front is very low for a 128i. His response was "Did you reinstall the rubber spring pads on both the top and bottom of the springs? How about the Vorshlag camber plate top rings? Some people may have forget to install those." I forwarded this to Vorshlag and they checked their parts list from performing my install. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I took a peek in the wheel well and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.



So, at this point I am clueless about what is causing this mysterious drop. Any ideas?

Details about my wheel & suspension setup:
Koni Yellow, Swift R Springs, Vorshlag Camber Plates, M3 arms, Apex 18x8.5 ET45 EC7, 235/40/18 Continental DW, no spacers, -2.6 deg camber

At the very least, can someone with the same wheel and suspension setup send me a measurement from the wheel hub center to the top of the fender lip so I can gage what the height with this setup should be?

1 Series - Wheel Hub Center toTop of Fender Distance.pdf

Thanks in advance!

[Suprgnat]

Originally Posted by dhaval

Details about my wheel & suspension setup:
Koni Yellow, Swift R Springs, Vorshlag Camber Plates, M3 arms, Apex 18x8.5 ET45 EC7, 235/40/18 Continental DW, no spacers, -2.6 deg camber

At the very least, can someone with the same wheel and suspension setup send me a measurement from the wheel hub center to the top of the fender lip so I can gage what the height with this setup should be?

Attachment 1485025

Thanks in advance!

If it's any help, I measure 325mm with Swift Spec-R/Koni Yellow/Dinan plates. Wheels don't factor in to that measurement, so without the Dinan plates I'd be at 320mm.

[dhaval]

Originally Posted by Suprgnat

If it's any help, I measure 325mm with Swift Spec-R/Koni Yellow/Dinan plates. Wheels don't factor in to that measurement, so without the Dinan plates I'd be at 320mm.

Thanks for the speedy reply. I am at around 300mm with my setup. Hmmm...

[ShocknAwe]

Edit: can you show us a picture of your install?

[dhaval]

Yes.

[E82MSport]

Unrelated note - where are your dust boots?

[asbrr]

Originally Posted by dhaval

Forum peeps,

I have been chasing a rubbing issue that has plagued me since I upgraded my stock springs and shocks a few months ago.

Vorshlag installed the following parts for me a few months ago:
Koni Yellow + H&R Springs + Vorshlag Camber Plates

When they installed the above setup, I had already had all M3 suspension bits installed on the car. The front end of the car was very dropped after the install. Vorshlag acknowledged this and I thought that the 'extreme' drop was due to the H&R sport springs. In an attempt to solve this, and after seeing successful installs on the forum, I switched out the H&R sport springs for Swift R Springs. The front was still dropped. I have rubbing on the fender lip when I turn the wheel and the car hits a bump or goes over an incline.

Last week I emailed the below photo to Harold at HP Autosport and he acknowledged that the front is very low for a 128i. His response was "Did you reinstall the rubber spring pads on both the top and bottom of the springs? How about the Vorshlag camber plate top rings? Some people may have forget to install those." I forwarded this to Vorshlag and they checked their parts list from performing my install. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I took a peek in the wheel well and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

So, at this point I am clueless about what is causing this mysterious drop. Any ideas?

Details about my wheel & suspension setup:
Koni Yellow, Swift R Springs, Vorshlag Camber Plates, M3 arms, Apex 18x8.5 ET45 EC7, 235/40/18 Continental DW, no spacers, -2.6 deg camber

At the very least, can someone with the same wheel and suspension setup send me a measurement from the wheel hub center to the top of the fender lip so I can gage what the height with this setup should be?

Thanks in advance!

That's definitely low. I did a quick search but didn't pull up the thread I was looking for, I do recall reading that the Vorshlag camber plates reduce the stack height because of the design and OEM parts they replace in the front strut. Looking at this pic:

https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Product...G0878_b-X2.jpg

It does look like they replace the stock top mount to allow for the adjustability. I've normally seen these plates paired with coilovers so people can adjust the height to what they need and don't run into the problem. In your case you have a fixed setup, so you don't have the adjustability. Swift & H&R make the springs assuming you're using close to OEM stack height in the strut, and that's how they would quote their expected drop.

Please take what I've said with a grain of salt, it's a guess. I personally have fixed Dinan plates installed on my setup and all is fine. However I do recall reading a thread about this just can't seem to find it for you.

Good luck.

[MightyMouseTech]

Looks like the Vor. plates are a lot thinner than the OE upper perch. The OE upper perch is very tall. Were you able to measure the difference in height of the upper mounts?

Stock upper mount looks like this:



Compared to camber plate:



That might be where the difference is.

[dhaval]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Looks like the Vor. plates are a lot thinner than the OE upper perch. The OE upper perch is very tall. Were you able to measure the difference in height of the upper mounts?

Stock upper mount looks like this:


Compared to camber plate:


That might be where the difference is.

Originally Posted by asbrr

That's definitely low. I did a quick search but didn't pull up the thread I was looking for, I do recall reading that the Vorshlag camber plates reduce the stack height because of the design and OEM parts they replace in the front strut. Looking at this pic:

https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Product...G0878_b-X2.jpg

It does look like they replace the stock top mount to allow for the adjustability. I've normally seen these plates paired with coilovers so people can adjust the height to what they need and don't run into the problem. In your case you have a fixed setup, so you don't have the adjustability. Swift & H&R make the springs assuming you're using close to OEM stack height in the strut, and that's how they would quote their expected drop.

Please take what I've said with a grain of salt, it's a guess. I personally have fixed Dinan plates installed on my setup and all is fine. However I do recall reading a thread about this just can't seem to find it for you.

Good luck.

asbrr & MightyMouseTech - The picture that asbrr attached is exactly what I have on my car. I wonder if there is truth to what asbrr said about pairing these without coilovers. I once spoke with Terry at Vorshlag about this and I vaguely remember him saying that they design for the stock stack height. I wonder if anyone from Vorshlag can chime in on this.

MightyMouseTech - I did not measure the difference in height.

Originally Posted by E82MSport

Unrelated note - where are your dust boots?

To be honest, I didn't even think of that until you pointed it out. I will take a peek at my parts bin this evening.

[modernbeat]

Originally Posted by dhaval

...I once spoke with Terry at Vorshlag about this and I vaguely remember him saying that they design for the stock stack height. I wonder if anyone from Vorshlag can chime in on this...

Yes, when we build OEM spring compatible perches we try to keep them the same height as the stock top mounts and perches so they do not raise or lower the car.

[modernbeat]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Looks like the Vor. plates are a lot thinner than the OE upper perch. The OE upper perch is very tall. Were you able to measure the difference in height of the upper mounts?

Stock upper mount looks like this:

Compared to camber plate:

That might be where the difference is.

You are comparing the 1M/M3 OEM perch to the stock mount. That's not what he has. He has the non-M OEM perch, which is very different and much taller.

This is what he has, with the perch that starts as a stamped piece, not the 1M billet perch.