Suspension has a lot of travel IMO

[Mandinca]

I have a US Spec 2008 E88 with 61K and as far as I know it’s completely stock. I feel like the suspension is way too soft, like there’s way too much travel in it.
For example, I drive into a dip to get into my driveway, as I drive out of the dip again I go into a second dip at which point I get some rubbing. I can’t determine if it’s the tires rubbing or the bottom of the car hitting the ground ! There is a sort of air dam type lip hanging down under the bumper that could be rubbing against the road.
I’m running 205/50/17 snow tires on 7.5” rims that have a 47 offset – the stock BMW wheels have a 34 offset and are 7” fronts and 7.5” rears.
I can see that with the extra width and offset the fronts are out 1” more than the OEM setup. I was assured that this wouldn’t rub but just visually it looks like it could.
I’ve tried bouncing the car by hand to see if it will cause the tire to hit the fender but I can’t get enough force up to do it. I’ve put blue tape on the fenders to see if it wears off in any spots but can’t see anything obvious.

So I’ve got two scenarios here.

1) The set up rubs the fender or liner but I can’t see any evidence of this with the blue tape.
2) The suspension is so soft that it bottoms out causing either the tires to rub the fender or for the lip under the car to hit the ground, I didn’t notice this on the stock rims before I switched to the winter set up.

I’m looking at some 18” rims that have 49 and 52 offset front and rear which will only make the problem worse IMO whichever scenario above is the case as that’s 2mm wider than I already have in the front.
However, the current owner says he had them on exactly the same car with no other mods and had no issues – which leads me to believe my problem is that my suspension is toast.

Need some advice please…..does anyone have experience with a setup of 18” rims running 235/40/18 on 7.5”F and 8.5”R rims ? (they’re 264 style BMW rims)
Or…..does anyone else think my suspension could be toast (after only 61K) and be able to offer some sort of opinion on what I should buy to replace it with that will allow me to run those 18” rims.
VIN specs say I have the M suspension that’s standard on all US spec E88’s.

[BimmerAg]

your winter tire setup shouldn't rub IMO. The overall diameter is about 7mm larger than stock, but that should be ok. The offset is only 2mm further out in front and 5mm in the rear which shouldn't cause rubbing either, especially with the narrow tires you are running.

As far as the 18" wheels you're looking at, I think you'd be ok with those as well. I had some track wheels that were ET41 front and ET50 rear running 245 front and 255 rear and had no rubbing. Now I have the same wheels with wide 255s all around and only get rubbing in the front when I hit bumps going at medium to high speeds.

Maybe take some pictures of your wheel/tire fitment and of your suspension so we can confirm that you're stock?

[Mandinca]

Thanks, I seem to have my memory screwed up....what I should have said was :

I’m running 205/50/17 snow tires on 7.5” rims that have a 34 offset – the stock BMW wheels have a 47 offset and are 7” fronts and 7.5” rears.

I had the offset the wrong way around - ugh, sorry.

[lowbudgethero]

my shocks were toast by 50K

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by lowbudgethero

my shocks were toast by 50K

I'm not experiencing any thumping sounds, just that the front of the car bounces up and down a lot on undulating roads which then causes whatever the rubbing is.

[a4nut]

My suspension sucked at 20k. Probably was always that way but I upgraded to coilovers...problem solved.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by a4nut

My suspension sucked at 20k. Probably was always that way but I upgraded to coilovers...problem solved.

Yeah, it just sort of bobs up and down over the undulations in the road - I need something to stifffen it up - just can't afford to do coilovers at the moment unless I can find some that are used.

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by Mandinca

Yeah, it just sort of bobs up and down over the undulations in the road - I need something to stifffen it up - just can't afford to do coilovers at the moment unless I can find some that are used.

Stock shocks are insanely soft to make up for the harsh ride of the really stiff stock run-flat tires. When i took my stock shocks out I could depress them with 1 finger. My coil-overs took my full body weight to depress them.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

Stock shocks are insanely soft to make up for the harsh ride of the really stiff stock run-flat tires. When i took my stock shocks out I could depress them with 1 finger. My coil-overs took my full body weight to depress them.

Ahhhh, right. Yeah, the front just seems ridiculously spongey over the bumps. I'll replace the shocks I guess - without spending the GNP of a small country - any suggestions ?
I'm putting 18" rims on, not too worried about lowering the ride height as where I live has speed bumps that I already catch with my jack points (the plastic pieces) if I go over them at anything faster than a crawl.

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by Mandinca

Ahhhh, right. Yeah, the front just seems ridiculously spongey over the bumps. I'll replace the shocks I guess - without spending the GNP of a small country - any suggestions ?
I'm putting 18" rims on, not too worried about lowering the ride height as where I live has speed bumps that I already catch with my jack points (the plastic pieces) if I go over them at anything faster than a crawl.

A lot of people run Koni Yellow.

[Mandinca]

So I see, a lot of posts about the yellows. Just leave the stock springs on ?

[BimmerAg]

Bilstein B8 shocks are also popular and well regarded around here. Stock springs will be fine unless you want to lower your car, which it sounds like you don't.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by BimmerAg

Bilstein B8 shocks are also popular and well regarded around here. Stock springs will be fine unless you want to lower your car, which it sounds like you don't.

I might when I get the 264's (18") on but with the offset I'm currently running I'm already getting some rubbing on 17" so it'll just be worse...lol. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm quickly finding out that suspension is a minefield and there's no "true answer".

[lowbudgethero]

Originally Posted by Mandinca

I might when I get the 264's (18") on but with the offset I'm currently running I'm already getting some rubbing on 17" so it'll just be worse...lol. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm quickly finding out that suspension is a minefield and there's no "true answer".

I went with dianan spring from an e92 which keeps the stock ride height and the bmw performance shocks. I put 255 section tires on the fronts and would get rubbing over harsh bumps and scrape driveways but now I have no rubbing at all or scraping at all.

If i didn't spot the bmw performance shocks when i did I probably would have just going bilstein or koni

the rear subframe bushing also gives a rubberband floaty feeling in the back end over bumps too. Inserts helped a great deal for that

[chris@strutmonkey]

Lots of good options for the e88...
Suspension candy for you...

[NorthernDancer]

The correct offset for 17's is 47mm. Don't know where the 34 comes from.
I seriously don't think going to 18's is going to solve your problem.
I think your suspension is OK however if you're getting undulations then yes something is wrong.
Can you not get another BMW guy to ride along with you to confirm details before you go out and spend a lot of money and maybe be no further ahead?

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by NorthernDancer

The correct offset for 17's is 47mm. Don't know where the 34 comes from.
I seriously don't think going to 18's is going to solve your problem.
I think your suspension is OK however if you're getting undulations then yes something is wrong.
Can you not get another BMW guy to ride along with you to confirm details before you go out and spend a lot of money and maybe be no further ahead?

When I say I'm getting undulations....I mean when I drive along an undulating road it sets up a sort of resonance where the front of the car goes through one dip then perfectly catches the next one and something rubs. Not sure what, underside of bumper, the winglets under the bumper, the fenders - no idea.
The underside of the bumper is pretty badly scraped up but that's probably normal for a 9 year old car. I don't think the 18's will fix my problem...I know they won't. I'm just wondering if the suspension just has too much slop in it now and needs firming up. I want to lower it but I also have speed bumps where I live. If I drive over them rather than just creeping over them something slams down hard on them - pretty sure it's the plastic jack point adapters as they only just clear the speed bump if I crawl over. That tells me that I can't lower the car either or it will just tear them out and damage something else. The undertray only just clears as well....don't need to slam down on that.
I guess my answer is stock height with firmer dampers. Just looking for some advice that will confirm this. Just seems odd to me that these cars are so low in stock form that they scrape speed bumps.

The 34 offset was for some aftermarket rims with snows on them which I bought from a Z4 owner. I checked in the forum to see if they would rub and was assured they wouldn't. Once I put them on I noticed the rubbing during the undulating roads. Maybe it was there before on the OEM 17's but I don't think so.....leaving me to believe that the offset was causing the rubbing so it has to be rubbing the fenders.

[Zombie_Head]

Someone correct me if i am mistaken, but i kept getting good threads about the BMW performance kit (with springs) for those that do not wish to have a coil over setup or those that do majority daily driving and some track days (for fun).

Unless they are just expensive and "you can get better for the money", is that an option for you? i am really interested in them since they come with everything including sway bar at the front and rear bushings (it does lower the ride a bit but it is a "set it and forget it" setup), i really do not like to constantly tinker with height, rebound and so on.

[marconi118]

I have a new BMW performance suspension kit (with springs) to sell
shipment in europe

[Mandinca]

Just curious, how much do you want for it ?

[marconi118]

600€

[Mandinca]

Where in Europe are you ? I have access to a UPS account which provides me with excellent shipping rates.
Any idea what the kit weighs ?