Spring Mods - KW's, Mids, brake lines...

[Ender_]

A week after taking him out for the spring I put the 1M under the knife, nothing as major as some of you guys do but some much needed minor improvements. Read ahead if your so inclined.

This was done at a local shop of a tuner/track addict! Having him as the prime specialist on my car works well for me, I don't like to just drop of my car and have everything done when I pick it up, I'm also not keen enough to do it all myself. I would rather rely on someone else who's already done it, and he's done it all on his own car and many others (well not so many 1Ms but a couple). I was fairly hands on when two people were needed, the rest of the time taking pictures.
As for the parts, I got the KWs and Mids used from a guy selling his 1M (from 1addicts), the parts only had about 2000km on them and where it very good shape. The shop provided everything else.

What was completed over two days (working on and off):
-Install KW v3 full coil over suspension using stock plate (i.e. no camber plate)
-Replace Mid pipes with Berks Mid, this removed two of the 4 cats
-All 6 brake lines and brake fluid flush & bled


My goal was to get rid of some of the major body roll, reduce the brake pedal softening after a few hard laps. And I don't want to screw with the warranty hence no real engine mods.
I did the mid pipes primarily because I want a bit more sound out of the 1M, but dynos have shown 10-12 WHP from the removal of the two cats.


So some pictures from the work, I have a ton more but I'm trying to keep it somewhat short. We didn't have too many issues with the install since its only been driven 15k KM and not in the winter.

First we started with the Berks midpipe, this was really pretty simple and done in less than an hour(40min maybe). They look much better, to bad they will never be seen. They do weight a lot less I'm sure this took off 8-10 pounds from the car.
(That is a Porsche Cayman S with a full body kit in the shop)



Ripped out the trunk interior for the strut replacement.


Once the old suspension pieces were removed we moved on to the brake lines, there are 6 of the on the 1M and two of them are a real pain, caught tight in behind the rear under frame. These took quite a while, I cant imagine how tight it would be without the suspension removed and on an older car if it was winter driven.



We did have one oops moment, there is a leveling sensor on one of the arms, pull the arm down with too much force and it broke, take note if you are doing this yourself. We did the removal on a week night so if we needed anything the next day at the dealers we could still get it, this worked out well





I wasn't around when the rears where put on, had to work but apparently the install of them isn't too bad other than adjusting the coil once there on. The fronts took a bit of work and really a two person job, while I could see one person able to awkwardly do it, I'm sure it would be a pain in the ass.

Fronts ready to go on:



And the Fronts on, you can see the new brake lines here as well.





And then lowered to the ground after a few adjustments, I wanted to go lower but it was suggested not going lower then this as anything else is really just for looks and not helping with anything at the track, so I reluctantly agreed. And in the end after driving it for two days the drop is probably pretty much prefect.



And here's a comparison picture from almost 13 months ago today at the same place, there is a quite a difference in ride height, really makes like the before picture look like a 4x4.




End result Of course I haven't been to the track yet with the new setup, but the exhaust sounds great now, just that bit more grunt but not annoyingly loud and I think throttle response is better too. Not sure I notice the power increase but even 12WHP would only be a 4% increase, that would be hard to tell on the butt dyno. The KWs, well I gotta say everything feels tighter and better turn in (the steering on the 1M is already great) and really the ride quality has not diminished, in fact I would say its better (other than extremely rough roads), Im sure once I tune the settings for a track setup that wont be the case but the beauty is I set it up for the track when I put the track wheels on and then back again at the end of the day. The proof is the wife hasn't complained about the ride quality since putting them on, she does think its a bit too loud now, which means its perfect!

Overall Im just happy to have him out again after a long winter. This weekend out during the day getting a lot of staring, waves, and thumbs up, seems to make people happy, the styling is unique and a bit goofy on the 1M, part of the charm. Had a guy racing up to me in his brand new C Class AMG, (mean looking/sounding car). Cant wait to get on the track and play with it, first time will be on May 4th.

[1'M Blue]

Great write and good mods you have put on the car .

[Mahlzeit]

Great write up and pics! Thanks.

What are your alignment specs? Particularly front camber. Did you try max it out?

[Ender_]

Going to get the alignment done next week, so not sure how much camber we got out of it. We did loosen the brace and try to get as much as possible, I've heard that you can get up to 2.0 with the stock plates. We'll see.

[ozinaldo]

Between before&after photos, how much of the difference in ride height and wheel gap is due to 18 inch winter set up? I believe that my stock car is somewhere in between those two photos.

[Em/1]

Really nice write-up; wish I knew a guy like your friend! My plans are very similar, but can't decide on suspension and do have a Forge IC and plans for (Cobb?) tune. I think your ride height looks great; does the fact that you used the coilovers avoid the problem of loss of suspension motion with just lowering springs? Can you tell a difference in the brakes?

[Ender_]

Originally Posted by ozinaldo

Between before&after photos, how much of the difference in ride height and wheel gap is due to 18 inch winter set up? I believe that my stock car is somewhere in between those two photos.

No way gap is about the same if not even worse on the 19's...the overall wheel size is the same but with 19's it sits slightly higher. But the car does look better with the 19's so its not as ugly with them.

I hated the gap and was happy to get rid of it, should have come from the factory this way.

[Ender_]

Originally Posted by Em/1

Really nice write-up; wish I knew a guy like your friend! My plans are very similar, but can't decide on suspension and do have a Forge IC and plans for (Cobb?) tune. I think your ride height looks great; does the fact that you used the coilovers avoid the problem of loss of suspension motion with just lowering springs? Can you tell a difference in the brakes?

I'm sure there is a BMW tuner in your city that you can get to know, go to track days and BMW events, you'll find them.

Don't just do springs unless you hate having good track and road ready suspension. Just keep it stock if you can't do it right. You don't have to do coilovers, an after market strut made for a lowered ride height would work too, you just have a lot more options with a coilover kit (kit being the main word).

No real difference with the brakes that I can tell, I don't expect to notice anything until I'm pushing them at the track to get reduced brake fade once a couple of hard laps in.

[bdaddylo]

What type of brake lines did you install and who did you buy them from?

Thx!