1200-mile oil change and H&R front swaybar today!

[baduncadonk]

About to pick up my 135i, which received its post-break-in oil change (yeah, I know it isn't scheduled by BMW) and installation of H&R front swaybar today. Did the 1200 in 5 days ;-)

Will report on the swaybar as soon as I can get out of San Francisco proper and hit some curves.

[coolguy]

Originally Posted by baduncadonk

About to pick up my 135i, which received its post-break-in oil change (yeah, I know it isn't scheduled by BMW) and installation of H&R front swaybar today. Did the 1200 in 5 days ;-)

Will report on the swaybar as soon as I can get out of San Francisco proper and hit some curves.

try to get the rear one too as it makes most of the diff

[baduncadonk]

Originally Posted by coolguy

try to get the rear one too as it makes most of the diff

Hi, coolguy.

Thanks for the sage words! The rear swaybar is on order from Gravity Autosports and should arrive with KW Variant 2 coilovers later this month.

[backtoreality15]

How do sway-bars affect daily driving? Is it a noticeably harsher ride?

[ichiban]

It doesn't affect the comfort of the ride at all, it just stiffens the front or rear of the car making it either more tossable or a neutral feel.

[kbimmer135i]

man... makes me want to meet you up for a ride!

[ichiban]

:biggrin:im first!

[coolguy]

Originally Posted by baduncadonk

Hi, coolguy.

Thanks for the sage words! The rear swaybar is on order from Gravity Autosports and should arrive with KW Variant 2 coilovers later this month.

I am looking into kw or bilstein's pss10. what made you choose v2 over v3 or v1. I don't track much though.

[ichiban]

probably dampening adjust ability for v1 and v2, and as for v2 and v3, that's my boat. I'm still stuck.

[kbimmer135i]

Originally Posted by ichiban

:biggrin:im first!

we should totally meet up and go for a drive!

[ichiban]

for sure. Just hit me up with a pm as to when and where.

[Doolab]

Are you sure you're not talking about a front strut tower bar?

A stiffer front anti-roll bar (sway bar) will give you more understeer. I'm sure you won't enjoy that!

You should have considered a stiffer rear anti-roll bar. That should cut down on body roll and reduce understeer by reducing overall grip at the rear.

Either way, these types of changes should only be done after you've tracked the car a few times and become thoroughly familiar with its handling characteristics and vices, then talked to a few experts there and maybe even let a couple of them drive your car to get their opinions on what it needs to be corrected.

I don't mean to start a flame war because that's not what I'm trying to do but I'm not sure that was a good mod to make to the car without doing real testing on handling...

Read here under the "Too much" column for anti-roll bar. That should give you a general idea what I'm referring to... Heck, read through that whole site while there...

[baduncadonk]

Hi, Doolab.

Thanks for the interesting input. I defer to your perspective, but might point out that the site you referenced is speaking generally about a range of cars.

The goal for me with swaybars and KWs is improving the predictability of handling in the 135i. I have every confidence that the final product will reduce the stock vehicle's understeer and provide a predictive steering model that can be relied upon for more aggressive cornering.

Originally Posted by Doolab

Are you sure you're not talking about a front strut tower bar?

A stiffer front anti-roll bar (sway bar) will give you more understeer. I'm sure you won't enjoy that!

You should have considered a stiffer rear anti-roll bar. That should cut down on body roll and reduce understeer by reducing overall grip at the rear.

Either way, these types of changes should only be done after you've tracked the car a few times and become thoroughly familiar with its handling characteristics and vices, then talked to a few experts there and maybe even let a couple of them drive your car to get their opinions on what it needs to be corrected.

I don't mean to start a flame war because that's not what I'm trying to do but I'm not sure that was a good mod to make to the car without doing real testing on handling...

Read here under the "Too much" column for anti-roll bar. That should give you a general idea what I'm referring to... Heck, read through that whole site while there...

[mikeo]

Doolab is right. I would add:

1) a stiffer rear bar will not make the eDiff work better, just the opposite, because it tends to reduce the weight on the inside wheel.

2) Carefull, too much anti-roll bar does affect the ride of the car, effectively reducing the independence of the independent suspension, making the car feel somewhat 'bound' or 'tight'.

IIRC, the H&R bars are not adjustable, so I doubt they are too much bar, and should work well as do most H&R bits. In fact, I'm thinking the H&R Sport springs matched with their anti-roll bars and topped off with a nice set of Koni Single Adjustable struts/shocks will probably be an ideal street performance setup for less than a set of coilovers alone.