Originally Posted by feeshta
I was considering the Dinan camber plates and their rear shock mounts which claim to add some suspension travel, but if they are not needed for my application, I will not waste the money.
Based on your input I wouldn't recommend doing anything further, as you have enough negative camber to fit either 215's or 225's without additional negative camber.
I do not plan on tracking the car.
If I were you i'd try out a track day, you'll get hooked
I've never been on track and don't foresee it happening any time soon, so that is not a consideration for me. The roads I drive on for fun tend to be more than a little "lumpy", which is a huge part of why I went with the Ohlins as they have a good reputation for ride quality. I plan to stay relatively close to factory ride height, probably with the Ohlins recommended 20mm front and 25 mm rear settings.
The ride quality with the Ohlins dampers is superb and the ride height you noted is what I set my car to initially
I initially was looking heavily into trying to go to a 245 square setup, but the more I read about the pitfalls, the less attractive it seems to go that route.
The pitfalls you mentioned are merely challenges and with a little research is achievable but in your situation I would stay with a narrower tire
I'm very hesitant to get the fenders rolled, as I dealt with the bad side of that in my previous car and it was not pretty.
Fender rolling on a 1-series is easier due to the return flange being at about a 45 degree angle stock. You really only have to roll the fender slightly to gain additional clearance
Also, adding the M3 control arms made a huge difference in the front end grip that the square setup would have been aimed at fixing and I am not sure it is really needed for my purposes any more. It's rare that I truly break traction now except due to bad road surfaces, which the factory suspension does not like very much at all.
Based on your post it really doesn't look like you would benefit from a square setup seeing as you don't drive the car too hard.
Empirically speaking, 17s are superior in pretty much every way(lighter, better ride quality, less costly tire options, etc), they just don't look quite as cool as 18s. The problem there is that I can't seem to find much that works on both the front and rear of the car, at least not in wheels that seem to have a reputation for quality.
I agree 17's would be lighter, cost less and tire cost would be lower but finding ideal offset might be a bit challenging
The other option, and the leading contender at this point I would say, is APEX Arc-8's in the normal 1 series arrangement with 225s up front and 255s out back, or 235s in the front if they would fit. Due to their low stock though, there is a chance that could change by the time they get what I want back on the shelves.
APEX does seem to have stock issues based on others I read about
Tire selection will almost certainly be Michelin PSS, as I have heard a ton of positive reviews, including from my best friend.
For a summer only tire in the Max Performance category it's probably the best tire out on the market
I planned on doing the install next Thursday, and have an appointment scheduled for the next day with an alignment with a shop that is known for their work on non-factory spec vehicles. I can of course postpone that appointment if needed, but obviously would like to get them installed sooner rather than later.
Based on the information you have provided I wouldn't change the springs. Run the Ohlins setup as supplied.
So considering my specific needs and info, would you still recommend going with the swift springs? If so I will need to order them now to possibly get them in in time for the planned install. Also, I had never really heard of thrust sheets. I read the description, but wondered if you had any input on them?
In regards to thrust sheets you can go without. I ran without for a year and didn't have noise issues
Once again, thank you so much for your input. I can't say that enough.
Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I think you might be able to get a little more camber out of just the M3 arms. They are right around 1.1 now without anything other than installing the arms. The guys at the hobby shop were not comfortable changing the front camber, and given I was planning on having a full professional alignment done in a couple weeks anyway, I just left it alone.
|