Quote:
Originally Posted by Nugget
Ok be really concious of your wheel and spring selection when using this kit. My front wheels sit 2mm further inboard than the stock wheels and the tyres rub on the spring perch when set at stock height. A 5mm spacer is needed which is not what I wanted.
I got the following Swift springs
rear 9" 672lb/in - this is fine.
front 8" 400lb/in - needs to be wound right down to get a decent ride height. They took them out and installed the Ohlins springs and it is slightly better. I am not trying to slam the car but they needed to wind the front right down to get it similar to BMW performance height which is 10mm lower than stock.
If you are ordering I'd get a 9" rear spring and 7" front spring. This might let you set the rear at a decent height and locate the front spring perch above the tyres. But then I'm not sure if it's long enough to stay captive at full droop.
It has been a frustrating and expensive few days.
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Aren't the kit springs 7"? If so, I'd definitely recommend going even shorter than that up front (at least on a 128i, which is a bit lighter, presumably mostly up front).
My car sits higher than I'd like on kit springs with the perches cranked all the way down (in front, rears still have a long way to go in either direction). It's a little frustrating, because I was coming from a Bilstein set up that had the car pretty slammed. Not that I'm all about that look, but it's hard to raise up your car when your used to it being so low for so long. I'd say I'm lower than stock, but not by a ton. Shorter Swift springs are definitely in my future.
In fact, now that I'm in SoCal again, I'm definitely planning on making the drive up to Santa Barbara one of these days to drop my car off at HPA for springs and some more M3 bits. Trouble is, I keep wanting more and more of the suspension components, so I'm going to be saving up for a little while! In any case, these Ohlins dampers are super sweet and I'd recommend them to anyone who can stomach the price. Awesome that Harold now sells them individually - I think it would've been cheaper to buy the Swift springs from the get go that way.
Oh, and incidentally if anyone wants my full set up for comparo: front wheel clearance is fine for me on OEM 18"ers with Dinan camber plates (-1.8°), but I'm running 12 mm spacers.