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[lux.sh]

I don't like how some springs make the vehicle look lower
in the rear. I decided to stay with lowering springs, as I think its
most cost effective for me at this point.

I am thinking of either Eibach prokit or H&R sport, due to
price being one of the lowest and conservative drop.
I just want clean lower look, without killing the ride quality
or camber issue.

according to data,
-----
0.6" --> OEM Stock BMW Sports Suspension
1.0" / 1.0" --> Hamann Motorsport Springs
1.2" / 1.0" --> Eibach Pro-Kit (part # 2085.140)
1.2" / ???? --> KW Automotive Springs (part # 25020058)
1.2" / ???? --> Hartge Sport Springs
1.3" / 1.2" --> H&R Sport Springs (part # 50490)
----

So I am already lower 0.6" with sport pkg. I'll barely lower
the rear and slightly more in the front with eibach prokit,
which I think it'll make it even drop both front and rear.

What do you guys think?
Anyone got pics with eibach prokit and sport pkg?

[lux.sh]

bump! anybody?

[coco]

0.2" is miniscule. You'll barely tell the difference between 1.0" and 1.2" on something as large as a car.

If you got the $$, get coilovers and you can adjust the front/back anyway you want.

[lux.sh]

I honestly do not like the ride quality of the coilovers unless you meant
full coilover system(with shocks), which is too much $$$$ i have to spend
just to get adjustable ability.. Its not like my car is going to see a track,
so I just want slightly more lowered look with my 18" 162 wheels.

Im wondering how it'll look... even drop both in front/rear is hard to acheive
with springs...

[ginojr]

i dropped mine 2" with H&R's & i have 19s on my 06 3 series & i also got the race springs & the ride is so much betta

[lux.sh]

pics?

[ginojr]

i dont know how to post them up/ ? if you help me ill be more then happy to post some up

[lux.sh]

sure no problem. do you know how to send pic via e-mail?
I have a host I can post picture for you.

[Oz]

Does lowering the springs or lowering the crimes void the warranty?

I always believe the cars safety was designed the way it came with (as stock) Does BMW test their cars by doing these modifications?

I'm just curious because I am sort of a guy that doesn't like to get aftermarket parts.

[ZenDriver]

I should warn you:

Lowering a Honda is no big deal because Hondas generally handle like junk in the first place. Part of the secret to why BMW's handle so well is that BMW is obsessed, utterly obsessed, with proper suspension geometry. It is easy to design perfect suspension geometry for a race car because race cars are obsessively maintained and get new springs often; road car springs are expected to last an extremely long time and road cars come with optional suspension packages. My point is that BMW designs the geometry with a fairly high tolerance.

That being said, dropping a sport package equipped BMW severely (like over .75") typically has a dramatic negative effect on the handling of the vehicle because it misaligns the geometry far outside of the normal bounds.

While I usually am not a fan of Dinan (Steve Dinan and I have had numerous yelling matches in his shop over my old E36 Dinan 3), the company does know a thing or two about suspension setup and they have the right idea. They drop the car just a little bit but they stiffen/dampen it properly. You might want to give them a call (Rasmussen is also a Dinan dealer, as I am sure you know).

[ZenDriver]

Does lowering the springs or lowering the crimes void the warranty?

Generally no.

BMW's attitude (enforced by Federal warranty law via the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) is that they will only deny a specific warranty claim if there is reasonable evidence that it was an after-market part that caused the problem. For example, if you slam your suspension with after-market springs and your toe bushings wear out rapidly, BMW will not cover the repair under warranty. If, however, your engine blows up, BMW has no cause to void the vehicle warranty.

BMW can void the warranty on a vehicle that has gone through significant modifications. For example, adding a turbo to a BMW is typically an automatic total vehicle warranty void thing to do. There are some exceptions (Dinan kits didn't void the warranties of the vehicle). Furthermore, I could see the owner of a turbo equipped vehicle make a claim that the turbo can only void the drive train warranty.

[Mark]

Suspension is more an interplay between the ride height and the dampening/rebound then anything else. So changing one without changing the other will affect the handling, probably for the negative. But to say that "lowering the car from what BMW arranged from the factory will ruin the handling" is totally false. totally totally false. BMWs are setup with a certain ride height from the factory for a huge number of reasons, they have to take into account real world driving conditions, the uses of the car, and your 3 overweight uncles you may be transporting one day. So they purposely fund a ride height that is a compromise between all these and many more factors, then they tune the dampening to match that height and provide the type of ride/handling characteristics they want. If you know you wont be driving your car up any hills or through deep snow, or dont have any obese relatives who travel together, then you may not need the extra ride height BMW has designed in. Then you can get a set of matched springs and shocks and lower your car and improve the handling at the same time. Anyoen who has actually modified their suspension can tell you that. There are very few cars that are designed from the factory with only handling in mind, and sorry to tell you BMW is not one of them This is a mass market car so there are alot of other considerations made. But take a look at any of BMWs test cars on the tracks and see how low those things are.. thats because BMW is a true drivers car and they design the car to be the ultimate track weapon if need be. And if an owner wants to turn a mild mannered road car into a better handling car, a simple suspension swap will do the trick (whereas in other cars its alot more complicated).

:rocks:

[ginojr]

ok sounds lyk a plan i will take pics as soon as i wash it tonight or tom cause it pourin out & looks lyk shitt... send me ur email adress & ill send a few to you & if you can post them i would be very happy my email is ginojr129@aol.com

[Mark]

Originally Posted by ginojr

ok sounds lyk a plan i will take pics as soon as i wash it tonight or tom cause it pourin out & looks lyk shitt... send me ur email adress & ill send a few to you & if you can post them i would be very happy my email is ginojr129@aol.com

email the pics to and I can post them for you

[obLu]

BMW's handling comes more from weight distribution, rwd and damper tuning than it does suspension geometry. I was amazed when I changed out my e46 suspension how crude it really was.

BTW, don't waste you money on lower springs unless you're doing the install yourself. Once you get the lower springs on, find out the stock dampers don't really work that well and then pay another install fee to put in new shocks to work with the springs you'll have spent more than the price difference of a tuned set.

With just springs you *will* get float and bounce, damper might be able to hold up for awhile but it's still pushing it out of it's operating range.

Also, the true purpose of coilovers is not to adjust the ride height, although that's a side benefit. It's really so that you can corner balance the car. You'd be AMAZED how much better a properly corner balanced car feels.

[obLu]

PS, you ponied up for the car, don't go ghetto just to get a visual enhancement. Save your pennys and do it right the first time. That being said, if you just cruise in the car and never really care about how it handles lowering springs will be fine.

I learned the hard way on my 330 convertible so I try to make sure nobody makes the same mistake I did.