Dinan Stage 2 suspension install W/Pics

[135inc]

A week ago I installed the Dinan Stage 2 suspension, and the Dinan performance exhaust. This is a fairly long post, with lots of pictures.

Here are pictures of the install:
The parts arrived in two large boxes


Here are the springs They are about 1/2 - 3/4 inch shorter than stock.


First I removed the trunk liner. there is a good set of instructions in the audio section on 1Addicts.

The round hole is where the shock is mounted. There is a rubber grommet in the hole, but it just pops out. I don't have a picture, but note the direction of the arrow on the grommet cover. You need to reinstall them the same way.



As a side note. there are a large number of these little white control modules all over the car. The 135i is like a rolling distributed computer. Does anyone happen to know what these three do? They are on the Passenger side of the trunk.



With the trunk ready. I moved to the front of the car. I don't think you can put enough tape on the fenders. I had about 5 layers of tape. To remove the strut, you have to use spring compressors, and then push the shock down to clear the fender. There are three studs that stick up from the strut mount, becareful that they clear the paint, since the strut is under pressure, and wants to force them up in to the fender. This picture shows the strut removed. Note the chisel in the strut clamp to make it easy to remove the strut.



Here is the original strut out of the car. I still have the spring compressors on. For the Dinan kit you have to remove the top strut mounting assembly. I found that a 5/8" spark-plug socket fits perfectly to remove the large nut on the top.



When you are installing the new struts, torque the strut clamp from the bolt side. If you torque it from the nut side you will distort the brake hose bracket (Black part under the bolt, in the picture), since BMW did not put any washers on this bolt.



Here is a picture of the front completed



Here is a picture of the front sway bar installed. It was the easiest to do. just 6 bolts and it drops right out. The Dinan bar is 26.5 mm. I have not installed the rear yet, since you have to drop the sub-frame. I plan on ordering the stiffer mounts and then doing the rear. Should be a good winter project.



With the front done, it's on to the rear springs and shocks. Here is a picture of the factory rear suspension. Pretty much every article I read for the 1, and 3 series suggest that you remove the lower control arm bolt from the sub-frame side. As you can see in this picture that is where the alignment is set. I did not want to mess that up too much, and since my lift has a nice flat area to set a small jack, I removed the bolt on the wheel side. I still had the car aligned; however I like to drive about 100 miles to have the suspension fully settled before the final alignment is completed


As you can see here. I used the jack to hold the control arm in place, and to slowly relieve the spring tension. To install, again I used the jack and a long center punch to get The control arm aligned with the hole.



Here is a great shot showing the difference in the springs.



To install the rear shocks, I used the Dinan 12mm upper shock mount kit. here is a picture of the kit in the package. it is very thin compared to the factory bushings. Additionally the durometer of the rubber is much harder


Here is the shock and mount kit installed. Note that you reuse the BMW rubber dust shield (Black rubber over the metal cup by the body) from your original shock mounts.



On to the exhaust. This is the factory exhaust, note all the dents BMW puts in to add clearance so the exhaust won't make noise or bang into other parts.



Here is the Dinan exhaust installed. Note how direct and clean the Exhaust path is. That extra clamp part way down, is the only part of the install that tweaked me. You have to cut your old Exhaust there to bolt on the new part. This is what I thought was annoying, as you can see in the above photo, about 2 feet away from the cut is a factory exhaust clamp for the first resonator. For as much as the Dinan exhaust costs, I think they could have put a factory clamp and the extra pipe to match it up. I understand that they may have to keep more inventory as the cars have different exhaust routing, but I hate extra places for the exhaust to leak, or squeak. This is a minor complaint. The exhaust sounds great, more throaty than the golf tee mod. I'll post sound clips later



Here is a before (Left) and after (Right) of the front



Here is the before and after for the rear


As you can see the drop is very slight; however I think it is perfect, since it keeps the control arms parallel to the ground, which gives you the best control and handling.

From the driving I've done so far this is more like how BMW should have shipped a 135i with the M-Sport package.

[arrutled]

I just did their suspension today myself. So far I am liking it a lot! I didnt have a sweet garage lift though. thanks for sharing!

[Dackelone]

WoW! Nice write up and photos 135inc. And what a sweet looking garage!!!

Dackel

[135inc]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

WoW! Nice write up and photos 135inc. And what a sweet looking garage!!!

Dackel

Thank you. I do a lot of work on my cars, for car shows, and HPDE events.
Here are a couple of more shots of the garage. I'm still decorating the interior. I have a workshop area off to the left, and in front of the cars. with a lot of storage for car parts.

[ErvGotti]

Nice post and that garage is sweet, I love the lift and how clean it is.

[Dackelone]

I think everyone here envy's your garage/cave. I know I do!!!!

[Alex_bm]

my desk is getting wet, need to stop drooling darn

[///M1]

Great writeup, pics, and garage collection!

[IZAGLO]

nice cars dude, and a GREAT work space!!

[HP Autosport]

A set of M3 front control arms would be a good complement to the Dinan system.

I see the Dinan stage 2 kit list at $2278, a Koni single adjustable coilover system and M3 front and rear anti roll bar would cost less than that and yield much more handling performance. Not to mention ride height adjustments and large selection of spring rates on the coilover system. Just another option to consider...

[arrutled]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

A set of M3 front control arms would be a good complement to the Dinan system.

I see the Dinan stage 2 kit list at $2278, a Koni single adjustable coilover system and M3 front and rear anti roll bar would cost less than that and yield much more handling performance. Not to mention ride height adjustments and large selection of spring rates on the coilover system. Just another option to consider...

That rear bar has always been up for discussion with the 1er party.

With the statements like "without rear subframe bushings and a LSD a rear bar is useless on the car" floating around I would like to see proof that you can suggest a rear bar with confidence that it will make you faster at auto-x/track.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by arrutled

That rear bar has always been up for discussion with the 1er party.

With the statements like "without rear subframe bushings and a LSD a rear bar is useless on the car" floating around I would like to see proof that you can suggest a rear bar with confidence that it will make you faster at auto-x/track.

It was for the purpose of comparing the Koni SA and M3 components to the Dinan kit only.

BTW, the rear subframe bushing kit is not a must to have the rear bar working properly.

LSD is recommended regardless of other suspension mods.

[arrutled]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

It was for the purpose of comparing the Koni SA and M3 components to the Dinan kit only.

yeah. I just wanna make sure that people know that before they go buying one and dropping subframes on their toes to find that they can't control it the car with it. I have the Dinan suspension myself with M3 control arms and M3 E92 front sway. I love it and I agree whole heartedly with everything you said except about the rear bar. Sorry I went off topic!

[135inc]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

A set of M3 front control arms would be a good complement to the Dinan system.

I see the Dinan stage 2 kit list at $2278, a Koni single adjustable coilover system and M3 front and rear anti roll bar would cost less than that and yield much more handling performance. Not to mention ride height adjustments and large selection of spring rates on the coilover system. Just another option to consider...

I agree that the M3 control arms would be good to get more negative camber in the front. I would also like to order the sub frame mounts and the rear sway bar, most likely this fall.

I stayed away from the coil over units, since they move the spring perch on the rear of the car which will change the suspension geometry, and I'm not certain that BMW has enough material in the shock mounts to handle the stress of coil overs.

If you look at the amount of metal holding the coil over shock on my Cobra, it is very strong compared to the sheet metal that the shock is mounted to on the 135. And the Cobra is about 1000 Lbs less weight, so the moment of inertia would be less.



Also, I was not really looking for another track prepped car, I have the Elise for that. The BMW is a DD, with some back mountain roads driving. So I wanted a suspension that was better than the way soft BMW setup, but not super stiff. Just my $0.02 worth

[thez99]

Um ya..im moving to NC anyways..can i just move into your garage???

That would be pretty kickass to have my own lift.

What area of NC you in btw, im going to be around Raleigh and Im wondering about specifics of the area and recommended shops, dealerships, etc. if you have any info for meh

[135inc]

Originally Posted by maxnix

Crap! I'm coming over to your garage when I replace my suspension!

Based on your location I think you have over a thousand miles to drive.

Originally Posted by maxnix

I like how the Dinan retains full suspension travel in-spite of the drop. Is that in the rear only?

For the front, Dinan included shorter bump stops, since the Strut mounts directly to the chassis, there is nothing to remove, or slim down. But the struts they include are set up for the lower suspension. I guess the big difference is you are likely to change the weight more in the rear of the car (Things in the trunk, etc.) then you are the front of the car, so it's better to have more suspension travel in the rear to compensate for changing loads

[135inc]

Originally Posted by thez99

Um ya..im moving to NC anyways..can i just move into your garage???

That would be pretty kickass to have my own lift.

What area of NC you in btw, im going to be around Raleigh and Im wondering about specifics of the area and recommended shops, dealerships, etc. if you have any info for meh

I live north of Raleigh. but there is a lot of great stuff to do in the raleigh area. Also you are about 2-3 hours from either the Beach or the Mountians

You can check out: http://www.visitraleigh.com/visitors/

Maybe we'll run into each other sometime in Brier Creek.

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by 135inc

I agree that the M3 control arms would be good to get more negative camber in the front. I would also like to order the sub frame mounts and the rear sway bar, most likely this fall.

I stayed away from the coil over units, since they move the spring perch on the rear of the car which will change the suspension geometry, and I'm not certain that BMW has enough material in the shock mounts to handle the stress of coil overs.

If you look at the amount of metal holding the coil over shock on my Cobra, it is very strong compared to the sheet metal that the shock is mounted to on the 135. And the Cobra is about 1000 Lbs less weight, so the moment of inertia would be less.



Also, I was not really looking for another track prepped car, I have the Elise for that. The BMW is a DD, with some back mountain roads driving. So I wanted a suspension that was better than the way soft BMW setup, but not super stiff. Just my $0.02 worth

Only the front of the coilover system is a true coilover strut setup. The rear will retain the seperate damper and spring setup, but adding an adjustable collar for the rear springs - The geometry will remain the same.

[135inc]

HP Autowerks,

I'm confused. Typically the reason for going coilovers is because you want the shock / spring to only do one job, i.e. dampen the suspension. Every car I have owned, or seen with true coil-overs has upper and lower control arms. and the shock and spring only dampen. This is different from a strut, which does two jobs. 1) it acts as a upper control arm for steering, caster and camber. And 2) The strut in conjunction with the spring dampens the suspension.

Do the coil-over kits include some upper control arm, or are they just calling a strut a coil over? (Technically by just the term coil-over a strut would qualify) It seems to me that this is a Strut and Shock set up that includes adjustable spring height?

Marketing speak because coil-over sounds cooler?

I'm not trying to argue, or start any flames. I really just want to understand how the company calls it a coil-over kit?

I'm relaying on my old school Fred Phun books on chassis tuning, I don't think they are even in print any more but they have served me well. Maybe the terms have changed with the times

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Only the front of the coilover system is a true coilover strut setup. The rear will retain the seperate damper and spring setup, but adding an adjustable collar for the rear springs - The geometry will remain the same.

[cpt97m3]

They are just calling the front strut a coilover. That makes the OE setup a coilover in front also, since the spring is concentric with the shock. Usually they use the word coilover to mean the ride hight is adjustable.

[larryn]

Most BMW "coil overs" feature a rear adjustable shock, and a separate spring with an adjustable perch. The perch is basically a threaded aluminum tube with a spring seat the screws up an down the threaded tube. The spring/adjustable perch mount in your existing spring location.

Btw, there are true coilover systems for the rear with a few manufactures. I agree that you are very likely putting too much stress on the rear towers over time.

[135inc]

Cool that explains it.

I have done a lot of track setups on cars with adjustable konis, bilsteins, Et. al.

Hope everyone is having a great labor day week-end!