Hasta la bye bye, wheel gap!

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 07/04/2016 at 16:28 • Filed to: None

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My new suspension is on the car! I took a slight gamble on my choice of B&G springs because there weren’t any pictures of their drop on a 335xi coupe, but I took the plunge based on some photos of a 328xi sedan. The drop looks just about perfect!

Before pic, for reference, of the terrible stock xDrive wheel gap:

Next step is it’s going for an alignment tomorrow and then I’m measuring fender clearance for wheel spacers, because I’m getting a little rubbing on my struts right now when I’m at full lock and low speed, like in a parking lot.

So...it’s going slightly more towards hellaflush, but not really, because it’s needed to stop that rubbing.

One more pic of the drop from the side:

heliochrome85 > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 16:31

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Im likely ordering the H+R set for the F30 myself.

heliochrome85 > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 16:32

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Looks great man!

Nibby > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 16:40

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Textured Soy Protein > heliochrome85 07/04/2016 at 16:45

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H&R for my car drops the rear a hair too much and the front not quite enough. For example:

Also they’re kinda stiff and you can only go so stiff with the Koni FSD shocks I got.

The difference in drop is subtle but that with the spring rates steered me to B&G.

Might be different on your car though.

dogisbadob > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 17:11

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There is nothing wrong with wheel gap :)

When I replace my struts, I’ll have more wheel gap because quick struts come with new springs that sit higher than 20yo sagged springs :p

d15b > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 17:40

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I think the car is dropped evenly. The front wheel well is usually bigger than the rear for braking.

Textured Soy Protein > d15b 07/04/2016 at 17:51

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My car still has more clearance in front than rear, it’s just more even. My rear is a little higher and front a little lower compared to H&R. When I showed up at my mechanic to pick up the car my immediate reaction was “that looks perfect to me.” Which I can’t say the same about the H&R drop.

cluelessk > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 18:52

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Shouldn’t you wait a few day for the new springs to settle before getting it aligned?

You’d probably be best off getting it aligned with the spacer on it.

LoudmouthOne > Textured Soy Protein 07/04/2016 at 20:54

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Very nice, looks great, I know the X drives get a limited selection for a number of things.

I’m likely going Koni Yellow with BMW PS springs, Dinan rear upper mounts and bump stops, and M3 arms around... Or saying screw it and TCK D/A’s. What strut and bump stop combination are you running? These cars so sensitive to lowering without bump stops adjusting accordingly.

Textured Soy Protein > cluelessk 07/04/2016 at 20:56

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In an ideal world yeah, I’d wait longer. But even though I picked up the car today the springs have already been on a couple days. I’ve just been out of town visiting family and picked it up today since my mechanic was open, he had scheduled a couple cars to work on today. I’m telling the alignment shop to set it to a bit less negative camber than I actually want so as it settles it’ll reach my desired setting.

I’m doing the spacers after the alignment because they don’t affect alignment and I want to measure my fender clearance after the alignment is dialed in.

Textured Soy Protein > LoudmouthOne 07/05/2016 at 10:33

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I have Koni FSD shocks, E36 M3 front (31332225377) & Z4M rear (33507836826) bump stops, Ground Control E90 xi camber plates , Monroe rear upper (907984) & lower (907985) shock mounts, Ground Control front and Hotchkis rear adjustable sway bar end links, E93 M3 rear sway bar with OE bushings, and poly bushings for the front tension struts, front sway bar, and rear subframe.

I wouldn’t bother with Dinan mounts & bump stops, you can get the same results with the ones I have for much less.

The Ground Control camber plates were a bit of a splurge over the Dinan fixed camber plates but I wanted the ability to fully align the front of the car and get as much front end grip as possible while keeping the stock front sway bar (but with upgraded bushings and end links).

I can’t change the xDrive’s too-slow steering gear but I can at least try to make the front tires bite a lot. So far without a proper alignment, the various changes have already made a noticeable, but a bit subtle, improvement in the front end grip.

The World of Vee > Textured Soy Protein 07/06/2016 at 21:43

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GAH GET THAT STANCED CAR OUTTA HERE

/uninformedjalops

looks good man!

Textured Soy Protein > The World of Vee 07/06/2016 at 22:08

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Thanks! To steal a term someone else used on a BMW forum, I call it hellafunctional.

The World of Vee > Textured Soy Protein 07/07/2016 at 00:20

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Today’s Cressida article had me raging tbh, just because something is low doesn’t mean it’s “stanced” jesus. I’ve seen a couple stanced cars I like but 99% of the rides I like are low and flush, like proper wheel gap elimination.

Textured Soy Protein > The World of Vee 07/07/2016 at 01:22

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I’ll be the first person to say that I’m not a fan of stretched tires on wheels that poke past the fenders, with excessive camber to make them “fit.”

But, that doesn’t mean the car is “stanced,” because the JDM drift style guys were doing that stuff long before the stancebros started talking about stance.

The rear tires here, to me, says “mad tyte d0r1ft0” more than they say “stance.”

I’ve never quite liked that look, whatever you want to call it. But it’s certainly not excessive on this car.

Of course, I say that, and yet I’m also really crossing my fingers that a little more negative camber in the back of my car will fix the rubbing I’m getting on my inner fender lips.

So it’s really not that different, except on my car the rubbing is from the fat, non-stretched 275 tire on the back, not the wheel, and I’m only talking like -2.5° of camber to get them to clear.

Damn if that ride height isn’t just about perfect though. I’m kinda floored that plain old lowering springs and not coilovers nailed it that dead on.

The World of Vee > Textured Soy Protein 07/07/2016 at 09:59

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yeah it certainly looks good. I have a 2.7t A6 right now and I raised the coils up for winter and never bothered to put them down (been very busy) and it’s crazy how much 4x4 status was going on with cars in the early 2000s

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > Textured Soy Protein 07/11/2016 at 15:14

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Was it M3Forum? I remember one of the socal members had a helmet with a “HellaFunctional” decal on it.

Textured Soy Protein > AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC 07/11/2016 at 15:22

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E90post, someone had it in their little tagline under their username.

I, on the other hand, have this as my avatar, because I’m super cool:

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > Textured Soy Protein 07/11/2016 at 15:28

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Nice. I kind of want a decal of that phrase but I have no idea where I would out it lol.

I...have no idea what is going on in that. Is he pleasantly surprised or is he about to get bit? Or both?!

Textured Soy Protein > AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC 07/11/2016 at 15:35

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That’s from the episode where Worf keeps jumping through alternate realities, and ends up in one where Deanna Troi is his wife, but he doesn’t realize it at first, so when she starts getting all wife-ly with him he’s like whoa whoa whoa I didn’t know we were on this level .

LoudmouthOne > Textured Soy Protein 07/23/2016 at 08:26

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How do you like the FSD’s with increased rate springs? From all I’ve read they have issues damping beyond the stock spring rates, but then on some people love it with certain springs. I hate not having all the data to run all the numbers, but I’m planning on BMW PS springs, Koni Yellows (it’s a street car first, though watch me want TCK D/A’s down the road), the above bump stops you listed (PNs exactly if I recall), Dinan fixed camber plates, M3 control arms front and rear, and likely M3 sway bars. I've read all about the Monroe upper mounts now but admit the known quantity of the Dinan and knowing the impact of tolerance differences... I'll probably just go Monroe.

Textured Soy Protein > LoudmouthOne 07/25/2016 at 12:52

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So far I’ve been mostly happy with the FSDs. The ride is not bad, and the car handles a lot better than before. I’ve managed to bottom out a couple times on particularly terrible bumps and road transitions. That’s probably the “under-damped” thing that people are talking about. But those were some pretty extreme situations.

I have a theory that the source of FSD bumpy ride complaints is the E9x cars tend to get a bouncy ride using stock-length sway bar end links after lowering. Going to adjustable end links to get the sway bars properly lined up helps fix this. Also the stock rear upper shock mounts are pretty weak to start with, and reusing worn out ones could contribute to the bouncy ride as well.

Koni Yellow are still a good option and from what I’ve read they’re not too stiff either. Also Bilstein Sport (B8) could be a good option for lowered cars, some people say they ride a little stiff but with a not-crazy-stiff spring they could be fine, and they have the added benefit of being shortened compared to stock to help regain suspension travel lost from lowering.

LoudmouthOne > Textured Soy Protein 08/06/2016 at 11:49

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Yeah it’s always hard to wade through what can be trusted and what can’t be on forums, especially when it comes to complex systems like suspension. When I dropped my rear end to do my Quaife and RFSB’s this winter I did a rear end refresh kit and even at 30K miles only it had a massive effect on the bounce replacing the upper shock mounts. Somewhat annoyed with myself I didn’t just do Monroe or Dinan at the time, but when I do the Koni Sport’s and PS springs I’ll definitely upgrade then.

Without a doubt on the end links to sway bar interaction when the vehicle is lowered and geometry is changed. I was going to go with the M3 sway bars and end links to start for the mild 10mm or so drop of the BMW PS springs, but it’s probably worthwhile to look into adjustable as 10mm is still a substantial change in geometry.

For the RWD models after copious reading and even running all the numbers (at least those I can find) it appears to be the best compromise bet for the chassis.... Though I’m just waiting until I do it all then a year or two later am eyeing double adjustables, ha.