Who here has lowered their E36?

[kerph32]

I can't decide what to do. In about 2 years I'm probably going to move up to an E36 M3 but in the mean time I really want a stiffer and lower ride. It feels like the stock shocks are worn out, the car just isn't as tight as it should be.

I want to lower the front maybe 1.5 inches and the rear only a little bit if any... have any of you done this? What kind of results have you had?
I want to make sure that my springs and shocks are matched and that I don't have too much camber so my tires last a decent amount (ie. no less than they do now, if possible)

Thanks for your input-

Mike

 

[scooter3]

i havent done it. i seriously have been thinking about it. the only thing i know is that a lot of people are recomending bav auto for the parts. i just need to know what king of kits are there to do this and what it entails

 

[Pete K]

I've been thinking about this myself. I just want something a little tighter than stock to replace the tired original suspension. Bavarian Autosport could set you up. I've heard their guys are really knowledgable. A whole new set of front struts and rear shocks on my E36 would be about $1000 installed, maybe a little more. I had the rear springs replaced last year after one of them broke (rust). Just waiting for my tax return...

 

[ytease]

Hi all im from Aus...so excuse the price difference!! I had the rear lowered. Then the rear and front lowered again...lucky I knew the guyz!! This is just to give u some ideas on wat I did....

I opted to have the springs reset, I believe they were M-tech springs so the car sat pretty low originally. I had the rear reset 1.5inches and the front 0.5 $AU250 all up..thats cheap here considering it costs $300+ for decent BMW springs alone. The car now sits 13cm front and rear with M3 Sideskirts. The camber kit is a must when lowering cars as the minute u drop it the camber gets worse. I got this from the same place i had the car lowered. Rear kit cost $AU320..Front $AU370 and bolts straight on and can be adjusted on load. With Front kit I have a lil camber but its ok for the moment until I can save up to get a Front Kit.....with rear kit is now is .3 negative camber on rear left and 0.1 camber on rear right. The guy said something about the cars not being exactly equal..but I was more than impressed as the camber on the rear was something like 3-3.5 neg camber and on 19inch tyres that aint good for the budget!!! lol

Check out there site www.kmac.com.au..you can order online and you can download the PDF fitting and adjusting install guides.

My front shocks are worn especially the front right...so to compliment the height at which my car now sits i am looking to purchase some bilstein B8 Sprint shocks which are a high performance shortened shock. I haven't been able to get an exact spec on what it will do to height..but it will roughly lower the car maybe another 1cm?? Front and Rear costing $AU1300

The pics I have on the gallery are old and are not what my car looks like now that I have lowered it. I don't know heaps on the tech side of lowering cars...but once you drive a lowered car (whether it be scraping the ground like my old one) or just for a more aggressive look and driving feel...you won't go back!!!


25/04/2006.....Just adding onto my original msg from Dec last year (cause my car was vandalised afta the Sydney Race Riots n ended up in smash repairers for a month)....I saved up some more money and I recently purchased some Blistein B8 Sprint Shocks and a K-Mac Front Camber kit (as well as doing the front bushes......the ball joints were fine and trailing arms). The ride is incredible...at first the shocks felt uncomfortable because they were so stiff, but thats because i was used to my worn OEM shocks that had....HAD IT! But now afta 2-weeks of driving, the car has settled and the driving feel is perfect...absorbs bumps while giving amazing control of being able to point the car exactly where I want it without a second thought of maybe losing it! Those Bilsteins were worth the $AU1300 I paid for them!!! Not to mention the the camber kit is cool too...cause now I have pretty much unlimited adjustibility on the front end and my mates at K-Mac setup the camber, toe, caster to my driving style!!

 

[jonnyk]

ive had mine lowered 45mm at the front and 25mm at the back i believe, but it ended up lower than that, on 16s it was to close 2 the floor but with 18s its good, the rear camber makes for good handling but bad tyre wear i paid around £320 (english) for full springs and shocks by spaxs and fitted them my self its not 2 bad with right tools 10 ton air ram being one of them good luck

 

[B M W]

H&R Sport springs matched with a set of good aftermarket strut/shocks should do the trick. Ive heard bad info about Eibach's Pro-Kit beign too soft and never giving the drop it's said to do. H&R Sports should also keep camber near stock.

 

[Neo4]

Hi, I am thinking about lowering mine too. Mines a 1992 318i (E36) 4 door and its red in colour (dark red, can someone tell me what that colour is actually called?)
Could there be any issues, and what sort of alloys do you recommend? (18, 19?)

 

[epj3]

You MUST get the rear reinforcement plates welded in before going with a stiffer spring, unless of course you like holes in your chassis.

 

[jonnyk]

my 18s are fine on the rear have never touched,but the fronts catch on the inner wing and the top of the outer wheel arch,bmw sell rack stops which reduces the lock so the wheel wont touch the inner arch ,i have some but havent fitted them yet

 

[kerph32]

Well I haven't done anything yet but I did get a reccommendation from a guy I know that works at a tire/wheel/suspension place here in Atlanta (Butler tire)... he suggested the Eibach Prokit or Sportkit, plus some spacers for the rear if I don't want it to be lowered too much back there.

Any testimonials for this setup?

Thanks guys-
Mike

 

[Kirby]

Take a look at the H&R OE Sport Springs. They lower the rear .5" & the front 1". That's close to what you said you wanted. I have a set of these on order for my E36.

 

[kerph32]

Well I see alot of H&R fans here, I'll have to take a look at those. Kirby are you installing new shocks/struts with your new springs?

 

[Kirby]

Yes, I have Koni Sports already here, waiting for the springs. I also have M3 reinforcing plates on order.

 

[epj3]

Yes, I have Koni Sports already here, waiting for the springs. I also have M3 reinforcing plates on order.

That's awesome. My friend has koni sport adjustable shocks with stock springs (I'm sure/hope he will be upgrading to eibachs or something...) and it was an AMAZING change. Totally different car. Not too stiff either.

 

[edje]

fk adjustable kit great for all sizes of rims reel good for corners [best for high way use]
near €600 price quality def not bad

 

[dblE]

There is a kit with bavauto.com SK SU80BM01/1...this is an adjustable coilover set. Has anyone ever used this set. $799.95 for the whole set. Seems like a good deal. I think this is the one I'm going with.

 

[Kirby]

That's really cheap for a coilover set, almost too cheap, and they don't list the manufacturer. Check with them to see if they stock/sell just the replacement shock cartridges for this coilover.

If these are OEM quality shocks, you'll get 50K - 75K miles out of them, and then be replacing them again. If they only sell it as a kit, that's a problem.

 

[Kirby]

By the way, if you put coilovers on the rear you REALLY need to put on performance RSMs (Rear Shock Mounts). If you drive aggressively at all, coilovers will destroy stock RSMs.

BimmerWorld.com has Rogue Engineering and Ground Control Performance RSMs.

 

[epj3]

Oh yea before replacing shocks and springs, replace your bushings. Will make a much better improvement than anything else. My E34 - which is absolutely notorious for suspension stuff - has original shocks and springs. Completely worn out - rear of the car looks like its almost lowered even though its just saggy springs! Anyways - car was kind of loose, replaced front and rear bushings and linkages and car felt brand new. Cornering was much better, especially because the rear suspension plays a much bigger part in handling than you would expect.

I would say replace bushings, then go from there. Do all of them, even the tough ones.

 

[dblE]

That's really cheap for a coilover set, almost too cheap, and they don't list the manufacturer. Check with them to see if they stock/sell just the replacement shock cartridges for this coilover.

If these are OEM quality shocks, you'll get 50K - 75K miles out of them, and then be replacing them again. If they only sell it as a kit, that's a problem.

I definitely agree with the both of you, on the bushings. I'll search for them, before I purchase the kit. What linkages are there for my car?

I checked with Bavauto, they have all replacement parts, for the kit I was telling the group about. Also, a company in Germany builds them, to their specs.