Lowering recommendations?

[NielsGalan]

I'm planning to lower the car (mainly front) for pure cosmetic purposes. I am getting mighty sick of the gaping hole between the front wheel and the fender. I am considering just changing the 4 springs.

Is it recommended to only change the springs to lower the car?

Does anyone have experience with Keilform AP Sportsfahrwerke springs?

How much should I lower the car?

Thanks.

[BigKriss]

the springs you mention are basically unheard of. Since your in "Northern Europe", maybe the dudes over e34.de can help you. Changing the springs will change the ride height, not the shocks.

[Incantation]

2 inches front and back is the minimum i would do.. the lower the better

keep in mind that your shocks are old and probably finished.. if you do lower the car it would be best to do everything.. but there's nothing wrong with just firing some springs in there

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

2 inches front and back is the minimum i would do.. the lower the better

keep in mind that your shocks are old and probably finished.. if you do lower the car it would be best to do everything.. but there's nothing wrong with just firing some springs in there

E34s don't have much suspension travel to begin with.

Lower it by 2" in the front and you'll be riding the bump stops. This makes for a terrible ride if your roadways are less than perfect - the car will crash over every pothole. BMW dropped the front of the M5 0.8" from what the 535 was and still installed shorter bump stops. I would suggest to anybody using dampers other than Bilstein to install M5 bump stops whenever lowering the car. If you use Bilsteins, the bump stops are internal and can be trimmed.

Lower it by 2" in the rear and you'll have so much negative camber the tires will be bald on the inside in no time.

245/45R17s on 8.5" wheels will fill out the fenders a bit more and don't rub from what I've heard elsewhere.

Good luck.

[Qube]

From everything I've read here (search!), I've settled on Vogtland sports. I'll probably ring up Bruno to help install ;)

[632 Regal]

those sure looked low on Peters car.
From everything I've read here (search!), I've settled on Vogtland sports. I'll probably ring up Bruno to help install ;)

[motorman]

Doing springs and shocks together is a good way to go (not the cheapest though), you can get a matched set which improve the handling of the car more than just springs will:D.Doing just the springs, you may have some trouble with bottoming because of the reduced suspension travel:( , that's why they fit sport shocks to solve this. One of the lads suggested not lowering the car more than the M5, BMW did that for a reason (overall balance of the car) and that is good enough for me too, so I think his comment is a very good one. This is only my veiw, the others on the forum have more experience than me, but I hope this is of some help.
Cheers Mick:)

[632 Regal]

absolutly nothing wrong with the M5 springs.

[NielsGalan]

Thanks for the info, guys.

I had a feeling it wouldn't be as simple as just swapping springs. It is tempting, though, just to slam the new springs in there, as this is a fraction of the cost changing everything.

I have style 17" style 5 rims, 225 wide and I don't want to hurt neither car nor tyres.