You know it's bad when...

[e34.535i.sport]

...one of your pupils comes into class and hands you a piece of your car that "fell off as you were going down the road"... Well, it happened today. :p

It seems to be a peice (rather large) of the rear spring... I knew it was mine as soon as I saw it - I recognised it from when I done the rear shock mounts a while back. :(

So the question begs... What's my best bet spring-wise? I'll replace all four and I'm looking to lower the car a little as the front tire/wheel arch gap is quite large, and this is as good an excuse to do it as I'm going to get! I shoudn't have any problems swapping them over as I've had the springs on and off a few times... Just looking for a good set of springs that will give a nice firm ride but not cost a fortune. Any info on good brands, places to go, prices etc would be much appreciated (I'm in the UK just incase!). :)

[Tiger]

Eibach Pro Kit

[whiskychaser]

...one of your pupils comes into class and hands you a piece of your car that "fell off as you were going down the road"... Well, it happened today. :p
It seems to be a peice (rather large) of the rear spring... I knew it was mine as soon as I saw it - I recognised it from when I done the rear shock mounts a while back. :(


I cant help on spring types. But I must commend you on your intimate knowledge of your car. If a bit fell off mine, I would be hard pressed to identify it. That is perhaps why one of us is a teacher?:D

[repenttokyo]

Eibach Pro Kit.

[Dave M]

Eibach Pro Kit.

When did these become so popular? I've had mine for 5 years and love them.

Dave

[e34.535i.sport]

I cant help on spring types. But I must commend you on your intimate knowledge of your car. If a bit fell off mine, I would be hard pressed to identify it. That is perhaps why one of us is a teacher?:D

Glad to see ur back safe & sound my friend - How was the adventure?! Haha, well all I can say is it's a good job I'm not an English teacher looking back at my previous post! :) In truth, if it's within a 6 ft radius of my car & made almost entirely of rust... It's off my car! :D No i spent a while wire-brushing the springs when I had them off a while back so i knew the colour/texture of the piece the same :(

Eibach pro ... I'll look into that thanks guys! I'm hoping this isn't going to cost me too much overal, the susension's had more than it's fair share of my pocket money over the last couple of years!

[e34.535i.sport]

Well, the pro kit looks like it'd cost me £200+ so I've been looking into some standard rear coils for now.

A local place that is normally pretty good said he can get me standard rear springs for £32 each... OR Heavy Duty rear springs for £42 each. Just to confirm, but I thought the Heavy Duty springs were for the touring? Does this mean they'll be more hardwearing? Will they have the saem ride height? The rear is pretty low anyway, I wouldn't want it any lower to be honest! :D

Thanks guys.

[uscharalph]

Eibach Pro Kit
Are these part of the Sachs kit?

[Tiger]

See if you can get M-Tech springs...

[repenttokyo]

Are these part of the Sachs kit?


no - they are about 200 bucks from pretty much any retailer in the US.

[whiskychaser]

See if you can get M-Tech springs...

Thats a good point. Doesnt yours have sport suspension?

[e34.535i.sport]

Thats a good point. Doesnt yours have sport suspension?

I was under the impression that it does, but I can't figure out the difference fitment wise because getting shocks for the M-tech was a PITA, so I went with some standard Bilstien's up front and it's never felt better.

I was thinking lowering springs would effectively work the same... I assume the M5 had the M-tech susp? That sounds ridiculous. Anyway if so I am thinking I can just get some lowering springs up front designed for the M5 and they should maintain the handling etc?

[e34.535i.sport]

Hey... I ended up getting a set of 'Apex' lowering springs from a semi-local parts place as they were more in the price range I was looking at... Got them on and they've really improved the handling! Much more grip from the back end, MUCH flatter in the corners and no more bounce over speed bumps! The ride is a lot harsher however, with a lot more feedback from the road and more noise too. It's a good compromise for now I think, as the ride isn't exactly bone-breaking, I can put up with that for the improved cornering. :D

One of the shocks started to leak when we were removing one of the rear springs, so I bought two new bilsteins and put them on... It's a good job I did because there were holes in the shocks were it had rusted through! They must be originals... amazing they lasted 19yrs and were still going (I never noticed a real problem!).

Pics to follow hopefully!

[e34.535i.sport]

Pun intended...

Didn't realise how bad they were...
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/3/2/3/f_stuff001m_8960af3.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/2/3/f_stuff001m_8960af3.jpg&srv=img26)

http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/3/2/3/f_stuff002m_2acef0a.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/2/3/f_stuff002m_2acef0a.jpg&srv=img33)

[bubba966]

I'm glad stuff doesn't rust like that around here...

[Tiger]

That shock didn't last 19 years... it is just that you didn't realize they were bad.

[whiskychaser]

You have to be seriously dedicated to change them outside in the snow:D Improvements in ride and handling speak for themselves. 10/10 and no detention this week!

[e34.535i.sport]

You have to be seriously dedicated to change them outside in the snow:D Improvements in ride and handling speak for themselves. 10/10 and no detention this week!

Ha ha ha LOL! And thanks! We got our 'HARDCORE' status back, that's all that matters ;)

I'm chuffed with the improvement in handling... I never really enjoyed going fast around corners but now that everything on the suspension side of life has been renewed it feels amazing! I keep testing the car more and more, it has so much more grip which I wasn't really expecting. (That's a sentence that could come back to haunt me if I ever heard one :D)

[Tiger]

Don't go crazy around the corner in the winter! You just had a blizzard of the decade in UK. Spring and summer time are the greatest time to really enjoy that suspension. but not winter... higher probability of smacking your car.