E30 Zone

right found some lowering springs that are 55f/35r. there SPAX springs which i presume are a good make, i would have preferred 60/40 or 60/60 but i think spax is the better make compared t the rest as theres not much choice for a 318 cabriolet.

ANYWAY lets say i fit them but want to raise or lower it a tad more, is it possible without replacing springs or shorter dampers etc? How hard and how much approx?

At the rear you can use thicker or thinner rubber spring pads to tweek the height.

stock up on sumps!

Spax are crap. Not that it really matters as any -60 springs you fit to a convertible are going to make it rather horrid to drive. A small price to pay for looking sick, I guess

magpie wrote:stock up on sumps!

sump guard buddy

im use to crawling over speedbumps except when im late for work theres a beast of a bump to get over

pacerpete wrote:Spax are crap. Not that it really matters as any -60 springs you fit to a convertible are going to make it rather horrid to drive. A small price to pay for looking sick, I guess

ohh i thought spax was good, what about pi, vmax, gmax, weitec? which ones the best or r they as crap as each other.

You could always try fitting Mercedes rubber spring pads on the front - they are available in varying thicknesses from MB dealers:

http://www.performanceproducts4benz.com ... g-pad.html

i had -60mm + sumpgaurd buddy and the ride was shit ,the sump guard used to be smashing off the road all the time and caused sparks at night ,fantastic if you like that sort of thing innit

Eibach or better, however I don't think they produce anything as low as you want

Weitec 60's are quite good, they ride quite nicely for such a low spring. Mine's got b8's aswell so it is quite stiff but liveable. Been on since 09 and no catastrophes. If you're worried about scraping or going slowly over bumps, don't lower it at all. I've heard people moaning about scraping etc on 35 so I can't see the big deal. If you want it down then get it down! Just use good/appropriate shocks or it will feel like a 50p fairground ride. (or are they a pound these days? )

H&R are OK too. Had 60/40 cup kit on mine for a couple of years and haven't had any problems at all. Admittedly I treat road humps with respect, but I'm not especially careful. Ride quality and handling are pretty damned good too.

MattTheHat325 wrote:Weitec 60's are quite good, they ride quite nicely for such a low spring. Mine's got b8's aswell so it is quite stiff but liveable. Been on since 09 and no catastrophes. If you're worried about scraping or going slowly over bumps, don't lower it at all. I've heard people moaning about scraping etc on 35 so I can't see the big deal. If you want it down then get it down! Just use good/appropriate shocks or it will feel like a 50p fairground ride. (or are they a pound these days? )

Good advice, i dont mind going slowly over bumps etc.
whats the drop you got on ur sig pic?

kangman wrote:

pacerpete wrote:Spax are crap. Not that it really matters as any -60 springs you fit to a convertible are going to make it rather horrid to drive. A small price to pay for looking sick, I guess

ohh i thought spax was good, what about pi, vmax, gmax, weitec? which ones the best or r they as crap as each other.

pi crap
vmax crap
g max grap

apex crap-ok
cobra crap-ok

spax OK
weitec OK

eibach good
H&R good
KW good

Aside from the marketing guff what makes Pi,Vmax etc guff and H&R good?

mrLEE30 wrote:Aside from the marketing guff what makes Pi,Vmax etc guff and H&R good?

i wouldnt classify PI or V max as good, but i would say H&R are good

H&R's are progressively wound which is a good start. they are not just shorter stiffer like the cheap ones. they do not sag and fail with age unlike the cheaper ones either.

kangamn, is your cab a 318i ?

kangman wrote:

MattTheHat325 wrote:Weitec 60's are quite good, they ride quite nicely for such a low spring. Mine's got b8's aswell so it is quite stiff but liveable. Been on since 09 and no catastrophes. If you're worried about scraping or going slowly over bumps, don't lower it at all. I've heard people moaning about scraping etc on 35 so I can't see the big deal. If you want it down then get it down! Just use good/appropriate shocks or it will feel like a 50p fairground ride. (or are they a pound these days? )

Good advice, i dont mind going slowly over bumps etc.
whats the drop you got on ur sig pic?

60/60 with 15mm drop hats on the front and standard rear spring pads.

Kos wrote:kangamn, is your cab a 318i ?

yea its a 318i theres not much choice out there for the drop im after 60/60 now thanks to matt the hats sig pic.

i got myself some 16s 8.5f n 9.5r so it needs to sit right and i dont mind rolling the arches if needed.

im assuming all cabrio rear springs fit all models as the weight at the rear is about the same

then none of the shelf springs would be a 60mm drop

Kos wrote:then none of the shelf springs would be a 60mm drop

whats that mean? should i just go for the spax 55/35 then and use thinner spring pads...

Despite running 60's on mine, I would advise not going past 40 on the rear given the width of the rear wheels you are planning to use. 60/40 would be ideal for you (or whatever is available for yours as close to) as you can raise the rear if you wanted by up to 10mm using e46 touring 10mm spring pads and you could even bring the front down another 10mm while retaing an identical ride quality by using e90 top hats which will allow the spring to sit 10mm further up the turret.

So in response to your OP, yeah there is a certain amount of tweaking you can do with a fixed height set up!

kangman wrote:

Kos wrote:then none of the shelf springs would be a 60mm drop

whats that mean? should i just go for the spax 55/35 then and use thinner spring pads...

Because a 318 is lighter it will only drop 55. The same springs when supplied for a 325i will drop it 60 due to the heavier engine

Checkout the wiki with regards spring pads and front spring top plate - http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Suspension

harry_p wrote:At the rear you can use thicker or thinner rubber spring pads to tweek the height.

How can I acheive this? Need to raise the rear by 10mm. Are these BMW parts or specialist?
Cheers,
Martin.

BMW250L wrote:

harry_p wrote:At the rear you can use thicker or thinner rubber spring pads to tweek the height.

How can I acheive this? Need to raise the rear by 10mm. Are these BMW parts or specialist?
Cheers,
Martin.

Kedge wrote:Checkout the wiki with regards spring pads and front spring top plate - http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Suspension

I've got 40mm prosport springs from ebay on front and rear and very happy with the right, stiff round corners and barely and body roll, but not a rough ride and still go over speed bumps ok, I have a mtech2 kit on my car and the 40mm lowering springs, but I wouldn't dare go any lower without putting some engine spacers in to lift the engine up.

matt86 wrote:I've got 40mm prosport springs from ebay on front and rear and very happy with the right, stiff round corners and barely and body roll, but not a rough ride and still go over speed bumps ok, I have a mtech2 kit on my car and the 40mm lowering springs, but I wouldn't dare go any lower without putting some engine spacers in to lift the engine up.

Matt ive been keeping an eye on ur build progress for a while, is it going back up for sale next?? LOL

you've dropped it 40mm all round on 17s right? you ever hit the sump or scrapped it?
heard about the engine spacers using washer or even hockey pucks but its a bit of a grey area that...

haha, no keeping it now I think mate.

Yes 40mm drop front and rear with 205/40/17 tyres, only scrapped bottom once, I find its find with 1-2 people in the car, but fully loaded up with 4 people in it and going over a large bump it may scrape slightly. but I think this has only happened once.

Also caught my mtech2 front splitter slightly the other day, which really pissed me off as only had it sprayed about a week ago for 300 for the full bodykit.

But if you're sensible then its fine, I think the people that do damage are people that have lowered the cars too much or are driving like idiots to be honest mate, 40/40 is perfect to me, definitely wouldnt go 60 at the front I value my bumper and sump too much.

Im going to give the 55/35 springs a go first if i feel its too much work protecting the sump im going for 40mm front springs, there hardly bank busting buying these springs. Im more concerned about my engine i dont want to ruin it as the service book is pretty much complete with bmw specialists stamps got invoices amounting over 6k

Im defo buying a sump guard i dont know how good they are but its extra protection, but like a condom it may occasionally split...

in summer my rims will be 16s and winter will be original 15 inch cross spokes

go for it mate, if you do this set up would be interested to see photos.

I was thinking of putting coiolvers on front, so you cn set it just right so it looks nice but no scrapage, as my rear sits spot on, tyre slightly in the arch, although if I had 15's on there would probably still be quite a gap.