Lowering an E30 316?

[Junglistjed]

How easy is this? i read somewhere that the rear suspension is weird on this model of BMW? meaning some modification is needed?

Would springs or coilovers be recommended?

cheers lads

[ross_jsy]

Nothing weird about it at all. Same as any other e30.

Road car? Springs then

[Junglistjed]

Would 60mm be too much? on most cars anything over 50 would need upgraded shocks

[ross_jsy]

60mm will handle like shit.

Anything more than 30mm iirc you need to be changing shocks, but depending on age/condition it's something I would be doing anyway while changing the springs

[jimbom30cab]

30mm is best for these cars I think

Here is my cabby before i did the m30 swap, it had a 318i engine so the same as yours, I think it's the right height it has lowering springs on which are 30mm all round



Cheap plug I know but the springs are no longer needed now, drop me a PM if you want them

Cheers

Jim

[TPS]

Don't lower beyond 30mm, I did an 60mm drop on an old 325 I had, it went through, 2 sets of rear wheel bearings, & handled awfully!

[Junglistjed]

Same colour as mine as well! , if you have another picture of a side view i would be interested. I suppose you can cut me a deal seeing as im new ;)

[Junglistjed]

As long as 30mm gets rid of most of the arch gap im happy, the roads around me are terrible so i dont want to do any damage to it

[jimbom30cab]

Best pics I have, not sure of the make, TPS might know as the car was his

They are nice, firm but not too firm, lovely to drive with. They are also quite new and look newish also, I suspect they have not done more than a few thousand miles, they are nice and black still

Yes, happy to do a good deal as I don't need them any more.

[spook]

Have you got a pic of your aerial hole????

[Junglistjed]

Why, would it be rusted mate?

[spook]

Why, would it be rusted mate?

It's very possible,you might want to give it a coat of Fertan

[jimbom30cab]

didn't you use it all?

[Junglistjed]

use all of what?

[Grrrmachine]

Now now gents, don't tease the new guy with your fertan comments.

Jed, just ignore spook, his sig pic says it all

As for lowering the car, you're better off with springs instead of coilovers because of the type of front struts you have. Get used to looking at the Wiki; it really does have all of this laid out in alarming detail:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... n#Lowering

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... _Explained

[harry_p]

How easy is this? i read somewhere that the rear suspension is weird on this model of BMW? meaning some modification is needed?

Would springs or coilovers be recommended?

cheers lads

The rear is the same as lots and lots of cars, its just a separate spring and damper.

It's the front that's weird as the whole hub and upright are one piece meaning you can't just unbolt the strut and stick a coilover one on.

You either have to modify your originals, or buy a set of ready made ones on an exchange basis, which means there are few 'cheap' coilover kits for the e30.

Plus a 316 will have the thinner struts, further limiting your choices unless you upgrade to thicker struts from a more powerful e30.

You're much better off going for a spring and damper setup than one of the cheapo coilover set you might see, which are a bodge job and nothing like a proper coilover setup.

[Brianmoooore]

Plus a 316 will have the thinner struts.

If it's a saloon. Cabs and tourings have the stronger ones.

[pacerpete]

Plus a 316 will have the thinner struts.

If it's a saloon. Cabs and tourings have the stronger ones.

It is a 316 carb saloon in carmine red. Luckily the original owner was so strapped ,he could not pony up the other £350 for more doors !

[Junglistjed]

Im only looking for a 30mm, so would springs be ok?

[Morat]

I hope you're going to declare the mods....bearing in mind your other thread.

[Junglistjed]

Of course i am mate

[Morat]

Here is my much whored pic of my touring on Eibachs and B8 shocks. In retrospect I'd have been better off spending the money on getting the underneath waxoiled and preventing it turning into the rust bucket it has become. But hey, you're only young twice.



Bear in mind those are 55 profile tyres and the pre-facelift cars like yours have higher rear arches so.. you're not going to eliminate arch gap with a sensible drop on your car. It's all a compromise!

[Junglistjed]

As long as some BBS and a smaller arch gap improve it im happy mate

[Morat]

That's cool - just want you to know what to expect

[Junglistjed]

That's what i want tbh mate, at least i wont be disappointed now! haha

[bmw9818]

i dropped mine 40mm before tbh you get a sort of reverse stance going on, 40mm is best if your gonna be chucking your car around and you have those stupid square speed bumps, in a full car it never used to cause any issues with clipping the sump,

currently however ive got 60/40, which tends to create a very disturbing sound at the front when going over those sqaure bumps with a full car, depends really style or practicality cant really have both unless you get coilovers or bags, it looks much better, but you need to adjust your driving style to suit,

[Junglistjed]

30mm doesn't look like it will drop it enough, but i don't want to seriously damage the car by dropping it even lower

[Junglistjed]

how low is that?

[Rich320I]

hard to say but most likely, 60 rear 40 front.

[Junglistjed]

What sort of problems would that cause? other then the obvious struggle to get over speedbumps etc

[Speedtouch]

hard to say but most likely, 60 rear 40 front.

Wouldn't that be the other way round?

[Morat]

What sort of problems would that cause? other then the obvious struggle to get over speedbumps etc

Excessive rear tyre wear due to increased camber. Camber isn't adjustable on the back of an E30 so you need to customise the rear beam with camber plates. And then sumps, sumps and more sumps. The lowest part of an E30 is the sump. I've scraped mine on speedbumps when not paying attention and I'm only at -35mm. If you crack the sump (entirely possible) then you're walking at best, replacing the engine at worst.

Also those are at least 16" wheels, possibly 17" (I'm sure an expert will be able to tell) and he still has arch gaps at the front due to the stretched tyres. The only way to really fill the arches on an E30 is to go for much bigger wheels, a big drop, and roll the arches over stretched tyres. It looks great (if you're into that sort of thing) but you'll have no suspension travel on what has just become a Show car. E30s can look great, but they have problems looking great and handling well. Without wishing to be patronising, you're a new driver - why don't you try driving a car with good handling first?

If you're seriously into "stance" and hate arch gaps, then an E30 is going to cost you. If you're really into it, get a Golf.

[FinalD]

hard to say but most likely, 60 rear 40 front.

Wouldn't that be the other way round?

It actually looks like a level drop anyway so I'm not sure where he got those numbers from.

[Junglistjed]

I have been driving for a year and im not an idiot so i will drive carefully! I do like stance but i also wont want to do constant fixes so i guess ill stick with the 30mm drop!

[Blitz]

This is on 30-40mm front 30mm rear Eibach springs.