E30 Zone

I'm looking to get the back of my cabbie back up in the air to stop it looking like it's dragging it's arse like a sick Golden Retreiver and also the cost of tyres is doing my nut.

I didn't lower it myself, and have never done any lowering or sus work at all myself so don't really know what I'm looking at. But having done some preliminary yootoob and t'internet research what direction would you guys go in?

A: Ride height adjuster. Or . . .

B: Whack some new springs in there.

If I go for new springs, I don't want it OEM, as I need to do the front as well, I'm just after a little adjustement so I can take some of the camber out of the tyre and get the wheel out of the arch. We're talking an inch, if that. If I go too high it'll make everything look Dragstar! And I don't want that. Ok, if you got a lovely v8 and bulging wheel arches, but not ok on a pretty little cabbie.

Or should I just suck it up and get everything, front and back done. Probs with that being that whilst I can see myself dicking about at the rear, the fronts look a hell of a lot more involved and I don't have any friends . . . . . . To catch the hub as it falls.

Just wondering what you guys think and experiences with running funny suspension. Whilst I ain't a 'stance' guy, I do like the she looks lowered. But it's stupidly impractical and I need to do 'something' about it.

Cheers in advance chaps and chappesseseseseesssss.

Hi,
I have just fitted Eibach Pro-Kit (search ebay) springs which are 30mm lower than the standard height at the rear and 40mm lower at the front. There are 2 types, 4pot and 6 pot.

On the rear - you are going from lower to higher, so after you remove the caliper and lower shock nut a little pressure on the wheel and the spring will just fall out (much more difficult going from standard - I had to remove the driveshaft from the diff).

On the front - you can do this yourself. After you have removed the caliper and disc the strut isn't that heavy, you can hold it with one hand on the spring while you undo the last top nut resting it on a jack, then lower it. The b1tch for me was the lower ball joint and the track rod ball joint, I needed a tool for this. First strut took 3 hours, second one half an hour. It can be done yourself.

Also, I was going from 45 to 51 front struts so I had the front already built up to slot in place which made it easier.

The tracking then needs to be set up again as it will be wrong.

Drives nice now and looks better.

Oh, while your there, if the dampers are old you may as well do them at the same time.

Hope this helps.

Half my problem is that I've no idea what's on it already. So for a novice like me to try and gauge the height and where to work it all out from is a bit of a head scratcher. It would be easy just to head straight for stock height and work from there. But I'm trying to find a middle ground that I can experiment with, hence the look at adjusters to see if they could offer me something.

Any form of adjustment would ruin the car, because adjustable systems generally limit suspension travel.
For the second time in a couple of days: Eibech or H&R -35mm springs and Bilstein B4 dampers all round.
Note that your rear springs need to be specifically for a cab. or touring.

check to see if there any spring pads back there. They could give you a few mm

Cheers guys, will take all on board and have a good looksee.

Half a chance they are saloon springs if it is just dragging its arse.

How soft is it at the back? Does it bottom out a lot?

I've never known it to hit the bumpers when driving, but then I'm not a particularly hard driver, and a cabby doesn't really reward you for it either other than new pants every once in a while. And I'm not that fussed about the look of it really, it looks long, low and with the roof down a lovurrrrly profile. But because of the camber on the rear especially (The fronts do go on the inside edge as well, but they take forever to get there) I just want to pop up the rear a little to take the cost element out of yearly tyre changes whilst not really being able to afford a full four corner lift.

It's seems that suspension kits et al was something every young petrol head learnt about except me. I don't have a clue. This car is teaching me a fair few things about mechanicalising and it's great. But it can get a bit overwhelming at times.

I'll investigate Brians suggestion, but I can't do the fronts yet. Will it make the car undrivable if I just did the rears first?

I'm looking at the Bilstein B4 dampers and the Bilstein B3 spring. Not a particularily user friendly website, but hey. . . . . .