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Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 9:54 pm
by kman82
I hope somebody can help

I would like to upgrade the suspension on my cabby and have decided on the Eibach spring kit and Bilstein B4 shocks. I want to make use of the sale on at euro car parts this weekend so want to get as much of what i need from ecp. Could somebody who's done this recently help me with the bits and bobs i will need to change at the same time.

So far I can think of the following (from ECP):

1. Bilstein B4's all round
2. front bump stops?
3. plastic covers. the corcertina bit?
4. front top top mounts. (have changed rears recently)

Do the plastic bits the springs sit into come with the eibach springs?

Have I missed anything?

325i pre facelift cabby.

Thanks

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:37 pm
by clarko74
Afaik the concertina covers come with the dampers, they did with my Bilsteins, you should also check that the locking rings are included with the front dampers.

All you get with the Eibach springs are the springs, spring pads have to be bought separately.

Can't think of anything else relating to just the springs/dampers. Are all your bushes and arb links ok?

hth

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 11:07 pm
by kman82
Thanks clarko. No my bushes are not all ok, some of the roll bar bushes are nacked which i want to do at the same time but assumed these would be best coming from BMW. is that right? or can i get them from ECP too?

same for spring pads, BMW or ECP?

Thanks again

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 5:30 am
by charlE30
If ECP have the bushes you need made by Lemforder then buy them from ECP as they will be a lot cheaper than BMW and are the same.

I take it your going to order through the zone contact for a nice discount :wink:

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:18 am
by DanThe
Spring pads are BMW only I imagine, not that expensive when I last bought some about September, poly ARB bushes are probably cheaper than BMW now and last 10 times longer, wont affect the ride either.

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:26 am
by MartinSE
What are front bump stops?

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:06 am
by clarko74
I bought some lemforder front arb drop links and then found out that I already had some new genuine bmw ones in my pile of parts, I compared them and they looked almost exactly the same, even down to the numbers moulded into the rubber and stamped into the metal, the only difference I could see was that the bmw ones have an additional little bmw symbol stamped into the metal.

Image

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:27 am
by clarko74
Just re-read the above and realised it's arb bushes not links that are required. Ignore my post above.

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:16 pm
by MartinSE
Bump

What are the bump stops? I'm getting new suspension just like the OP (b4 + eibach) and need to know what parts to get.

Thanks

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:32 pm
by clarko74
MartinSE wrote:Bump

What are the bump stops? I'm getting new suspension just like the OP (b4 + eibach) and need to know what parts to get.

Thanks
I believe they are number 11:

Image

And 4:

Image

Goes over the damper rod to stop it bottoming out.

I just re-used the old ones on the rear of mine as they looked fine. Didn't need them on the front as I'm using B8's which are inverted.

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:43 pm
by MartinSE
Clarko74: Thanks!

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:29 pm
by DanThe
Drop links are relevant too TBH, E30 type wont take much abuse, especially aftermarket lesser quality. I had some Lemforder drop links turn up the other day and was surprised that they are only tack welded :?

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:51 pm
by kman82
Thanks everyone, its the drop links that need doing on mine. I havnt checked the arb bushes yet but I
Imagine they're gone. Can you get the poly bushes from ecp?

Yeah going to give the zone contact a shout tomorrow, they've got a 20% sale this weekend anyway. Do you reckon he'll be able to improve on that?

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:59 pm
by capri_rob
Bump stops & Concertinas do not come with front inserts - they have to be ordered separately - I got mine from ECp they were only £13 for the actual bits but £10 extra delivery was a bit of a wounder as they had to come from germany.

Spring pads for the rear definately have to come from BMW - they are not expensive but you can order them in 3 different thicknesses - I went for the middle one ( 7.5mm )

I'd get ARB bushes & Trailing arm bushes from BMW as well.

Lemforder droplinks from ECP will be fine for normal use

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 5:32 pm
by kman82
Cool Thanks. So so far my list is as follows:

Bilstein B4 front and back (51mm for 325i convertible)
Front bump stops
Front corcetina bit.
Lemforder top mounts
Lemforder front arb drop links
Front ARB bush. lemforder or poly?
Front spring pads

Have emailed to matthew.gregory@eurocarparts.com for him to put it together for me. I will update here if anything else is needed so other people know what to get too.

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 7:01 pm
by DanThe
Use poly ARB bushes, they will last the car out, rubber bushes soon round off and give less contact area. You can get these from ECP but just make sure they send the correct diameter for your car

Re: Parts required for suspension upgrade

Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 12:58 am
by kman82
Cheers dan. Got the rack and pipes safe and sound by the way, thanks!