Peoples reviews on ARBs

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

Anybody tried the whiteline ARB from rally nuts?
also looking at the H&R and Eibach ARBs

[RobCallow]

I have them fitted to My 325i (fixed front and adjustable rear) and found them very good not tried the others though. Got mine from a local guy with a club discount from another forum I belong to.

[northloop]

These cars perform really well without expensive uprated ARB's. Although saying that I did crash mine on Saturday Would an uprated ARB have saved me, nope, just possibly made the car less progressive and ensured I crashed on a slower corner

[Jhonno]

These cars perform really well without expensive uprated ARB's. Although saying that I did crash mine on Saturday Would an uprated ARB have saved me, nope, just possibly made the car less progressive and ensured I crashed on a slower corner

Ouch! Bad one? Pics?!

I love my H&R ARB's.. Though I believe when you start tracking with uprated ARB's it can lead to less traction due to lifting of the inside wheel.. On the road though, they are excellent, and allow a softer spring rate without the roll

[UweM3]

I love my H&R ARB's.. Though I believe when you start tracking with uprated ARB's it can lead to less traction due to lifting of the inside wheel.. On the road though, they are excellent, and allow a softer spring rate without the roll

second that. (got H&R as well) For track you need to get your spring rates right first. ARB's are only fine tuning.

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

its going to be for road use anyway, i'm after some stiffer springs as well but get this standard sport ride height!

[northloop]

I would suggest if you're pushing your car hard enough to warrant uprated ARBs on the road then you're going too fast

[mt1104]

not if your rallying

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

I would suggest if you're pushing your car hard enough to warrant uprated ARBs on the road then you're going too fast

the car just rolls too much for my liking. and you dont need to be breaking the speed limit to want more roll resistance

[Jhonno]

I would suggest if you're pushing your car hard enough to warrant uprated ARBs on the road then you're going too fast

I would have to disagree..

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

I would suggest if you're pushing your car hard enough to warrant uprated ARBs on the road then you're going too fast

the car just rolls too much for my liking. and you dont need to be breaking the speed limit to want more roll resistance

little story for you:
bought the car 70mm lower than standard. looked fantastic, but too low in my oppinion, cheapest springs i could get to raise it were the Boge springs from GSF, which is 30mm lower than standard on the rear, and 15mm on the front. was happy with this, but now have a slightly larger width tyre on the rear (to achieve the standard rolling circumfrence on 17" pina reps)
now the rear scrubs, under hard cornering and acceleration.
also i like throwing my car around roundabouts, (without the tail going out...well most of the time) and the car just rolls too much as i change direction.

[Bob_S]

I have H&R arb's too, I find they are superb like said above you can run a softer spring on the road which obviously helps tyre contact.
I find that the biggest effect on an e30 is the spring/damping rates on the rear, unless I'm running extra weight in the boot it feels quite flighty and can struggle with grip on salty wet roads atm

[Simon13]

E30's respond well to coilovers, but as said a thicker anti roll bar gets more out of the shocks and springs. Certainly in a non caged car

Gary your car has a welded in cage which will massively stiffen the shell, along with some coilovers, as said thicker roll bars are going to have little effect on your setup.

They are great on mainly road cars which venture onto track for the occasional canning

Still one of the best mods for an E30 imo. You still get all that grip feedback as you would from a stock car

[juniorGT]

E30's respond well to coilovers, but as said a thicker anti roll bar gets more out of the shocks and springs. Certainly in a non caged car

Gary your car has a welded in cage which will massively stiffen the shell, along with some coilovers, as said thicker roll bars are going to have little effect on your setup.

They are great on mainly road cars which venture onto track for the occasional canning

Still one of the best mods for an E30 imo. You still get all that grip feedback as you would from a stock car

i agree, i use my car for the odd track day, just did brnads hatch on monday, i have bilstien B12 shocks with eibach springs and fully polybushed and SD half cage and stadard ARB's, the car just understeer'ed with the amount of body roll it had.. totally wrong!! there was only a certain amount i could push her till the car wanted to eat the grass,

ideally i need heavy'er poundage springs along with H&R anti roll bars

does anyone know what spring rates would be good for my setup ?

[zimmer-320i]

there was only a certain amount i could push her till the car wanted to eat the grass

so thats why you have the car sat on the grass in the sig

car roll is due to softer spring arbs help the indpendent suspention work better and not against each oth, yes they reduce body roll but arb's on oem springs is pointless, go for some 30/40mm harder springs with say 25% harder progressive spring rate so that you will still have ride comfort but when the coners come up fast the springs will need more lbs to compress it thus reduceing body roll far more better the oem one, and i think you can buy higher lbs progrssive spings with stock ride hight but be warned, if the ones you have are fully worn in and slack your have a car that looks like its on stilts as it will put it back to stock level just how it left the factory feeling like a boat!!

[caneswell]

car roll is due to softer spring arbs help the indpendent suspention work better and not against each oth, yes they reduce body roll but arb's on oem springs is pointless, go for some 30/40mm harder springs with say 25% harder progressive spring rate so that you will still have ride comfort but when the coners come up fast the springs will need more lbs to compress it thus reduceing body roll far more better the oem one, and i think you can buy higher lbs progrssive spings with stock ride hight but be warned, if the ones you have are fully worn in and slack your have a car that looks like its on stilts as it will put it back to stock level just how it left the factory feeling like a boat!!

Jesus Zimmer that's quite a sentence! Any chance of an english translation!

[Jhonno]

[zimmer-320i]

sorry, i didnt think about that, but still i see my spelling and grammer abilitys are taken the p1ss out of once again

and theres me thinking this place was a good forum! tho it is, but...

[zimmer-320i]

car roll is due to softer spring arbs help the indpendent suspention to work better and not against each other.

yes they reduce body roll but arb's on oem springs is pointless,
go for some 30/40mm harder springs with say 25% harder progressive spring rate so that you will still have ride comfort but when the coners come up fast the springs have to compress more lbs thus reduceing body roll far more better the oem ones.

think you can buy higher lbs progrssive spings with stock ride hight but be warned, if the ones you have are fully worn in and slack your have a car that looks like its on stilts as it will put it back to stock level just how it left the factory feeling like a boat!!


they u are sorted for those who are so perfect at spelling and grammer, but then im sure theres something there wrong to take the p1ss outta me im sure.

[zimmer-320i]

there you go my sig fit the bill now

[turkey]

I recently put a h&r cup kit with eibach arb's on my cay and must say it did make a huge difference to the way the car reacts now, so much more controllable on the limit and doesn't feel like my back end scraps along the floor when i accelerate anymore, alot more stiffer! Just need to test it on a track now!

[handpaper]

arb's on oem springs is pointless

I'm going to have to disagree with you there, zimmer.
Here's why. Anti-roll bars reduce body roll by acting as a spring linking the two sides of the car together, but their spring rate is quite low. If the car's suspension is soft, i.e. standard or road-oriented lowering springs, it will have a noticeable and useful effect; if the car is running coilovers with hard, track-oriented springs, the effect will be less.

The M-Tech/Touring 20mm front ARB has a spring rate of c.40 lb/in; to rotate the ends relative to each other by 1" takes 40lb of force. Because of the way the bar is mounted (droplinks half-way along the control arms), the effective rate (at the suspension struts) is only 20lb/in. The standard spring rate on a 6-cylinder E30 is 108lb/in, so this ARB would reduce body roll by about 20%. Even a 25mm Whiteline bar (the stiffest I know of) would only have an effective rate of 50lb/in, reducing body roll by 1/3

On a track car with 600-800lb/in springs, the same ARB would have a much smaller effect, around 8%. Many track cars run without anti-roll bars for this very reason.

[zimmer-320i]

If the car's suspension is soft, i.e. standard or road-oriented lowering springs, it will have a noticeable and useful effect; if the car is running coilovers with hard, track-oriented springs, the effect will be less.

yes i do agree with you atturly must be me getting mixed up.

but i also see what your saying

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

ok i will extend my original Q. what springs should i get....... for use with enthusiastic road driving.

[zimmer-320i]

i would say just normal springs you get from most tuning places like the sports struts and hardened lowered springs, 30/30 is good for near oem look or 40/40 for good handling i have 60/40 myself and cant compare it to any other height as never driven a e30 b4 but i do like the way it sits

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

i'm 30/30 at the mo and i keep taking my exhaust out on bl**dy speed bumps. so would like it standard height (its a sport so 15mm lower than the rest). but i also want much less roll. i'm not trying to correct too much over steer or under steer. also might like to get away from the tail pipes touching the road under heavy accel in 1st and second.

[Chase007]

I am at 60/60 never have any probs at all only one road i cant go down if i am not on my own its them fu*king squared off speed bumps council wankers!!! Whats that all about just make a normal speed bump

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

I heard about the cost o a single speed bump a few months ago. cant remember the exact figure but pretty sure it had 5+ zeros on the end

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

no sorry just looked, £2,000 - £10,000 dependant on the type

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

i never knew there was a difference between a speed bump and a speed hump. if its over 1' its a hump

[Chase007]

i never knew there was a difference between a speed bump and a speed hump. if its over 1' its a hump

It gives me the fu*king hump, thats for sure!!

[Chase007]

no sorry just looked, £2,000 - £10,000 dependant on the type

You could get a great E30 with that type of money

[djs325]

I use a 24mm Front and a 16mm Adjustable Whiteline ARB on my E30 325i Race Car.

I made my own adjustable rod end links from BMW parts and off the shelf Rod Ends - this was the major difference between previous 16/14.5mm factory setup -> the complete lack of squidge and squirm in the bar links.

Also fitted IE Billet Rear Bar mounts.

[handpaper]

ok i will extend my original Q. what springs should i get....... for use with enthusiastic road driving.

M-Tech springs/shocks with uprated arbs will feel good without sacrificing ride quality or ground clearance; this will also lower by 15mm.

Or, for a totally left-field suggestion - coilovers. Pick the spring rate (I'd suggest 130lb/in, which would work with M-Tech shocks), set the ride height; if you change your mind and want it higher or lower it's easily adjusted, harder or softer isn't too difficult or expensive either.

[George_Of_The_Jungle]

yea i have been after m-tech springs for ages, but ppl want silly money for them. also coil-overs are a little out of budget......