Ride height help, its not low enough!!!!!

[Weeman]

Help me out guys, the car is running Bilstein B8's and i purchased some 55/55 springs from KW for a 4 pot 318is. Car is stripped but not completely, still has the spare wheel and tar. I was expecting the tyres to be sat inside the arches a little, but it still seems to be sat too high, even with teh 55 profile Toyo's.

Any ideas fellas, its confuddled me.

picture for referance

[maxfield]

Have you let the springs settle?

[Weeman]

Yup, max, they have been on for two months now

[maxfield]

Hmmmm, I certainly would expect them to be a bit lower.

Looks more like a 40 drop all round...

[BimmerBoi]

are they springs lowering springs? how many mm?

[Weeman]

55 geezer, But when I see the odd Std ish 318is, they look almost the same if not lower, plus i've seena few with the wheels tucked up in the arches, on 15's.

[bigmattpowell]

look like standard ride height to me. Not even mtech

[maxfield]

look like standard ride height to me. Not even mtech

It's defiantly lower than m-tech!

[Jhonno]

Cup Kit springs maybe?

[Weeman]

What do cup kit springs lower?? most i've seen even some coiulovers only say 60/40 orso, which if these ones are 55/55 wont do much

[Sy_325]

I had a similar nightmare... wanted to put my cab on the street so bought coilover kit of a zoner. had the backs all prepped and started to lower it down. sat about half an inch HIGHER than what it was originally...

heart broken we dismantled the coilever and set the spring in on its own. lowered in nicely beneath the rim now at the back and still have the fronts to do yet.

my advice would be get a set of customs made up... http://www.coilsprings.co.uk (80-60mm) or (70-50mm) should put her nicely in my opinion

[maxfield]

I believe this car is a ring chariot... Coilsprings are probably just for looks not performance.

Have to agree with Jhonno cup kit springs, all tested at the ring too...

[Weeman]

You got a link to where I can find them young max??

[maxfield]

Not too sure about the springs... Maybe try the zone shop.

I know Simon13 rates these springs and he has used them at the ring, maybe worth a PM to him.

[Ajay325]

Weeman i would be in contact with the people who have sold you these springs, i'm pretty sure my m-tech suspension sits lower than that. Either there is a manufacturing fault, or you have done an exceptional job in stripping it!

[Weeman]

I double checked, the springs before fitting, the were deffo labelled up 55/55 4 cylinder I cant for the life of me figure out how and why its still high

[320Touring]

hmm, it looks almost higher than stock.

the front end is like joan collins, or a kitkat

It could be that the old springs were so shagged that the car was lower than stock anyways?

[Weeman]

When I got it there was 16 inch wheels on, and the wheels were tucked under the arches anyway, i initially put some springs I had for a 325 touring on, H+R 35 mm ones, it looked like a dragster, This was obviously due to the lack of weight of the is, and the stripping, No probs i thought, some kw 55/55's will sort it out, its lower than it was, but not as low as i thought it would be, fecking thing

[snoops]

looks like stndard to me

[Weeman]

tw@t lol

[Sanchez]

take the rear springs out and sit them next to the old ones.

See what the difference is.

[Bob_S]

that looks standard! my is was lower than that standard and it dropped quite a bit on H&R's I used..
do you have upgraded dampers?

[Weeman]

I have Bilsteins, but they are used an undisclosed. Could the dampers effect the ride height?

Sanchez when I compared em to the H+R touring springs I had on, the were alot shorter, I wondered if the dampers could be at fault somehow.

[Weeman]

If the dampers are at fault I dont know what to do, do for the full cup kit and waste more money, or buy the kw dampers to go with the springs and stick with that

[marlon]

The springs set the ride height.

I dunno if your car is an iS, but you mention that the car is stripped. Lowering springs are based on the standard car, so if it's stripped and lighter, the car will sit higher than the drop quoted for the springs.

I had the same bother when I built a track car. With it being so light, it seemed to sit like an off-road 4x4, especially at the back.

Eventually it sat slightly lower than standard after getting really low drop springs.

[Weeman]

Thats what i thought, its stripped, but not uber stripped if you see what i mean, still has spare wheel and sound proofing, I might of knocked 50 or 60 kgs out I'd say, but its not at 950 kg level I'm sure. I thought the 55/55 would driop it maybe 35/35 but still it would be lower than std, and it dont look like it bloody is arghhhhhhhhhhhh