Originally Posted by
Incantation
2 inches front and back is the minimum i would do.. the lower the better
keep in mind that your shocks are old and probably finished.. if you do lower the car it would be best to do everything.. but there's nothing wrong with just firing some springs in there
E34s don't have much suspension travel to begin with.
Lower it by 2" in the front and you'll be riding the bump stops. This makes for a terrible ride if your roadways are less than perfect - the car will crash over every pothole. BMW dropped the front of the M5 0.8" from what the 535 was and still installed shorter bump stops. I would suggest to anybody using dampers other than Bilstein to install M5 bump stops whenever lowering the car. If you use Bilsteins, the bump stops are internal and can be trimmed.
Lower it by 2" in the rear and you'll have so much negative camber the tires will be bald on the inside in no time.
245/45R17s on 8.5" wheels will fill out the fenders a bit more and don't rub from what I've heard elsewhere.
Good luck.
Anthony
03/64 production
'91M5 - 11/90, was mine, it's Jim's now.