New suspension/tires/brakes

[crashnburn80]

I finally got my Bilstein sports with Eibach springs on yesterday after they have been sitting in my room for the last 4 months. To fix an uneven wear problem caused by poor alignment I picked up some new Kumho Supra 712 tires as well and if that wasn't enough, put on my Pagid blue compound race pads. Big difference for a car in 1 day.

The car feels scarily balanced, doesn't seem like it will understeer or oversteer but completely neutral. Haven't got to take it on any good twisties yet though. bmwe34.net said this combo would be very stiff ride, I also had it recomended to me at the track but I don't think its noticably stiff driving around town. The suspension actually raised my car from the crap that was on there before, but I was alittle disappointed with the height of the front, I was hoping it would sit alittle lower.

The pads are stelthy quite compared to the last set which were some semi-metalic sport pad. Haven't got to much of a chance to test them out yet, supposed to be pretty dusty though.

[Ted K]

Did you use a lowering spring or a stock replacement spring?

[crashnburn80]

Did you use a lowering spring or a stock replacement spring?

I used Eibach performance lowering springs, according to Bavarian Autosport they lower 1.3" in the front and 1.0" in the rear. I'm hoping the front settles a bit, it doesn't look like it sits lower than the rear.

[granit_silber]

I used Eibach performance lowering springs, according to Bavarian Autosport they lower 1.3" in the front and 1.0" in the rear. I'm hoping the front settles a bit, it doesn't look like it sits lower than the rear.

My bet is that your rear springs were shot (like mine).

I was reading a suspension post yesterday (maybe Lowell's write-up) and the writer mentioned havign 1 finger width in between the top of the tire and the bottom of the fender after installation (rear). I went out to my 5 and I have no finger width between the two.

I figure once I put a SACHS kit or the Bilstein/Eibach set on my rear will come up a bit, but I think that e34's always squat a bit.

Glad to hear about the ride quality of the Bilstein sports! Mine is a daily driver/church bus and I really didn't want a super firm ride.
-ashley

[Robin-535im]

Bilsteins are charged and will raise the front end a bit when new, but they settle after a while. I had the same thing happen - I put on new bilsteins with RD springs and it looked like a lowrider b/c the front was so high! Drive it nice and hard for a few weeks, it'll settle.