i just installed my new dinan springs &.............

[tim s]

bilstein hd's struts & shock, & 4 new mounts. i was about 3 hours start to finish. my friend a local mech. let me use his shop & i a little help when needed to get it done. the rear shocks where original, but the struts appeared to have been replaced at some time. the shocks where completly dead, i pushed it in & it never returned, the front struts where very slow in & out.
the old springs uncompressed are 2-3 inches longer than the new dinan, but when under load the rear is about the same & the front is about 1/2-3/4" lower. slight, but noticable drop. i will post pics when i can.
so i finished up, threw the wife & kids in & went for a ride.
wow what a difference, it actually feels like a newer 5 series, the rear no longer steers itself out from behind me, greatly reduced body roll & huge improvement in stopping.
i am getting my alignment next week. it now pulls to the right instead of the left.

then i need to replace my sway bars, thrust arms w/bushings, control arms, dog bones, & subframe bushings. it will always be something!!!
thanks
tim s.

[mholbrook]

Too bad you did not replace all that front end stuff while you were under there. It is pretty easy to do when you are doing the front struts anyway. You'll have to get another alighment.

The Dinan springs must be pretty close in spec to the factory M-tech springs given the minimal amount of drop. Did you change the upper spring pad to 3mm versus 9mm?

[wingman]

then i need to replace my sway bars, thrust arms w/bushings, control arms, dog bones, & subframe bushings. it will always be something!!!
thanks
tim s.

I stopped doing track days for this very reason. After every lap I had already subconsciously spent another grand!

[Jeff N.]

I have their spring / bilstein setup, been on the car nearly 70k miles or so. Been *very* happy with the ride and look. Car's subtle, not slammed.

Another nice add at this point (before your alignment!) are the Ireland Engineering front camber plates. Go for the fixed ones. To mitigate the extra 1/4 inch ride height they add, replace your 9mm spring pads with the 3mm pads (sorry...that would have been simple to do with your last job).

The plates will give the car a nicer turn-in to go with your springs. I've had mine in for a long time..no strange tire wear...

Cheers!

Jeff

[saluki540i]

Tim, please keep me up to speed on yours, and I'll do the same on mine. My 540 was built sept 25th 1995. It is a blk./blk six spd. w/ 74,000 miles purchased from my dad. I bought a set of koni sports, and the full 10 piece FCP groton kit, while finishing removing the old parts. Second, I removed the secondary subframe that the majority of the suspension is located to. Mine was a Chicago car, and I ended up completely bead blasting the tube frame bar and powder coating it due to corrosion damage. The large diameter bolts were heavily corroded, and I just replaced them all through BMW. More than likely, I'm going to do the same with the main x-member the engine sits on, and eventually the same in the rear. I am suspicious of one of my motor mounts from a pwr steer fluid leak over several years while my dad owned it too.

[tim s]

http://www.tntcomp.com/tim%20s/oldparts.jpg
http://www.tntcomp.com/tim%20s/newparts.jpg
Dinan claim a 1/4" to 1/2" difference, i think is would be closer to a full inch .
tim s.

[Evan]

Tim, good job on the install. Has the lowering had any negative effect or do you now have an excellent highway car that handles better?

[tim s]

dinan claims it will not need any type of correction parts. just a basic alignment.
i will find out next week.
thanks
tim s.