Vogtland/lowered owners...

[ShapeShifter]

Or get Lowtecs with drop you want.

[Hofmeister]

I got no pads and don't tuck

[kognac]

See now I'm a little worried. I have Koni Sports (and love them) and want to use Vogtlands, but don't want to slam the car, just lower it so that the wheel gap is equivalent between the top and sides of the wheel and fender lips. In other words, if the tire starts to tuck under the top of the wheel arch, that's too low. My car is on M-Techs right now and it's perfect in the back, but the front is a smidge high. Maybe the gap will be more obvious once I get 17s and lower profile tires.

I think I'll buy an extra set of spring pads so I can tweak the height a bit when I get the springs.

yea, im tucking top 1/3 of tire in rear and flush in front but still no issues...

[E38740iMD]

when i get mine ill post a pic of my car on billies and vogts with 16"bbs

[ARMAN]

It have been 1,5 years and i still hate my billies sports/b8 with a passion, i did learn to drive granny-like slow to avoid any f****ng pothole which are apparently everywhere(never noticed that before), not a week goes by that i dont wish billy's "engineer" who came up with idea to make internal bumpstops to die a horrible and hopefully painful death. I am too cheap to buy another set of shocks just to throw almost new billi's away so i silently suffer hating driving my car faster than 30mph, yea i know, boohoo me I hate them, that is all.

No i cant mount them out and send to germany to cut the bubmpstops, it can take weeks to months i have no place to store the car without shocks, in my appartment complex garages it is forbidden even to fix your car + i need my car daily.

[Hofmeister]

That's weird, once I put the right mounts mine drives like a dream on Billy sports and vogtlands

[ARMAN]

I noticed guys with 525 often dont have problems with bottoming out which is strange cause the weight difference 2,5 vs 3,5 is not THAT big

[thatonedood]

when i get mine ill post a pic of my car on billies and vogts with 16"bbs

This is merely my observation from the forum and elsewhere, but it seems that while reviews are mixed on billie sports and vogtlands separately; paired together they're almost always no bueno.

It have been 1,5 years and i still hate my billies sports/b8 with a passion, i did learn to drive granny-like slow to avoid any f****ng pothole which are apparently everywhere(never noticed that before), not a week goes by that i dont wish billy's "engineer" who came up with idea to make internal bumpstops to die a horrible and hopefully painful death. I am too cheap to buy another set of shocks just to throw almost new billi's away so i silently suffer hating driving my car faster than 30mph, yea i know, boohoo me I hate them, that is all.

No i cant mount them out and send to germany to cut the bubmpstops, it can take weeks to months i have no place to store the car without shocks, in my appartment complex garages it is forbidden even to fix your car + i need my car daily.

Try doing as ShapeShifter suggested and run external bump stops

[ARMAN]

there are bumpstops inside the front shocks already so more bumpstops will result in more violent bottoming out, i cant cut them short thats is the main problem of them bottoming out like crazy

[Hofmeister]

This is merely my observation from the forum and elsewhere, but it seems that while reviews are mixed on billie sports and vogtlands separately; paired together they're almost always no bueno.

like said above you it also depends on the engine and even wheels.

[thatonedood]

I'll give you the wheel/tire size argument, but IDK about the weight of the motor theory

there are bumpstops inside the front shocks already so more bumpstops will result in more violent bottoming out, i cant cut them short thats is the main problem of them bottoming out like crazy

The technical term for the bump stop (on realOEM anyway) is "additional shock absorber". May be worth a shot, maybe not.

[struka]

I have OEM bumstops and OEM replacements from bavauto top mounts and I bottom out all the time. AKG spacers helped but I think I need to get new mounts so I will get ground control to have camber adjustments and take out bumpstops or just cut them when I install camber plates.

[ShapeShifter]

there are bumpstops inside the front shocks already so more bumpstops will result in more violent bottoming out, i cant cut them short thats is the main problem of them bottoming out like crazy

A cut down OEM bump stop will keep the shock from bottoming out and help absorb the force transmitted to the shock tower. The internal bump stops in the Billie sports suck, they need all the help they can get.

[Oldkoole34]

I have lowtec 60/30 and Billie sports. I haven't had bottoming out issues although my setup is pretty fresh (under 1k still). I haven't put in any bump stops when swapping but now I'm thinking I should have, since it would no have hurt. I am also not running any spring pads in the front but the top of the tire is just barely visible. (Almost flush)
It's a 540

[ARMAN]

A cut down OEM bump stop will keep the shock from bottoming out and help absorb the force transmitted to the shock tower. The internal bump stops in the Billie sports suck, they need all the help they can get.

hm.. is the diametr of the shock of normal billy same as sports? will normal bumpstop fit sports is what i mean, maybe it will worth a try, btw you cut them in half or 1/3 off?

[thatonedood]

Oh sure, don't listen to me...


A standard e34 bump stop should fit, or apparently a shorter e46 m3 one as well

[E38740iMD]

This is merely my observation from the forum and elsewhere, but it seems that while reviews are mixed on billie sports and vogtlands separately; paired together they're almost always no bueno.


Try doing as ShapeShifter suggested and run external bump stops

i bought the car with billies. i have no problem so far as far as ride. ive been reading hella ella reviews and think i am going to tackle it and see how it goes.

can someone also post a pic of this so called bump stop? only now im reading about them

- - - Updated - - -

like said above you it also depends on the engine and even wheels.

most people when doing mooar low with the e34 usually do them on 17 and 18s. im doing 16s so maybe it will be a good idea to make a skid plate to protect my oil pan.

i have style 19s but will need to refinish them a bit before i slap them on

[ShapeShifter]

hm.. is the diametr of the shock of normal billy same as sports? will normal bumpstop fit sports is what i mean, maybe it will worth a try, btw you cut them in half or 1/3 off?

No, the diameter of the billies is significantly bigger. Cut bump stop in half, slice length wise and secure with 2 zip ties.
Or search for a bump stop that actually has the right I.D. and modify accordingly.

[SwissCheeseHead]

It have been 1,5 years and i still hate my billies sports/b8 with a passion, i did learn to drive granny-like slow to avoid any f****ng pothole which are apparently everywhere(never noticed that before), not a week goes by that i dont wish billy's "engineer" who came up with idea to make internal bumpstops to die a horrible and hopefully painful death. I am too cheap to buy another set of shocks just to throw almost new billi's away so i silently suffer hating driving my car faster than 30mph, yea i know, boohoo me I hate them, that is all.

No i cant mount them out and send to germany to cut the bubmpstops, it can take weeks to months i have no place to store the car without shocks, in my appartment complex garages it is forbidden even to fix your car + i need my car daily.

Why don't you get new shocks and sell your Billie's on here? They'll sell pretty quickly.

[thatonedood]

Oh sure, don't listen to me...

But seriously, if mine is the first opinion, wait for a second one

i bought the car with billies. i have no problem so far as far as ride. ive been reading hella ella reviews and think i am going to tackle it and see how it goes.

can someone also post a pic of this so called bump stop? only now im reading about them

Not sure how much that actually is, but I'm surprised you'd not come across bump stops in your research.

At any rate, here's one. Fronts are similar



They feel like a Nerf football, only more dense.

Why don't you get new shocks and sell your Billie's on here? They'll sell pretty quickly.

and maybe not direct prospective buyers to this thread

[E38740iMD]

I've been reading about lowering with vogts for about 3 months. Only yesterday Im hear that bump stops can be a problem

So basically shorten the bumstop so it won't cause some bottoming out.

I keep hearing that 535i will sit a bit lower due to engine weight. I will look over all the cars that had good experiences and peep what car the
Y are driving. Looks like I'm pushing it back for a few more days.

While we are on subject. What are yall opinions with lowtecs?

[AZDinanE34]

I put my vogtlands in this past summer with Billy sports and I will say that the ride is horrible with the billy shocks. I was on dinan springs and billys before and the ride was much better (not the drop I wanted thus me getting vogtlands) than now where its like Cory described: bouncy, rough, harsh, center dash makes noise. Luckly I have a DD so no biggy now but threw them in with the billys to see how "real" the ride was b/c whats descibed here and boy do I need Konis. I am running M-pars 235-40-18 on all wheels and never bottom out and or problems on the 525i and provides a great drop using springs. Koni sounds like the way to go, anyone use Spax adj. shocks?

*People do give Billy a bad rap but I will admit that my dinan spring/ billy sport shock combo was great and has 100,000 miles on it and still in good condition.

[jeffary]

I just ordered some Koni sports and Voglands for the 530.

Does anyone know a good guide anywhere that shows how to swap over mounts/cut bumps etc?

Also how do I know if I need new top mounts?

Was thinking of running them with some E38 M Pars, removing all spring pads. Would removing all spring pads affect ride quality in any way?

[RVAE34]

I remember that the only way to shorten the bump stops while keeping the correct larger diameters on the top and bottom was to remove some of the middle. I seem to recall their only being one section you could remove and then retain the correct diameter for the top/bottom and b/t the 2 sections after removing the middle. And that worked just fine for me for many many years.

[Oldkoole34]

I just ordered some Koni sports and Voglands for the 530.

Does anyone know a good guide anywhere that shows how to swap over mounts/cut bumps etc?

Also how do I know if I need new top mounts?

Was thinking of running them with some E38 M Pars, removing all spring pads. Would removing all spring pads affect ride quality in any way?

Not sure about a guide for swapping but you will get a chance to swap them when taking apart the strut/shock assemblies.

Yes swap the strut mounts no matter their condition really. They are cheap and are a known problem on e34s. When u are working on the springs struts/shocks they are right there. If u leave the old ones and they go at a later date it will be a PITA.

I have no spring pads in the front and it is solid not too bouncy and not squeaky as some have suggest. However I have no comparison pre and post with the same spring/strut setup