Newby Looking for Suspension Opinions

[George Mac]

In May I bought 1981 320i from original owner, with original springs & shocks & plan to replace springs & shocks. I've read the FAQ/DIY along with other threads about options. It looks like the options are getting fewer and based on what I see, it's H&R Springs with Bilstein HD or Sport shocks. I don;t think stock BMW replacement parts are going to give me much difference than today.
Car has 107,000km / 65,000miles, always stored indoors.

Planned use: fun non-daily driver & 6 or 7 autocross each year (live in Canada, so it's a April to October driving). I autocross for fun, finishing top half of the field would be great at this point.
Want to it about 1.5 inches lower, firmer suspension but not so firm that you feel every bridge joint.

Also planning to
*replace steering rack & outer control arm bushings
*add rear sway bar

It would help me to have experienced opinions
- Bilstein HD or Sport?
- are there other options that I am not seeing?

thanks!

[John Adkins]

Lovely car! If you go with Bilstein shocks, informed opinion is to use HD's with stock springs and Sports with H and R springs or any shortened spring for that matter. Both Bilstein shocks are valved the same; the difference in the the length of travel. Looks like you have 14 or 15 inch wheels on the car already. I'm not an expert, but on shortened springs, your current wheel/ tire combination might not fit. I love the stance and the ride that my stock 13" basketweave wheels and tires provide. I tried lowered springs once and found that I had to be careful over dips and bumps...that got old fast. Others will chime in, I'm sure. Welcome to the site! John

[Tom D]

what john said. keep the stock springs and add billy HD's. with the money you didn't spend buying springs invest in a LSD. forget the rear sway and go back to 13" wheels.

[m60b30530i]

Don't forget the sticky tires ! Trust in the body roll

[cgifool]

What tires are you guys running on your 13" wheels? Mine are currently sporting Kumho Solus 185/70-13.

[George Mac]

Thanks all for the comments - Forgot to mention that the PO installed 16 inch wheels, 205-45-16 michelins. Current measurements from top of tire to wheel well is: 2 3/4inches at front & around 1 3/4 inches at the rear. I have the original 13 inch wheels.

[320iAman]

1st welcome to the bmw e21 forums, 2nd Nice car its looks very good.

As far as lowering springs several options to lower that 1 1/2 in, H & R, Bavarian Auto Sport and a few others, The rear sway bar-I have one installed costs $200 plus for the standard 16-new- these cars do get tail happy, as far as Bilsteins go, I am the odd man out Bilsteins are middle of the road and not top end, everyone in Germany knows this, where they are made.

As too using for autocross, I recommend look at what the others are using in your class and then make a informed decision.

As too upgrading the control arm bushings and steering rack bushings and other polyurethane bushings Jesse at eurometric.com (his business) makes these and is a member here too, I have done this recently and its more positive steering control coming from rubber bushings, I also installed a Cardone remanned steering rack that I bought for a song and a dance..

As far as LSD that depends on your pocketbook, to rebuild an LSD at a shop its around $900.00, last time someone mentioned it to me, that does not include the cost to get it.

Anyway welcome to the forums, enjoy your ride.

I'd look into Car Rallying its quite popular and requires less mod's to get into the middle of the field.

Randy

[George Mac]

as far as Bilsteins go, I am the odd man out Bilsteins are middle of the road and not top end, everyone in Germany knows this, where they are made.

Randy

Hi Randy
Thanks for the welcome and info - couple additional questions:
What would you suggest as an alternative to Bilsteins?
Are you using 13 inch wheels - if yes, what tire size? If not, what wheel/tire combination?

[John Adkins]

What tires are you guys running on your 13" wheels? Mine are currently sporting Kumho Solus 185/70-13.

Nexen's, CP661's, 185/70/13's, made in Korea, I think, and available by order from Walmart for cheap. My Z3 had Nexen's on it when I bought it, and I got good service out of of them. Satisfied with them on the 320 as well. Regarding an alternative to Bilstein's, I decided on Sachs for my 320, as a significantly less expensive option. They were OEM on BMW's back in the day, made in Germany, and not as stiff as Billy HD's or Sports. I like their feel. Then again, I don't track or autocross. John

[mxl556]

It all depends on how you are using the car, quality of roads and your preferences as far as comfort goes. I would suggest keeping it stock and replace worn parts with stock BMW parts and Sachs shocks if you are primarily using it as a summer daily driver. The difference from what you have now will be very significant.

Bilsteins (both HD and Sport) will make ride much firmer so you will feel every bridge joint. If you drive on unpaved gravel roads then forget bilsteins, and especially lowering. Also, if you decide to keep the stock springs and use Bilstein HD, they will actually raise the ride height due to high pressurized shocks. Lowering with H&R springs (it is the only aftermarket spring option I know of unless you go to coilovers) will significantly limit suspension travel and will make it bone jarring with arguable benefit to handling.

Max

[OLD MAN]

Welcome to the group George you got a really good looking car!

As far as suspension setup goes - I have had a few of these E21's and each has had different setups on them, I would suggest you do a suspension search in this forum and read as many as you can and then decide what you want.

Personally I like to drive my e21's hard and I like the bilstien sports with adjustable coil overs and stiffer springs, they are hard on the jaw. I also like 15" x 7 or 8" wide wheels with hankook Rs3's - but this is just my thing.

I have been rebuilding my own LSD's lately, not hard if you are mechanically.

[Masochist Eric]

Im considering changing from stock to the H&R springs with Bilstein Sport Shocks on a E21. Im currently using E30 14 inch basketweave wheels. Will the lowered ride height still have enough clearance for these larger wheels?

[mxl556]

it depends on the offset you have (you must be using spacers to fit E30 wheels and sizes can vary) but generally speaking, yes, 195/60/14 on the E30 wheels will have enough clearance. Even with the offset around 10mm you should not have problems.

Max

[jaredmac11]

Arent the stock shocks Sachs (say that 3 times fast)? I have Sachs shocks in my e39 wagon and they are very very firm and sporty. It's a wagon so perhaps they were selected for towing in mind by BMW. Regardless, the brand name carries a lot more value to me, so when I saw the e21 carries Sachs as well for OE, I was interested.

Anyone slap those on? They are almost 1/3 off the price of Bilstein.

[Masochist Eric]

Thanks for the quick reply. Im using 15mm spacers and 205/60-14 tires on the E30 weaves. As much as I like the lowered look, Im leaning now towards keeping the car as stock as possible. What is the lifespan of springs? Should I replace with new original springs and maybe Bilstein HD shocks? Looks like original springs are available at ECS. As far as I know, the car has the original springs.

[mxl556]

I am using Sachs and very satisfied with them. Rides just like it came from the factory. I used to have Bilstein HD's but they were too stiff for my taste. I prefer Sachs. But I also prefer 13" wheels.
Bilsteins last longer and are better quality that Sachs but I do not think their off the shelf valving is right... If I were to use Bilstein again, I'd have them custom valved softer to match stock springs better.

This applies to the e21 only as Bilstein HD often work very well with heavier BMW's.

Max