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Thread: Help with newly bought e36 and suspension

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    phonneix
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    545

    Help with newly bought e36 and suspension

    Hello,

    Just recently purchased my first e36, it's a 1998 328i, Love the car except for how absolutely terribly stiff the suspension is. It bounces around over every single little crack on the road. It's lowered and that isn't so bad, only thing I hate is how stiff everything is. Anyways, The guy i bought it from said it has aftermarket coil overs and I can raise/lower and adjust stiffness via the top of the shock in the engine bay. Here is a picture

    https://imgur.com/a/ymwMx


    Can anyone tell by the pics what suspension this is, how to adjust etc? I am not new to cars but new to coilovers... only thing i have ever owned in the past are hotrods and never lowered themsuspension.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    25,402
    My Cars
    F90 M5; E36 M3 Turbo
    I would have the suspension checked. There are over 30 bushings, ball joints, mounts and links under the car. If they have not yet been replaced they are 20 years old and should be changed. Unfortunately a lot of people think the suspension is just shocks and struts so they buy stiffer aftermarket parts and that just makes the problem worse. Once you have the suspension sorted out then decide whether you like the coil overs or not. You may be able to adjust rebound or change the springs or they may be crappy coil overs and you would be better off with something else. Doing the suspension is a big job — lots of labor. But it makes a huge difference on a 20 year old car.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Chicagoland area
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    EXOTICS

    +1

    You're preaching to the choir with me,
    but very informative to others, pbonsalb!

    OP, my advice would be to study your suspension first,
    followed by a decision to upgrade or return to stock.
    Make sure OP did not upgrade to track level suspension,
    before attempting further modifications.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    phonneix
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    545
    Thank you for the response, I get all that. I am about to start an ls1 swap but currently driving the car daily. I hate how bouncy it is and was wondering if there was something I could do temporarily before i change everything out. Thank you

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Tennessee
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    1,734
    My Cars
    1998 BMW 328i
    Those look like ground control race camber plates at the top to me, but i could be wrong. The height and rebound adjustments for the front will likely be at the bottom of the spring right on the shock body if they are available. There is usually a collared sleeve that you can turn to adjust it.

    Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Middle of a corn field
    Posts
    14,770
    My Cars
    E39 hamster/ruberbandPWR
    Any pictures of the struts / shocks?

    Looking for an E39 belly pan , passenger front inner fender liner …

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Concord, CA
    Posts
    754
    My Cars
    1996 328i vert
    Look like BC or ISC Coilovers but could be different brand. If you do keep the coil overs on, I assume this is a daily driver, mount a strut bar from sparco and get reinforcement plates added to the top hat there so you don’t cause the tower to mushroom. The strut bar will eliminate a lot of cabin noise


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    washington, dc
    Posts
    1,162
    My Cars
    96 E36 Vert 03 E39 M5
    For a daily stock E36 suspension is great.
    As soon as you lower these cars you start to degrade the suspension .. And you're talking about a LS-1 swap ?? ya you think it's bouncy now

    I'd recommend removing all that 'unknown' tech and going back to some Koni or Billy HD's and stock springs.
    Do new control arms , ball joints, tie-rod ends, and RTABs while you're at it. typically once you do 'all of it at once' you can get a good 50k+ out of your suspension.
    Also it may be a good experience for you to drive a e36 with fresh factory suspension before deciding on changes. Alot of folks go stiff and low on these cars and ruin the handling. YMMV.

    Good luck with your ls-Swap. Post build pics please.
    http://www.bmwmregistry.com/detail.php?id=13792
    * E39 M5 SterlingGray -RIP 11/2018
    * E36 328 vert Schwarz - ~TurboProject underway
    * E90 335i Sedan MonocoBlau - Daily ToddlerTaxi

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    phonneix
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    545
    Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I did some trouble shooting and found out my control arm bushing on the driver side is completely shot. I ordered a suspension refresh kit and will be replacing several items and also adding in Bilstein PSS9 coil over with vorshlag camber plates

    Hope the adjustable dampener on this is good as stock or close, can't be any worse than what i have now though haha!

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