Help with Rear Suspension Overhaul: bushings, shocks, springs, tire rub? ... (e36 M3)

[35nhma]

Hello, and thanks in advance for your input,

I need to refresh the rear end of the M3 (maybe the front too, but I'm going to take it in stages). There are a lot of clunking noises from the back during parking, reversing, and that sort of thing. I'm sure all the bushings are shot. I also have some rubbing under large compressions, which I finally diagnosed as the outside of the tire on the fender lip. The combination of these two problems means I need to tackle the whole rear end refresh, and I want to do it right. After reading dozens of helpful forum threads, I have compiled a number of questions that I hope some of you with more experience can help answer.

Notable threads:
"Best Street Suspension for e36 M3"
"Suspension Overhaul FAQ"
"The Definitive Suspension Guide"

Intent: aiming for stock ride, daily driving, GT, smooth, quick & connected kind of feeling, low NVH. No interest in the track, lots of interest in zooming around the back roads, which may be of questionable quality, and also general city driving.

Current set up: some kind of bilstein strut with dinan springs. I bought the car like this. Car has 103k miles and I have every reason to believe all the bushings are original. My guess is the shocks are 10 years old.

Questions about shocks & springs:

1. Is it possible to identify which Bilstein strut I have? I read numbers like B6/B8/B12, and sometimes I hear "sport". How many different Bilsteins are there? How are they different?
2. Do I understand that there is a concensus that all Bilsteins are valved "incorrectly" for the e36 M3? Or do they just happen to be harsh?
3. Any opinion on how they pair with Dinan springs? It seems like only one model is made for the 1995 cars, but there is not a lot of information on the forums about them, mostly H&R.
4. Am I a fool to get rid of the Bilsteins? I hear they last forevever and that no other shock/strut is built as well.
5. Is it possible to get the Bilstein to feel more compliant?
6. Konis seem nice but I don't care about adjustability, and they don't seem to last much longer than Sachs.
7. Maybe I should care about adjustability, so I can dial in the damper to work with the Dinan spring.
8. Any idea how Sachs struts will ride with Dinan springs?
9. Is it possible to determine the 'correct' OEM spring from BMW. Doesn't seem like there is good information on the color markings / spring rates for the e36.

Questions about suspension bushings:

1. Should I wait to fix all the bushings before I go adjusting the springs and struts? Change one variable at a time?
2. Or does it make more sense to do it at the same time because it is more efficient, and I only want to have the car aligned once?
3. I'm planning to replace every rubber piece under the rear end.
4. Is this a foolish DIY project? I've seen some more and less successful attempts on youtube. The better ones seem to be where people disassemble the rear end piece by piece on the car, instead of dropping it all at once.
5. How important is it to have the right presses to install the new bushings? It seems like DIY presses, using C clamps or threaded rods with various washers can be fabricated as needed.
6. I have created a spreadsheet with part numbers here. Maybe someone else will find it useful, feel free to leave a comment on the sheet or in this thread.

Questions about tire rubbing:

1. I have installed 8.5" apex arc 8 et40 at all 4 corners, with Michelin pilot sport 4 all season 245/40/R17s.
2. You can see the damage to the tire here. It takes a specific kind of slow compression to get it to happen. I recently took a longer trip with a lot of stuff / people in the car and it was because of this that I was finally able to see the damage to the tire and diagnose the issue.
3. The damage to the tire looks to be aesthetic, but I assume I have removed paint from the inner fender which will need to be repaired?
4. I have a 1995 OBD1 car, which has slightly different suspension geometry than OBD2 cars. Rear Trailing Arms are different part numbers at least.
5. Is it possible that the different trailing arms on the OBD1 car is pushing the wheel out further?
6. Short of reverting to the annoying 235 tire size, Is my only option at this point to roll the fender? I probably only need 2mm.
7. The car looks to be set up with a fair amount of camber. I didn't do the alignment so I don't have the specs. I doubt for my street use I would want more, but that is an option to get more clearance.
8. OR while I'm dropping the subframe does it make sense to swap out the OBD1 trailing arms for the later model OBD2 arms. This would require new wheel bearings, but those probably need to be replaced too!

img-5697.jpg img-5698.jpg img-5699.jpg


I know this is a lot to sort though. I appreciate your time / advice.
Cheers,
Hank

[Ghoehl22]

bushings on the rear subframe are easy to burn out, when I did mine disconnected the rear trailing arms, axles, upper and lower control arms and pulled it out as one piece for both sides, then pulled the diff and sway bar out. makes it a lot easier.