Nice write up!! Anyone know if the instructions for the suspension is the same for a 528i?
just added a few new pictures at the bottom of post #1. The is lower now and it is exactly how i wanted it.
nice write up!
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wow!!
for those with fold down rear seats, i don't think replacing the rears are as involved.
There is some mis-information in the above posts. Here is the real, bottom line skinny on lowering springs for the E39, excluding coilovers ......
H&R and all the rest, Eibach, etc, ALL .... ALL of them, measure drop from a non-sport suspension.
A factory sport is 0.8/0.5 F/R lower than a factory non-sport suspension. To determine how much your factory sport will drop subtract 0.8/0.5 from the published drops below.
No one makes springs specifically/exclusively for the factory sport model.
H&R makes 2 different sets one called Sport and another called Race. Race has more drop and is stiffer than Sport.
H&R is the only mfgr that makes 2 different sets.
M5 springs will raise a non-M because the M is heavier.
Dinan's drop is a just bit lower than factory sport.
Below are published drops for an E39 540. They are probably the same for a 530 though I haven't checked.
Vogtland 1.2/1.2
H&R Sport 1.3/0.8
H&R Race 1.7/1.2
Eibach 1.5/1.0
Intrax 1.6/1.2
I suggest you save this for future referance. Happy motoring.
Frank
540/6
Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.
I am having a hard time deciding which springs to go with. Now that I see this thread I like the drop that the Intrax offers, but I have always been a big Eibach fan, and I have always wanted to try out H&R, ahhh soo many decisions!!! What drop do you all think would be best suited for my car being that it has 20's?
Frank
540/6
Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.
Frank
540/6
Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.
John,
Wow, you did the suspension & brakes yourself! I finally had the Konis installed with OE sport springs yesterday but I noticed something weird:
1) My stereo appears to have lost the bass and yet there are still sound from the rear deck speakers. From your picture above, the one shows the speaker, why were there two sets of wire plugs? I wonder if he missed something or...
2) I ordered to have the shocks adjusted 1/2 turn from full soft, but car seems to bounce a lot quicker and felt stiffer than my OE sport. I wonder if he set it the opposite. Did the shocks come as full soft or hard?
3) The front ended up lower and the rear at middle perch went higher resulting in a slightly rakish stance. My headlights are now aiming to the ground. I will have it put on the lowest perch next week.
Thanks,
Shawn
unfortunately it's the same amount of work with fold down vs non-folding seats to replace the rears (there's nothing that folding seats would facilitate towards making it an easier job). The main time consuming part of the rears is removing everything on the rear deck and such. But honestly after doing it once, I could probably do the rears again in not much more time than the fronts - just have to be careful not to dirty up the felt with dirty fingers!
For the OP though, I'm curious what your thoughts are on the setup after about two months riding on it.
1) you might just want to check all those connections again yourself. Maybe they were left unplugged on accident. I know i almost pinched a set of wires in between the car, stud, and the 13mm nut for the top of the rear suspension.
2)From what I understand, they come pre adjusted to half way between hard and soft. It really doesnt matter since you have to adjust it all the way to soft first. I have my rears adjusted to 1 turn from full soft. It seems about right. Sometimes i think it could be stiffer but not enough to take it all apart again. Not for a while atleast...
3)koni says the middle perch gives you an OEM ride height. IMO its more like, the lowest perch gives you a factory ride height, then you get a higher than OEM height, then an even higher one. Maybe my car was sagging or something....who knows. I would have it on the lowest one for sure.
hopefully you dont go to adjust your headlights up and then discover that every one of the adjusters is broken. Happend to me, twice actually...
I have no complaints, well maybe one. Its soft in my opinion but im used to riding in stiff cars. It still handles good. I drive it pretty hard daily and it keeps up. I really think it could be stiffer for high speed runs. It can still feel soft and floaty at high speeds around turns just not as bad as the oem sport suspension. Maybe Im just asking too much from the car... either way i have a lot of fun.
Last edited by John 540i6; 10-20-2006 at 06:33 PM.
Hi John,
Are there enclosures or baffles for the speakers?
What are the correct procedures to adj the rear shocks before install? The website did not say which direction will result in stiffer or softer damping.
Last edited by franka; 10-20-2006 at 10:10 PM.
Frank
540/6
Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.
One thing I'd add on the install - when doing the fronts, you'll want to remove the brake calipers. Otherwise you'll stretch the brake line too much and may risk damaging the line. It really doesn't add much time to the install - and much better than having to replace your brake lines as part of the install
Frank
540/6
Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.
There are small plastic enclosures for the rear speakers. That is what you remove to get to the rear suspension. You dont only take the speaker out. Its very easy and only takes a phillips head screw driver.
As far as the rear struts. I think im going to edit my first post and add that information in. I forgot to include that. That is something that is good to know. The koni directions are a complete waste of time. Ill try to get them up here soon.
As far as the stretched brake line, that is a very good point. I will add that in there as well. I didnt do that. I had the wheel turned in where the brake caliper was closer to the body of the car but Im sure i stretched it a little bit.
Oh, i also forgot to include 1 more good detail to the install for the front suspension. Any guesses?
no, i was going to mention the little plastic arm that connects to the servo for the headlight aiming. It connects to the passenger side control arm. You have to take that off as well.
Oh, i added in the new section on how to adjust the rear struts and inserted the new info along the post and gave credit where credit was due.....
Ah - good point - that would be for the front and rear. Very important to note because most often the plastic arm on the servo unit breaks, not the link on the control arm - and the plastic arm is integral with the sensor which cost about a hundred bucks.
This is fresh in my mind because I just got done with an eibach pro-kit install.
One thing that I found useful is to loosen the top of the nuts on top of the struts/shocks before you remove them from the shock/strut towers. Or better yet - invest in a cordless impact wrench. After doing my install and needing to bring my car to a local shop to get one stubborn strut nut off with an impact wrench, it's on my must buy list for tools.
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