suspension again sorry

[RayM]

Hi Guys

I've been reading all the latest posts about suspension and must admit I'm as confused as F**K. B4,B8,B12 Sachs,Bilstein, Elbaich. I don't know the hell what to do !

My old dolly has the factory M sport set up with 18" elopsoids and different width wheels/ tyres. The ride is quite firm enough for my old bones but as the car is now on 73K I suspect the suspension has seen better days The rear springs do look fairly new so I suspect they have already been changed but I would like to look at doing the whole lot on all 4 corners if I can keep the cost within reason.

As ive said, I don't want to make the ride any harder or lower but I suspect new shocks etc all round would probably make a noticeable difference to the car anyway.

If anyone else has done this I would be grateful of advice because as I say there appears to be so many options its totally confusing.

Cheers.

 

[Rory]

Hi , you're in the same boat as me. Probably driven other sports cars and thought, this is low and handles well - why can't the z4 ride as well as this ??

The first thing people will ask is if you got rid of the run flat tyres - mine came without runflats but everybody says its a big difference.

As for bilsteins , the official company line is you need B8s with our mtec suspension. Well forum users have proved thats not true at all, the cheapest in the range B4 has been described as an OEM replacement, and possibly a little upgraded over standard. So if Im putting any shocks on , I think it will be those.

Springs - Im still not sure about these. Some people have said eibach lowering springs give a better ride, others say its about the same but worse on a bad road. Like you Im happy with the ride height ( pretty low ) as standard.

 

[RayM]

Hi Rory

I do have the non run flats already thanks and to be honest the ride is not too bad (far better than my old westy that's for sure)

I just don't want it any worse as ultimate handling is not my aim just a reasonable compromise, as we both agree the ride height is low enough already.

knowing the age range of the majority of owners on here by recent polls, there must be others out there like me who want to uprate but not spoil what is essentially a good handling reasonably comfortably riding set up. I just don't want to put the overpriced BMW parts on again.

 

[JINGLE]

Hi Ray, my advice would be:

if you have Run Flats... swap them for normal tyres, biggest difference BY FAR...

if you want to swap out all springs for a good price then get a set of SUPLEX (Eibach drop by -20-25mm and H&R drop by -30mm) springs all around, there are the same ride height and slightly better than OEM(i.e the rears don't snap as common) just make sure if your car has m tec suspension make sure you don't order the standard suspension spring... (and vise versa) and also make sure you get the correct part number as engine size/weight also makes a difference.

OEM shocks are Sach but when looking to replace mine for OEM.... I couldn't find them ANYWHERE for a reasonable price and I got the B4s and are an upgrade over the OEM shocks anyway and much cheaper

hope this is helpful

 

[RayM]

Hi Ray, my advice would be:

if you have Run Flats... swap them for normal tyres, biggest difference BY FAR...

if you want to swap out all springs for a good price then get a set of SUPLEX (Eibach drop by -20-25mm and H&R drop by -30mm) springs all around, there are the same ride height and slightly better than OEM(i.e the rears don't snap as common) just make sure if your car has m tec suspension make sure you don't order the standard suspension spring... (and vise versa) and also make sure you get the correct part number as engine size/weight also makes a difference.

OEM shocks are Sach but when looking to replace mine for OEM.... I couldn't find them ANYWHERE for a reasonable price and I got the B4s and are an upgrade over the OEM shocks anyway and much cheaper

hope this is helpful

Thanks Jingle

I already have the non run flat tyres so that's sorted.

So what you are saying in essence is the SUPLEX springs and B4's all-round should give me the same ride height as the OEM setup but with a slight upgrade in performance?

 

[JINGLE]

Hi Ray, my advice would be:

if you have Run Flats... swap them for normal tyres, biggest difference BY FAR...

if you want to swap out all springs for a good price then get a set of SUPLEX (Eibach drop by -20-25mm and H&R drop by -30mm) springs all around, there are the same ride height and slightly better than OEM(i.e the rears don't snap as common) just make sure if your car has m tec suspension make sure you don't order the standard suspension spring... (and vise versa) and also make sure you get the correct part number as engine size/weight also makes a difference.

OEM shocks are Sach but when looking to replace mine for OEM.... I couldn't find them ANYWHERE for a reasonable price and I got the B4s and are an upgrade over the OEM shocks anyway and much cheaper

hope this is helpful

Thanks Jingle

I already have the non run flat tyres so that's sorted.

So what you are saying in essence is the SUPLEX springs and B4's all-round should give me the same ride height as the OEM setup but with a slight upgrade in performance?

From what've have read yes, the suplex springs are direct swap and slightly better quality and the same with the B4s over the original sach shocks (and both are much cheaper)