[Cbierniat]

This is my first post so I figure i'll give a background on my car. If you do not want to read this skip to the smiley face. Original owner owned the vehicle until roughly 181k. He took the car to Erhard BMW and had all the maintenance completed. I have a stack of receipts costing more than I actually paid for the vehicle. I purchased the car from the second owner at 182k who had the it for a little over a year and only put 1000k miles on it due to door handle problems. Any ways here we go..


:craig:

I attempted to remove the CDV today and jacked up the car and it appeared that the valve already been removed. This kind of sucks because the whole 1st to second jerking is still in affect. Clutch seems to be really sensitive within those two gears and I hate having to stop at red lights. I am not experienced with manuals but the most recent manual car I did drive was a cobalt ss and it did not do this... maybe my clutch is going I do believe it is the original at 183k!!!!


Now to the real :banghead: the RTABs

I was experiencing the "bump hop" or whatever it is described as, along with some inside tire wear, and also when I spun my tires around turns the rear was making a thumping noise like the tires were skipping. I decided to order RTABs and give it a go.

They arrived today and I jacked the drivers side car up removed the tire and noticed that the shock was overextended. I disconnected the bottom bolt and "plop" the shock fell apart. Looking around at this mess I also noticed that the spring was busted. I decided to say screw the RTABs right now as I have bigger issues. I did not hear any type of clunking or rattling before doing this but after getting upset uncovering this :censor: i put it back together and now its rattles like a :censor: :censor:

 

[Jmanscotch]

Sorry to hear what you found man!

A) Great time for H&R Springs and Bilstien/Koni shocks
B) Great first post....not newbish
C) I *think* I may still have two sport suspension springs I could send you for cost of shipping...that is if I haven't already thrown them away, I'll have to look into this.
D) The rear springs and shocks are a easy DIY, so that's not too bad of news (besides the obvious cost aspect...then again, at 180K+, who didn't see it coming)

 

[Cbierniat]

Thanks for the fast reply

I do really like this car... I had a 99 Grand Prix GTP and a 07 Grand Prix GXP previously to this e46.

I did some quick researching on springs/shocks and found Bilstien from 78 dollars to above 1800 wowww. I put some eibach lowering springs and KYB struts on my GTP along with some 20s and it rode hard and bouncy. What would you recommend combo for shock/spring also would I be ordering from BMW sites? I used to do all of ordering through RockAuto.com but they do not have anything for this car... Jmanscotch, If you do have those springs sitting around let me know and i'll send ya some ca$h.

I'm still doing reading on the shocks and springs but I do like peoples CURRENT personal input so please don't start with the read before you post and ask questions blahblah isshh

 

[Solidjake]

Oh wow, looks like I should check my rear springs.

 

[Cbierniat]

Solidjake which Angel eyes do you have? Not to deebo your style but I really like yours :bow: and they would look good with my 8k foglight ballast system :bump:


I'm not familar with the rearwheel drive cars as of yet but would would cause the inside of the rear tires to wear? I need new rear tires asap because I'm starting to see white lace coming through but do not want to chew up new ones

 

[Solidjake]

Solidjake which Angel eyes do you have? Not to deebo your style but I really like yours :bow: and they would look good with my 8k foglight ballast system :bump:

They are Umnitza Orion V2 angel eyes in 6000k color. They are first gen, so they're not as bright as the newer ones

 

[Solidjake]

Here's a new sig btw

http://i52.tinypic.com/1625ehd.jpg

 

[Jmanscotch]

Solidjake which Angel eyes do you have? Not to deebo your style but I really like yours :bow: and they would look good with my 8k foglight ballast system :bump:


I'm not familar with the rearwheel drive cars as of yet but would would cause the inside of the rear tires to wear? I need new rear tires asap because I'm starting to see white lace coming through but do not want to chew up new ones

The rears run a stock camber of -2.1...so inner tire wear is to be expected. If it is really extreme though, look to see when the last allignment was done. My personal experience had rears wearing out in around 25K miles.

I'll have to wait until after work to check on those springs, but I'll get back to you either way.

I ran H&R Sport Springs (for E46s with sport supsension, it dropped the front around 0.75" and 0.25" out the back) and Koni STR.T shocks. The shocks were comparable to OE shock in ride quality and such. I mainly picked them due to price point. I bought both off TireRack.

 

[Cbierniat]

I found a guy about an hour away on craiglist with some used oem springs/shocks off an 01 330CI with 110000 miles for 60 bucks. :woot: I may go this route just to get the spring/shock fixed asap by this weekend and order some H&R springs n Koni STR.R shocks when the funds are available in two weeks.

Would anyone strongly advise otherwise?

Are people going with the H&R springs over stock mainly because of the lowering aspect or because the OEM part is more expensive and/or less dependable? :hmm:

Your Opinion Matters :thumbup:

 

[Solidjake]

OEM is a lot of money new and it's dealer only. I wouldn't buy used springs because you never know if they will break on you right away..

 

[Billy G]

H&R Race > H&R Sport
Got convinced myself to go race and thank god I did. Clean drop. Might as well do it right the first time.
Sorry to see the springs go, but with Jake on this one, dont buy used springs. God only knows where they've been.

 

[Wayne's World]

Broken rear springs are actually really common I hear. I'd definitely use it as an excuse to drop the car all around but of course, that means buying 4 springs and shocks, not just 2. It's up to you. Replacement OE springs can be picked up for $59.78/ea (free shipping) @ BMAParts.com. Shocks are pretty cheap there too. I would however definitely pop over to TurnerMotorsport.com and pickup their rear shock tower reinforcement plates for a meagerly $31.95.