FIRST IMPRESSION

Definitely not a stock sport suspension ride, but not sure how good or bad. I only drove on some relatively smooth local roads, but the ride is a bit more harsh, but not a lot (it seems).

When I installed the fronts, I knew I was going to lower it, so I adjusted the toe. I've had other cars with major toe-out when lowering, and since that chews up tires, I decided to err on too much toe-in (three full turns on the tie-rods). I mention this because the turn-in with the set-up as it sits is RIGHT NOW, something that I found this car and my previous E46 lacked. I don't know if it's the toe-in (I suspect not) or the suspension. I've always found the E46 turn-in to be sluggish and a bit vague. That's all gone currently. After I set final ride height and get an alignment, I'll report back.

I won't say much more about first impression because I didn't drive it much and things are not final yet. I do find it VERY encouraging and will report back how the final settings feel.

I originally planned to do my own alignment, but with the time lost to running for tools and all, I just ran out of time. At this stage I'll have it put on a rack. No time during the week for a DIY.

I'll report more as I get some more seat time.

Oh, and when I replaced the control arms, I also installed the Powerflex bushings I bought and brought with me when I bought the car (but didn't need).

 

Some side notes...

The control arms I took off were getting tired, but still serviceable. The FCABs were starting to get tired, but again, were still marginally serviceable. I've put 50k miles on it in my ownership. While I don't have the details of its history, this car was certainly well maintained before me (1 owner before me).

Heights before installation (from axle CL to wheel arch):

LF: 13 15/46"
RF: 13 7/8"

LR: 13 3/8"
RR: 12 3/4"

After installation (including ac hoc adjustment to the front after initially putting the car on the ground):

LF: 12 3/4"
RF: 12 3/4"

LR: 12 7/8"
RR: 12 3/8"

My goal was 13" everywhere and then evaluate. Tomorrow I'll make the small adjustments necessary to get there. Hopefully I'll be able to get an alignment on Tuesday.

I initially wasn't looking for coilovers for this car. These are very promising. If the deal didn't come along, I'd likely have gone with Koni FSD and Eibach ProKits or H&R sport springs. Time will tell how these work out.

 

After installation (including ac hoc adjustment to the front after initially putting the car on the ground):

LF: 12 3/4"
RF: 12 3/4"

LR: 12 7/8"
RR: 12 3/8"

I would definitely raise the front ride height. My recommendation is 13.5" front, 13" rear. The rear fender arch is a bit lower than the front, so it might look a little goofy, but there will be a little rake when measured at the frame rail.
At 13" front, you will probably be hitting your bump stops quite a bit, not to mention control arm angle will be off.

As for the toe, a little toe out will help with turn-in. The trade-off being increase tire wear, as you mentioned.

 

Oh, I need to say a couple of more things I forgot.

I do like the fact that the ST kit is pretty complete. Once you add the strut washer and either a stock strut mount or camber plates, you have all that you need. The only other thing you may need is new top rear spring mount rubbers. The ST kit even includes shorter swaybar end links for the front. All in all, first impressions is the kit is a win. We'll see tonight now easy it is to adjust the rear height with the adjusters at the top. You have to unload the spring, so you have to undo the shock bolt at the bottom. At first I was going to try to skip this step, but the adjusters are all aluminum and while they are anodized, I don't want to gall the threads.

Ride is definitely a bit more harsh, so far noticed on uneven expansion strips. Need more seat time.

One more thing. I've GOT to give serious praise for FCP. I've recently begun using them for some of my orders, but after using their video of taking apart the back trim, they will get more of my business. Don't think I could have done this without that video, certainly I would have broken a lot of old plastic parts. The only thing I was unhappy about is taking the cover off the seatbelt spool. I think there has to be a bit better way. I did break one tab on each side. Still, even after getting them off, I couldn't tell a better way (although I'm sure one exists). The Torx screws for the cover latch were a major BITCH! Damn those things were tight, but that has no bearing on FCP's excellent video.

 

OK, did some adjustments after work.

I decided to split the difference and go for 13.25" up front and 13.00" in the rear.

The right side is dead on. The LF needs to come up 1/8". The LR needs to come down 1/4" despite the fact I only raised it 1/8". I did take out the spring to adjust it, so the orientation of the spring may have something to do with it.

Here is the REALLY interesting thing though. The RR I had to add the xi pad (RR only) to in order to get the height I was looking for. I could only come up another 1/4" max (if that) if I needed. I don't know if I have some preload in the swaybar (don't think so, but looks like it may be worth checking. I didn't replace any rear bushings yet, so that could be it as well. I need to pick up a set of drifts and just haven't gotten around to that yet.

Alignment got postponed from tomorrow to Wednesday as I have to go to another office tomorrow. At least that gives me tomorrow night to get the final ride height correct. I'm paying a premium for the alignment, but I'm going to a race shop that is well known for their alignments. I know they will leave no stone unturned.

Lastly, I couldn't get an accurate toe measurement, but tried to get a rough one to see if I have any serious toe-out. Nope. Serious toe-in. Rather have that than toe-out at the moment. Less premature tire wear.

After the adjustments tonight I really am liking this set-up even more. The turn-in is less severe, but still direct. The feel is much better. Very much looking forward to how it handles and feels after the alignment.

 

I hope I'm not boring everyone. I could have just waited until everything was done, but I thought I'd also share the process I was going through.

So, got home tonight and after just over a 100 mile commute, I rechecked the heights and everything was DEAD ON. Man, I was thrilled about that.

Final height tally: F 13 3/8" R 13" I really like the "stance" at those heights. Almost looks normal. No obvious excess camber what so ever.

Since the right height was dead on, I decided to check the toe. HOLY CATS! I have roughly 1 3/4" of toe-in! Turns out I shouldn't have made the adjustments I did when lowering (if you remember, I gave the tie-rods 3 full turns). So, I put the car up and took out the 3 turns. That left me with less than 1/2" of toe-out, so I gave the tie-rods one turn in on each side and using my ghetto toe plates I measured dead-on zero toe. Decided that is as close as I can get it. Took it for a test drive (more in a minute) and it tracks straight and true with just the slightest of off-center to the steering wheel (about as good as the average monkey alignment place will do). Pretty damned happy about all this.

A word about my ghetto toe setting/toe plates... I had two old particle board shelves that I leaned against the wheel flat and held in place with a tipped jack stand. Lined the trailing edge with the trailing edge of the wheel well. The shelves were just a bit longer than the tires are in diameter. Close enough for horseshoes and ghetto alignments. Used a tape measure to get front and rear measurements. I was aiming for no more than 1/8" toe-out to 1/4" toe-in. Figured that would be good enough until I get the alignment tomorrow. I'll be really interested what the rack says for starting figures. FWIW, I've seen race cars set with lesser tools.

So, the test drive. As I said, it runs straight and true. The sharp turn-in is gone, but still better than any E46 I've driven before, but not by a really big amount. I wish the E46 had just a bit better turn-in. I guess I should get caster/camber plates and adjust the caster to help just a bit. The return to center of the wheel is back. It was non-existant first time around and after last night it was pretty sluggish. Now it's what I expect.

Other than turn-in, I'll save the handling debrief until after the alignment and our cruddy rain. I'll also wash the bloody car and get pics once the rain stops.

Again, other than the rear adjusters being located at the top (don't know why they spec that, but I wasn't going to argue), I'm pretty happy with this so far.

 

Since the right height was dead on, I decided to check the toe. HOLY CATS! I have roughly 1 3/4" of toe-in! Turns out I shouldn't have made the adjustments I did when lowering (if you remember, I gave the tie-rods 3 full turns). So, I put the car up and took out the 3 turns. That left me with less than 1/2" of toe-out, so I gave the tie-rods one turn in on each side and using my ghetto toe plates I measured dead-on zero toe. Decided that is as close as I can get it. Took it for a test drive (more in a minute) and it tracks straight and true with just the slightest of off-center to the steering wheel (about as good as the average monkey alignment place will do). Pretty damned happy about all this.

A word about my ghetto toe setting/toe plates... I had two old particle board shelves that I leaned against the wheel flat and held in place with a tipped jack stand. Lined the trailing edge with the trailing edge of the wheel well. The shelves were just a bit longer than the tires are in diameter. Close enough for horseshoes and ghetto alignments. Used a tape measure to get front and rear measurements. I was aiming for no more than 1/8" toe-out to 1/4" toe-in. Figured that would be good enough until I get the alignment tomorrow. I'll be really interested what the rack says for starting figures. FWIW, I've seen race cars set with lesser tools.

I was going to ask if you had let your car settle in before taking measurements. Glad you got the ride heights about where you wanted them.

I'm willing to bet your measurements are pretty accurate. The zero toe would also explain the poor turn-in.

Dumb question: When you were measuring for toe, what were you referencing against? i.e. what do you measure from the board to as a consistent reference point to determine the toe?

That's not a dumb question at all. That is the one downside of using toe plates. The measurements are taken relative to the other tire. So the relative toe might read 0, but the absolute toe might be pointed to one side in equal amounts. For example, left side is toe in 1/16", the right side is toe out 1/16", difference is zero. In any case, you can probably do better than most grease monkeys would.

I think there are some ways around it. Turner sells a (expensive) rack block that makes certain your steering rack is centered. Longacre also sells a universal long bar with two scribe pointers on either end, which you would center on the car. You could also probably even use a long pipe, aluminum bar, or a straight piece of lumber.

 

If caster's what you're after (and since you're a new FCP fan), you can get pre-pressed Z4M FCABs for ~$50 a piece on clearance from FCP at the moment: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-suspension-control-arm-bushing-z4-31107836862. While it's a bit hefty compared to standard E46 stuff, that's a pretty killer price for these already pressed. Perhaps too late if your alignment's today, but thought I'd throw it out there.

Dumb question: When you were measuring for toe, what were you referencing against? i.e. what do you measure from the board to as a consistent reference point to determine the toe?

 

I appreciate the heads-up on the Z4 FCABs. I already had a set of Powerflex that I brought with me when I bought the car. Just didn't install them until now. In fact, the existing FCABs were getting tired, but still reasonably serviceable. This car had pretty good maintenance. I'm going to stick with the PF for now. If I decide I need to tinker with caster or camber I'll get plates.

For toe, it's basically a quick and dirty. The boards were flat against the wheel/tire. Measured from the outside of the board to the outside of the board (both front and back). Not perfect, but again, not bad at all as we're really only interested in the difference between front and back. In theory, we want to measure from the centerline of the tire, but the difference is nominal with typical road tires.

If need be, I can supply a pic of my ghetto toe measuring set-up.

Remember though, this is just toe at one end of the car. To measure thrust angle requires a decent string alignment set-up (search YouTube or through Google). That's also doable at home, but more involved. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't killing my tires before putting it on a rack. For a race car, a) you need to be able to measure/change alignment at the track and b) may end up adjusting it so much that you have to be able to take a decent measurement at the track.

I have a friend I raced with who used angle iron with bolts attached to use as toe plates and a Smart Camber gauge. He bet a friend who just bought a state of the art laser alignment machine (portable for the track) that he could measure the alignment within 1/16" of the machine. Free beer for the weekend was the wager. My friend drank for free.

 

Thanks, elbert and Geo. My car's suspension is basically completely toast (I think the vast majority is 15-year-old factory stuff), so I'm slowly accumulating parts and I'm going to do it all in one shot. That means, of course, that everything's gonna be super wonky when I'm done, and with a ~15-mile drive to the shop I like to use for alignments, I'd like to get it at least somewhere close to nominal to drive it over there. I will have to check out youtube and see what I can figure out for a "driveway alignment."

I could probably also find somebody closer to me with an alignment rack, but I'm more than a little weird about auto shops. Ok - back to the topic!

 

Dude, we are ALL weird about auto shops! You're in good company!

I haven't watched all of this, but the guy does appear to know what he's doing. I'll check the whole thing later:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BopCl1H7Ne0

 

OK, finally had a chance to listen to the whole thing. This is solid. If you do what this guy is saying, you'll be fine. Now, our cars spec toe in degrees. With a little math, you can convert the measurements into degrees if you like. I personally wouldn't bother.

If you can rig a way to attach the tubing to the bumpers at the correct height (really needs to be adjustable), you basically have a set of DIY Smart Strings.

http://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartstrings.html

If you have Caster/Camber plates, you could measure and set those too using a Smart Camber guage:

http://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartcamber.html

While I cannot vouch for the accuracy or quality, I've been watching this on eBay as a budget solution to a Smart Camber gauge:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281369072191?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

If you want a set of toe plates (remember the limitations), here are a couple of sources:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281932528463?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...JBRCWtsiXpI7bhOYBEiQA1en3FytmytUHN79zw_je1ZtJXLTSK_QmDLW5WqWLtqt1tPUaAvLg8P8HAQ

Good luck. You CAN do this at home. Is it worth it? If you do a lot of suspension work, adjust coilovers a lot, or if you are a racer, yes. For a 1x alignment, not really. For those of us who do occasional work requiring an alignment, getting a good, solid, base alignment to start and then using toe plates is probably good enough if you are meticulous with your adjustments, making sure you make the exact same adjustment to both sides. After a while, or if you suspect a problem, then a good rack alignment is in order.

And IMHO it's worth it to find someone who does a really good alignment, and not just get stuff into the green. That is why my alignment was $130 and not $80 or $90.

 

OK, got the alignment. Was VERY close. More later. Don't really like the phone app so well.

Quick teaser pic...

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Looks great! Nice setup with the slight rake to combat the designed rear squat.

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OK kids***8230;

I***8217;ve now got a bit over 100 miles on the car since the alignment (long commute today). I***8217;ve also got somewhere north of 400 miles one since the installation. So, time for a semi-final evaluation/review.

Initially I thought the dampers were a bit harsh. While they still can be, they seem to have broken in and smoothed out a bit. The spring rates are about right for a road car IMHO, perhaps a bit on the aggressive side of acceptable. They really are not bad. I won***8217;t give a full handling account because I simply do not intentionally place a road car at the limit of adhesion. And since the true handling at the limit is noticeably different from just before, such a critique would not be proper.

Turn-in remains much better than it was before and better than any E46 I***8217;ve driven before ***8211; but not by a lot. The suspension seems very sure-footed and confidence inspiring. Very stable. Once you turn in, they seem to take a decent set. Its is not the least bit sloppy, nor does it have bad habits when aggressively street driven. No creaks or rattles ***8211; a very good sign. All in all pretty solid.

My opinion of the damping has changed from when I first put them on until now. This may change again with a bit more miles on them. The car is not bouncy at all to me. I think the initial jounce is just a teeny bit harsh and I think the rebound is just a teeny bit under damped. I think this is typical of a lot of dampers. I***8217;ve certainly experienced this before to a much greater degree. If these were double-adjustable and I was starting from this setting, I***8217;d take just a bit of jounce damping out and add just a bit of rebound damping. One must be really careful of these sorts of adjustments, lest you ***8220;ratchet***8221; down the suspension (compresses on jounce, but doesn***8217;t rebound fully before jounce compression again).

I can recommend this kit for a street set-up with only occasional forays onto the track. There are other options available that are probably just as good or even better. I got them for a price I couldn***8217;t pass up. If I had to pay full over-the-counter price, I likely would have considered Konis with lowering springs. The nice thing about coilovers is there is much less to buy when doing a complete refresh. This kit is pretty complete. In the front, it comes with everything you***8217;ll need (including shortened swaybar end links) except the washer and strut mount. In the rear you get everything except the upper spring pads (mine were fine). The adjusters have their own thin pad already attached.

The alignment was worthwhile. While I had it close, I didn***8217;t know how close. The shop I took it to (Track Time Performance) in north Houston, is a great shop. Unlike the typical monkey, they went through everything to set it as best it could be (not just get it in the green and call it done). I paid a bit more, but the extra attention to detail, and peace of mind was definitely worth it. I needed a rental for the day and they even arranged that for me from Hertz. If you***8217;re in Houston and need a good alignment, especially if you are autocrossing or tracking, Kurt and his team are top notch.

When I get home I***8217;ll post the before and after specs.

 

Thanks for the follow up and review. If I am reading correctly, there was very little height adjustment left on the table?
But you were able to find a place that would do it other than dealer?

Last wagon I had (lowered E34 with kmac adjustable RTABs) the only place that would touch it in town was BMW themselves... and they didn't know how once they got it in the back, so I wound up doing it myself on their rack with their tools.

Glad to know everyone doesn't have that issue, it's just my sucky town.

 

I have roughly 5/8" (maybe 3/4") more I could lower the front. I could raise it probably an inch and a half. I'm currently about 1/2" below the stock sport suspension ride height. It looks pretty natural and so far have not hit the bump stops. The rear is about 3/8" below stock.

I'm not sure what you're referring to about who I got to do what. I did the installation myself, including setting ride height. I had a race shop set the alignment, although I know of at least 2 or 3 shops off the top of my head that would have handled the alignment.

If I had caster/camber plates, the shop I went to would have adjusted that as well. I forgot and left the alignment sheet in the car. I'll bring it in later and give the nitty gritty.

 

Time for some decent pics.

The first is the front set-up and the 3 parts I bought (forgot to mention the plates). I never got pics of the rear. Dumb. Sorry about that. A pic of the rear adjusters and built-in pads would have been nice to show.

Then some pics of how she sits right now and one artsy fartsy one with extreme in-camera HDR.

 

^ Outstanding! :thumbsup:

 

I keep forgetting the post the alignment specs...

Rear:

L Camber: (before) -1.7°, (after) -2.2°
R Camber: (before) -2.1°, (after) -2.2°

L Toe: (before) 0.16°, (after) 0.15°
R Toe: (before) 0.17°, (after) 0.13°

Thrust Angle: (before) 0.00°, (after) 0.01°

Front:

L Caster: (before) 4.8°, (after) 4.8°
R Caster: (before) 4.7°, (after) 4.8°

L Camber: (before) -1.1°, (after) -1.1°
R Camber: (before) -1.2°, (after) -1.2°

L Toe: (before) -0.10°, (after) 0.13°
R Toe: (before) 0.20°, (after) 0.12°

Looks like my ghetto toe setting was pretty much spot-on. I had it at virtually zero (< 1/32"). The only thing was I had the tires slightly turned to one side, something always possible when only setting toe.

Caster and camber are out of spec. Spec for Caster is 5.6° +/- 0.5°, so I'm just barely out of spec. Not the least bit of a worry. Camber spec is -0.7° +/- 0.3°. What I have is a touch more aggressive, which is both expected (with the lowering) and desirable, so I'm happy there.

The alignment numbers before tell me the car was aligned well in the past and the chassis is likely pretty straight and true.

 

That's what I was referring to. No one will even touch a BMW for alignment except the dealership here.

Good numbers. 1/2 lower than stock ZSP eh? As you said, looks natural.

 

Thanks Geo - this is all awesome info. Personally, I'll always default to a good shop alignment, but for me this stuff is awesome/necessary to get it driveable to at least get to the shop without the aid of AAA. And I agree - while it's tempting to go for a tire shop that has $80 lifetime alignments, I just have concern that they wouldn't know all of the adjustments, and just fiddle with it to get it passable. I've got a local BMW specialist indie that has one of those fancy high-tech racks, so they should be able to move things around the correct way and get it nice and solid.

 

Thanks for this mate. I picked up AP coilovers, which I believe are the European counterpart to ST (which is a subdivision of KW anyway). Loads of good info in this thread. May I ask why youbdidnt bother with purchasing a new grease cap that goes between the washer and upper strut? Also, was your febi mount greased up?

I have a Sachs and febi mounts available to me, and the Sachs are greased to kingdom come, whereas the febi are not. Just oiled I believe.

Cheers, geo (I also bought an AEM intake entirely because of you)

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Uh oh...

Because I'm a moron and missed it. %$&%%&!!!!!

I didn't take my old struts apart. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a new set of mounts AND a grease cap to deal with the premature failure. Ugh. I thought I had everything.

I don't remember how heavily or lightly greased the Febi mounts were. My recollection is not very, but I'm getting old and can't remember what I had for breakfast.

BTW, after living with these coilovers for a few months now, I like them more than ever. They really are well matched for a road car. I've experienced no real downside to them. Spring rates seem to be excellent (on par with the factory sport suspension) and damping is near perfect. Again, I'd tweak them ever so slightly if I could, but most people would not feel the change I'd make. The dampers aren't Konis, but perfectly acceptable.

For anyone looking to replace their factory suspension (including springs), these would be only a little more expensive than factory replacement and worth it IMHO. Truth is, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

Sorry if I seemed disrespectful - wasn't my intention at all.

I was just curious, because the AP Coilovers instructions make no mention of either of those pieces at all, so I would assume the ST coilovers are the same. They mention the washer, and washer alone, which is consistent with your install. They also make no mention of greasing up the strut mount before installation.

In my opinion, you would be ok to reuse your current strut mounts. Inspect the bearings for grit or wear on the ball bearings themselves, and if they look fine, just pack it up with grease, have the cap and call it a day.

I'm not old, but I forget stuff anyway, so you're not alone! I've forgotten to put my oil cap back on and drove a week without it. My car didn't throw a single code somehow.

That's good to hear about the reviews. I haven't read many reviews for the AP coils, since they aren't available to the NA market, but all information I've found points to KW being their manufacturer, so they would be roughly equivalent to ST. They even have the same finish on the struts (see pic).

I'll likely post a review later once it's all done and dusted. Thanks a lot for your help!

 

Sorry if I seemed disrespectful - wasn't my intention at all.

Not at all mate!

I was just curious, because the AP Coilovers instructions make no mention of either of those pieces at all, so I would assume the ST coilovers are the same. They mention the washer, and washer alone, which is consistent with your install. They also make no mention of greasing up the strut mount before installation.

In my opinion, you would be ok to reuse your current strut mounts. Inspect the bearings for grit or wear on the ball bearings themselves, and if they look fine, just pack it up with grease, have the cap and call it a day.

I'm not old, but I forget stuff anyway, so you're not alone! I've forgotten to put my oil cap back on and drove a week without it. My car didn't throw a single code somehow.

That's good to hear about the reviews. I haven't read many reviews for the AP coils, since they aren't available to the NA market, but all information I've found points to KW being their manufacturer, so they would be roughly equivalent to ST. They even have the same finish on the struts (see pic).

I'll likely post a review later once it's all done and dusted. Thanks a lot for your help!

That looks exactly like mine.

Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I'm not uber worried, but when I do my rear bushings, I think I'll replace the strut mounts with the dust cap since I'll need a new alignment anyway.

 

Cheers. Curiously, did you use the washer for the rear shock mounts as well? I haven't mounted mine on the car yet, but i've put the shock mounts on the rear shocks, but no washer.

 

I used the ones that came with my Rogue Engineering rear shock mounts. They are nearly a requirement with the touring.

 

Great write up :thumbup:, i have considered these coilovers over the years. Looked at your alignment #'s, wish you had alittle less front toe in.

 

Reviving this year old thread with an update....

After a year of driving on these, all my initial thoughts/feelings still hold true. If you have a road car and want coilovers with really good ride, don't want to slam your car, etc., these really rock. They ride almost like the stock sport suspension, but better. I only lowered my car a little from factory sport suspension specs and I still LOVE these. If I were doing serious track days or racing, that would be another story, but this is my DD and they are better than stock and super easy to live with.

 

Glad you bumped this. I need a set of coils that I feel comfortable sending my wife out with, but don't want to take too much money away from the m3. Love my KWs on the M, so coupled with a good long term review of these, they seem top of the list.

 

I have AP coils which are ST but essentially in Europe. I feel much the sale. For the price that they are you'll be hard pressed to find anything close.

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