lowered my '08 335i

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

qft, i just read this after posting my post above.

There's no such thing as perfection, there is only varying states of compromise. When you're going aftermarket, you're aiming for something that fits YOUR preferences more closely than the target mass market the OE tried to hit.

My point was warranty. I do not deny there are AM parts that supercede OEM in quality and performance return. This is the guy who's waiting for his bmw z4 to fall out of warranty before doing any mods. I just can't afford to have issues and that stuff not be covered on a $30k used car...

Void only if determined that the modded part in question contributed to the fault. If a guy's brakes fail on a chipped the vehicle, it's still perfectly good for the warranty. I agree though that some parts are just to risky to mess with.

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

BMW brainwashed

 

[sjwaste]

Guys, the OP's priorities on modding are aesthetic. Go back and reread his posts, he's talking about adding a lip spoiler and some other stuff after this. So really, even if it doesn't handle as well as it did before (and I'm not taking a position on that), his priority is to have it look good, and I think he's accomplished that. No need to get bent out of shape.

 

[senseamp]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

Agreed, and if you like that you'll keep it stock. If you want either better cornering or a slight aesthetic improvement at the expense of ride quality (not always worse, but more often than not, e.g., progressive springs can be just as compliant in the first few mm of travel as stock) then you modify.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

Agreed, and if you like that you'll keep it stock. If you want either better cornering or a slight aesthetic improvement at the expense of ride quality (not always worse, but more often than not, e.g., progressive springs can be just as compliant in the first few mm of travel as stock) then you modify.

20mm is about where BMW themselves dropped the CSL models from the normal M3. One winding less and upped rates, about the same thing most aftermarket companies do. So apparently, their top engineers agree with the Milpitas man.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

Agreed, and if you like that you'll keep it stock. If you want either better cornering or a slight aesthetic improvement at the expense of ride quality (not always worse, but more often than not, e.g., progressive springs can be just as compliant in the first few mm of travel as stock) then you modify.

20mm is about where BMW themselves dropped the CSL models from the normal M3. One winding less and upped rates, about the same thing most aftermarket companies do. So apparently, their top engineers agree with the Milpitas man.

Exactly. I'm considering the Eibach progressive springs with a 20mm drop for my M. At least with those I won't get the broken spring bug ever again.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

Agreed, and if you like that you'll keep it stock. If you want either better cornering or a slight aesthetic improvement at the expense of ride quality (not always worse, but more often than not, e.g., progressive springs can be just as compliant in the first few mm of travel as stock) then you modify.

20mm is about where BMW themselves dropped the CSL models from the normal M3. One winding less and upped rates, about the same thing most aftermarket companies do. So apparently, their top engineers agree with the Milpitas man.

Exactly. I'm considering the Eibach progressive springs with a 20mm drop for my M. At least with those I won't get the broken spring bug ever again.

Great choice. These cars take very well to that bit of lowering.

I'm very tempted to lower my wife's M, but I'm afraid for the chin.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: senseamp
It looks nice, but I would never let some guy in Milpitas mess with the suspension that some very smart engineers in Bavaria fine tuned to perfection.

:laugh:

I'm sorry, but all I can do is laugh at what you just said.

Yes, you can, but your car will not ride and handle like its designers intended.
Do you think they were not aware of H&R sport springs? There is a lot of engineering and testing work that went into choosing the springs, the ride height, and suspension components of that car, the kind of engineering work that some dude in Milpitas is not going to do before slamming this car. You paid good money for the engineering and testing expertise of BMW's specialists, only to then pay more money on top of it for some ricer in the East Bay to mess with their fine work.

It had a 20mm drop and the geometry was set up to make up for the minor drop. If you know so much about cars you would know that this is a fairly trivial mod, done thousands of times on any number of different cars.

As Apex said, the factory springs and Geo are a compromise to appease those who want ride comfort AND sporty handling. If you want something different, you make the changes yourself, based upon years of experience of tuners and car modifiers.

I had a front strut brace and four wheel geometry set up on one of my cars. The difference in the way it handled was night and day. The car in question was well know for being set up for big understeer from the factory. After the strut and geo the car had much better turn in, front end grip and seemed to pivot on it's axis better, rather than being front end biased.

Also, 20mm drop != slammed.

Seems to me like ride comfort AND sporty handling of the factory setup is a good thing.
I guess I am just a if it's not broken, don't fix it kind of guy.

Agreed, and if you like that you'll keep it stock. If you want either better cornering or a slight aesthetic improvement at the expense of ride quality (not always worse, but more often than not, e.g., progressive springs can be just as compliant in the first few mm of travel as stock) then you modify.

20mm is about where BMW themselves dropped the CSL models from the normal M3. One winding less and upped rates, about the same thing most aftermarket companies do. So apparently, their top engineers agree with the Milpitas man.

Exactly. I'm considering the Eibach progressive springs with a 20mm drop for my M. At least with those I won't get the broken spring bug ever again.

Great choice. These cars take very well to that bit of lowering.

I'm very tempted to lower my wife's M, but I'm afraid for the chin.

Indeed. There is a lower black part under the 3's front splitter and that gets scuffed on parking lot ramps with stock springs as it is. I swing between modding the snot out of it to leaving it stock on an almost daily basis.

 

[Cobalt]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Are you gonna do the LSD mod?

Probably not anytime soon. Next up is exhaust and spoiler, followed by 19" rims.

*maybe* a Stage 1 Dinan ECU flash, maybe not.

how does teh bmw dealer feel about all these mods?

I personally wouldn't fvck with the warranty....

Dinan mods are backed by BMW, they won't void the warranty and they have their own warranty as well. So if hes worried about that I'd advise to go all Dinan. Gains wont be as massive as say a Vishnu software mod, etc. and it will be more expensive but will give great performance and peace of mind.

 

[James Bond]

Looks sick

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: cobalt

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Are you gonna do the LSD mod?

Probably not anytime soon. Next up is exhaust and spoiler, followed by 19" rims.

*maybe* a Stage 1 Dinan ECU flash, maybe not.

how does teh bmw dealer feel about all these mods?

I personally wouldn't fvck with the warranty....

Dinan mods are backed by BMW, they won't void the warranty and they have their own warranty as well. So if hes worried about that I'd advise to go all Dinan. Gains wont be as massive as say a Vishnu software mod, etc. and it will be more expensive but will give great performance and peace of mind.

Dinan mods are NOT backed by BMW. If BMW refuses a warranty claim, Dinan will theoretically pay it.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Sigh. Automatic tranny with iDrive.

The only way I would order that car would be with an MT and as few gee-whiz-bang electronics as possible.

 

[Canai]

I thought the autos came with paddle shifts?

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sigh. Automatic tranny with iDrive.

The only way I would order that car would be with an MT and as few gee-whiz-bang electronics as possible.

You need to be able to afford it first.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sigh. Automatic tranny with iDrive.

The only way I would order that car would be with an MT and as few gee-whiz-bang electronics as possible.

You need to be able to afford it first.

Are you somehow insinuating that I cannot?

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sigh. Automatic tranny with iDrive.

The only way I would order that car would be with an MT and as few gee-whiz-bang electronics as possible.

You need to be able to afford it first.

Are you somehow insinuating that I cannot?

Lass liegen. Macht nichts

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Canai
I thought the autos came with paddle shifts?

Mine does have the paddle shifts.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sigh. Automatic tranny with iDrive.

The only way I would order that car would be with an MT and as few gee-whiz-bang electronics as possible.

The iDrive really isn't that bad, although I've heard some bad things about the BMW navigation software.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Canai
I thought the autos came with paddle shifts?

Mine does have the paddle shifts.

Ah guess I missed them in the interior pic. Do you like the paddle shifts? Do you use them all the time or just when you feel like it?

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Canai
I thought the autos came with paddle shifts?

Mine does have the paddle shifts.

Ah guess I missed them in the interior pic. Do you like the paddle shifts? Do you use them all the time or just when you feel like it?

I've only used them a couple of times to play with them. Usually I just put it in DS mode (automatic sport mode, with higher shift points) for spirited driving.