Vicksburg, Thanks. Eibach sport springs. Koni adjustables up front, Tokico adjustables in back. Wheels are 16x7.5 TSW Hockenheims with 205/45 tires. Larger photo:
How much did that lower your car? That looks like the ideal amount of lowering that I want to do... 1.5"?
I'm not sure what the original ride height was. Currently it's 24" from the center of the front fender arch to the ground, and 23.5" in the rear.
Just for kicks, I'll measure my convertible fender arches for comparison. I just finished installation of brand new stock suspension parts (shocks, springs, control arms, etc). I also have stock rims and stock rubber. We should be able to tell how much your changes have lowered it from stock.... If I can figure out how to post a picture I'll do that too. It would be fun to see the two side by side in pictures. Mine's an 88' - all black.
Stock measurement appears to be 26 front and 25.5 back. Looks like you got a solid 2" drop from approx. stock height.....
XP is dead: No more dodging the Vista bullet? Bring out yer dead. Mark your calendars of doom in ominous blood-red scrawl, for today is the day that American software beast Microsoft Corp. chopped the retail head off its stalwart XP operating system and held aloft (the still unpopular) Windows Vista as its now unavoidable successor. If the post made in the wrong section, please move
Would've been deleted in a heartbeat had a mod come by earlier. There were a few of these posts in inappropriate threads by various posters. Besides, it's not the end of the world. We can live without XP; we've got BMW's.
Hi Bark, we are riding the same heights, my car is 24" f / 23.5" r, yet you're lookin' lower than me - what are your wheel/tire sizes? I ride on 205/50-15s or 205-45/16s, see photos in posts 6 & 7 on this thread - http://stage.bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=667 jM
JM, Nice car, love the Alpinas. Where did you get them? Also, how did you do your shadowline trim? The tires I have in my photo are 205/50/16s, which would fill out the wheel wells a little bit more than your 45s. Also I know some e30s had higher wheel arches than others, so that may be a factor. If my car has higher arches, the rest of the body would obviously have to sit lower to the ground in order for our arch measurements to match. And there's probably some optical illusion factor as well, with my low front "is" spoiler and sideskirts.
I'm close to getting a lowering kit, but I noticed that everyone who lowered their car bought springs and shocks/struts (whatever). Question is, can I just buy the springs or do I have to get the springs and the shocks? If I replace all of the springs, might as well do all of the shocks, and it gets expensive very fast if all four are done at the same time. With Bilstein Sports (front right and left and rear right and left) and H&R springs, the subtotal came out to a whopping $647, before shipping!! I don't know about you, but that's multiple paychecks! So are the springs enough for the lowering?
hi Bark, The blackout is done w/ vinyl tape, except the bumpers, which are painted to match the body-color. I got the Alpina wheels from KSK Distributing on the west coast, www.alpina-usa.com. I've also got 5 7x15 BBS baskets, which look great (except for the 2 that need to be re-finished), and 5 7x15 MSW baskets which are in better shape but aren't quite as good a design. These guys usually wear 205-50/15 track-tires.
I think they recommend a higher performance shock because the stock shocks, even if brand new, may not be able to properly damp the stiffer springs, and therefore won't really work well, or right, with lowering springs. There's also an issue of internal clearance within the shock itself; you'd have to check w/ Bavauto or others who would specifically know, but if you take a stock shock and put it w/ shorter springs, the now-always-compressed shock (compared to stock ride-height) may not be designed to, or have, the internal travel of a shock designed for lowering springs, and could be damaged by bottoming out, or potentially over compressing. I don't know how likely that is to happen, but I think the retailers would be able to answer the question. Of course there is some logic to buying stuff all at once, but you could also space the parts purchases out, and then do the installation after you've gotten everything, even if it took awhile. Didn't you have some potholes to worry about?
Blackout tape? Doesn't it look... cheap? I tried the blackout tape but it didn't look right. I sprayed my chrome trim but it's flaking off, so I tried to tape over it and when it didn't look right, I took it off and off came some of the black paint with it! So now I'm stuck with two pieces of tape around the driver's side trim. The tape is horrible; it crinkles and it's a pain to make it properly straight. Also, you can easily see where you cut off one end of the tape and taped the other one after it. It's just.... eeeeww. How did you manage to do it properly? For reference, I got mine on eBay and it was the only tape for sale... Well after seeing so many newer luxury-sports cars with low-profile tires driving around this area and STILL manage to keep their rims unbent with low-profile tires, I figure it can't be THAT easy to bend them... or can it? I just don't understand how almost every single car around here can drive around in rims the size of Mars on tires the size of a piece of string, but they don't seem overly affected. Every time someone rolls up next to me with huge rims on a straight road, I don't see their rims being bent at all... That is, ultimately, what I'm lowering the car for in the first place. I don't care much for the harsher ride, but I'm trying to keep it in between "track" and the "mushy-kushy-koo" ride when stock. Besides, even with stock ride height, the car looks a bit rediculous on bottlecaps. I could easily see my rear shocks.
