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Thread: I want to slam my e39!

  1. #1
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    Year 1997 E39 M52B25

    I want to slam my e39!

    After upgrade the rim to 18", i decide to slam down my car. Have been searching here and there, realized that many brand of spring and strut in the market now i.e Bilstein, Eibach, Sach, MTech, H&R, Koni, Boge, Titan..

    I am using Bilstein strut on the rear..(Saw the sticker there, but not sure black or yellow or what color else for Bilstein?? How to check??)

    Now my problem is:
    1. Can i just change the spring so that i can slam down my car for 1" to 1.5"?
    2. What is the best combination for my Bilstein strut??
    3. I am looking for comfortable drive rather than sport performance feeling. So what brand of spring i should order?

    Thkx and regards.
    ________________
    Live the e39..!!


  2. #2
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    Someone feel free to correct me if what I say is wrong.
    1. you're gonna need new shocks too cuz your stock shocks will blow
    2. Eibach Pro Kit
    3. I've heard Eibach Pro Kit and Bilstein combination would be the most comfortable.
    ALPINE WEISS III

  3. #3
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    how low do you want to go? Coilovers will be the best thing to do

  4. #4
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    but coilovers are harsh and bumpy.... he wants smooth yet lowered

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alpina540i View Post
    but coilovers are harsh and bumpy....
    says who??

  6. #6
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    Year 1997 E39 M52B25
    Coilover different with spring??
    Live the e39..!!


  7. #7
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    Slamming 101.......

    The stock sport E39 only has about 2" of jounce travel in the front and perhaps 3" in the rear. This is the allowable compression distance before the chassis hits the bumpstops to limit suspension movement. Ideally you never want to contact bumpstops hard. Trimming bumpstops only makes the bottoming impact more severe. Bumpstop contact causes the tire to lose traction and this results in loss of control. Bumpstop contact also makes your back sore and passengers bitch. Ever see a slammed Honda bouncing along laying on bumpstops? This is tasteless and stupid...especially for a premium German car that is supposed to handle and ride well. Looks should not override function.

    Moral of the story is you can't slam the car and retain stock comfort. Trying to drop static ride height with comfortable, soft springs is a recipe for bottoming, jarring ride and loss of control. The car will only ride nice on a smooth road where the suspension is moving less than 1".

    Lowered E39 cars REQUIRE stiffer springs to maintain control and avoid bottoming. There is no way around it. This is why slammer springs are highly progressive. They get very stiff when compressed over 1" from static height. Generally speaking, when you cut jounce travel almost in half by dropping the car 1" to 1-1/2", you MUST almost double the spring rate to keep the car from bottoming out all the time. The progressive behavior of slammer springs allows the car to be driven safely with decent ride quality, but handling & BMW's famous "forgiving nature" suffers. The car will bounce between understeer and oversteer under severe duty use, like a cheap ponycar.

    If you want comfort & good handling, maintain stock ride height.

    PS: The stock BMW E39 already comes with coilovers. Look under the fender...the coil is over the damper. The term coilover generally means the spring perch is adjustable to allow the ride height to be altered. This feature SURELY has zero effect on ride quality. Ride quality is a function of spring rate, damper rate and whether the car is hitting the bumpstops. Some slammer coilovers ride softer than stock ala KW.

    Hope this helps.
    Last edited by Lscman; 10-16-2007 at 09:50 AM.

  8. #8
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    yes very tru that's why he should lower his car with coilovers, and i do not mean any coilovers (bekkers Ground control...) the one's that have adjustable dampening, such as Bilstein PSS9 FK koennigsport, or KW Variant II, and if he has extra money KW variant III which features adjustable dampening, height and rebound

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndreNY View Post
    yes very tru that's why he should lower his car with coilovers, and i do not mean any coilovers (bekkers Ground control...) the one's that have adjustable dampening, such as Bilstein PSS9 FK koennigsport, or KW Variant II, and if he has extra money KW variant III which features adjustable dampening, height and rebound
    Adjustable damping is not necessarily needed. The proper fixed damper designed to work with a particular springset can provide the same results without adjustable ride height and adjustable damper settings. Each spring & chassis combo has an optimal damper compression and rebound setting. This is why Eibach pro spring and damper kit works well. This is also why Koni FSD/Eibach pro kit works well. These bundled kits have damper settings sorted out better than any kid can do with a bunch of ddual adjustable knobs on $3K DA dampers in conjunction with 4 adjustable perches. No way can a novice properly tune 12 interactive adjustments. It takes an expert to tune them.

    The best option for street use is to have a bunch of suspension gurus tweak ride heights and damper settings in a controlled test environment and then remove the adjustments in the final product. This is what Koni and Eibach have done in their fixed kits for E39. Their adjustments have been optimized.
    Last edited by Lscman; 10-16-2007 at 10:00 AM.

  10. #10
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    I guess first we should differentiate between "slammed" and "lowered"

    I my opinion Intrax springs will get you the lowest with out using coilovers.
    The car will not be "slammed" but nicely lowered.
    I don't know if H&R makes race springs for the e39, but they are typically very low as well.

    I run the Intrax with sport struts and the car rides very smooth, does not feel like lowered cars I have owned in the past.
    You you can spend the money then buy the coilovers

  11. #11
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    Year 1997 E39 M52B25
    So means that Eibach is my 1st choice?
    Live the e39..!!


  12. #12
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    Year 1997 E39 M52B25
    Ok, 'slammed' different with 'lowered'.

    The gap between the top of tyre to the fender (if look outside, measured by ruler) is 3" for my car now. Is that normal gap for e39? I dont think so. If i want to lower the half (1.5"), is that Ok?
    Live the e39..!!


  13. #13
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    H&R springs plus Koni yellow shocks and struts looks like this:






    Current rides:
    -1999 E39 540i/6-VF s/c, Dinan: exhaust, strut+shock tower braces, lightweight flywheel/clutch, S3 suspension, Brembo BBK, 18" Dinan forged wheels-6000K DEPO-CELIS tails-M5 Grille-window tint-Infiniti tweets and sub-Escort SRX
    -1995 E38 740 with...even more stuff than the 5.
    -1985 635CSi

  14. #14
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    "H&R springs plus Koni yellow shocks and struts looks like this"

    Damn that looks good. Are they H&R race?
    Very nice.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by OGM3 View Post
    "H&R springs plus Koni yellow shocks and struts looks like this"

    Damn that looks good. Are they H&R race?
    Very nice.
    Why yes they are :-)

    Thanks. Wheels are different now...those are for sale...couldn't clear my new big brake kit.


    Current rides:
    -1999 E39 540i/6-VF s/c, Dinan: exhaust, strut+shock tower braces, lightweight flywheel/clutch, S3 suspension, Brembo BBK, 18" Dinan forged wheels-6000K DEPO-CELIS tails-M5 Grille-window tint-Infiniti tweets and sub-Escort SRX
    -1995 E38 740 with...even more stuff than the 5.
    -1985 635CSi

  16. #16
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    Do the H and R sport springs drop the same as the race springs?

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lscman View Post
    Slamming 101.......

    The stock sport E39 only has about 2" of jounce travel in the front and perhaps 3" in the rear. This is the allowable compression distance before the chassis hits the bumpstops to limit suspension movement. Ideally you never want to contact bumpstops hard. Trimming bumpstops only makes the bottoming impact more severe. Bumpstop contact causes the tire to lose traction and this results in loss of control. Bumpstop contact also makes your back sore and passengers bitch. Ever see a slammed Honda bouncing along laying on bumpstops? This is tasteless and stupid...especially for a premium German car that is supposed to handle and ride well. Looks should not override function.

    Moral of the story is you can't slam the car and retain stock comfort. Trying to drop static ride height with comfortable, soft springs is a recipe for bottoming, jarring ride and loss of control. The car will only ride nice on a smooth road where the suspension is moving less than 1".

    Lowered E39 cars REQUIRE stiffer springs to maintain control and avoid bottoming. There is no way around it. This is why slammer springs are highly progressive. They get very stiff when compressed over 1" from static height. Generally speaking, when you cut jounce travel almost in half by dropping the car 1" to 1-1/2", you MUST almost double the spring rate to keep the car from bottoming out all the time. The progressive behavior of slammer springs allows the car to be driven safely with decent ride quality, but handling & BMW's famous "forgiving nature" suffers. The car will bounce between understeer and oversteer under severe duty use, like a cheap ponycar.

    If you want comfort & good handling, maintain stock ride height.

    PS: The stock BMW E39 already comes with coilovers. Look under the fender...the coil is over the damper. The term coilover generally means the spring perch is adjustable to allow the ride height to be altered. This feature SURELY has zero effect on ride quality. Ride quality is a function of spring rate, damper rate and whether the car is hitting the bumpstops. Some slammer coilovers ride softer than stock ala KW.

    Hope this helps.

    words of wisdom here. "slammed" bmw's are only cool in pictures, in real life they ride like ass and handle even worse.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by m357 View Post
    and handle even worse.

    yea and this is comming from where exactly??? because i can def. argue this statement if you like

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alpina540i View Post
    Do the H and R sport springs drop the same as the race springs?

    No, drop is greater with race springs.
    Frank
    540/6

    Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndreNY View Post
    yea and this is comming from where exactly??? because i can def. argue this statement if you like

    Are you saying that you can argue that a truely slammed car can be made to ride and handle well?
    Frank
    540/6

    Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by franka View Post
    Are you saying that you can argue that a truely slammed car can be made to ride and handle well?
    Andre only quoted the handling part, not the ride part. You'll never have as good of a 'ride' as factory fresh stock parts will give you. Handling is a different story. Andre is arguing that part - and I could too. So could you Frank.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by BlackSapphire View Post
    Andre only quoted the handling part, not the ride part. You'll never have as good of a 'ride' as factory fresh stock parts will give you. Handling is a different story. Andre is arguing that part - and I could too. So could you Frank.
    You would have to define handling. Even loosely defined I would like to hear the arguement that a slammed 5er would handle well.
    Frank
    540/6

    Race/Street Rubber Z1 Star, 275/35-18 Front & Rear, Eibach Sways Front & Rear, Cut and Formed OEM Sport Springs, Bilstein Sports, Go-Go-Ware, ATE disks w/SS lines & HPS pads, UUC SS, CDV, White/Tan, Bling free and Stealthy.

  23. #23
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    I have H&R sports and bilstein HD's (I also have an M5 rear sway bar). My car is pretty low, handles better than factory sport, and rides decent....

    I'm not sure of the spring or damper rates, but the car is def. stiffer than the factory sport suspension my car came with. Stiffer by about 20%.

    I compare my suspension setup to my little bro's sport packaged 530i and my previous car, a stripped 944....

    The term "handles like it's on rails" is not appropiate for my car, but very close. The car is relatively flat around corners, the rear end is much more responsive to quick steering input and throttle steer, understeer is still there but drastically reduced in comparison to the 530i, high speed stability is improved, braking distance is improved (the 530i has better brakes, but my 528i comes very close), and the big plus for me is that I have much more confidence throwing my car into a turn than I do the 530i.

    I've driven co-workers, family, and friends around in my car. There's def a few bobbing heads, but none have complained....Maybe they're just glad not to be driving around in my 944

    Oh...and slammed looks verdy nice

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by franka View Post
    You would have to define handling. Even loosely defined I would like to hear the arguement that a slammed 5er would handle well.
    my 5 when i dropped it for the first time with the Bilstein PSS9's and stiffened it all the way, it handles better then most Porsches (and im not even making that up) waiving in and out of lanes at 90 and taking very tight turns, the car felt like it was glued to the road, the problem was it was so low and stiff, every bump i hit felt like a bomb was dropped on the car especially with the 19" and 30 profile tire. My argument was on the statement made that if the car is slamed it only looks good it does not handle good which is totally un-true

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by m357 View Post
    words of wisdom here. "slammed" bmw's are only cool in pictures, in real life they ride like ass and handle even worse.
    You sure about that? (I can give examples contrary to your theory if you like )

    Besides, the OP wants a lowered car not "slammed". 1-1.5" of drop can still handle and ride just fine with the right shock/spring combo.
    Chris


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