Suspension overhaul.

[Alexx]

Hello to all of you. I currently have a 1991 BMW 318is and it' s in stock condition if you don' t count those leather sport seats and the compact disc player. The car has 230 000 kilometers and driven in rough terrain, also known as Quebec. What I' d like to do is a suspension overhaul using BILSTEIN sport shocks and H& R' s sport springs. I' d like to change every parts in the suspension department. I' d also like to not destroy my tires due to negative camber. What parts do I need ? Thanks to whom shall take the time to answer.

[D. Clay]

There are a lot of threads and posts here on different approaches and problems you might encounter. Suspension is very subjective and depends on what you like, want, and need. It also depends a lot on what the use of the car is. Some people like E30's bone-jarring stiff and use springs to eliminate body roll. Others like it a bit softer with a lot of bar.
You mention rough terrain. Hopefully you can ride in or drive a few E30's or E36's with different setups. I personally went through three configurations before getting the car where I like it.

[Alexx]

To the top.

[John W]

I wouldn't worry too much about neg. camber with H&R sports. You can go -2degrees camber or even a bit more before you start to have problems. And negative camber -- up to a point -- is a great thing. If the roads in your area are poor, I'd be more concerned about things like busting up your oil pan due to the use of lowering springs.

As far as shocks go, Bilstein Sports are great (that's what I have waiting to be installed), but if you can stretch your budget a little further, Konis are better.

[E-30Dubbsz]

Personally, I would also change my strut and shock mounts, upgrade LCA bushings to e30 m3 offsets. Check all other rear bushings for possibility of change.

OR

if you have the money and you want to do a proper overhaul then you could upgrade with a full e30 m3 kit LCA and offset bushings and tie rods and get all new rear bushings for trail arm and all new strut and shock mounts to go with your blisteins and H&R springs and you would get the best handling response in my opinion. There could be other things i missed as well.

[Alexx]

To the top.

[Spec 2]

Just redid my entire suspension.  There is slight negative camber on both front wheels (1.7" drop). Toe has been adjusted, we'll see how the tires wear.....

[hoevesruperd]

i see you live in Laval, i'm from Dorval. send me a PM if you want to organize some meets next summer!

i will be doing a complete overhaul soon as well

[Weeman]

i just did the exact same thing to my car, exact same mileage:

here is what I've done so far:
H&R Race Springs with bilsteins sport shocks all around ($800 total)
Boge front upper strut mounts with bearing x 2 ($27 ea)
OEM front sway bar bushings x2 ($4 ea)
Powerflex street front control arm bushings x2 ($70/pr)
Meyle Heavy Duty rear upper strut mounts ($10 ea)

i plan to do:
OEM rear sway bar bushings ($3 ea)
OEM rear trailing arm bushings (don't know)
ireland engineering street polyurethane rear subframe mounts ($90/pr)

I did not do, as not required yet:
tie-rod ends ($20 ea)
front control arms ($100 ea)
sway bar end links (about $15 per corner)


if you need more information about where to get parts, time consumed, techniques etc, you can find me on MSN at lincolnism@hotmail.com. T want to practice my French

Cheers.