So... I ended up replacing the dampers a bit sooner than I meant to, as the water pump went out and the whole cooling system needed replacement. "Perfect" timing, right? This inexpensive car suddenly turned into a not-so-inexpensive adventure, but oh well. Aside from oil and gas, it shouldn't need anything for another 20-30K miles.
The water pump was completely destroyed and needed a lot of work to be taken out, and it seems the whole cooling system (radiator, pump, thermostat, housing, etc) were the original 15-year old and 130K mile pieces. I can't imagine not replacing all of that if I were the original owner, but she held together fine until last week. The fluid looked like it was probably original too (as did the tranny and diff fluids). Yowza!
Anyway, back to suspension... The original dampers were completely done, and were probably done about 8 years ago. LOL! We could *easily* compress them by hand and the pistons on all four didn't even pretend the were going to come back out on their own. With the fronts, you could feel a bit of friction in spots as you compressed, but it was still an easy push.
I used to be able to easily push the front of the car down and watch it spring back, but now I can barely push it down, but it does come back at a normal rate. Same with the rear, and I used to be able to sit in the car, shake back and forth and get the car to move A LOT!!! Now it barely budges at all.
Driving it is a completely different experience now. There's still a little body roll with the stock springs, but the car truly is transformed by simply replacing the dampers. I'm very happy and impressed that such a simple update can make an old car feel so new again. Onramps, offramps and bumps are a joy now and I look forward to the next time I'm "stuck" bringing this car to the track in place of the M3 (once I get the new brake pads on the E30 anyway... Yikes!!).
For anyone who's picked up a stock 318is in need of suspension work, but you only use it as a daily driver with no intention of lowering it, etc., the Bilstein HDs are a HUGE improvement over worn out factory dampers. I can't believe how bad (yet entertaining... hehe!) the car was before. It feels fresh from the factory now!
For Christmas it might end up getting H&R OE Sports, but for now I'm incredibly happy with how much better the car feels.
Of course, while the front control arm bushings are in surprisingly good shape for the age/mileage, I can't help but think something a bit more solid (i.e. factory M3 offset bushings) would really clean up the steering feel now.
