[m1bjr]

Gents,
A few of you must have done this front end mod.
Can you kindly point me at a source of all the parts, ideally cheaper than my dealer, and if you know of an online DIY then that would be handy.

Happy to do the work here and I have a good suspension tuner to set her up afterwards.

Any mileage in changing the rear bushes?
I do aim to do soem track work later and some coilover mods next year.
This LCA mod is primarily a prelude to swapping out from RFTs...

cheers,
Steve.

[doughboy]

Steve,

I've done front and rear. The rear was the most noticeable IMO and had a pretty dramatic effect on stability, but was also the most difficult time wise. I had the rear bushes fitted with the quaife and ARBs to save labour.

As for parts, you're pretty well stuck with a dealer, but there's a few who'll do decent discount and mail order, shop around.

I joined the BMW car club for £40, get cheap track days, a great mag and another 10% off all BMW parts, so i've well saved a few years membership by now.

The front end is a fairly straight swap of OE parts. just get the torque settings and you're away.

Mike

[Yahoo]

Control arms and tension struts improve the feel and grip on turn in - but the rear sub frame bushes make a more pronounced difference all of the time. No one alteration really makes a huge difference, it takes a full conversion to significantly improve the overall handling of the car. I have done the following (in this order) to my e91 and it was only when I put the final two pieces in place that I was completely happy with the setup:
- Non RFTs
- Eibach lowering spings
- Koni Yellow adjustable dampers
- M3 rear subframe bushes
- M3 front and rear ARBs
- M3 control arms and tension struts
- M3 front strut brace
- M3 front and rear geometry setup

I did a few laps at Cadwell a couple of weeks ago and I was very happy with the feel of the car. I pushed as hard as I dared and the car felt very planted and well balanced. I had the dampers on my road settings (almost full soft - rebound only) and this was fine. Nice and compliant on the road and plenty of traction on the track. My approach has been to keep damping and spring rates as close to stock as possible (with some adjustment for fine tuning) and firm up the structural/torsional/lateral slop built into non M cars by changing bushes and upgrading suspension bars.

As Doughboy says above - find the parts you want on RealOEM.com and get them through a dealership. You should be good for a 10% discount without joining the car club.

I hope this helps.

Edit - I personally avoided coilovers due to the extra purchase and setup costs (corner weighing/balancing etc). The Eibach springs give the perfect drop and Koni Yellows combine extremely well and give all the adjustment I need. This all comes in at less than 1/2 the cost of coilovers with 90% of the improvement they offer.

I would highly recommend the suspension section on this forum (particularly any posts by Orb) - there is some excellent advice available here.

[willhollin]

Do dealers require an M3 chassis number before ordering thse M3 parts?

[Yahoo]

No - just give them the part number and they are fine.

[willhollin]

Originally Posted by Yahoo

No - just give them the part number and they are fine.

In that case use Sytner for a 15% discount.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Yahoo

- M3 front and rear geometry setup

I've just had the Birds B3.5 suspension kit fitted and it is pretty remarkable. A little issue with rear ride height being too low on a tourer, which looks like an Eibach error from Birds calcs, we're sorting that this week with some 28mm spring risers (until new springs come) and i'll do a review then.

Interested that you went for the M3 alignment settings, i considered that when it was aligned last week after the suspension but i figured i'd be changing too many variables in one go, so its been set as 335 for the time being and i'll go for the M3 alignment later on.

How do you find the M3 geometry?

Overall i'd agree with your bushes comments, you need them all done to get the complete picture, so far i'm at:

- Non RFTs
- Birds B3.5 springs and dampers
- M3 rear subframe bushes
- Hartge front and rear ARBs
- M3 front control arms and tension struts

I dont know whether its worth doing the rear lower linkages and camber arms too, as some have done on here?

[Yahoo]

The M3 geometry is a significant improvement. As you know - 335 front geometry includes toe out which either exacerbates or is the sole reason for the vagueness and dead spot in e91 steering that some have reported. M3 geometry on the front with slight toe in has resolved this for me - the car feels great. It was in the track two weeks ago and out on a family holiday last week, this setup was great in both situations.

I think that you would find the M3 strut brace a good additon to your setup. I don't know whether the e91 shape has less torsional rigidity in comparison to the e90 and e92 - but I found the car creaked when one wheel was under load (eg when approaching a speed bump at an angle), but since I fitted the M3 strut brace that car feels more rigid (there is little wonder when you compare how the stock strut brace is secured at both ends with the M3 item). I think this helps significantly on turn in to a corner - keeping the front end true and allowing the control arms and tension struts do their job and really bite into the tarmac.

[doughboy]

I would expect less rigidity in the rear of an E91, but the front end chassis is the same for E90 / E91,

I've bought the Weichers strut brace from evolve, TBH looking at it, its more show than go, but i haven't fitted it yet.

The 3 point M3 item seems better than a normal 2 point brace because it secures both towers to each other AND to the centre of the bulkhead, reducing more movement IMO.

Which items would i need from the fiche below? All of them?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...61&hg=51&fg=75

[Yahoo]

Yes - everything except for either of the number 6 items. These bolts are used in the standard strut brace. When you see how the stock strut brace is just slotted in at the bulk head rather than secured using a bolt, you really get a sense of how much more substantial the M3 item is.

[doughboy]

It looks like a proper design rather than an afterthought!

Are items 1 (L&R) pressed or machined?

[Yahoo]

They look cast / pressed to me.

[doughboy]

Sorry OP, a bit OT.....

I've fitted the Weichers strut brace at lunchtime.

Now it's all on and tightened up it does feel very rigid, and of course it's in addition to the OE bracing which stays in place.

It looks lovely and shiny too, which is nice It's covered in finger prints now, so i'll clean it up and get some pics later and see how it feels on the way home.

[m1bjr]

Gents, Thanks for the intel. Really usefull.
I have always been more into suspension tweaking than engine mods.
One car I just did a lot with and sold recently was the Honda S2000.
Thats a great chassis to begin with, double wishbone and coilovers and fully adjustable out of the box.
But we made it better. Much better. With the help of KW and Centre Gravity Ltd.
A great track car, and I would like to get this Bimmer thing dialled in over the next few months

To me I feel the vague 335i E92 front is a little 'springy' down there.
Now my first feeling was its actually all in the turret tops, and with a McP strut thats a bad thing for the geo under load.

Has anyone approached this angle?
As no doubt the gains here should be as good as the LCA region....
If swapping to KW Clubsports or TEIN then often they are supplied with rose jointed turrets to lose the rubber oem cups...
Thanks again, I'll ask Sytner for oem bits initially.

Steve

[doughboy]

i reckon the strut top bearing is pretty solid. i spoke to kevin bird about if it was worth changing this part when i changed the suspension as bilstein make an alloy top bearing kit.

he said they have no problems with the oe item nor had their extensive suspension testing revealed any deficiency in it.

they do recommend the control arm swap out though.