[Phil325i]

Originally Posted by nikitino25

for others with the Ohlins kit, did you leave the stock rear lower spring seats in or take them out?

Mine's deffo got the OEM rubber rear seat in place. My installer followed the Ohlins installation guide to the letter. If you look at page 3 of the doc I attached to post #38 you'll see the seat in the cutaway drawing and I reckon that would account for the missing inch or so in your adjustment.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

Mine's deffo got the OEM rubber rear seat in place. My installer followed the Ohlins installation guide to the letter. If you look at page 3 of the doc I attached to post #38 you'll see the seat in the cutaway drawing and I reckon that would account for the missing inch or so in your adjustment.

I think you are looking at the rubber mounting for the shock absorber which I definitely kept but the spring is separate in the rear unlike the fronts and mounts into a different part of the camber arm and the directions don't say one way or the other if you need to keep the stock spring seat here or not and it's not shown in any of the pictures:
All it says is

"Install the Öhlins spring and the spring height
adjuster on the vehicle."

[serotoninsteve]

They didn't install the lower rubber on mine and when I look at it, it isn't flat.

It has the shape to support the open end oem spring and mounted together with the Öhlins spring it would form an uneven surface and force it to have a slightly inclined position.

Mine is metal to metal, no noises.

[nikitino25]

So I talked to the Ohlins rep again just to kind of satisfy my curiosity and he says the main reason to take out the stock rear spring seat is that it's made for the stock spring in that it has a groove to accomodate the rounded coil of the stock spring. If you look at the Ohlins spring, it's actually flat on the bottom rather than rounded like the stock spring and he says basically that the mating or seat will not match up and could cause the spring to compress in a funny way and not fit right etc....I will look at my spring seat when I get home to confirm that it does have the rounded groove for the stock spring but pretty sure it does if I remember right. If that's the case, I may just add some flat rubber gasket material into the camber arm to kind of make my own spring seat and add some ride height at the same time as the rep suggested. Or I might just leave things as they are if I succumb to laziness....he did also say that the rotation or coiling and uncoiling of the spring is so minimal as to not really matter much.....

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

They didn't install the lower rubber on mine and when I look at it, it isn't flat.

It has the shape to support the open end oem spring and mounted together with the Öhlins spring it would form an uneven surface and force it to have a slightly inclined position.

Mine is metal to metal, no noises.

Pretty much what the Ohlins guy is saying.....

[serotoninsteve]

Originally Posted by nikitino25

Pretty much what the Ohlins guy is saying.....

Yeah,
and once you are back home and look at the rubber spring seat you'll see and think what I thought when I looked at mine down at the cave one hour ago! ;-)

[Phil325i]

Sorry, my bad about the manual - you're right, the manual is silent on the removal of the OEM rear spring seat. Just to clarify, I've checked the base of my rear springs and they are sitting on a rubber seat, so I can only presume the OEM seat was left in place...

[SeanS54]

I just finished the install last night.... I did not use the rear spring seat and I went with the recommended specs on the manual... my rear has a 2 finger gap...

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by CalBear_335i

I just finished the install last night.... I did not use the rear spring seat and I went with the recommended specs on the manual... my rear has a 2 finger gap...

Strange....I can't even fit one finger and have it on the highest setting.....maybe has something to do with my car being a coupe?

Your front looks lower than the rear, mine is the opposite

[cvc 22349a]

Originally Posted by nikitino25

Pretty much what the Ohlins guy is saying.....

I may need to borrow your gun now or at least eat my words.. I assumed the Ohlins springs would have an oem profile at the bottom and reuse the spring pads in the camber arms

[SeanS54]

Originally Posted by nikitino25

Strange....I can't even fit one finger and have it on the highest setting.....maybe has something to do with my car being a coupe?

Your front looks lower than the rear, mine is the opposite

ignore my sig pic because that was with my previous setup...

did you ever mention what size tires you're running? If you're tires are taller than it'll have a smaller gap between tires and fenders...

looking at your pics, the ride height looks good... even from the factory, our cars are setup to have approx. 1 additional finger gap up front (rear fenders sit lower)..

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

I may need to borrow your gun now or at least eat my words.. I assumed the Ohlins springs would have an oem profile at the bottom and reuse the spring pads in the camber arms

I would have thought this also, or since not, would have thought the kit would come with a spring seat to fit the flat bottom spring but it does not. It's just metal spring to metal camber arm.....seems like they chintzed out a little here.....maybe it's fine though, I'm no engineer but just doesn't seem optimal to me.....I may just get some plastic discs and thrust sheets from Harold and throw those in to jack up the height in the rear a a bit

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by CalBear_335i

ignore my sig pic because that was with my previous setup...

did you ever mention what size tires you're running? If you're tires are taller than it'll have a smaller gap between tires and fenders...

looking at your pics, the ride height looks good... even from the factory, our cars are setup to have approx. 1 additional finger gap up front (rear fenders sit lower)..

I still have 18" wheels/tires....my setup isn't that bad but if settles any more in the rear, it will be too low back there...I have about 400 miles on so far

[Techevo]

Seriously, use the standard rubber spring seat, in the situation, this is the best senario. I wouldn't even contemplate resting the spring metal to metal onto the lower arm, with no proper locator. The camber arm isn't flat where the spring sits anyway, and the OEM rubber spring seat isn't going to deform the bottom of the spring. It actually sits quite nicely into the standard rubber seat, even though the profile is slightly different to the standard spring. It's rubber, so it deforms slightly around the Ohlins spring.

I'm a fully licenced aircraft engineer with 30 years experience, so I'm used to deciding what is good engineering practice, and what isn't!

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by Techevo

Seriously, use the standard rubber spring seat, in the situation, this is the best senario. I wouldn't even contemplate resting the spring metal to metal onto the lower arm, with no proper locator. The camber arm isn't flat where the spring sits anyway, and the OEM rubber spring seat isn't going to deform the bottom of the spring. It actually sits quite nicely into the standard rubber seat, even though the profile is slightly different to the standard spring. It's rubber, so it deforms slightly around the Ohlins spring.

I'm a fully licenced aircraft engineer with 30 years experience, so I'm used to deciding what is good engineering practice, and what isn't!

I hear you man and I forgot what the inside of the camber arm looks like where the spring seats. I'm actually kind of undecided as to what I want to do.....it's not a huge deal but since I spent the $$$ on the Ohlins, I think they should be set up and fit perfectly with no compromises. Another option that I'm considering is getting some thrust sheets and plastic washers from HPA harold that he says would work and raise my ride height some also. He says the plastic disc will spread the load for the thrust sheet if I understand correctly.....any thoughts on this option?

[Techevo]

I use the thrust sheets at the top, they are around 3mm thick in total so aren't going to raise the ride height much!

Also, at the bottom, they will just fall out unless there is a proper locator for them, ie a correctly fitting spring seat, which there won't be with the spring just resting onto the camber arm.

Just another thought, because the angle of the camber arm changes as the suspension compresses and extends, the spring will only be perpendicular to the arm in one position. In all other positions, the camber arm will be trying to 'bend' the spring. Using the rubber spring seat, these bending forces will be absorbed by the deflection of the rubber, thus transferring less bending load into the spring.

I'm sorry, but the Ohlins explanation of not using the standard rubber seat is from someone who doesn't understand simple mechanics. Probably a salesman or marketing guy.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by Techevo

I use the thrust sheets at the top, they are around 3mm thick in total so aren't going to raise the ride height much!

Also, at the bottom, they will just fall out unless there is a proper locator for them, ie a correctly fitting spring seat, which there won't be with the spring just resting onto the camber arm.

Just another thought, because the angle of the camber arm changes as the suspension compresses and extends, the spring will only be perpendicular to the arm in one position. In all other positions, the camber arm will be trying to 'bend' the spring. Using the rubber spring seat, these bending forces will be absorbed by the deflection of the rubber, thus transferring less bending load into the spring.

I'm sorry, but the Ohlins explanation of not using the standard rubber seat is from someone who doesn't understand simple mechanics. Probably a salesman or marketing guy.

What do you think about what Harold suggested to me and that is using a plastic disk type seat and then the thrust sheet on top of that to mate to the bottom of the spring....I guess it would kind of depend on how well they fit into the camber arm....
I still think the kit should have come with a seat designed for the Ohlins spring....like the bmw seat was designed for the bmw spring

[serotoninsteve]

About the metal to metal contact:

OEM shaped front springs mostly sit on the lower perch wich is shaped to fit the end of the open spring, but it's metal to metal too.
Your rear springs are touching the adjuster, wich is metal too, aluminium to steel.
The lower camber arm has a guide to keep the spring where it should and once the weight of the car is applied the springs see 2 parallel seats at their normal travel range.

So this is no problem, you see?

For your height problem, just turn the adjuster down 1-3 turns.

One turn moves the adjuster 2mm,
so one turn raises the car about:
2mm/0,65 (ratio)= 3mm

Mine sits at 645mm fender to ground front and rear and my adjuster is turned down about 3 turns more than yours.
Installed like mentionned in the mounting instructions at 67mm (or was it 69) mine first where the same as on your pics and it was also to low.

You should not put a rubber under your spring because a cylindrical flat end race type spring needs a unflexible flat seat to behave as engineered.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

About the metal to metal contact:

OEM shaped front springs mostly sit on the lower perch wich is shaped to fit the end of the open spring, but it's metal to metal too.
Your rear springs are touching the adjuster, wich is metal too, aluminium to steel.
The lower camber arm has a guide to keep the spring where it should and once the weight of the car is applied the springs see 2 parallel seats at their normal travel range.

So this is no problem, you see?

For your height problem, just turn the adjuster down 1-3 turns.

One turn moves the adjuster 2mm,
so one turn raises the car about:
2mm/0,65 (ratio)= 3mm

Mine sits at 645mm fender to ground front and rear and my adjuster is turned down about 3 turns more than yours.
Installed like mentionned in the mounting instructions at 67mm (or was it 69) mine first where the same as on your pics and it was also to low.

You should not put a rubber under your spring because a cylindrical flat end race type spring needs a unflexible flat seat to behave as engineered.

So from the pic of my adjuster, it looks like I can still go down a few more turns? To me it felt like the bottom ring was at the end of the threaded tube and starting to bind up and I didn't want to force it any lower for fear of stripping the adjuster ring threads....you can't see any more threads on the tube in my pic either so the adjuster ring can't possibly go much lower?

[serotoninsteve]

The adjuster ring is screwed in from the bottom, so no fear stripping something.

It's about 1inch high and going down even 5mm (wich prob is way to much at the wheel) does no harm,
there will be still 20mm active threads left plus all the threads from the 2nd ring.

Well I don't know why they include the shorter adjuster,
they are better suited for the higher rated M3 springs wich are the same lenght but compress less.

Ask your seller why he didn't ship the longer adjuster but I think it's a design change as the older instruction manual
also shows the longer one (and mentions about 37mm thread left on the tube) and now it shows the short one with no thread left.
But it still says 15mm +- adjustment range from the default pos.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

The adjuster ring is screwed in from the bottom, so no fear stripping something.

It's about 1inch high and going down even 5mm (wich prob is way to much at the wheel) does no harm,
there will be still 20mm active threads left plus all the threads from the 2nd ring.

Well I don't know why they include the shorter adjuster,
they are better suited for the higher rated M3 springs wich are the same lenght but compress less.

Ask your seller why he didn't ship the longer adjuster but I think it's a design change as the older instruction manual also shows the longer one (and mentions about 37mm thread left on the tube) and now it shows the short one with no thread left.
But it still says 15mm +- adjustment range from the default pos.

So you're saying that I still have plenty of adjustment left to go down with the adjustment rings to raise the rear height? I see what ur saying about them screwing on from the bottom, I kind of forgot how they went together...If so, i'll try it 1st thing in the morning....at the crack of noon.

[serotoninsteve]

Here is a pic I took today that shows mine, the adjuster is about 21mm high,
so no problem if a few threads are free:


And here how mine sits, 645mm front and rear, level: