[nikitino25]

Okay it looks like yours is adjusted down a little lower than mine so I'll try to keep going down with my adjuster and see if I can squeeze out a little more ride height.....your rear height looks just like I want mine to be. If that works for me, I will probably leave things as is and not go back and put in any kind of spring seat....

[Techevo]

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.

I agree with most of this, but the camber arm is only perpendicular to the spring in one position. It is not perpendicular through it's range of travel, that is physically impossible. When it's not perpendicular (a higher percentage of the time) a bending force is applied to the spring.

You cannot compare this to a McPherson strut as the design is completely different. A McPherson strut does not apply a bending load to the spring as the suspension compresses.

I agree, as it is now, with the type of top adjuster used, it can be wound down another 5mm, no problem.

[serotoninsteve]

I agree with you on the parallel seats not beeing static over the travel range but the change in spring rate this causes has likely been calculated when it was engineered.

What I rather meant was that a flat end spring needs a hard seat to keep their spring rate as when compressed it applies it's inner torsional force on the seat.
When you put a rubber seat on this type of spring the torsional forces will deform the rubber and it looses spring rate due to the lack of torsional resistance the rubber can withstand.
The seat should be made from an unflexible material like thrust sheets or similar.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

I agree with you on the parallel seats not beeing static over the travel range but the change in spring rate this causes has likely been calculated when it was engineered.

What I rather meant was that a flat end spring needs a hard seat to keep their spring rate as when compressed it applies it's inner torsional force on the seat.
When you put a rubber seat on this type of spring the torsional forces will deform the rubber and it looses spring rate due to the lack of torsional resistance the rubber can withstand.
The seat should be made from an unflexible material like thrust sheets or similar.

It seems also that the rubber seat could actually change the spring rate, in effect softening or lowering the rate; and the rear spring rate is low to begin with. I wish we could get the Ohlins engineer who designed this kit to tell us for sure whether the rear springs were designed to be used with or without the stock spring seat....

[ihc95]

OP were you ever able to raise the rear of your car?

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by ihc95

OP were you ever able to raise the rear of your car?

Yep, I was able to raise up the rear some (I thought I had run out of adjustment but still had more to go) so all is good now except one side is slightly lower than the other in rear but it just needs a little more adjusting.....so my original ride height problem is sorted.....I did not put back in the rear lower spring seats and seems to be just fine by the way. I also set the stiffness today at 8 clicks from full firm front and back and it's pretty stiff around town but nice on faster roads....here's couple pics from today....

[ihc95]

Awesome! That ride height looks perfect to me. This kit is definitely on the top of my list at the moment.

Do you mind sharing your tire sizes?

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by ihc95

Awesome! That ride height looks perfect to me. This kit is definitely on the top of my list at the moment.

Do you mind sharing your tire sizes?

My wheels are Avant Garde M359 18" 8.5 wide in front and 9.5" wide in rear with 235 40 18 in front and 265 35 18 in rear Michelin PSS tires.....I didn't want 19" wheels for various reasons

[nikitino25]

So my ride height is all good now, here's couple pics from yesterday. I did have to adjust one rear side about 2-3mm higher than the other to get the ride height the same on both sides and not sure what that's all about but anyway it's pretty even on either side now and right where i want it......if the rear settles any more I may get some spring seats but not necessary right now......

[cvc 22349a]

That looks perfect now. You've been driving on this supension long enough that it shouldn't settle anymore. How's rear roll, squat and lift v. the BMW PS?

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

That looks perfect now. You've been driving on this supension long enough that it shouldn't settle anymore. How's rear roll, squat and lift v. the BMW PS?

To tell u the truth, there's still a slight bit of roll (in the rear i think) on quick direction changes that I would like to dial out...it's not terrible or anything but seems like it might be slightly more than when I had the BMW PS kit but I only had that setup for a short period of time so I can't remember for sure if it's more now with the Ohlins or not. Right now I still have the front sway bar from the BMW PS kit and the stock sport rear bar. I may end up upgrading in the future to the M3 front and rear sway bars.....I do have a quaife lsd so I should be good to go with the M3 rear sway bar if I so choose from what i've read. The rear squat on acceleration is probably about the same as with the PS kit and not too bad now, way better than the stock sport crap. Front dive when braking is not bad at all either. My new problem is that my clutch is slipping.....I think I'm going to end up spending my life savings on this car but it will be well worth it ha ha!

[cvc 22349a]

Yeah you're still going to have roll, which is a good thing especially in the rear for grip. I was just curious how it compared to the PS which has stiffer springs but weak shocks compared to Ohlins so thought it might be a wash.

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

Yeah you're still going to have roll, which is a good thing especially in the rear for grip. I was just curious how it compared to the PS which has stiffer springs but weak shocks compared to Ohlins so thought it might be a wash.

It may be kind of a wash; maybe I don't fully understand suspension dynamics but it seems kind of counterintuitive that rear body roll would give you more grip; especially when cornering. It seems like if the rear was flatter, then you would have both tires able to get grip through the corners but maybe i can see it where on acceleration the power transfers to the weighted outside rear wheel (with lsd)....I have read though that you lose acceleration grip with a stiffer rear sway bar (such as M3 rear bar) but it seems counter intuitive to me....

[serotoninsteve]

Nice to hear you got it level!

Time to get some camber plates now, it'll change the front completely.
The rubber top mounts are really the missing link between the 335i and the M3.
I've mounted some fixed hard rubber top mounts from K-Sport this week and what a difference, no more strange additional spring rates.
Here are some pics:

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

Nice to hear you got it level!

Time to get some camber plates now, it'll change the front completely.
The rubber top mounts are really the missing link between the 335i and the M3.
I've mounted some fixed hard rubber top mounts from K-Sport this week and what a difference, no more strange additional spring rates.
Here are some pics:

Looks like an excellent upgrade for the OE rubber mounts without having to go with camber plates.

[serotoninsteve]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

Looks like an excellent upgrade for the OE rubber mounts without having to go with camber plates.

Yes indeed, it was the best option for me as I needed something stealthy.

Build quality is excellent, all bolts are 12.9 grade and the bearing is a sealed one Japanese brand.

The inner diameter is 15mm and they have a lower stack height by 15mm so I had to raise the adjuster by about 10mm.

Only problem was that the included spacer/adapters for 14mm shocks didn't fit into the 15mm hole.
So I grinded them flat down and used them to regain some stack height. There basically is 1mm radial play between the shocks and the bearing, no big deal.

No noises or clunks, only a firmer ride is noticeable.

Short time review: Recommended

[lito]

Originally Posted by nikitino25

So my ride height is all good now, here's couple pics from yesterday. I did have to adjust one rear side about 2-3mm higher than the other to get the ride height the same on both sides and not sure what that's all about but anyway it's pretty even on either side now and right where i want it......if the rear settles any more I may get some spring seats but not necessary right now......

any room to go lower or are they maxed out?

[lito]

Originally Posted by serotoninsteve

Nice to hear you got it level!

Time to get some camber plates now, it'll change the front completely.
The rubber top mounts are really the missing link between the 335i and the M3.
I've mounted some fixed hard rubber top mounts from K-Sport this week and what a difference, no more strange additional spring rates.
Here are some pics:

where did you buy the ksport top mounts?

[nikitino25]

Originally Posted by lito

any room to go lower or are they maxed out?

The fronts are about as low as they will go and the rears are about as high as they will go......so I can only go lower in the rear

[nikitino25]

Those top mounts look interesting too, I assume they have the same camber adjustment as the stock mounts with the guide pins removed?

[Blaster400]

I just replaced my front springs with 7 inch Swift springs. My front is now at its highest setting which is just about as low as I want to go.

So huge adjustment range to go lower now which was not the case with 8 inch springs.

Bottom line… if you want to go low with Öhlins replace the supplied kit springs with 7 inch front and 9 inch rear springs.

[Phil325i]

Out of interest, how does ride quality vary with these different springs? Did you have to change the Ohlins damper settings?