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      03-04-2011, 01:00 PM   #1
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Drives: 2001 Alpine White M5
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Fremont, CA

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Thumbs down FULL REVIEW: (UPDATE, Thumbs DOWN) H&R Sport Springs on Bilstein HD Shocks

I have finally had a chance of installing the Bilstein HD Shocks on my e90 335i. First off, I would like to thank e90post forum member 'SCCAForums.com' for selling and shipping the shocks to me. His level of service and responsiveness is awesome! I did not at any point feel negative about purchasing suspension parts from someone I had never met. Thanks a lot Dave!!! Now on to the review.

Background:
I think this review will help quite a lot of members here, in that there are many who have been in my position. I originally bought my car in October of 2009, used from a private dealer. The car did not have the sports package, meaning no ZSP springs or suspension. Immediately, the first thing I upgraded was the wheels(19" linea corse dynas). Thanks to zoeb at wheeldude for the new kicks. I also installed the H&R Sport Springs the same week as the wheels. This setup was great, because it was a good bang for buck and the car looked sweet. I ran this setup for about 14k miles. I know, I know, you must be thinking I am crazy. Well, I did run it for that long, on STOCK SHOCKS. The first couple thousand miles on the springs, the suspension seemed to do okay. I did not feel that the car was not controlling the dampening or rebound well. Things are great for just springs. But months later and fast forward to 14k miles later, things seemed the same. The shocks just could not handle the dampening and with 2 passengers in the back, the car was not smooth.

Impressions on H&R Sport Springs with Bilstein HD Shocks
After months and months of reviews on different suspension setups (coilovers vs spring/shock combos), I decided to try my luck on the Bilstein HD Shocks. I saw that David (SCCAForums.com) was selling his set of Bilsteins with 10k miles on them, in the FS section. I just had the shocks installed last night. I only have about less than 10 miles on them and 20 minutes worth of a review to post. From what I can tell, they do feel a bit stiffer than the stock shocks. However, when I hit certain dips, previously on stock shocks, the car would bounce around, bottom out almost. Now, with the Bilsteins, the dampening level is about the same and I still bottom out on certain dips in the freeway. It doesn't appear these made any significant impact. I still sense bounciness and it just does not seem right at all. The shocks really do not do much as to soak all the bumps and dips on the road. I wish I would have switched to coilovers.

1 year UPDATE (9/12/12):

-After being on this setup for over a year, I regret to inform you that this is basically the same as running the springs on the stock BMW shocks.
-I am awaiting installation of Sonic Tuning S1 coilovers over the weekend and will post a review when I can.
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Last edited by vip; 10-09-2012 at 06:44 PM..
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