[bmwpowr]

I have done a quite a bit of searching and haven't found anything, if anyone has any experience it would be great to hear.

I bought a set of Koni FSDs, I know they recommend the stock ride height, but I would like to firm up the ride a little if possible (FSDs don't go into the car until next week).
The sport springs I see with the least amount of lowering is the Dinan springs, only 1/2" in the front no lowering in the rear.

Does anyone have any ride experience with this combination?
My car is an e90 2009 335i xDrive. I have the sport seats and steering wheel, but have no idea if my suspension is any different, not sure how to tell. Also they don't make the Eibach springs for the xDrive model.

I guess the main question is, do I stick with my current springs or get the Dinan ones?

Thanks for opinions and information!

[AtlasM]

If you only want an improvement in handling and no reduction in ride height, then changing out only the shocks will make a difference.

If you want to also lower/stiffen the springs then you can do that. From least to most lowering on the xi, you have these options (among others):

Dinan
Eibach Pro-Kit (the application for rwd works on xi)
H&R Sport / B&G S2 (H&R lowers the rear more, B&G lowers the front more)

I have an xi with FSDs and B&G springs which give a lot of front lowering. It's mostly fine although the amount of lowering on the front limits the total suspension travel and I had to get special polyurethane bump stops to work with this.

Dinan or Eibach springs would be fine for what you're describing.

[bmwpowr]

Thanks.
I think I might order the Dinam springs. Get everything done at once.
Do you think the stiffer springs decreased the life of your Koni FSD shocks at all?

I just keep hearing that the Koni FSD shocks are designed for stock springs only and I wanted to hear some opinions.

[whyzee125]

FSD's are known to have a severely shortened life with stiffer springs. Running the FSD's with the stock shocks will provide an increase in firmness and handling, but if you're after a lowered ride height I'd swap the FSD's out for some yellows. People have tried many times with H&R springs and gotten poor results. Eibach springs didn't used to be approved for pairing with FSD's by Koni but now are, though they're not any firmer than stock

[chris@strutmonkey]

If you want to firm up the ride, recommend Koni Yellows or Bilstein B8 with the Dinan springs. Some people love FSDs, some people don't. I recommend you ride in a car that has them before buying them. Can't go wrong with the other choices. When you refresh your suspension, make sure you get new strut mounts, bumpstops, and replace all the mounts and pads. Do it once, do it right. Here's our Koni Yellow with Dinan - great kit!

[AtlasM]

Originally Posted by bmwpowr

Do you think the stiffer springs decreased the life of your Koni FSD shocks at all?

I've only had the FSDs for about a year so don't know if the springs will decrease their life.

I had to get creative in figuring out bump stops that work well with my shock/spring combo.

Usually for lowering an E9x people suggest E36 M3 front bump stops, but these did not work for me. The xi front end is heavier and the xi suspension when lowered has less travel than rwd. The FSDs also like to use up all their travel on sharp bumps.

Because of all these factors, the E36 M3 front bump stops are way too soft for FSDs on a lowered xi. Once I swapped out the E36 M3 front bump stops for Speedthane polyurethane front bump stops, the front of the car's behavior over bumps improved significantly.

I have a feeling that many of the negative comments about FSDs are due to using incorrect bump stops. Don't mess with the E36 M3 bump stops on FSDs on an xi.

With stock or milder springs like Dinan you should stick with stock bump stops. Dinan sells a bump stop kit that they say is some kind of special bump stops, but it's just them repackaging E36 M3 bump stops. Don't get them.

[SE7EN335]

Originally Posted by AtlasM

I've only had the FSDs for about a year so don't know if the springs will decrease their life.

I had to get creative in figuring out bump stops that work well with my shock/spring combo.

Usually for lowering an E9x people suggest E36 M3 front bump stops, but these did not work for me. The xi front end is heavier and the xi suspension when lowered has less travel than rwd. The FSDs also like to use up all their travel on sharp bumps.

Because of all these factors, the E36 M3 front bump stops are way too soft for FSDs on a lowered xi. Once I swapped out the E36 M3 front bump stops for Speedthane polyurethane front bump stops, the front of the car's behavior over bumps improved significantly.

I have a feeling that many of the negative comments about FSDs are due to using incorrect bump stops. Don't mess with the E36 M3 bump stops on FSDs on an xi.

With stock or milder springs like Dinan you should stick with stock bump stops. Dinan sells a bump stop kit that they say is some kind of special bump stops, but it's just them repackaging E36 M3 bump stops. Don't get them.

So true! Don't ever get the Dinan bump stops, they are basically repackaged E36 M3 front bump stops at 3 times the price.