[///ASN]

Car with M Sport suspension


Installed B14, like how it looks but don't like the way the wheels hide inside the fender


Then I decide to raise the car a bit and put 10mm spacers all round.





Issues
-Front seems ok apart from the tyres are touching the inner liner (can't hear any obvious rubbing noise when drive or turn)



-Rear rubs whenever I turn

Rims are GTC CX
Front 19x8.5 ET35
Rear 19x9.5 ET33

Current ride height (measured from bottom of the rim to fender)
Front 58.5cm
Rear 58cm



Question
What do you think with this current setup? Do you think the one without the spacers is better or the one with the spacers?

Is there any guideline for lowering the car? Seems like BMW factory spec for ride height to be:
Front min 60 max 62
Rear min 58 max 60
may I go lower than this?
Do I have to stick to the rule to have front being 2cm higher than rear?

Also checked that there is a gap between the 10mm spacers to the rim, are they normal?
Front

Rear


Thinking to get 5mm spacers all round so that i can lower the car a bit. But 5mm spacers are not hubcentric, a bit concerned with safety since there will only be around 6mm lip holding the rims.
Also, with 5mm spacers, do i use the stock wheel bolts? or i need to use those extended bolts for the 10mm spacers?


Lastly, the car is not going straight, when steering wheel is centre, the car going to the right.
An alignment is needed after the coilover installation, and I was trying to get the ride height done first. May i ask if an alignment is needed everytime after i have adjusted the ride height?


Thanks for your valuable input.

[Brule]

Jack your car up 10mm all round minimum.

Your suspension will be improved with more movement available.
You are currently very low and will not be able to drive up must gutters etc.

Your spacer may be bent or you may have some bit of grit on your wheel topping it seating properly.

5mm spacer would be fine with stock bolts. The wider you go with spacer the more chance of the spacer having movement between the hub and wheel no matter how long your bolts are.

Take it to get a wheel alignment shop and get them to raise it 10mm all round, get rid of your spacers all round.
Height of front and rear is for weight transfer BMW must have liked for oem setup.
If you keep it even you would notice unless your setup and tracking your car.

[Trev88]

I've got the B14 on. No real issue after alignment. I had to get the rear guards rolled as I'm running PSS tyres which are more square. Other than that have not needed to worry much about clearance. But I do have front camber plates on to raise the height

[Socket]

Brule is right, need to raise the car slightly

Also you always should do an alignment after any suspension work
If you have camber plates you can get them to adjust the camber which will give you more clearance
On the 5 mm spacers, there is no safety issue with these not being hub centric, or using standard wheel bolts. Its actually more dangerous to use long bolts on the 5mm as the bolts may not seat properly and create play

My set up is very similar to yours, very flush, very low but I don't have any rubbing issues, although I have the rear guards rolled and negative camber on the front and rears.

I could probably could go another wheel size up but am happy with things at the moment. In fact its probably too low for everyday. I'm constantly having to crawl over speed bumps and inclines hahaa

Ill list the key attributes and add some pics of my set up...
Hope this helps you out

Drop
Front rim to fender 585 mm
Rear rim to fender 585 mm
Front lip to road 95 mm
Side skirt to road 110 mm

Rims
19" GTC AFF1
Front 19 x 8.5 +35
Rear 19 x 9.5 +45

Rubber
19" Yokohama Advan sports 105s
Front 235/30/19
Rears 265/35/19

Spacers
Front 10mm (resulting in +25 offset)
Rear 5mm (resulting in +40 offset)

Suspension and set up
Springs H&R sports lowering springs
Shocks Koni yellows
Dinan camber plates
Front camber -2.15 (see chart below
Rear camber -1.5

Pic 1 - Current stance
Pic 2 & 3 - Side view front and rear
Pics 4 & 5 - Front view front and rear
Pics 6 & 7 - Spacers front and rear
Pic 8 - Suspension settings

[MJ80.]

Or do what i did and get custom wheels and have your coilovers dialed in. Perfect fit and stance, no scrubbing and not a half page of modifications to get the result. I mean i could probably throw a 5mm spacer on the front, but it would be totally flush and would scrub. These are daily drivers after all.

[TIRA]

Question.. does M Sport strut and B14 similar thickness? :S

If its thicker I might have to get a 5mm lol (9.5 +35)

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by Brule

Jack your car up 10mm all round minimum.

Your suspension will be improved with more movement available.
You are currently very low and will not be able to drive up must gutters etc.

Your spacer may be bent or you may have some bit of grit on your wheel topping it seating properly.

5mm spacer would be fine with stock bolts. The wider you go with spacer the more chance of the spacer having movement between the hub and wheel no matter how long your bolts are.

Take it to get a wheel alignment shop and get them to raise it 10mm all round, get rid of your spacers all round.
Height of front and rear is for weight transfer BMW must have liked for oem setup.
If you keep it even you would notice unless your setup and tracking your car.

Thanks
I don't get it. If I jack the car up by 10mm, the ride height will be very close to how the car was sitting with the previous M sport suspension, then what's the point to have lower suspension?
I thought the B14 is stiffer than M sport and doesn't need so much room like the M sport suspension for movement, hence the car can be lowered?

I have cleaned and apply wheel bearings grease on the surface of the hub and spacers prior to installation. When I stacked the spacers together, I couldn't see any signs of bending too.
Hmm....interesting why there is a gap between the wheel and the spacers.

I actually feel the car drives better when it was lowered, less body roll especially.
I am trying to get the right height ride done, then will send it for alignment.

What about corner balancing? I read that corner balancing is needed after changing suspension?

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by Trev88

I've got the B14 on. No real issue after alignment. I had to get the rear guards rolled as I'm running PSS tyres which are more square. Other than that have not needed to worry much about clearance. But I do have front camber plates on to raise the height

May I ask what's your ride height?
Any spacers?
19" rims?

While B14 is height adjustable already, the camber plates are just to adjust the camber on the front, right?

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by Socket

Brule is right, need to raise the car slightly

My set up is very similar to yours, very flush, very low but I don't have any rubbing issues, although I have the rear guards rolled and negative camber on the front and rears.

Drop
Front rim to fender 585 mm
Rear rim to fender 585 mm
Front lip to road 95 mm
Side skirt to road 110 mm

Rims
Front 19 x 8.5 +35
Rear 19 x 9.5 +45

Rubber
Front 235/30/19
Rears 265/35/19

Spacers
Front 10mm (resulting in +25 offset)
Rear 5mm (resulting in +40 offset)

Front camber -2.15 (see chart below
Rear camber -1.5

Thanks.
If I raise the car by 10mm, it will pretty much back to stock ride height, then what's the point having lowered spring or coilover?
Having said that, your ride height is the same as mine
What you said doesn't seem convincing.

Ok, back to the topic

I have got the front and rear side rocket panel heights after getting the spacers done (measured from the ground to the bottom of the side skirt)
Front 10
Rear 13.5
Haven't measured the front lip though, will have a look today.

My car previous camber to be
Front -0.3 (need to pull the alignment if I want more negative, right?)
Rear -1.3
(With alignment, I wonder if the alignment guy would torque that alignment bolt on the control arm back to 165Nm for the rear)

negative camber will help with the rubbing issue but I was told to get the height adjustment done first prior to alignment. That's why I am doing lots of trials and errors to find the sweet height spot to be low enough as well as the wheel flushed. But it's really time consuming.

I was thinking to lower the car again with 5mm all round to avoid rubbing, but then Brule and you both suggest me raising the car up to maximise the performance of the suspension

If the car has to be at certain height for safety and maintenance purposes (eg, lowering too much may damage suspension bushing), I would follow what's right rather than my subjective liking.
*i read somewhere saying lowering too much without a properly height adjustment may also damage the gearbox and engine
Really? That sounds exaggerated to me.

Due to the weight of the driver, myself and the fuel tank being on the right.
I am also planning to offset the extra weight by raising the right hand side a bit more than the left, what do you think?

But if I have done that, shouldn't I need to do a proper corner balancing with a scale under each wheel?

[Brule]

Originally Posted by ///ASN

Thanks
I don't get it. If I jack the car up by 10mm, the ride height will be very close to how the car was sitting with the previous M sport suspension, then what's the point to have lower suspension?
I thought the B14 is stiffer than M sport and doesn't need so much room like the M sport suspension for movement, hence the car can be lowered?

I have cleaned and apply wheel bearings grease on the surface of the hub and spacers prior to installation. When I stacked the spacers together, I couldn't see any signs of bending too.
Hmm....interesting why there is a gap between the wheel and the spacers.

I actually feel the car drives better when it was lowered, less body roll especially.
I am trying to get the right height ride done, then will send it for alignment.

What about corner balancing? I read that corner balancing is needed after changing suspension?

Your b14 will ride better than oem suspension lowered or oem height.
The point is you will have a nicer ride feel and better performing cornering.
Lower it a bit to look cooler but if your scraping it's going to be a bitch to drive around daily.

I've got 585 rear
595 front driver
passenger front 2mm less 593

Something is bent if spacer doesn't sit flush.

Corner balancing only really needed to custom tune your cars suspension.

Light it up when your all done and post a photo

[Brule]

Will not damage engine or transmission.

Lower it to whatever height you are happy with.

Wind the driver front up 1 or 2 threads to equal out the driver.
Depends how much fuel you currently have on board. I just had half a tank and set the tears the same.
Mines not corner balanced though

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by Socket

Pic 2 & 3 - Side view front and rear
Pics 4 & 5 - Front view front and rear
Pics 6 & 7 - Spacers front and rear
Pic 8 - Suspension settings

Hi Socket; it seems like you have got a gap between the spacer and the wheel too for the front?
Would you be able to confirm?

Anyone also having 10mm spacer could assist verifying too?

[Socket]

What Brule and I mean is if you are rubbing you are set too low for your setup and need to back it off a bit!!!! TBH you can set it at what ever you like. I have nothing more to add to this thread

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by Brule

Your b14 will ride better than oem suspension lowered or oem height.
The point is you will have a nicer ride feel and better performing cornering.
Lower it a bit to look cooler but if your scraping it's going to be a bitch to drive around daily.

I've got 585 rear
595 front driver
passenger front 2mm less 593

Something is bent if spacer doesn't sit flush.

Corner balancing only really needed to custom tune your cars suspension.

Light it up when your all done and post a photo

Thanks!
I found that if I ditch those spacers, the car looks like sitting on the ground when I look at it at a distance, especially the wheels are hiding inside the fender.

Mine is sitting at 58.5 front 58 rear
Will try ditching the rear spacers (rubbing), and keep the front. The front really needs spacers to fill up the wheel arch.

[Brule]

Show us a skid when your done

[tawfeeqh]

I think I know why you are rubbing up front on the inner liner. Whilst it may partially be because of your ride height, if i'm not mistaken (having a closer look of your photo) you are running really wide tyres on the front of your car 255/30/19. The car standard comes with 225 front and 255 rear. If you have a pre lci you can go up to 245 in the front and 275 in the rears although most people stick with 235 in the front and 265 in the rears.

I run 275 rears and 245 front with 5mm spacers no dramas.

Hope that helps

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by tawfeeqh

I think I know why you are rubbing up front on the inner liner. Whilst it may partially be because of your ride height, if i'm not mistaken (having a closer look of your photo) you are running really wide tyres on the front of your car 255/30/19. The car standard comes with 225 front and 255 rear. If you have a pre lci you can go up to 245 in the front and 275 in the rears although most people stick with 235 in the front and 265 in the rears.

I run 275 rears and 245 front with 5mm spacers no dramas.

Hope that helps

My tyres are
Front 225/35/19
Rear 255/30/19

I have also measured the height on the rocker panel on the side skirt both the front and rear:
Front 10cm
Rear 13.5cm

I found it interesting that after raising the coilover by 5mm, the rocker panel raised by 5mm but the ride height (bottom of rim to wheel arch) remains the same.

They were sitting at 9.5cm and 13cm before I adjust the coilover at the front.

I am going to ditch the spacers at the rear and see how it goes first.
Will probably raise the front up a bit too even though it's not rubbing the wheel arch.

Worst case will bring the car to suspension specialist to do the height adjustment and alignment all together.

Also looking for a pair 5mm spacers.

[///ASN]

Taken out rear 10mm spacers

Also raised the front by 5mm

New ride height with 3/4 tank of fuel
LF 585
LR 585

RF 590
RR 580

The adjusting rings at the rear are the same, but there is a 1cm difference.
I guess it is the BMW design trying to raise the driver side (LHD) to offset the driver weight.
No more rubbing, need to adjust the LR again and find 5mm spacers for the rear.

For the spacer, I found that it is the beveled edge on the spacer lip that stops the lip from fully insert into the rim.
The rim mounting surface also got a beveled edge but there isn't a problem when mounting to the OEM lip since there is no beveled edge on OEM lip.

I am surprised Socket's gap is a bit smaller than mine even though our spacers and rims are the same brand.

I hope there are more people who are using spacers could confirm if they also have a gap between the spacer and the rims (not a gap between hub and spacer).

Also found this quite useful:
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/t-w...cyclopedia#Hub

[EB89]

When I had BMS spacers there was no gap.

I spent like 30 mins each wheel sanding te rust off the hub, and sanding the back on the wheel where they contact.

I could spin the spacer on the hub freely.

[///ASN]

Originally Posted by EB89

When I had BMS spacers there was no gap.

I spent like 30 mins each wheel sanding te rust off the hub, and sanding the back on the wheel where they contact.

I could spin the spacer on the hub freely.

I found that the BMS design is different from ECS, BMS doesn't seem having the beveled edge.
I also sand the hub and spacer, also applied light wheel bearing grease on those surface.
I can spin the ECS spacers on the hub freely too, it fully sits on the hub.