[larryn]

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

if you need an extra pair of hands....let me know....

the dude at F1 did it in less than an hour......

Wow! Less than an hour? That's insane. Maybe with another person doing the other side....

If there was a DIY, I think this would have taken a LOT less time. It's nothing like doing springs on an E46, and I needed to figure out a lot of things on my own, and then take pictures. I have about 80 pics I took of the entire process, but I thought it would be overkill.

Knowing what I know now, I'm thinking this could be done by a single person in 2-3 hours, less if you had another person who also had access to the DIY and worked on the other side of the car.

[N1]

3 beers and 3 hours job? or it was 4 / 4 ? great DIY and 4 wheels or 2 ?
Impressed and much more dependent of mechanics work. Only with some skill, the tools and a great will to learn. 2 lieutenant and rising.

[NaTuReB0Y]

Originally Posted by lni

Wow! Less than an hour? That's insane. Maybe with another person doing the other side....

If there was a DIY, I think this would have taken a LOT less time. It's nothing like doing springs on an E46, and I needed to figure out a lot of things on my own, and then take pictures. I have about 80 pics I took of the entire process, but I thought it would be overkill.

Knowing what I know now, I'm thinking this could be done by a single person in 2-3 hours, less if you had another person who also had access to the DIY and worked on the other side of the car.

the guy was awesome.........he just finished dropping a black Ferrari F430 Spider when i got there......
if you have all the tools.......it should be pretty easy.......

[wheeler]

Followed your DIY, all went well.

Thank you!!!

[KL2DC]

Awesome DIY, thanks for sharing . This is one DIY I will not venture into anytime soon...high difficulty rating

Should be added to sticky list of DIYs...

[larryn]

Originally Posted by wheeler

Followed your DIY, all went well.

Thank you!!!

Awesome! I hope you paid attention to the beer intervals.

[voltron1011]

For those who want their own spring-compressor, Harbor Freight sells them for about 10 bucks. I bought mine years ago and have used it on countless cars.

Awesome DIY!!!!

[voltron1011]

Did you end up getting an alignment right afterwards? I am getting ready to install sport-springs (thanks long) on my non-SP car and I am just debating whether or not I'll need an alignment afterwards.

[ase2dais]

same thing here voltron, got magmd's ZSP spring takeoffs, wondering if I should do it too, I like my nZSP comfort ride. still on the fence on this one, but do know I will do the sway bars, for I hate those lean on turns.

Anyone knows if cam kits are needed ? seem like not

wow! great job! INI
... thats about the best and will be one of the most useful DIY made.

thanks for sharing!

[wheeler]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

same thing here voltron, got magmd's ZSP spring takeoffs, wondering if I should do it too, I like my nZSP comfort ride. still on the fence on this one, but do know I will do the sway bars, for I hate those lean on turns.

Anyone knows if cam kits are needed ? seem like not

wow! great job! INI
... thats about the best and will be one of the most useful DIY made.

thanks for sharing!

I aligned right afterward. Cost $70, and is cheap insurance against uneven tire wear.

No cams needed. The factory adjustment span is wide enough to accomodate the sport springs.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by wheeler

I aligned right afterward. Cost $70, and is cheap insurance against uneven tire wear.

No cams needed. The factory adjustment span is wide enough to accomodate the sport springs.

Sorry.. been on a business trip to Seattle.

Yeah, I did get an alignment, but the mechanic told me that it was still in spec range. I did have him adjust the camber though, to 2 degrees in front, 1.75 degrees in the rear. No camber plates are needed.

Glad this DIY has helped people.

[ward]

not to be a smart ass,
but on the rears, can't you just unbolt the shock and drop the arms low enough to get the springs out?

just a question as that's how I've done rear spring swaps on BMW's before (haven't done an E90 though)

might be able to take a few minutes out of the job

[bilbarstow]

Awesome DIY Ini - makes me wonder if the beer interval(s) is what keeps the BMW shop hours estimates so high ?

Your photos are very clear and illustrative of the process, and your text is also very detailed. You should take up tech writing.

Now I just wish I had track wheels / tires. (I know, it's only $$$ )

[larryn]

Originally Posted by ward

not to be a smart ass,
but on the rears, can't you just unbolt the shock and drop the arms low enough to get the springs out?

just a question as that's how I've done rear spring swaps on BMW's before (haven't done an E90 though)

might be able to take a few minutes out of the job

Nope. I tried that first thing. There's not enough articulation to get the spring uncompressed.

[voltron1011]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

still on the fence on this one, but do know I will do the sway bars, for I hate those lean on turns.

:

Hey ase2dais, I think the reason our non-SP cars lean so much in the turns is because of the ride height. I think once you throw the different springs on and lower the CG, the flatter it will corner.
I thought that both SP and non-SP cars both had the same sway-bar setup. The only difference is the shocks/springs.

[ward]

I guess that's a drawback of the 5 link!

thanks for the info!

[tl_boy]

wow.

[amdspitfire]

Amazing how simmilar the suspension set up is to my e36.

Now does it seem/feel as if the original shocks are too compressed with the new springs?

[a_moux]

wow 4hrs for all four springs that's pretty quick man. I just installed my front ones with my buddy and it took us about 4.5 hrs. From what I hear the front installation is harder than the rear plus we had trouble clearing the sway bar bolt from the mounting point, but after a few beer we got it! Oh yeah and we thought we could do this DIY without spring compressors and used cargo straps instead at first. Not a good idea, so we had to go rent spring compressors later on from AutoZone. Well 2morrow we're doing the back so after we're done i'll try and post some pics. But yeah great DIY, we pretty much did the exactly same thing as far as front goes. Back is tomorrow.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by a_moux

wow 4hrs for all four springs that's pretty quick man. I just installed my front ones with my buddy and it took us about 4.5 hrs.

We did E90boy's springs last weekend, and it didn't go as smoothly as my install. Every bolt fought us, and nothing wanted to line back up, once it was reassembled. I think his car took close to 5 hours for all 4 corners.

Then we installed e46 M3 shocks/struts/springs on an E46 330Ci, and that took about 3 hours. If the lugbolts weren't nearly seized on that car, it would have been less than 2 hours for the whole shebang.

You're likely going to find that lining up the rear swingarm bolt, during reassembly, may be a PITA, as it was on E90boy's car. It wasn't that troublesome on my E90. E90boy kept saying, "You did this in 3-4 hours on your car???". I replied, "Yeah, and that was including taking pictures and making notes for the DIY at the same time."

[E90Boy]

Keep in mind that THREE ppl myself included worked on the install.

[a_moux]

hey it's me again, just finished installing the rear H&Rs and I must say those ones were way easier. We didn't even need spring compressors! Take off the wheel, the bottom shock nut and the outer control arm bolt and bam it's off. If you do this make sure you're holding the control arm with jack. Took us about an hour for both sides.

Hey lni, not to contradict your version of DIY but we saw no reason to remove the upper end link bolt (step 3) and it worked out fine. Can't say the same thing about the front though. But yeah great DIY.