[fleetfoot]

Originally Posted by Guy Fieri

Monoball tension struts are amazing if you have perfectly smooth roads. Unfortunately the NVH they transmit was not worth it to me on a street car, so I went back to M3 bushings.

On a related note, the M3 strut brace adds a surprising amount of rigidity. I went from the BMW Performance aluminum brace to the M3 one and couldn't believe the difference. Most shocking was the improvement in ride quality on harsh roads. Seems that a more rigid chassis is better at absorbing impacts.

What specific NVH increase did you perceive in daily driving? I'm very interested in this upgrade, but a bit gun shy after the NVH increase from my diff bushings.

[The Nightman]

Originally Posted by fleetfoot

What specific NVH increase did you perceive in daily driving? I'm very interested in this upgrade, but a bit gun shy after the NVH increase from my diff bushings.

The improvement in precision, control and feel was incredible, but I would only recommend the monoballs on a track vehicle unless you have very smooth roads or do mostly highway driving. They transmit every little bump on the road to the steering wheel, and impacts in general were a lot harsher. I guess there's a reason why BMW stuck with a rubber bushing here, even on the M3.

[335i54n]

I was getting such bad brake judder even with m3 solid, monoballs throughout was the only fix, same for the m5. I love the feel of having a solid, braced up, planted chassis and feeling the solid thuds and road imperfections but yeah not for everyone.

already got my aluminum bars for the front subframe support, bignboca awesome build

[fleetfoot]

I've now got a (mostly) dedicated track car in my M2, so I've relegated my 328i to street and mountain driving. With that in mind, I've made a few adjustments to my street suspension setup:

1) Purchased Apex EC-7 18x9" wheels (square fitment)
2) Switched from summer tires to all-season Continental ExtremeContact DWS+ tires sized 255/35-18
3) Installed Eibach Pro-Kit springs
4) Removed the poly differential bushings and went back to OEM rubber
5) Removed Dinan camber plates and realigned with less camber (-1.5 degrees up front)

My primary goals for this work were:
1) be a little more aesthetically pleasing since this is now my daily driver
2) remove the highly-annoying diff whine at highway speeds
3) have tires that allowed me to drive in more adverse conditions
4) run an alignment that was less sketchy in heavy rain

How'd it turn out? Great!
-I think the new stance looks fantastic with a 1 finger gap all around. No rubbing. Removing the camber plates got rid of the extra gap up front.
-I can't tell a difference in the ride quality at all due to having softer all-season tires but having slightly firmer springs.
-The diff whine is completely eliminated, even though I still have poly rear subframe bushings. The rear end feels just as planted as before.
-I do wish I had gone with the anthracite Apex wheels since they blend nicely with my BSM paint and hide the brake dust a bit better. But that color is out of stock for 6+ months.
-The new alignment feels about the same as before, but I need to test drive in heavy rain. My previous setup with -2.3 camber up front was SUPER sketchy in thunderstorms. I was still able to get -1.5 camber up front due to my M3 control arms.
-No change in steering feel that I can discern (from tires or alignment)

For a street setup, I think this is now essentially perfect.

[fleetfoot]

One small update to my previous post from June: I think my steering/chassis feel are now essentially perfect and better than any other combination of parts I've tried. Since June, I've increased the tire pressure to 38psi cold all around. I was initially running 32 front 39 rear as specified on the door, but my front tires were scrubbing the sidewalls against the pavement at full steering lock. Increasing to 38psi all around solved this problem and significantly improved steering feel. The steering has essentially zero play now and feels amazing, even better than my old setup with summer tires and more camber.

I did a long drive through the mountains recently and the chassis response is much more predictable as well. I find that I can set a steering input going into a turn, and then hold it constant just like I do on the race track. And there is LOTS of feel coming through the wheel (if you like that).

So to sum it all up, I think my perfect street/mountain setup for a 2013 328i is:
-Bilstein B12 Pro Kit
-M3 control arms
-1.5 degrees of camber and .12 total toe up front
-18" square wheel setup with Continental ExtremeContact DWS+ 255/35-18 tires set to 38psi cold

[D989]

So just to clarify...you left the poly bushings in the subframe and switched just the diff back to rubber? I'm considering going with Powerflex yellow in SF and oe rubber for diff.
Also are you running the stock open diff?

[fleetfoot]

Originally Posted by D989

So just to clarify...you left the poly bushings in the subframe and switched just the diff back to rubber? I'm considering going with Powerflex yellow in SF and oe rubber for diff.
Also are you running the stock open diff?

That’s correct. And I’ve got a stock open diff.