[Nonecure]

I am slightly more firm, but not too far from the middle. My rears are still Bilstein's since the rear felt fine. The issue I had was the Bilstein fronts did not feel right. It felt like I was lower than the strut was designed for. They did not dampen small bumps in the road. It was bothersome enough that pulled the Bilstein's off.

[miker2013]

Originally Posted by Nosewheelie

So I pulled the trigger and jumped on recent Koni 20% off sale and bought Koni sports for xi, 335i eibach springs and UUC F&R swaybars for xi. I am still a few weeks away from install (working though bugs on my E46 M3 suspension upgrade) but will report back on setup when done.

will be interested to hear ur thoughts on the setup and handling after install of these parts

[Nosewheelie]

Originally Posted by Herakles

Just curious do you have your konis adjusted to full soft ?

The fronts are adjustable but the tears from what I remember you adjust but can't adjust without taking them off again right ?

I kinda didn't want to bother with the adjustable ones I had them on my trans am and just had them set I. The middle

Read through earlier posts, one of the guys with Koni's tried a few different settings and commented.

[Herakles]

So are people just ordering eibach for non xdrive and putting them on the xdrive cars ?

[PrematureApex]

Originally Posted by Nonecure

I am slightly more firm, but not too far from the middle. My rears are still Bilstein's since the rear felt fine. The issue I had was the Bilstein fronts did not feel right. It felt like I was lower than the strut was designed for. They did not dampen small bumps in the road. It was bothersome enough that pulled the Bilstein's off.

That's the nature of high pressure gas shocks. Lots of road feel/small impacts felt. Awesome with the big stuff. 100% normal and expected. Most reviews say the same.

[PrematureApex]

Originally Posted by Herakles

So are people just ordering eibach for non xdrive and putting them on the xdrive cars ?

?

[Nosewheelie]

Originally Posted by PrematureApex

?

That's what I gathered from reading multiple posts in different forums. Once I put mine together I'll report back how it worked out (or not).

[Nonecure]

Originally Posted by PrematureApex

That's the nature of high pressure gas shocks. Lots of road feel/small impacts felt. Awesome with the big stuff. 100% normal and expected. Most reviews say the same.

Maybe I didn't describe it well enough. They felt like I would bounce off a small bump or imperfection in the road. The Koni's don't feel like that.

[AWD Addict]

Originally Posted by Nonecure

I am slightly more firm, but not too far from the middle. My rears are still Bilstein's since the rear felt fine. The issue I had was the Bilstein fronts did not feel right. It felt like I was lower than the strut was designed for. They did not dampen small bumps in the road. It was bothersome enough that pulled the Bilstein's off.

You're running Bilsteins + springs in the rear, and koni adjustable coilovers up front?

[AWD Addict]

Originally Posted by Herakles

So are people just ordering eibach for non xdrive and putting them on the xdrive cars ?

Yes. The stock xi spring rates are the same as the sport springs for the i, so the springs (NOT the struts/shocks) are interchangeable.

[Nonecure]

Originally Posted by AWD Addict

You're running Bilsteins + springs in the rear, and koni adjustable coilovers up front?

I am running the Eibach Pro-kit springs front and back. I originally had Bilsteins on all 4 corners. I didn't like how the Bilsteins felt up front, so I replaced the front struts with adjustable Koni's. I did have them cut down 1/2" to get rid of the rake.

[BigHoncho]

Originally Posted by AWD Addict

Yes. The stock xi spring rates are the same as the sport springs for the i, so the springs (NOT the struts/shocks) are interchangeable.

No, at least the EU-spec models have different springs on, depending on engine and chassis (E90, E91, E92, E93).

Thats why Eibach has a lot of spring konfigurations:

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Lot of guys use the RWD Eibach springs on the Xi. It doesn't seem to make any discernable difference for the average Joe.

However, H&R does make different springs not only for Coupe to Sedan but also for RWD and Xi.

I feel H&R does a little better job then Eibach in this case for at least having different spring rates for each different model.

However, most people like the Eibach for the conservative drop so there is that too.

[miker2013]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Lot of guys use the RWD Eibach springs on the Xi. It doesn't seem to make any discernable difference for the average Joe.

However, H&R does make different springs not only for Coupe to Sedan but also for RWD and Xi.

I feel H&R does a little better job then Eibach in this case for at least having different spring rates for each different model.

However, most people like the Eibach for the conservative drop so there is that too.

which would u go for road use only, no track at all... i want the most conservative drop possible but to shore up as much of the handling i can (along with sways and bushings too)

[Nosewheelie]

Originally Posted by miker2013

which would u go for road use only, no track at all... i want the most conservative drop possible but to shore up as much of the handling i can (along with sways and bushings too)

I bought the Eibach 335i sedan springs, Koni sport 335xi shocks/struts and UUC 335xi swaybars. Car is 100% street, just tired of the "Buick" ride. I just pulled my run flats and installed Michelin Pilot Super Sports in stock 225 size and all I can say is WOW! Huge improvement in ride quality - already much better on the highway.

Eibach's have been PITA to source, none in US, the set I ordered a month ago just showed up from Germany at their CA headquarters & on their way to me. I should have install done in early/mid May. Will add zerk fittings to swaybar mounts to allow easier annual lubrication.

[miker2013]

Originally Posted by Nosewheelie

I bought the Eibach 335i sedan springs, Koni sport 335xi shocks/struts and UUC 335xi swaybars. Car is 100% street, just tired of the "Buick" ride. I just pulled my run flats and installed Michelin Pilot Super Sports in stock 225 size and all I can say is WOW! Huge improvement in ride quality - already much better on the highway.

Eibach's have been PITA to source, none in US, the set I ordered a month ago just showed up from Germany at their CA headquarters & on their way to me. I should have install done in early/mid May. Will add zerk fittings to swaybar mounts to allow easier annual lubrication.

thx thats good info... let me ask u this what if u stayed with rft? would the ride have been too harsh?

[unktone]

Hello, figured I'd chime in with a little feedback as well,

I just installed B8s all around for XI, and I Eibach Pro-Kit. I can already see that the rear is still going to be lower than the front, unless the front takes much longer to settle. I actually had the front on for a couple weeks, then installed the rear on Saturday. I had no drivetrain issues. I was hoping the I springs would take away the reverse rake, and I saw a post where a guy did the same setup and it seemed to remove his

I will post pics, probably a new thread as a "review". Will be getting an alignment and drive on it for a while first though.

The top hats and lowering perches sound like they cause too many problems for me to bother with them. I may have to move to adjustables in the front or something, as I've seen a couple mentions of that.

Thanks for all the good information here for XI cars

-R

[ucdbiendog]

Originally Posted by Nosewheelie

I bought the Eibach 335i sedan springs, Koni sport 335xi shocks/struts and UUC 335xi swaybars. Car is 100% street, just tired of the "Buick" ride. I just pulled my run flats and installed Michelin Pilot Super Sports in stock 225 size and all I can say is WOW! Huge improvement in ride quality - already much better on the highway.

Eibach's have been PITA to source, none in US, the set I ordered a month ago just showed up from Germany at their CA headquarters & on their way to me. I should have install done in early/mid May. Will add zerk fittings to swaybar mounts to allow easier annual lubrication.

I have this exact setup, so far in my limited driving i have been very impressed. Still need to have the alignment done. Just out of curiosity, are you guys on lowered setup having it aligned to factory specs?

[Nonecure]

Originally Posted by unktone

Hello, figured I'd chime in with a little feedback as well,

I just installed B8s all around for XI, and I Eibach Pro-Kit. I can already see that the rear is still going to be lower than the front, unless the front takes much longer to settle. I actually had the front on for a couple weeks, then installed the rear on Saturday. I had no drivetrain issues. I was hoping the I springs would take away the reverse rake, and I saw a post where a guy did the same setup and it seemed to remove his

I will post pics, probably a new thread as a "review". Will be getting an alignment and drive on it for a while first though.

The top hats and lowering perches sound like they cause too many problems for me to bother with them. I may have to move to adjustables in the front or something, as I've seen a couple mentions of that.

Thanks for all the good information here for XI cars

-R

My experience is the fronts take a little bit longer to settle. If you put new tophats on, then it will take months for the front to settle. You will still have front rake though (between 1/4" to 1/2). I first tried the lowering perches years ago and they suck on our cars. I had my Koni's cut down 1/2" to fix that problem.

[unktone]

Originally Posted by instigat0r

Thanks for the tips ajsalida, but I really think the combination of the new tophats and HD shocks are causing the huge gap. HD's supposedly raise your heigth about .5 inches and the tophats definitly raised it up another .5 of an inch. I am almost certain that I did the install correctly and this is just how any similar XI will look with brand new HD's and Tophats on freshly installed eibach pro kit.

The HD's have internal bumpstops so I removed the stock ones during the initial install. And you are correct, the strut rod on the HD's are about twice as thick as the stocks. So yes, internal.

The HD's do not extend past the steering knuckle like the Koni's do, and I triple checked that they were all the way down when I put them in. It actually slides down easily with a thunk when it hits the bottom of the knuckle. This is the third time I've removed the shock/stprings (once for the HD's, once for the tophats, and once for the prokit), so I'm pretty good at this now and (i think) know what I'm doing. Each side took me only about 1 hr.

The second and third pictures are with the eibachs on, and there's at tight 3 finger gap. Once this settles, I should be around 2, right? Even if it doesn't settle, I'll still be okay with how this turned out. I really like the ride and the height, as I intially just wanted to replace the blown front shocks and maintain stock height. A little more drop would be nice though!

Do you happen to have any experience with Bilstein B8 struts? They were definitely not sticking out of the bottom of the housing, but the little nipple/clip thing seemed to hit where it was supposed to be.

Thanks,

-R

[unktone]

Originally Posted by Nonecure

My experience is the fronts take a little bit longer to settle. If you put new tophats on, then it will take months for the front to settle. You will still have front rake though (between 1/4" to 1/2). I first tried the lowering perches years ago and they suck on our cars. I had my Koni's cut down 1/2" to fix that problem.

Thanks for the input. I am hoping they settle a bit. I am also starting to second guess my craftsmanship. I found some pics of installed Bilstiens and think that I may not have shoved them down into the housing far enough...there seemed to be 1/2" or so on top that should go down further, to the point where the circumference gets slightly bigger, at that "lip"...which looks like it should sit right on top of the housing, but mine wouldn't go down that last 1/2". I'm thinking maybe i need to spread it more and shove it down.

-R

[martinblair]

You don't, you've got it right. It does not go all the way down to the taper.