[Fraggy]

So how'd it go? All done? Luckily you are off tomorrow and can get an alignment and then drive drive drive!!!

[jzepeda]

Originally Posted by Tee212

Did you need both arms to increase camber or just the top one? also can you link or provide me the part #? thanks a bunch . Ive been meaning to source the least expensive solution to increase rear camber hoping this would suffice. How much did those arms run?

the arms are for the front will give you .75 additional camber. Harold at HPA can get you the arms you need for the rear. teh M3 Camber links and Velocity motoring arms and toe arm. I wanted to order these as well but they were back ordered and the M3 Camber kit would require me to buy M3 rear shocks. the rear arm I replaced in the rear will not give you the extra camber your looking for. they replace the stock stamp steel units to provide with less flex. I'll post some pics.

Talk to Harold he will help you get what you need.

http://hpashop.com/product.sc?produc...categoryId=176

http://hpashop.com/product.sc?produc...categoryId=176

http://hpashop.com/product.sc?produc...categoryId=176

[jzepeda]

ok front arms and coilover are complete. I just need to recheck all my bolts and install the swaybar and new endlinks. I can see the light....

[jzepeda]

OK. just finished bleeding all the brakes. The car is 95% put back together. I need to put back in the trunk lining and bottom panels. I didn't only because I want to take the car for an alignment tomorrow. and while it's up on the rack I can make sure everything is good. and the shocks are set correctly. The rear sits higher than the front. I need to double check everything is good and readjust the rear height. Give me a couple of days and I will clean up the thread and add more pics.

Thanks for looking. feel free to ask any questions.


Total hours spent I have it round up to 26-27 hours so far.....

[Tee212]

Thanks for the productive info on this thread. Please give us some feedback impression

[tlrid3r]

awesome thread, thanks for the update. Great Job.

[ddogg35]

nice job

[jzepeda]

Thanks for all of you following the thread and I hope this help you with your projects. I will have a review written up in a week or so. I'm still making adjustments to the car and I cannot give an accurate review without getting the car set to my style of driving.

Overall experience and advise of the suspension install:

It is very overwelming for one person at times it becomes a pain, for instance removing the exhaust, holding parts and trying to reach for bolts or tools. these are very small things but become bothersome over time. orginization of bolts and screws, keep things together it help when reassembling the car. and take your time and be patient.

Installation issues and fixes I have done:

Rear swaybar bushing installed backwards. I called HPA and talked to Chris who helped me with this. The standard swaybar sits center in the bushing bracket. the M3 ones do not they have a offest to them. pics will be added to show this later tonight.

Wierd low speed vibration from drivetrain, very noticable around 2-3,000 RPM in 2nd. This was do to installaion of the driveshaft center bearing upside down. I had to drop the driveshaft after installation again to find out the issue. this was not fun...

The front is way to low. I set the coilovers to the max "recommended" setting I still have room for adjustment but I have a feeling "to me" the cause is the Vorshlag camber plates that drop the car alot more than the stock shock mount. I can gain about another 1-1.5 inches with the stock plates and raisin gthe coilovers. but I will loose my camber adjustment. I am also highly considering re-installing my eibach springs and koni yellows if I can't get the height I want. the ride of the bilstein coilovers is still very comfortable just a bit to low to my liking.

incorrect

correct


Hard to tell but it was upside down






Thanks,
Jorge

[NiVeDh]

Very nice read. The Bilsteins are indeed really low, even at the highest setting.

[just4kickz]

nicee work

[acdHQK713K]

Nice work.

Out of curiosity are those Koni Yellows going up for sale soon?

[jzepeda]

Originally Posted by Stangorang

Nice work.

Out of curiosity are those Koni Yellows going up for sale soon?

yesterday yes, today no.


I have decided this setup is to low for my liking. The car feels and handles great but I guess I'm getting old. I have to be so careful around bumps and trying to angle into driveways so I don't scrape. If I was 10 or maybe even 5 years younger this would not even be an issue, but now I have to say as much as I love how the car handles this is to much work for me to daily drive. I want to enjoy the car and just drive. I will be uninstalling the Pss9 and camber plates and going back to my Eibach Koni Yellow setup. They will be back up for sale including the HPA adjustable endlinks.

For sale thread:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=541088

My build and the issues I had:

I drove the car right after I finished the install to the alignment shop. I adjusted the toe as best I could so that it didn't feel to scary to drive. on the drive there the car felt nice already very planted. but I was only doing 30mph max. once I got the car aligned I took it around the my area to drove it in a easy manner to get a feel for the changes. First thing I noticed I had a new vibration from the drivetrain I was so pist I drove right home. I thought to myself what did I do wrong... I new it had something to do with with either the driveshaft or the subframe and after a few phone calls and google searching it confimed my thoery. First thing I did was drop the exhaust and checked the driveshaft. I didn't see anyhting wrong, I then checked all my bolts and subframe, again everything checked out. frustrated already, I decided to drop the subframe a bit and check to make sure the bushing were installed correctly and they were. I bolted everything back up rechecked my bolts the only change I made was reclocking the driveshaft to the diff as the bently manual say some small vibrations can be fixed by change the position of the driveshaft 90deg. I drove the car after and same vibration. The vibration feels like a rumble under your seat and shifter not to harsh but noticable. 2nd gear at 2-3,000 rpm seems to be the worst of it. Very next day I decided to pull the driveshaft in the event I damage the bearing or flex disc upon installation. I went through it several times and did not see anything wrong unitl I went back to install it. I noticed I marked the postion of the bolts on the center bearing when I initailly removed it, as soon as I saw that I wanted to kick myself and I was very happy at the same time. the bearing was installed upside down. I reinstalled everything took the car out and no surprise vibration was gone... I drove straight to the alignment shop once again. My problem was solved although it took me a few try's the build was complete. I drove the car around and it felt great.

My Review:

very responsive and yes you do feel more of the road and it did get a bit noisier. nothing extreme at all. The car sticks to the road so well. my favorite and noticable mods would be the brake line swap and I can't tell if its the rear sway bar or bushing or combo but the rear end feels planted... I put down power the car feel allot more predictable. I feel when the back end kicks out I feel comfortable sliding the car out of a corner without the extra wobble I was getting before. I know I have allot more to learn and I need more practice to make full use of the car but man is it fun to drive and get on it hard. the front end feels good the car grips so well now. enough of the - this is the greatest ever and on to the what I don't like. by now you know It is way to low for me, I cringe at the sight of bumps and steep driveways. I have driven the car for 5 days now and I just about had enough of the bumper scrapes. my wife is not fond of the car bieng so low either and it's a pain to commute with. this is the setup I would keep for track but not for a DD. The suspension is a bit soft (comfortable) on the Pss9 which I like but it just does not have enough height adjustment. The camber plates were fairly quite which I was surprise about but the only gripe is the intruduction of some cabin vibration which I believe is caused by both the camber plates and the rear bushings. overall I am happy. I've taken a pleasent handling 3 series to the next level I highly recommend these upgrades, The car feels much faster than before and really feels planted. if anyone in socal would like a ride please pm me I will be happy to take you for a spin.

Thanks,
Jorge

[NiVeDh]

What settings are you running on the PSS9?

[jzepeda]

I'm running 6 front 8 rear. I started at 9 front and rear then started dailing it down everyday 1 notch to see how it felt. 3-4 seems to be getting to firm 5-6 feels good for me. the rear I'm still playing with I might try 5F 7R and see how it feels today. but I'm uninstalling them over the weekend.

[ironic]

just an FYI, if you were to remove the camber plates you could probably raise the car by an inch or so

[spdy330]

Great job!

[jzepeda]

Thats what I was about to try but then decided to keep the springs and shocks. I'm not a huge track guy just someone that likes to take long trip on windy roads... so the suspension would have probably been overkill for me anyway. I think that might be the oldman in me talking though. My wife also played a role in the decision as she felt the car was to firm for her liking.

Originally Posted by ironic

just an FYI, if you were to remove the camber plates you could probably raise the car by an inch or so

[just4kickz]

so your going back with koni/eibachs with the m3 bits?

[jzepeda]

Originally Posted by just4kickz

so your going back with koni/eibachs with the m3 bits?

Yes, I have reinstalled the Koni yellow eibach setup but left everything else the same. The bilsteins feel better as far as performance the eibachs are pretty soft, but I like it for commuting. I think the camber plates where the culprit, but I just felt it easier to stick to what I know works best for me. The car still feels great. the rear end feel is night and day difference. the front feels solid as well. I have an apointment at HP autowerks thursday to have them go over the car and give me an alignment. the shop I took it to that was recommended by a vendor on here sucks... I gave them the specs Harold gave me over the phone and they asked me what does it mean. they understood the camber settings but not the toe in settings. I asked for 1/16 toe in, in front and 3/16 toe in, in back and they didn't know what I was talking about. also the camber plates where scratched and gouged by the mechanic when he adjusting camber. they pist me off, so I'm taking it to Harold to get it done right.

With Pss9:






With Eibachs:




Thanks,
Jorge

[jzepeda]

pics updated.
Thanks,
jorge

[Fraggy]

I agree, way too low.

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by jzepeda

I have decided this setup is too low for my liking. The car feels and handles great but I guess I'm getting old. I have to be so careful around bumps and trying to angle into driveways so I don't scrape. If I was 10 or maybe even 5 years younger this would not even be an issue, but now I have to say as much as I love how the car handles this is to much work for me to daily drive. I want to enjoy the car and just drive. I will be uninstalling the Pss9 and camber plates and going back to my Eibach Koni Yellow setup. They will be back up for sale including the HPA adjustable endlinks.

Great review with interesting illustrative photos.

I have had the same experience with my Bilstein B16 Ride Control coilovers - even on the highest settings they are extremely low. I've spoken to a few others who've had the same problem and it seems that Bilstein does not adapt the springs to the weight of each individual version of the 3 series - i.e. they use the same springs for a E92 318i and for a E93 335i/d, although there are like 350kg difference between the two. As a consequence, the heavier cars like the 335i are much too low in the springs, even on the highest settings. As such I don't find it bad looking, but the disadvantages if using it as a daily driver (like I do) are considerable.

In the medium term I will probably switch to a different suspension, but haven't yet made up my mind on which...

Alpina_B3_Lux