[D5TMW]

any recommendations for a good quality set of drop links?? My current Meister-R (same as BC) have failed in 12 months so would ideally like a higher quality pair to replace them.

thanks in advance!

[Aragorn30d]

Stick with a trusted OEM brand like Lemforder or TRW and you wont go wrong.

[Gooey33]

I replaced mine with whiteline ones, good quality and no complaints. They are adjustable too so you can take the pre-load out of the front ARB as well.

[D5TMW]

I think ill need the adjustable ones as well, as its been dropped to the lowest threads on the front!

Cheers for the heads up on the whiteline ones, ill check them out

[Phil325i]

Meyle HDs are the business!

[OGM2LCI]

Also fitted Meyle HD's and no issues with them so far, done around 8,000 miles on them so far

[D5TMW]

I'm guessing you guys are at standard ride height? If not how do you counteract the lowered suspension. Do they come in different lengths?

[Aragorn30d]

the geometry between the ARB, strut and wishbones doesnt really change when lowering the car

The bottom part of the strut doesnt move, so the distance between the ARB/wheel/strut etc all remains constant...

Why do you need shorter ones at all?

[OGM2LCI]

Originally Posted by D5TMW

I'm guessing you guys are at standard ride height? If not how do you counteract the lowered suspension. Do they come in different lengths?

I am indeed at standard M Sport ride height

[D5TMW]

Surely lowering the car will raise the lower mounting for the ARB (to a similar height as the MSport suspension at full compression)?

The coilovers originally came with adjustable droplinks in the kit so i'm sure there must be a valid reason to use them?

[AzRiz]

The droplink attachment location is probably different (at a guess) on different struts e.g. OEM vs BC vs FK etc. People usually find that a shorter droplink is required to allow the droplink to be fitted at final ride height with zero tension, when it comes to aftermarket struts.

On my Airlift kit the recommended length from balljoint to balljoint is 220mm (IIRC) according to Airlift themselves.

[Aragorn30d]

The ARB surely rotates in its mounts though, so "zero tension" can be at any height...

BMW fit the same droplink on MSport and SE models, despite the difference in ride height, beacuse the ARB just moves round slightly in its mounts to compensate.

The only point at which you'd need to shorten it, is if for some reason you've lowered the car so much that the ARB is touching something. But given the ARB must have enough room to move thru its full arc on the stock suspesnion, all the way down to the bump stops, without touching anything, it has to be pretty rare/extreme lowering to need shortened droplinks.

Airlift saying 220mm is fine, but without knowing the same distance on the standard parts its hard to say if they're shortening it or not... They might simply be telling you to set the adjustable parts to the same length as stock!

[D5TMW]

Cheers Az, a measurement helps me out a lot!

I think i'm going to give these a try, they seem like good quality and at a very reasonable price!

http://www.spring-loaded.co.uk/prodd...spension~Links

[AzRiz]

Originally Posted by Aragorn30d

The ARB surely rotates in its mounts though, so "zero tension" can be at any height...

BMW fit the same droplink on MSport and SE models, despite the difference in ride height, beacuse the ARB just moves round slightly in its mounts to compensate.

The only point at which you'd need to shorten it, is if for some reason you've lowered the car so much that the ARB is touching something. But given the ARB must have enough room to move thru its full arc on the stock suspesnion, all the way down to the bump stops, without touching anything, it has to be pretty rare/extreme lowering to need shortened droplinks.

Airlift saying 220mm is fine, but without knowing the same distance on the standard parts its hard to say if they're shortening it or not... They might simply be telling you to set the adjustable parts to the same length as stock!

You are completely right but from my understanding, twisting inside the bush adds tension as you come away from the location of "zero tension". Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Interesting that the same droplink is used for SE and Msport. Either it doesn't matter as you say, OR the zero tension in the bush is different between the SE and Msport suspension when it is built. I don't know how likely this is but it is technically possible.

Yes you're right about maybe Airlift mentioned that length to match the OEM length, but I checked the length of the OEM Msport droplinks and although I don't remember the exact figure, I do remember that the OEM one was significantly longer. 5-6cm longer IIRC.

[AzRiz]

Originally Posted by D5TMW

Cheers Az, a measurement helps me out a lot!

I think i'm going to give these a try, they seem like good quality and at a very reasonable price!

http://www.spring-loaded.co.uk/prodd...spension~Links

No problem. I currently have these ones fitted as well. They seem to be of good quality but I developed a knocking noise a week or 2 after these were fitted. The adjuster nuts are all tight and I am yet to diagnose the knocking noise properly (might be from something else such as ARB bushes, lower arm bushes, the Airlift struts etc.), but it MAY be from the balljoint on these droplinks as the adjuster nuts are nice and solid. I'm not sure though. However, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any decent alternative!

[Aragorn30d]

The bush isnt "bonded" to the arb, it just sits around it like a sleeve. If you grabbed both ends of the bar and pulled up or down, you'd simply move it to a new position and when you let go it would stay there. Sometimes the bar gets a bit stuck to the bush, and the bush acts a bit like a spring, but pull it far enough and it'll break free. The bar is there to resist one side of the suspension moving up when the other isnt, its not there to resist both sides trying to move together.

It may just be that with extreme lowering the bar gets a bit close to some other suspension components, and the shorter link pulls it up out the way.

[Alex e92]

Just to add to this I've got FK coilovers and they advise to run it with shortened drop links. Although not the best quality as I've gone through one already on the n/s in the past 12 months. By the sounds of what's been written above it could be possible just to run it with standard length drop links.

[Aragorn30d]

i guess all you can do is try it and see if the ARB gets close to anything.

I wonder if the coilovers have a shorter fully compressed length, allowing the knuckle to move higher under full compression and its this that causes the issue?

[Cerbera9]

Originally Posted by Alex e92

Just to add to this I've got FK coilovers and they advise to run it with shortened drop links. Although not the best quality as I've gone through one already on the n/s in the past 12 months. By the sounds of what's been written above it could be possible just to run it with standard length drop links.

my FK link lasted a week so put the standard ones back on and they've been fine, they only touch anything when the car is jacked up.