E30 suspension w/spindle aptors or E36 spindles w/correct strut tubes?

[wazzu70]

I keep going back and forth which direction I want to go on this. There are pros and cons to both setups and I'm just interested in having a discussion which route people prefer and why.

E30 strut tubes and spindles. The suspension geometry is correct and they come on the car which is an obvious bonus :) If you use a spindle adaptor to increase the diameter of the spindle so you can run OEM E36 hubs its very easy and relatively cheap to convert. Requires a caliper adaptor due to increased brake rotor size. These have been around forever and I haven't heard many complaints.

E36 spindle assembly with custom strut tube to get proper geometry. The benefit here is you can use an OEM spindle assembly so the hub/calipers/rotors all line up without adaption. The strut tube obviously is more complicated if you want to DIY, but it can be done and the suspension geometry will be correct which is something I'm not willing to sacrifice.

The E30 spindle adaptor route makes me a little nervous because the spindle is clearly important and I just question whether I want to make this an add on piece. People have been running them forever though without issue though so maybe its just silly to worry about. I like the idea of using the OEM E36 spindle assembly so all those critical components are being used as designed, but you have to build a fixture for the custom strut tubes and that's a decent amount of work.

Opinions?

[wazzu70]

Lots of input huh?

[Wanganstyle]

purchase the ground control setup for 5 lug on e30 with ground control original strut tubes. easiest (but perhaps the most expensive) way to do this; just bolt it all in.

[wazzu70]

I agree. Thats probably the route I will go since they already have the fixtures made. I guess I am just curious why more people do not go this route?

I talked to GC a while ago and they did not want to sell me the strut tubes only. I have a GC kit on my car now, so it seemed silly to purchase another kit when I really only need one part of it!

[mr2peak]

Add yourself to this group buy:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=344922

You get 5 lug, and a BBK all in one go. You keep stock E30 geometry, and you can keep your current GC setup. A full swap with all-new parts puts just below the cost of the 5 lug GC kit. You can use off-the-shelf parts for future maintenance. The quality of the kit is also excellent.

[Ervin87]

Add yourself to this group buy:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=344922

You get 5 lug, and a BBK all in one go. You keep stock E30 geometry, and you can keep your current GC setup. A full swap with all-new parts puts just below the cost of the 5 lug GC kit. You can use off-the-shelf parts for future maintenance. The quality of the kit is also excellent.

Front offset and lack of comprehensive testing under different and stressful conditions (i.e. Track) is the only downfall to that kit.

[wazzu70]

Thanks for the link. Thats the spindle adaptor route thats been around for a long long time. If I was going that route though I would make my own spindle adaptors. I don't like how they are two piece and I'm not a fan of the rotor spacer.

[mr2peak]

Front offset and lack of comprehensive testing under different and stressful conditions (i.e. Track) is the only downfall to that kit.

What part is two piece? I'm seeing a single piece sleeve for the rotor.

All the parts that make up the kit are stock BMW parts that have been proven many times over. The actual caliper adaptor parts are super beefy, and similar/identical designs are used by almost every other BBK on the market. If you made your own kit, you would also end up with an incredibly similar design.

They did pass the german government TUV test, which is a bit more than can be said about most of the US made kits.

And if you really want to save the added 12mm a side, you can make a custom rotor and run without the rotor spacer.

[wazzu70]

What part is two piece? I'm seeing a single piece sleeve for the rotor.

The spindle sleeve is two pieces which splits the bearing surface. There is the stationary rear collar piece, and the piece that extends from the nut.

I have been informed that GC can make just the strut tubes for the E36 spindles so I will look into that again as I feel its the best route. I think we just had a communication error in the past when they said it was available in kit form only.