iX suspension

[Alkasquawlik]

I'm planning on budgeting this summer so I can afford some suspension bits.
I want to buy shocks and springs but am having a hard time deciding what I want.
I've talked to Nando briefly about it.

I know the Golden Standard of iX suspension is the H&R and Bilsteins combo.
I looked into the Lowtecs, just because of the GB that Mel is doing right now, but after talked to Nando, I decided against it.
I don't have enough, and can't afford Konis or GC coilovers, so that is out of the question for now.

What I want is a nice subtle drop, something more than the H&Rs will provide, but I don't want a slammed car, just because I do take the car up to the mountains and have to deal with snow.

I will probably go with the H&Rs and Bilsteins if I can't find anything else reliable, but I would like a little more drop than they provide.

Any suggestions?

[mylai996]

If you want lower ride heights, you can look into the different spring pads. That will give you a little leverage on the ride height. I am going for mtech springs as I wanted to pretty much keep my ride height but would like a stiffer suspension. Nice ix that you have.

[Alkasquawlik]

thanks for the compliment :)

[nando]

as I said, this is fundamentally a suspension travel issue.

going much lower than H&R sports without modifications to the strut tubes with shorter inserts is going to result in poor ride quality and bad handling. there is 1-1.5" of travel with H&R sports, and it doesn't matter if you have konis or bilsteins.

The only benefit to the konis is it's easier to cut the bump stop in half for another 3/4" of travel, which is what I did when I put on my ground controls. but even then I'm only about 1/4-1/2" lower than the H&R sports, and I'm running 600# front springs so travel is less of an issue (and I felt an *improvement* in ride quality vs H&Rs because I'm not bottoming out anymore).

Basically your choices are H&R sports (or similar rate/drop springs), or modified housings/shorter inserts (GC has something they use 1" shorter than ix inserts) with stiff springs.

also, removing the spring pads on the front of an ix doesn't do anything, as the springs have to be compressed to get them onto the strut assembly anyway.

[Alkasquawlik]

Thanks everyone for their responses, and especially to Nando for being so helpful.
I'm going to go with just the basic H&R/Bilstein combo, and if I want to be lower, I'll look into it then. But I'll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.

[sfs24]

They sell the H&R/Bilstein combo plus some other stuff together for like $1300 at Pelican. Any place sell it for less?

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/catalog/shopcart/BE30/POR_BE30_SUSprf_pg1.htm

[Alkasquawlik]

I found the springs for about $220 at TMS.
Could I run H&R springs with the stock shocks with no ill effects?

[nando]

I wouldn't advise it.. 110% chance they are blown anyway if they are the originals.

[yoni]

and if they aren't blown, once you drop the car... they will.

[Addissimo]

i got my billy hds from ebay for $500 shipped... shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Chris- have any info on where one would take their shocks to have the inserts shortened? any ill-side effects to this?

[nando]

I don't think you can have the inserts shortened, you have to buy them that way. GC has a source of konis (I don't know what from, I've only seen pictures) that fit in our tubes that are about 1" shorter. Then they cut down the strut tube ~1". This gives them more room to fit their camber plates, which adds about 1" to the stack height, so you end up with about the same travel you had before. which kinda sucks.