The Cabrio Suspension Thread

[Disaster Inc]

I've been sitting on HR Cabrio sport with Bilsteins for a year or so. Roads here in New England SUCK and even my Is lip is 100% intact, sure I'd like to be a tad lower in the front but I am a beliver in this set up.

[ezrez]

Disaster Inc,

How much of a drop did you get with your setup? (front and rear)...how is the ride? I'm looking to go the same route but I don't want to be riding in something that's going to break my back after a couple of hours of driving...
Thanks

[Aerton]

I've been sitting on HR Cabrio sport with Bilsteins for a year or so. Roads here in New England SUCK and even my Is lip is 100% intact, sure I'd like to be a tad lower in the front but I am a beliver in this set up.

Man this car is gorgeous, that is what I want my car to look like, love the stance and those are the wheels I'm holding out for (kopies are the other choice), what size tires are you using. And what is the biggest tire I can use on that rim. I was wondering if a bigger tire would give me the ride height I'm loosing to the suspension for clearance and soften the daily ride.
Your car is on my garage wall now!!!

[ChrisM]

Bilstein BTS kit rocks!!

[Aerton]

Hey Dave, I was looking into BTS kits and remembered that you have it on your convertible. Do you recommend it? Is there a Trenton Meet this year?

If you want to drive my car, let me know! PM me and we can meet up somewhere.

1987 325iC 5spd

BTS suspension all around (Bilstein sport shocks and "Bilstein" springs, close to H&R coupe rates)
Sparco strut tower brace
Treehouse racing CABs
AKG poly subframe bushings
IE 19mm rear sway bar
Turner RSMs

Rides fine, handles fine. Decent daily driver setup. Might be trying M3 style sway bar end links out front soon, try and keep it a bit flatter.


No real good ride hight pics at the moment.

[yoni]

don't mean to hijack the thread,

but i am in the same boat - i am currently running all stock suspension.

this car's going into storage shortly, so I probably won't make any changes right away... but, that is one of the first things i will handle when the car comes back out.

i live in montreal, if any of you have ever been here, you know that we have some of the shittiest roads metropolitan north america has ever seen...

still, i got 16 x 9s, so the car has to get dropped.. any suggestions on which route to go?

it's a cabrio, but i want to have a more aggressive suspension set-up;
much less roll, and tighter, but not to the extreme...montreal streets have cracks and potholes every 10 feet...on a decent street.

any suggestions on what way to go? coilovers, or something like the BTS kit..? swaybars? etc.

Any help would be appreciated
TIA

[grib]

don't mean to hijack the thread,

but i am in the same boat - i am currently running all stock suspension.

this car's going into storage shortly, so I probably won't make any changes right away... but, that is one of the first things i will handle when the car comes back out.

i live in montreal, if any of you have ever been here, you know that we have some of the shittiest roads metropolitan north america has ever seen...

still, i got 16 x 9s, so the car has to get dropped.. any suggestions on which route to go?

it's a cabrio, but i want to have a more aggressive suspension set-up;
much less roll, and tighter, but not to the extreme...montreal streets have cracks and potholes every 10 feet...on a decent street.

any suggestions on what way to go? coilovers, or something like the BTS kit..? swaybars? etc.

Any help would be appreciated
TIA

I have been working in Montreal for the last 18 months, and I can attest to the roads there. Definitely the worst I have driven on in a developed country...

I would recommend sway bars first. They will really cut down on body roll without sacrificing ride quality too much. Don't go with anything too stiff (the smaller IE bars or the Eibach kit might be a good start) as it will cause the car to get "upset" over bumps in corners.

If you go with springs/shocks I'd recommend an adjustable shock (like Koni's) and some of the softer/less agressive lowering springs. That way you can tune the shocks to the ride quality that you want/need. For springs, check out the Eibach pro cabrio springs. I have them in my car and while they are a little soft for my taste (I have a 5-lug setup with coilovers which will be going on in the winter) but might be tolerable on Montreal roads.

Do you drive the car at all in the winter?

[yoni]

No, the car gets stored during winter...

Not practical when there's a few feet of snow on the roads... especially with the hills and what not..

Anyone else go with Koni's and Eibach springs and sway bar kit?

I was also thinking i would maybe go with bilstein sports, h&r cabrio sports springs, and the techniques sway bar kit (turnermotorsports special), any idea if that would go off well on Montreal streets?

Thanks for the input

You driving an e30 while in Montreal?

[funcrew]

I'm running 100% OEM suspension on my '89 cabrio. I mean the original parts, nothing rebuilt or replaced. 10-year-old Uniroyal tires in 195-65-14 on bottlecaps. This setup provides a smooth ride, except for a lot of subframe shake over bumps, and allows lots of on-throttle oversteer at just about any speed. This setup results in high slip angles at low-to-moderate G-forces. Also good for off-roading, and it seems to be pretty cost-effective.

[Sam Cogley]

I'm running 100% OEM suspension on my '89 cabrio. I mean the original parts, nothing rebuilt or replaced. 10-year-old Uniroyal tires in 195-65-14 on bottlecaps. This setup provides a smooth ride, except for a lot of subframe shake over bumps, and allows lots of on-throttle oversteer at just about any speed. This setup results in high slip angles at low-to-moderate G-forces. Also good for off-roading, and it seems to be pretty cost-effective.

I guarantee your shocks are dead, and the bushings are on the way out. Hell, unused shocks sitting on the shelf for 19 years would be trash. My '92 cabby had the original shocks and struts, when I removed them every one just collapsed to its shortest length and sat there.

[yoni]

definately switching over to some aftermarket suspension... just not sure what the best alternative would be for a cabby, on shitty montreal street, all the while still keeping relatively tight and aggressive.

fuck

[talltorontoguy]

I'm running H&R Sport (cabrio specific) and Bilstein sport shocks. I actually added a 10mm pad in the back so there's two, used 5mm spring pad in front. The front is slightly higher than I would like but the flip side is I still have my oil pan and front lip.

I've driven it through Montreal several times. No issues.

Good luck!

R

[funcrew]

I guarantee your shocks are dead, and the bushings are on the way out. Hell, unused shocks sitting on the shelf for 19 years would be trash. My '92 cabby had the original shocks and struts, when I removed them every one just collapsed to its shortest length and sat there.

um, yeah... My entire post was an apparently futile attempt at humor/spin control. Trying to find the "bright side."

[Sam Cogley]

um, yeah... My entire post was an apparently futile attempt at humor/spin control. Trying to find the "bright side."

D'oh! Sometimes sarcasm/humor is difficult to pick up in a forum like this. *wanders off to smack head against wall*

[funcrew]

D'oh! Sometimes sarcasm/humor is difficult to pick up in a forum like this. *wanders off to smack head against wall*

That's true, there's a fine line between dry humor and non-detectable humor. Every time I post up something that's so obviously wrong that there can be no doubt that it's satire, the first response is always, "You're a moron because..." You'd think I'd learn and preface my remarks with: "This is a joke."

Actually though, I also get the "You're a moron because..." on my serious tech posts, so maybe that should be telling me something.:eeek: