The Cabrio Suspension Thread

[Mike36]

Guys I need help. I'm at the tail end of restoring my bbs rs 047's with BFI lips. I have a 92 318i cab and I'm trying to find the best way to get the car lower. Wheels are 15x8 et26 and 15x8.5 et20, tires I purchased are 225/45r15 and 245/40r15. (I know very wide for a 318i but I plan on swapping it later on) and I purchased 5mm and 10mm spacers.

I'm having a lot of trouble locating solid info on the vert. I know the rear is heavier than the coupes and sedans but I see a lot of people running the H&R race springs on here, some people are even cutting the fronts shorter? I really want the front and rear to be evenly spaced from the fender. I dislike the rear sagging. What I'm looking for is an aggressive stance, about 1 or 2 fingers worth of gap between tires and fenders. I would also like to avoid too much negative camber.

I was thinking:
B8 Bilstein
H&R Race Springs
12mm E90 Front Drop Hats (lower the front a bit)
10mm Rear Upper Spring Pad (raise up the rear a bit)
7.5mm Rear Lower Spring Pad (raise up the rear a bit)

How close to my goal am I going to end up? Am I going to have excess camber wear?

I would appreciate some help before I pull the trigger. I would love to get working on this by next weekend, which if I order in the next couple of days I should be able to manage.

H&R Race imo are too stiff for the vert chassis but give a nice low front stance but are too dumped in the rear. Race springs with drop hats will be too low, you might asway get bags or else youll be replacing oil pans every few months. H&R sport dont lower enough in the front unless you get drop hats and thatll even out the ride height. I recently saw a vert with H&R Super Sports and the front end was prefect height that I would want, the same as H&R race. You can always correct the rear height with 10mm or 15mm spring pads from an e46ix.

[papag1234]

Guys I need help. I'm at the tail end of restoring my bbs rs 047's with BFI lips. I have a 92 318i cab and I'm trying to find the best way to get the car lower. Wheels are 15x8 et26 and 15x8.5 et20, tires I purchased are 225/45r15 and 245/40r15. (I know very wide for a 318i but I plan on swapping it later on) and I purchased 5mm and 10mm spacers.

I'm having a lot of trouble locating solid info on the vert. I know the rear is heavier than the coupes and sedans but I see a lot of people running the H&R race springs on here, some people are even cutting the fronts shorter? I really want the front and rear to be evenly spaced from the fender. I dislike the rear sagging. What I'm looking for is an aggressive stance, about 1 or 2 fingers worth of gap between tires and fenders. I would also like to avoid too much negative camber.

I was thinking:
B8 Bilstein
H&R Race Springs
12mm E90 Front Drop Hats (lower the front a bit)
10mm Rear Upper Spring Pad (raise up the rear a bit)
7.5mm Rear Lower Spring Pad (raise up the rear a bit)

How close to my goal am I going to end up? Am I going to have excess camber wear?

I would appreciate some help before I pull the trigger. I would love to get working on this by next weekend, which if I order in the next couple of days I should be able to manage.

[Poorhouse]

H&R 50407 - Convertible specific sport springs. Suppose to be stiffer than the OE springs.

[twenty]

HR Cabrio springs, Billstein Sports, Euroweaves with 205/55/15.

Hi,
Do you have the part no for the H&R springs? Are they softer than the OE ride or stiffer?

[Cairn]

H&R Race with Koni SA and 10mm spring pads all around. These are stiffer than my old Vogtland KYB setup yet way more comfortable!

[hakstern]

Trying to find springs for my '91 318i is making my head spin. I want to go with the tried and true Billy B8's and H&R Sports.
From what I understand I'll need cabrio specific springs in the rear for the extra weight of the vert, but I don't want to get the 325 cabrio springs since the M42 is significantly lighter than the M20. So what do I do? I can't find any shops selling H&R fronts and rears separate.
Does the weight difference between the M42 and the M20 matter much or am I just being extra picky?

It’s the rear springs that are different. With the extra weight in the rear battery section and the soft top/mechanics towards the rear.

[jhippy]

Trying to find springs for my '91 318i is making my head spin. I want to go with the tried and true Billy B8's and H&R Sports.
From what I understand I'll need cabrio specific springs in the rear for the extra weight of the vert, but I don't want to get the 325 cabrio springs since the M42 is significantly lighter than the M20. So what do I do? I can't find any shops selling H&R fronts and rears separate.
Does the weight difference between the M42 and the M20 matter much or am I just being extra picky?

[spyder918]

Any Cabrios out there with the H&R OE Sport Springs?

[Cirrusbrad]

This setup looks great. I'm just finishing the same my car. Pro-kit/Koni. Wheels go back on tonight.

[spyder918]

You shouldn't need camber kits if you're going with H&R/Bilstiens, the lowering isn't so severe that you're going to cause undue tire wear.

Ok great, thanks for the response.

[CorvallisBMW]

You shouldn't need camber kits if you're going with H&R/Bilstiens, the lowering isn't so severe that you're going to cause undue tire wear.

[spyder918]

Those of you who installed the H&R Sports/Bilstein combo, did you need Front and Rear camber plates/kits also? I'm going to go this route, but feel even now at stock height, my wheels already have a bit of negative camber.

[Mars_e30]

Just installed Eibach Pro-Kit with Koni Yellows and stock spring plates. I bailed on E90 drop hats at the last minute and think this ride height is just right for my use.

[s_cor77]

1991 M-Tech 2

Bilstein B8 Sport front and rears with H&R Sport spring kit.
The front had a gap my fist could fit in before but now it’s just 3 fingers high, I would like to see the front a little lower but with a Garagistic X-Brace installed I was afraid that I would hit the ground one to many times if it was lower. I will be converting it to a 5 lug later on.

[plagrone]

1992 318ic

Split a 318ic with the girlfriend. $800-a-piece date car. I've been lurking for probably 6 months, and finally took the dive recently and bought absolutely everything I'll need to revamp my cars suspension. (Every bushing, shocks, springs, control arms, shock mounts)

I've never really worked on cars besides things like brakes and oil changes until I got this car, but I'm an experienced home motorcycle mechanic.

After reading through almost every page of this thread, I landed on something I don't think I've seen done yet. This is my parts list. Still waiting on the bilsteins and the drophats. I may end up getting cabrio springs, but I didnt want to go that low.

H&R OE sport springs (PN 50404-55)
Bilstein B8s
Rear: 10mm upper spring pad, standard lower
Front: standard spring pads, e90 drop hats

My thinking is that the OE sport springs will offer a modest drop (1.5) in the rear and not much drop at all up front. Hence the thicker rear spring pads in the back, and the drop hats up front. I'll play with it and try to get it right. I wish there were better options for the 318ic, as it seems everything is marketed towards the 325 cabrio.

What do y'all think? and thanks for reading my first post! I hope to be around for a while... when this m42 dies me and the girlfriend would love to do an s52 swap!