325ix mods recommendations anyone??

[tanksta]

these cars are a little tougher to come by and the parts are even tougher.

i have a 1988 325ix gunmetal grey with bottlecaps (hopefully only for the time being) and am looking to do some performance suspension mods and some cosmetic ones as well.
i know atleast one member here has a nice silver 325ix, but are we the only ones here?

i was thinking about lowering springs to drop the car about 1.5 or so inches all around.. would that warrant an immediate upgrade of the shocks as well or would the stock (recently replaced) be able to handle the drop?? would there be a problem of bouncy ride as experienced with acuras if you dont upgrade the shocks too?

i have only been able to find some H & R springs which lower the front more than the back. If anyone has links to purchase other makes with even drop all around, that would be much appreciated.

also looking at maybe a front strut bar to keep things stiff in turns, which one comes recommended and what would be the best place to get them?

also lastly, i am in toronto canada and have to switch to winters for a good 4 months in the year. what would be a good choice for rims so that i can just put the winters on the bottlecaps and just swap them right in when needed without messing with spacers, allignment etc.

thanks a buch for the suggestions.

[Jordan]

If you lower your iX you will need to get new shocks/struts. I'm sure your stock shocks/struts are already blowing if not blown by this age. Its very common. They will make do with the stock springs, but as soon as you lower them... game over.

Blown shocks/struts cannot dampen the rebound of a spring, so yes you will bounce and wave all over the place.

There are front strut bars to fit the iX, although I am not sure of which. Someone else will chime in with that.

You should be able to use any standard issue 4x100 Honda wheel with little trouble on your iX.

[rwh11385]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5001

Just to re-emphasize and show PROOF...for any US 1988 e30 2 0r 4 door (cabrio's not included); its PLUG & PLAY to go from div. boards to plastic bumpers. For some odd reason, the word about this doesn't seem to have spread around Confused

One of the best things you can do cosmetically for an 88, i think at least. Slammed_E30's car was made a whole lot cleaner by plastic.

And here is what I did to my front over a year:

Euro Ellips (you already have ellips, so don't sorry), Black kidneys, Smoked turn signals (Mike Abrahams), Euro Grills (Greg), Euro Plate (europeanplates.com).


And as far as lowering, you have to be careful, as there are some concerns with lowering the car, and putting stress on something? Like shafts. Nando can come in and help you more.

I was about to say the best strut brace is a Sparco Bar IMHO. But I am not sure if it ftis the 325ix.

I'd recommend some good 15" wheels because they look good on E30s and cheap to buy ttires for. Your offset is a little different, so probably there are more options open......have you checked out the wheel decision tool @ Tirerack.com?

[e30evolution]

You should be able to use any standard issue 4x100 Honda wheel with little trouble on your iX.

except OEM honda wheels

[kansas-ix]

SSK is a great little mod.

what happend to the 15" basketweaves that were orig.?

As far as I know there is no front strut bar for an ix.

If you need any parts let me know I have a parts car,

nando has the h&r on his and it looks great. Be carefully on lowering an ix.

[nando]

you absolutely must replace your struts when doing suspension. H&R sports for the ix ar far stiffer than stock, old blown struts are not going to do the job! there is no bilstien sport for the front of the ix, so konis are the way to go (front and rear).

for wheels, please god don't go with generic honda FWD wheels like everyone else. and you do NOT need to run a FWD offset on the ix! many wheels in the 30-35mm range fit perfectly. I'm running ET24 wheels right now. check the tirerack for wheel selection, there's a bunch of really nice ones (of course you have to pay $$)

also, there is a strut brace available. Wiechers sport manufactures it, but the only US distributor I know that has it is bavauto, and it'll cost you a good $300+ from them. I got mine from someone who brought a couple back from germany for much less.





good luck finding one! I've never seen another ix with one, although I know of a couple others on the internet.

[rwh11385]

ET24? You can run our wheels.....AND.....ET35+ wheels? No fair. I thought you got some different wheels other than the same Euro weaves. No rubbing?

Anyway, I knew most his questions could only be answered by Nando, or another iX guy.

[tanksta]

thanks for the replies,

i am convinced that i have to go with the plastic bumpers and get the washboard ones out.
i had a 90 black on tan ix before this one and it looked gorgeous. if only the jackass didnt run the red light and T-Bone me that led to its totalling.
i have read that its pretty much a direct replacement for the bumpers as long as you have all the components, so if someone has a set for a reasonable price, give me a shout..
the previous single owner had just changed the shocks on the car that is the reason i was asking if i need to change them to konis immediately..
as for the wheels, i would have liked the 15 inch basketweaves or the bigger ones with the nicely polished lip so maintain the stock but souped look. if not rather go out and get some BBS ones, some of which look absolutely gorgeous with a lowered car, i cant find the post now but i think it was a black car with very nice BBS ones standing in am almost emty parking lot..
i shall put up the list of things that i need in the WTB section and lets see how it goes..
thanks again..

[nando]

ET24? You can run our wheels.....AND.....ET35+ wheels? No fair. I thought you got some different wheels other than the same Euro weaves. No rubbing?

yep.. actually the first wheels I had were ET20 16x7.5. those did rub a bit in the back though.. the 15" euro weaves barely touch the plastic skirt over the rear fender, and only with another person in the car when I corner hard. there's about a thumbs width of space between the tire and my fender lip, too. no reason to run FWD wheels on an ix if you ask me, especially if it's stock (there's MORE than enough room for low offset wheels then). :)

[DrMcDave]

i meant to get one of those strut bars, bavauto has them huh? i need to look into one.

i have bilstein hd's on my ix, they are working out fine with the h and r sports. I got them really cheap or i prob would have gone with koni's. My favorite mods are, steering wheel (screw airbag, but you don't have one) sport seats, which you have, Short shifter was nice. I think a nice set of 16's would be nice on an ix.

Nando how wide are your euro weaves 7 inches? I am soon going to be in the market for new wheels, i wanna go with some low offest wheels bring them out a bit. i did notice i have room for more wheel/ tire. what size tire are you running.

[nando]

yeah, they're 7". I'm running stock size, 205/55. there's no way I could go any bigger with ET20 wheels! A 16x7.5" ET30-35 wheel might work with 225s though :)

[bmw325ix]

run h&r's they are nice springs feel good and tight

the strut brace is gonna be hard to find

pick wheels you like and not what others tell you to get

good luck