Body Rolllll

[ZachG87e]

Hey guys!

I have an '87 325 and love to drive it, but this excessive body roll is kicking my ass!

Please school this noob on what I should swap out to get rid of this without blowing out my pockets on coilover, and without reducing ride height too much. I live in a snowy climate. Its time to change out struts anyway so I figured now would be a good time to combat this issue. I dont race, but love to throw my car around corners.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

[mr ilia]

You need thicker sway bars.

[jlevie]

The complete solution is stiffer springs and stiffer sway bars. Ordinary springs probably aren't your best choice as the they will lower the car. Coil overs may be a better choice here as you can maintain the ride height.

[ZachG87e]

How much time am I looking at to change out strut mount, strut, spring and sway bar? Also do you think it would be beneficial to upgrade to firmer bushings while I am down there?

[evandael]

^ if it's your first time, and you don't have to deal with rust.. 4 hours?

and yes, absolutely.. new sway bushings, sway endlinks, m3 offset control arm bushings (CABs), and maybe new lower control arms/tierods if you like spending money.

in the rear seriously consider replacing the subframe mounts, rear trailing arm bushings (RTABs), sway bushings, sway endlinks, and rear shock mounts (RSMs).


what kind of springs/shocks are you looking at?

[ZachG87e]

I am pretty open, do you have any suggestions? I am trying to get some information together before I start buying things. I dont want to find out a made a poor choice just to save a buck now.
I am not a huge fan of spending money, but I did buy this car knowing that it was a project.
I will be finished tuning up the engine later this weekend then moving on to brakes and suspension so I am trying to make the right choices and only have to spend the money once.

[Swanny]

I just got the ireland engineering sway bar mounts to upgrade to the cabrio sway bar(21mm vs 19mm). EVERYONE should buy these. One of my stock mounts had actually just fallen apart because the tab failed.

This kit is great because it utilizes the subframe bolt and the stock mounting point as well as urethane bushings.

[evandael]

I am pretty open, do you have any suggestions? I am trying to get some information together before I start buying things. I dont want to find out a made a poor choice just to save a buck now.
I am not a huge fan of spending money, but I did buy this car knowing that it was a project.
I will be finished tuning up the engine later this weekend then moving on to brakes and suspension so I am trying to make the right choices and only have to spend the money once.

cruise the classifieds for a set up bilstein sports and various springs.. H&R, Eibach, Vogtland, Koni, Racing Dynamics, whatever. check this post out for some info: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...7&postcount=26


some advice: the bilsteins are factory valved for around a 350# spring rate. anything over that and they'll be poorly matched. also, depending on how low of springs you get, you may benefit from cutting out an inch or so of the internal bumpstops on the bilsteins. see this thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=239380

i would budget around $300 for lightly used shocks/springs, and an additional $300 for bushings/links/mounts/etc... which are just as, if not more, important as the shocks/springs. another modest handling upgrade is using the 21mm front sway bar from a vert (vs 20mm on iS's) and the 14.5mm rear swaybar (vs 12mm regularly) from iX's or m3's.. both can be found cheaply.


another important thing that you might want to look into is swapping the steering rack for an e36 non-M unit. they have tighter turns lock-to-lock and probably will have less miles on it than your stock unit. figure around $150. at the very least, replace the rubber steering flex disc!


also one last bit.. learn to love to spend money. you and your e30 will be happier for it.

[Mr_Tripp]

I dont race, but love to throw my car around corners.

:up:

[ZachG87e]

First of all I would like to thank all of you for your input! I never knew that there could be this much community in one place on the internet. I am glad I bought an e30 just so I get to ask all of your questions.

I will have to look into what Ireland Engineering has for mounts and bushings. I have already talked to Jim on the phone and he seemed pretty great!

Evandel thank you for supplying so much good information, and links to follow it up with!
I would like to do it all at once, but was a little overwhelmed when I saw the price tag on some of the suspension parts. Thanks for the tip to look for used shocks and springs, never even crossed my mind to go that direction.

The numbers that are provided in the first link you gave me are a great reference. I will use that as my guide as I move forward looking for springs!

Thanks again guys!