what is this spring?

[cory58]

I want to lower the front end of my 92 vert, but keep the suspension as close to stock as possible. I found a set of used OEM springs, and the seller calls them "short springs". The part # is 31331132742, and he says they are from a 1987 325is. Here is the additional description from Real OEM: For vehicles with Air conditioning ONLY APPLIES TO M TECHNIC.

Does anyone know if these will work on my car, with otherwise stock suspension? Will they lower the front?

Thanks, Cory

[cory58]

So here is a picture of the springs I'm asking about. Do the red and pink markings mean anything? The seller is in the USA, but states the mileage of the donor car in km. I'm wondering if these are the Mtech springs that didn't come on USA spec cars, which I've read are about 35 mm lower than USA standard springs. Any ideas?

[AndrewBird]

Those are normal "sport" springs that came on all is/es models. They might lower the car a bit, but likely an unnoticeable amount.

How much lower do you want the car? H&R Sports with Bilstein HD's would give you a slight drop and be slightly stiffer. If you want a bit more, H&R Race or Ireland Engineering Stage 3 springs and Bilstein Sports would be the next step lower/stiffer. You could also run Koni struts instead of Bilsteins. Some people like the way they handle better.

[cory58]

Those are normal "sport" springs that came on all is/es models. They might lower the car a bit, but likely an unnoticeable amount.

How much lower do you want the car? H&R Sports with Bilstein HD's would give you a slight drop and be slightly stiffer. If you want a bit more, H&R Race or Ireland Engineering Stage 3 springs and Bilstein Sports would be the next step lower/stiffer. You could also run Koni struts instead of Bilsteins. Some people like the way they handle better.

Thanks for the info! I've read the entire 35 page cabrio suspension thread, and it seems there are a lot of good options (and no shortage of opinions).

Since this is a vert, I don't carve many canyons with it, so I want to keep the stock ride/performance. My Sachs OE replacement shocks are also almost new, so I don't want to ditch them. The reason I want to drop the front is because I just switched from 14' weaves to 15x7 BBS RZs, and the front gap just looks ridiculous now. I measured the current gap, which is about a half inch in the back and 3.5 inches in the front. I've always run OE suspensions on my street cars, so I'm a newb at this. It seems like a drop of about 1.25 - 1.5 inches would fix the look, but don't know if that's possible with stock shocks, or whether it would create other problems (tire rub).

Cory