H&R race and H&R sport springs setup

[scottyp]

Hey, i was wondering if anyone ever put H&R Race springs on the front and H&R sports on the back. The reason im asking is im trying to get rid of some camber on the back, so my mechanic suggested putting a suspension with less of a drop on the car, but i like the way the front end sits, i dont want it any higher. but im worried about the different spring rates. any thoughts?

[e30_kid89]

No, Its bad mixing and matching springs w/differnt spring rates. If you want a solution to your rear camber toe problem you may need new trailing arm bushings to take care of the toe problems and some shorter subframe bushings to deal with the camber. Or pony up the cash and pull the subframe to get the IE weld-on camber/toe adj. kit.

Take a look here:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=969899&postcount=6

[JGood]

Hey, i was wondering if anyone ever put H&R Race springs on the front and H&R sports on the back. The reason im asking is im trying to get rid of some camber on the back, so my mechanic suggested putting a suspension with less of a drop on the car, but i like the way the front end sits, i dont want it any higher. but im worried about the different spring rates. any thoughts?

Well, my H&R race springs dropped my 325is the exact same amount as my 325e on H&R Sports, so that seems counter productive in my mind. And actually, any time you put more weight in the car, go around turns, or go over bumps (anything to compress the suspension), the Sport springs will compress further and give you more negative camber due to the lower spring rate.

But, I'm sure someone will chime in saying Race springs drop the car more then sports... and they probably don't have e30's with one of each spring sitting next to each other in their driveway.

[nando]

get a camber kit

[scottyp]

how much rear camber should i have running the H&R race/sports? would eccentric bushings help enough? where do i find shorter rear subframe bushings?

[funcrew]

Hey, i was wondering if anyone ever put H&R Race springs on the front and H&R sports on the back. The reason im asking is im trying to get rid of some camber on the back, so my mechanic suggested putting a suspension with less of a drop on the car, but i like the way the front end sits, i dont want it any higher. but im worried about the different spring rates. any thoughts?

Those spring rates wouldn't work well - you need the spring rates properly matched F/R. There are several basic approaches to dialing out some of the negative rear camber resulting from lowering springs: adjustable welded-on tabs for mounting the trailing arms to the subframe (Ireland Engineering), shorter subframe bushings (Muzzi Motorsports), and eccentric trailing arm bushings; there are probably others as well.

Do a forum search on "rear" and "camber" - you will find lots of good "I did it this way and it worked" information.

[fretburnr]

if you need that 1/4" extra height or what not, stack an extra spring pad in there. I did for a long time with no issues.

[JGood]

if you need that 1/4" extra height or what not, stack an extra spring pad in there. I did for a long time with no issues.

Not a bad idea. If you don't mind a raked look, this may be the cheapest/easiest solution. Or thicker spring pads for a somewhat more permanent/realistic solution (I'm not sure if they are available or not). I'm assuming this is for a street car where every last bit of suspension performance is not what you need?

[fretburnr]

rear spring pads are available in 5, 7.5, and 10mm thicknesses, p/ns 33531136385, 33531136386, and 33531136387 respectively. You can either switch to a thicker one, or stack 'em.

[scottyp]

so if i put a thicker spring pad in the rear it would help with camber then? or just make the rear sit higher?

[JGood]

so if i put a thicker spring pad in the rear it would help with camber then? or just make the rear sit higher?

With our suspension design, the further the trailing arm swings upward, the more negative camber you gain. Switching to a thicker pad, if it's only available in a few mm thicker then your current pad, may not provide enough to correct your "issue".

Unless your smoking your tires off, I don't see how you should have that bad of rear tire wear. You have a lowered suspension, your insides are gonna wear faster then your outsides. Flip the tires. Unless your tearing through a set in 5k miles, it's probably normal wear expected with lowering springs...

[fretburnr]

or corner harder and get that whole contact patch down.

I've got around -2.0 to -2.2 degrees camber out back... and it's not really an issue. I go through a set of summer tires in 7-10k anyways so camber wear is the least of my issues :p

[scottyp]

i have 3.1 degrees of negative camber on both my rear wheels. which is higher then it should be. i feel. with only h&r race springs and bilstein shocks on it.

[ditchdigger]

The high rate front springs with the softer rears would simply create too much front roll stiffness, or too little rear roll stiffness depending on how you look at it. The result would be major understeer. A very large rear sway bar would tend to lessen this but the ride would also be compromised. rough roads would upset the car in a very unpredictable manner. On gravel and such the front would lose traction much faster than the rear.

[Hallen]

i have 3.1 degrees of negative camber on both my rear wheels. which is higher then it should be. i feel. with only h&r race springs and bilstein shocks on it.

I could be wrong, but that sounds like a heck of a lot of camber for the rear even with the race springs. Are you sure your trailing arm bushings are not worn down or that your subrfram or trailing arm isn't bent? Of course, that would normally show up with a pretty big difference in camber and toe from left to right sides.

I agree with the other guys, don't mix and match springs unless you really know what you are doing.