Lowered 325iX / Need new shocks, which?

[hottnikkz]

Hello, I have a few questions regarding my lowered 325iX. I have a 325iX with H&R sport springs all around. I bought it this way about 4 months ago. They are currently matched with Bilstein HD's all around. My struts/shocks are GONE. It feels like a hammer slamming into my strut tower.

Now from what I have been reading it seems like the HD's are not the way to go with the sports and this is what may have ultimately caused their death. My question to all of you is which shock/strut setup should I be using on my iX. I see Bilstein only specify's a sport part number for the rears. In this case what would I use in the front? Also how badly am I hurting my axles, etc in the front with this drop. I like the look of it better with that drop but don't want to do any severe damage, etc. So basically I am looking to keep the sport springs but am unsure as to which shocks are recommended for this setup.

Backround - Not tracked but spirited driving and I like a tight suspension. I do not mind a harsher than stock ride at all but don't want to be hitting that hammer every time. I would like something that handles well but not looking to spend a fortune. THanks for all of your help guys! Please let me know if I left something out. Thanks again!
-Nick

[moatilliatta]

billy sports. I forgot, im pretty sure they dont have these for the ix fitment up front, so you would have to go with koni's

[hottnikkz]

Thanks for the reply. So my options are Bilstein Sports rears and Koni sport fronts or koni sports all around. What I CAN'T do is hd's all around and hd's front only correct? Thanks.

[IsItElectric?]

I used Bilstein HD's anyway, but they didn't last more than 50k or so. Generally I prefer Bilstein though, so that was my choice. They never gave me any issues at all, the ride was great, etc. They just failed prematurely.

Koni is the only manuf. I know of with 'sport' shocks for lowering springs on an iX.

[moatilliatta]

Id do koni's rear too. Im not sure if the HD's actually bottom out in the back.

[nando]

konis and bilsteins have the same amount of suspension travel on the ix. neither really have enough clearance in the front to avoid the bumpstops completely.

you are not hurting your axles unless you're driving around with torn boots. My fronts have 250,000 on them and I'm 1/2" lower than you.

[IsItElectric?]

Your boots or axles have 250k on them? Impressive.

That's another thing I forgot to mention about my experience w/ an iX....beware of torn front inner & outer CV boots on a much more frequent basis than w/ stock ride height. I think mine were toast every 30-40k or so.

[nando]

that's the axles, boots don't last that long, they will be dry and cracked way before 200,000 miles. don't even think of lowering your car without replacing the boots as well, I had 140,000 mile boots fail in about 5 miles. But one of them had failed when the car was stock so I should have replaced them all anyway.

I haven't torn a single drivers side boot, but I've toasted the passenger inner boot too many times. My exhaust runs too close and makes the boot soft, and it eventually fails (never happened with stock exhaust). Stretch the inner boots out and they don't rub together. I've never torn an outter boot (or drivers side) in almost 100,000 miles..

[IsItElectric?]

It is a real pain when they do fail....you get a giant mess of sprayed grease inside your engine bay!

Not much fun cleaning that up.....

[nando]

oddly enough it never seems to get above the exhaust. but yeah it makes a pretty nasty mess, good thing for brake cleaner!

[hottnikkz]

Thanks for all the replies guys, it has definitely helped clear up some of my confusion. Believe it or not I actually bought the car with torn boots. Since it was already lowered what you guys are saying seems to add up. I replaced them and they seem to be good to go for now. Thanks again guys!

[hottnikkz]

Now just looking for the cheapest place to buy some shocks!

[325ix]

So koni sports in the rear and bilstein sports up front is the best

[nando]

So koni sports in the rear and bilstein sports up front is the best

no, there are no bilstein sports for the ix. you'd want konis all around, realistically. HDs would work but you need to be able to trim the bump stops.

[325ix]

Are the konis called koni sports?