What are these blocks and why are they there?

[e30vert]

What are these spacer clamps /blocks on my front Eibach springs? Why are they being used? Its a vert and I think that they were put on by the previous owner to stop spring sagging and bottoming out of the front springs. Am I close?

Attached a Picture.

[norcalE30]

they are there to increase spring rate. cars without coilovers use them to tune the stiffness of the spring. granted, those are pretty weenie

[e30vert]

Why would one want to increase the spring rate? What are the advantages/ disadvantages?

[gearheadE30]

Effectively makes the spring stiffer, depending on where you put them. Its kind of a hack tuning thing. They could also raise ride heights, but they reduce suspension travel and cause coil bind because there isn't as much space for the spring to compress. I'd suggest getting rid of them.

[e34john]

Eibachs are really soft, he is just stiffening them up some probably to help with body roll. I was thinking of getting something like that for my rear springs, but I heard they stress the part of the spring where the spacers are, no big deal I don't track my car, I just want to be able to carry more than 2 cases of beers sometimes.

[e30vert]

Effectively makes the spring stiffer, depending on where you put them. Its kind of a hack tuning thing. They could also raise ride heights, but they reduce suspension travel and cause coil bind because there isn't as much space for the spring to compress. I'd suggest getting rid of them.

Oh, they are gone real soon as I just purchased the vehicle that they came on and had never encountered anything like that. Building up the pieces for my Ground Control Coilover kit with Koni SA's all around. Funny thing is that the Ground Control kit comes with Eibach springs as well. Guess those are going to be soft too?

Thanks for en'lightening me!

[Kingb]

I have some rubber ones that were on my Mtech rear springs. They were wired on to stay there

[87e30]

What keeps them from falling out or sliding around?

[AlarmedBread]

This is the basic idea and it is quite effective.

http://www.stockcarracing.com/techarticles/39758_what_are_spring_rubbers/index.html

[e30vert]

I have some rubber ones that were on my Mtech rear springs. They were wired on to stay there

Interesting! These happen to be installed in a US version Mtech II car. I wonder if they were added equipment by the factory for just the Mtech cars?

The rear has them as well and there is just one on one side rather than 4 of them like in the front springs.

These are not wired , but they are slid in between the coils tightly and even with all the weight off the springs they still are held in place. No wires or anything.

[gearheadE30]

The coilover eibachs are quite a bit different than their E30 kit. You shouldn't have an issue with the new ones.

[dannyg]

when I took delivery of my e46 m3 they had some spacers in there that was used during shipping

[Hellabad]

when I took delivery of my e46 m3 they had some spacers in there that was used during shipping

Same thing for me. The first new car I ever had in my life, was "dealer prepped" by a moron who couldn't bother to pull out the plastic spacers that keep the car from bouncing on the Atlantic boat ride.

I have seen this on several e46 M3s, and in fact a famous "BMW tuner" did a bunch of "testing" without realizing the blocks were in there the whole time.

I have also seen an e39 M5 with over 100,000 miles on the car, and all four shipping blocks annihilated into the struts and shock, having never been removed.

back to the original post

Any "off the shelf" spring designed for a hardtop is too soft on an e30 convertible. The e30 cab weighs MUCH more than the hardtop. It is a much bigger "spread" between coupe and cab for an e30 than for an e36 or even an e46.

This is because the e36 and e46 were designed with future top removal in mind, but the e30 basically was an afterthought BUT with a really sound re-engineering to make it a real convertible. Re-engineering adds weight.

So the only way to have satisfactory springs on an e30 cab is to get springs that are intended for a cabriolet.

ps theres no bumpstops in that pic.


Jay

[mikeedler]

haha, I took a set of those plastic shipping blocks out of a 3 y/o M5 a few months ago.-- had to laugh at how crappy it was that someone left them in -- just on the left front though.

In Chicago-- when I was younger-- those alluminum things were to "raise cars" if they were too low from saggy springs-- maybe the prev. owner was prepping the car to be a donk.