H&R Race springs spring pad questions...

[Vincent Vangool]

1989 E30 325is. Throwing suspension on. Daily driver. Will be using H&R Race springs 50404-88. Most likely going with Front Shock: Koni: 8641-1210SPORT and Rear shock: Koni: 8041-1186SPORT.

Car has new Revshift 95A green subframe, trailing arm, and diff bushings. Has OEM BMW offset control arm bushings, but I may replace those with the Revshift offset or regular CAB’s. Has stock IS sway bars. Has a Z3 2.7 rack. Will most likely use Revshift 12mm RSM’s.

I’m wondering what MM spring pads to use front and rear? I am looking for driveability over looks, although I do like the lowered look, I would like to avoid scraping the oil pan etc. due to going too low. What spring pad sizes do you guys suggest to go low, but not so low that it will cause problems? Any idea what the stock spring pad thickness is front and rear on a stock 1989 BMW E30 325IS?

I believe I will be using Leomferder upper strut mounts, Or would camber plates be better? I’m not that concerned with adjusting the camber.

Also wondering if using these front upper strut mount reinforcements is a good idea to help strengthen the front shock towers? https://www.fcpeuro.com/.../bmw-strut-tower-reinforcement...

Any other parts/hardware I should get to do this? Thanks.

[MrBurgundy]

I used e90 drop hats in the front and I added a 5mm pad to the rear with my h n r race springs

I rarely scrap anything

I think it's perfect

[Vincent Vangool]

I used e90 drop hats in the front and I added a 5mm pad to the rear with my h n r race springs

I rarely scrap anything

I think it's perfect

Looks great. I'm going for handling over looks, so looking for the height where the suspension works best, then as low as I can go hitting the oil pan.

Do you just have the drop hats in the front? Are there spring pads? Do you just have a 5mm pad in the back? Or do you have them stacked in the rear?

Thanks.

[MrBurgundy]

Looks great. I'm going for handling over looks, so looking for the height where the suspension works best, then as low as I can go hitting the oil pan.

Do you just have the drop hats in the front? Are there spring pads? Do you just have a 5mm pad in the back? Or do you have them stacked in the rear?

Thanks.

yes, oe spring pads in the front paired with drop hats and an aditional 5mm on top of the oe spring pad in the rear

people have proclaimed faster autocross times adding a lil height to the rear

probably better at lower snapper courses like auto x over higher speed stuff with this kind of setup

[Vincent Vangool]

yes, oe spring pads in the front paired with drop hats and an aditional 5mm on top of the oe spring pad in the rear

people have proclaimed faster autocross times adding a lil height to the rear

probably better at lower snapper courses like auto x over higher speed stuff with this kind of setup

Thanks, I'm just worried that dropping it with the drop hats will lead to scraping, but it seems you're saying that is not your experience.

Is there any reason to get the reinforcement plates? My guess is that if using the drop hats, it kinda serves the same function?

Not sure what mm the OG rear pads are, but couldn't I just get one that has the bigger MM instead of stacking two?

Thanks for the responses and knowledge, ready to order what I need, this is just the last piece of the pie before I do.

[reelizmpro]

Don't overthink it. Just install them with stock spring pads, allow them to settle and go from there. Suspension and how it sits is a personal choice. It also depends on the model. How they sit on M3's is different than on verts and 325's. H&R Race have less rake than other spring kits so many will use e90 drop hats in front or cut dead coils off. Another way to rectify this is to raise the rear with thicker spring pads. Late models rear arches are lower than early models also. Since you have an 89 325iS, maybe use thicker spring pads in the rear and leave the front alone.

[Vincent Vangool]

Don't overthink it. Just install them with stock spring pads, allow them to settle and go from there. Suspension and how it sits is a personal choice. It also depends on the model. How they sit on M3's is different than on verts and 325's. H&R Race have less rake than other spring kits so many will use e90 drop hats in front or cut dead coils off. Another way to rectify this is to raise the rear with thicker spring pads. Late models rear arches are lower than early models also. Since you have an 89 325iS, maybe use thicker spring pads in the rear and leave the front alone.

Thanks, unfortunately I don't really have a spot to work on it, so I can't keep tearing it apart, so I am hoping to try to get in the zone of what works for other people etc., to minimize how many times I have to take it apart. I don't see cutting the coils. Do you think E90 drop hats are a good idea? What size rear pads would you recommend?

[82eye]

Thanks, unfortunately I don't really have a spot to work on it, so I can't keep tearing it apart, so I am hoping to try to get in the zone of what works for other people etc., to minimize how many times I have to take it apart. I don't see cutting the coils. Do you think E90 drop hats are a good idea? What size rear pads would you recommend?

i went with sport, not race springs, and billies. was gonna do drop hats, after installing and it settled realized i'll need a skid plate no matter what. there's no way i could run drop hats without a skid plate, the oil pan has contacted without the drop hats.

i've got a skid plate and drop hats waiting if i decide to tear it apart again. skid plate needs to be welded in which means some body work.

[McGyver]

If you're going lower, I suggest a skid plate. I have a red46 and it does a great job of protecting against little stuff like rocks or light-medium impacts. I split my oil pan on a massive impact, but I can't really fault the skid plate for that. The weld-in plates may be more substantial protection, but I've never tried that route.

[RustFixer]

1989 E30 325is. Throwing suspension on. Daily driver. Will be using H&R Race springs 50404-88. Most likely going with Front Shock: Koni: 8641-1210SPORT and Rear shock: Koni: 8041-1186SPORT.

Car has new Revshift 95A green subframe, trailing arm, and diff bushings. Has OEM BMW offset control arm bushings, but I may replace those with the Revshift offset or regular CAB’s. Has stock IS sway bars. Has a Z3 2.7 rack. Will most likely use Revshift 12mm RSM’s.

I’m wondering what MM spring pads to use front and rear? I am looking for driveability over looks, although I do like the lowered look, I would like to avoid scraping the oil pan etc. due to going too low. What spring pad sizes do you guys suggest to go low, but not so low that it will cause problems? Any idea what the stock spring pad thickness is front and rear on a stock 1989 BMW E30 325IS?

I believe I will be using Leomferder upper strut mounts, Or would camber plates be better? I’m not that concerned with adjusting the camber.

Also wondering if using these front upper strut mount reinforcements is a good idea to help strengthen the front shock towers? https://www.fcpeuro.com/.../bmw-strut-tower-reinforcement...

Any other parts/hardware I should get to do this? Thanks.

Yeah that’s a solid setup 👍
I’d keep the pads pretty mild if you actually wanna drive it without scraping. Something like 5–7.5mm front and 7.5–10mm rear works well. Gives it a nice drop but not slammed. Stock is thicker so you’ll still get that lowered look. I’d stick with Lemforder mounts tbh, they ride better and last. Camber plates are kinda overkill unless you’re tracking it.
And yeah def run the strut tower reinforcements, cheap insurance. Same with rear shock reinforcements if you haven’t already.
While you’re in there maybe do end links, bump stops, mounts, just all the little stuff so you don’t have to go back in later.

[McGyver]

Yeah that’s a solid setup 👍
I’d keep the pads pretty mild if you actually wanna drive it without scraping. Something like 5–7.5mm front and 7.5–10mm rear works well. Gives it a nice drop but not slammed. Stock is thicker so you’ll still get that lowered look. I’d stick with Lemforder mounts tbh, they ride better and last. Camber plates are kinda overkill unless you’re tracking it.
And yeah def run the strut tower reinforcements, cheap insurance. Same with rear shock reinforcements if you haven’t already.
While you’re in there maybe do end links, bump stops, mounts, just all the little stuff so you don’t have to go back in later.

...says the dirty clanker.

[Vincent Vangool]

Thanks for the info guys, I am going to skip the drop hats, any idea what size the stock pads are? And suggestions for front and rear sizes that will keep it high enough to hopefully avoid impact? Trying to figure out what to order so I have everything there when I tear it apart. People have mentioned Condor's stackable rear plates, so I may end up getting those as well. Thanks again.

[Vincent Vangool]

Yeah that’s a solid setup 👍
I’d keep the pads pretty mild if you actually wanna drive it without scraping. Something like 5–7.5mm front and 7.5–10mm rear works well. Gives it a nice drop but not slammed. Stock is thicker so you’ll still get that lowered look. I’d stick with Lemforder mounts tbh, they ride better and last. Camber plates are kinda overkill unless you’re tracking it.
And yeah def run the strut tower reinforcements, cheap insurance. Same with rear shock reinforcements if you haven’t already.
While you’re in there maybe do end links, bump stops, mounts, just all the little stuff so you don’t have to go back in later.

Thanks, I have put a lot of time into trying to figure out the best non-coilover set-up for me. It took me awhile to figure out which bushings I wanted to use:OEM or aftermarket, and I have to say that all the worries I had about aftermarket bushes is all gone. I was gonna go with a softer durometer, but I have to say, I've had zero problem with the Revshift 95A green bushes. No squeaks and eve4n on what I believe are the original worn-out OEM shocks, it rides pretty good. Also a bunch of time figuring out which top-adjust koni's would be best for the spring rate. The guys at Koni were great in helping me to pick the right ones, even though they knew I was using the Mustang rears on a E30. H&R guys were great as well.

I think I will skip the drop-hats. I think I'm gonna order the condor stackable pads. Will stick with the Lemmy mounts up front.

Any idea what size front spring pads came stock with an 89 325is? That's the last piece of the puzzle and wanna what to order there?

Are these worth getting? https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...4QlMIgapVg-nQQ

Thanks again for the help.

[Northern]

I missed this thread, but just to repost/paraphrase here for commentary/postcount+1:

I'd run the stock spring pads in the rear.
Once the suspension settles, maybe you want something thicker to counteract the visual reverse rake from the low rear arches on the late model, but it probably handles better without doing this (IMO raising the rear a lot makes the car handle worse) I see that burg says the opposite of this though, so who knows.

with the H&R Race, if you unbolt the shock bolt, you can jack up the rear and swap the spring pads out, so it's like a 15 minute job and may save you buying something more than once.

Rear spring pad stuff:
Condor Speed Shop sells little spring shims to raise/lower small amounts.
I think:
33531136385 - 5mm thickness
33531136386 - 7.5mm thickness
33531136387 - 10mm thickness
33531094754 - 15mm thickness

Keep in mind that the Condor stuff won't compress like the rubber, so maybe thicknesses aren't 100% comparable?
1mm height change at the spring ~~ 2mm at the wheel, minus however much it squishes.

[RustFixer]

...says the dirty clanker.

You must be foolish