so i was cruisin the roadfly for sale section (study break) and i came across an ix that said "custom coilovers" so i click on it. turns out the guy has completely custom LEDA coilovers on his ix. I emailed him and he gave me the number. He paid 1700 shipped, which is obviously a lot but i though i would share just incase any of you have bills and are interested in a sweet suspension. We'll see what the summer holds but i'd be willing to put off the turbo project and sell my h and r sports for some leda's. i have a full manual ix parts car to sell parts off of, so raising the money shouldn't be all that hard considering i saw a ix manual swap kit sell for 1300 bucks on ebay last week. I have all the parts for this although i would probably only expect about 900-1000 for mine. Anyway just some interesting ix stuff i thought i would share.
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you need to give that 5 speed to me. :P
sounds cool. a coilover setup on the ix would be nice, drop it low for the summer, and when the weather is bad raise it up for ground clearance! $1700 is a bit steep, but I spent around $1k for my suspension parts, so it's not really too bad. -
I've got a full manual conversion kit. Is it the same for an iX as for an i?Originally posted by nandoComment
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no, the front half of the transmission is exactly the same but the second half is different and bolts to the transfer case. Also the ix auto and manual tcases are not the same, (although you can use the rear half of an auto tcase with the front half of a manual) you need at least the front half of the manual tcase to do the swap..
trust me, if it worked I'd do it in a heartbeat :(Comment
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what happens to driveshaft and pinion angles when an IX is dumped?BEERTECH
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I was wondering that myself.Originally posted by RobComment
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the front CV joints will be angled up slightly, and of course will wear faster as a result. none of the other driveshafts will be affected.Originally posted by Rob
It really depends on how low you go, but there aren't any real problems with just H&R sports (~1.5" drop). I think you could safely go down another 1/2" without problems.
you would want new CV boots though, when I lowered my car I replaced the ones on the driver side (they were torn), but left the originals on the passenger side. they only lasted a couple hundred miles before they came apart. I've put 13k on the new ones so far and they show little signs of wear.Comment
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Very interesting to hear. After I'm done with restoring the body of my iX the suspension will be upgraded (bushings, etc..). The cost is somewhat of a blur to me at this point, what do other iX owners use?
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Leda coilovers look like works of art.....nicely executed engineering. They are expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for with these. I'm assuming the $1700 price included adjustable shocks too? If so how many settings for rebound/dampening?
Having the height adjustability feature for you iX guys is a great idea.....especially if the road conditions in your area during the winter mandate better ground clearance. It would be very cool if the ride height could be changed via dash mounted switch (a la Audi All-Road).
JonRides...
1991 325i - sold :(
2004 2WD Frontier King Cab
RIP #17 Jules BianchiComment
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the most "common" and available springs are H&R sports. I got mine from the tirerack for $220, but they were "new old stock". Somebody bought them years ago and sent them back. dunno if they are still available, but there are other brands available for our cars, even if they are obscure. I think B&G sport was one of the other manufacturers, there were a couple people on the 325ixclub list that had those.Originally posted by iXer
naturally the best shocks to use are koni SA, although you could probably get away with regular bilstien sports in the rear and HD in the front (they don't make a sport shock for the ix). the HDs won't quite be up to controlling the lowering springs though, you might end up bottoming out and blowing them out. konis are pretty spendy, around $540 for 4 corners, but they were worth it IMO.
bushings are all the same as any other E30. I went all polyurethane in the rear (ireland engineering), and factory M3 offset in the front. I don't know if my control arms were ever replaced but the car has 153k on it and the ball joints are still in perfect shape (checked them today!), so I left them alone.
CV boot replacements are highly reccomended, trust me you don't want to take the struts off twice! you can take the front axles to a shop to have the joints taken off (the clips are a bitch and a half), then put the boots on and put them together yourself. the rears you can do at home, the CV joints are just bolted on so they are easy to pry apart. the boots aren't cheap, around $90 for all four in the front, but CV axles cost even more, and are hard to find (new, rebuilt or used). I lucked out and Zygmunt never charged me for them! heh.
I haven't done swaybar bushings yet, but I want a larger rear swaybar anyway (it's the only one you can get, not that the ix needs a bigger front bar). the front swaybar links are ix specific, but you could have ireland engineering customize a set of M3 adjustable links (they need to be ~20mm shorter), and they'd still be cheaper than new ix parts!
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1700 is the shipped price...i woud really like some of these so i can raise it up for winter i have to drive my car year around so it woudl be nice...nando i have a ST rear bar from my parts car i want to install. i'll let you know how it is once i get it done.Comment
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Bilstein HD's are valved exactly the same as Bilstein Sports, they are just longer. And H&R Sports are high, so there should be no issue with those.naturally the best shocks to use are koni SA, although you could probably get away with regular bilstien sports in the rear and HD in the front (they don't make a sport shock for the ix). the HDs won't quite be up to controlling the lowering springs though, you might end up bottoming out and blowing them out. konis are pretty spendy, around $540 for 4 corners, but they were worth it IMO.Comment
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