BMW E36 rear spring preload

[Brodie.Maher]

Hey Guys,

Im super new to Stanceworks and the whole idea of extremely low ride heights.

I recently picked up a Bmw 318i for $800 (in Australia this is a pretty ridiculous price) with only a blown headgasket. This was a quick fix so i got right into lowering my car. I picked up a set of 20mm Wheel spacers and height adjustable coilovers off ebay and I was onto my first car project (im only 19).

Negotiating front ride height was easy, since I only have Style 24's I didnt have any clearance issues and just simply set the shocks as low as i could possibly go with a small guard roll.

I had a little bit more of an issue on the rear.

How to do you run low rear ends without a ridiculous amount of spring preload? Im not running any spring perches (trying to minise the height). My rear springs are 8Kg, although im not sure on height; they are considerably lower than stock. To get the shock to bolt up I needed to use a car jack on the lca and wind it up a fair bit. The spring has a ridiculous amount of preload on it and I have basically 0 droop (car tucks tyre when off the ground). Ive also noticed my rebound is super fast even with the slowest setting on my shocks, I cant see how you could achieve droop without a 5-7cm super heavy spring.

The worst part is I have seriously poor handleing and my car isnt even that low. I will admit I havent done a search, but is there any chance you guys could help me out and share a few secrets?

Cheers Brodie

[Zic]

Welcome to StanceWorks.
Sounds like the problem is that you got some sort of cheap coilovers. I've had a few E36's and only time I've had preload on the rear suspension has bin with stock springs out rear.
The other setups have had zero preload on them, i could jack up the car and reach in between the suspension and take them out. With KWv1 and StanceWork ZC.
To get the car lower, you can take out the perches.

[Brodie.Maher]

I was fearing this may have been the problem.
Ive already taken out the rear perches.
Seems like i may be up for a set of springs, what length would you recomend?

[hakhawk]

4" or 5" springs, depends how low you want to go. what do your rear shocks look like? are they height adjustable?

the cheap kit i got, i was able to adjust the height of the shock to whatever i wanted pretty much

[Brodie.Maher]

My rear shocks are height adjustable. On the rear I basically have infinite adjustment as much as you would ever need anyway, different story on the front. Build quality is pretty disgusting but all i really wanted were height adjustable shocks.

I measured my springs, they are 5", I guess its as simple as me just needed a set of 4".

Rear Arch height is 57.5cm front is 56cm, fairly normal amount of reverse rake? Ive just been doing my height off eye although ive notived most Bmw's run reverse rake.

Although a bit off topic, here are a few pictures around the front, desperatly waiting for my spacers.





Its all fairly budget, gotta sort out the waveyness of my front lip too