The wagon_ e46 touring m/t

[Tino21]

Yeah its defenitly more conviennent.
I'm also looking for a set of type 1's...the set I have now is a little to agressive for how I want the car to sit ( it's fitted now but can't get it as low as I'd like). Check it out: http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh....php?p=1299408

[1badg35]

nope, only the type 2 at the moment. i had a thread up as i wanted to trade the type2 faces for type1 faces, but that hasn't amounted to much other than people wanting to buy the type 2s. lol

yeah i figured i would since I'm not going to use them as i intended, i wasnt going to powder the lips to match the faces and was going to wait before i assembled. The brushed and powdered lips were in the original plan, but it makes for a much easier sale with mirror polished lips and sizing that can work for a few scenarios..

[Tino21]

Ok I guess you'll get these assemble upon buyers requested specs.

Have you got a set of acs1 at the moment ?

[1badg35]

i didn't seal them yet so they could either be:

awd e46
18x9.5 square
rwd
18x9 and 18x10

can't remember offsets at the moment, but they were mocked up on the wagon before the wheel halves were produced. the lips are 2/2.5 and the barrels are 7/7.5. so it can either be a "faux stagger" or real stagger depending on how we assemble the halves.

ACS type2 3 piece being built at the moment not acs1.. it'll be for sale too as I'm lightening the personal collection a bunch

[Tino21]

Great work you did on these, such a unique piece. Colors are top notch as usual.

Specs ?

U wouldn't have a set of acs1 that your building atm.

[Earl]

Killer=)

[1badg35]

no response from BC. left two messages and an email…

figured it was time to show a pic or two of the 3 piece set (that I have decided not to use). don't need this nice of a wheel set on my work truck (yes thats what this is honestly)

the info:
bbs style 19 faces to start.. **** bbs style wheels because of the cheap plastic crap all over them and the flat lip/barrel combo.. There is some potential with regard to the faces though, so why not make a custom project out of them.
so that was the start of the idea generating for this project.

faces stripped, blasted, then put onto the cnc mill and the fun started.

-machined out the center bore to approx 80mm all the way through the face. then pressed in our threaded center bore sleeve design that we produce. tig welded all to the face. machined the backside to 72.5 front side flat so as to eventually sit a waffle.
-then took the faces down on the front face so as to have slightly flatter spokes
-waterjet cut four flat waffles out of some 6061 flat stock
-spinfab half height hex caps (and shown in the pics 12 pt bbs 80mm hex)

-brushed the whole thing by hand, and then machine radially from center outward.
-some custom mix translucent powder over top
-gloss everclear powder

custom 3 piece stepped wheel halves to step these up to 18" for an e46 non m

bbs 80mm logos, black hardware, mirror polished everything…

and here you have it. the set as it stands here. and is for sale if anyone has an e46 and wants to run these babies.

[1badg35]

yeah maybe i have some defective rear shocks, but the overall impression is that they are not up to par.. The rear keeps dropping down so low that the tires rub the top of the fender wells and the collars are cranked up about 3/4 of the way at this point… i think there is about another 3/8" of threaded area on the collars left and it'll be on the top

[Earl]

So the BC's are good for those who just want to go low, but not good for those who want a nice stiff rear suspension?

[1badg35]

Calling bc today to sort a few things out. So far not impressed. That's putting it nicely. The rears are not on the same par as the fronts. The fronts take bumps stiffly but well, the rears bounce and hop.. Not acceptable. When I transport 10+ sets of wheel faces in the back of my car I expect them not to hop around and get chipped because of poor suspension.

Oh and they settled 30mm since the last time I lifted them up (time #11). Again just sad

[1badg35]

yeah, i already was able to drive the car over a pit in order to see the axle angle, and honestly the angle of the shafts at both ends are still very close to stock. The car is by no means low but still with that said, its definitely not going to cause much more stress on the parts. Im actually a bit surprised by the design of the axles and how they sit relative to the lower arms. very odd design but it works quite well.

the only gripe about the way the car is currently set up is the rear suspension being separate shock from spring..

got a second over the weekend between work and work to clean the car.. working 7 day weeks all hours is a real pain. stress of owning a studio i guess







machined 3.5mm off the pad on all four corners in order to alleviate the daily driver and rubbing don't mix scenario. for the people wondering what the specs are..

18x9+23.5 all around.. 255/40/18 michelin pilot super sports. camber front is -2.75 rear is stock.

[SGM330]

Nice, even though the coils fit, I wouldn't slam a XI because I've read that the axles go bad when the car is lowered too much.

Like I said I READ that on the forum and don't have first hand experience, just wanna give you a heads up!

[1badg35]

that'll be the solution likely. Jaze and I have spoken about them a few times and possible test fit of the standard e46 parts but my schedule didn't allow for it due to the fact that i drive the car every day and couldn't have it up and out for a few days.

Neither of us knew at the time if they would fit the AWD cars.. With that said, now that I know that BCs do, its likely those will as well. might have to be the next step. I hear they even have a threaded collar where the sway bar end link hooks up to, and if thats the case, it would even be another major plus of that product.

[Tino21]

Car looks great with the wheels, for a daily I think it has a great height and look. Sucks that those coilovers weren't to your expectations and had to sacrifice a little ride quality to get to that heigt in front.

BWS coils would have worked no ?

[1badg35]

so a few notes before i get to the pictures, and they are basically the negative thoughts..

-BC front coils are awesome, rears not so much. its moreso the design of the damn car not so much BCs fault. the separate spring from strut is a huge pain in the ass and very sketchy in my opinion.

-front coils are maxed out… beyond maxed out in reality, as i removed all of the unnecessary collars off the fronts to get them to this height.. and its not that low. exactly what i wanted, but not by any means low. there is a 1.5 finger gap all around

-had to droop front spring .5" and remove all of the pre-load on the spring by doing so.. major NO in my book. still drives well, but i don't like the thought of being beyond the coil overs capacity for up and downward stroke. thats why companies should consider making every threaded body for every single car at least 1.5-2" shorter. i wouldn't mind having my fronts cranked half upward to be at this height.

-the rears keep settling, and more than expected. so far I've lifted the rears up 7 times, and still they keep settling down to about .75" lower than this height. Almost as if blown shocks, but not.. this is a letdown in my book, and i might be calling BC to alleviate this one by getting new shocks.



----

main gripe- why in the hell do coil over companies make parts that don't match? Front coil overs maxed out at their lowest setting, and rears almost all the way cranked up… and still can't get this reverse rake to disappear.


____
ok so, sounds very negative right? in all reality I'm really hard on the products i pay good money for, and expect high levels of quality always.. Reality is- The car drives a million times better than stock, handles so much tighter than before, takes bumps with a very solid feeling, and drives well overall. night and day to the before. its much more solid and thats huge in my book. Im never going to get the 3600lb lump to perform like its on rails, but i also don't want it to. I put a few hundred miles on it each week and want a good balance of comfort and handling.



and onto the pics- remember meaty driver ready stance- 255/40 pilot super sports all around, sitting at about 1.5 fingers gap and camber up front -2.75 rear stock angle (didn't measure it).