Ultimate E28 Coilover Guide/DIY

[jrcanes55]

You're telling me you linked an entire track in your e28? Stock m30? I have to see videos of this...

I did indeed. Keep in mind it's a drift track so it's only three turns. But It really isn't hard when you're running 205/60 eco tires in the rear and p zeros in the front. I'm working on getting a video now.

E28s get a ridiculous amount of steering angle stock.

There's a video on my build thread of my friend linking it. I ran the track the other way but you'll get the idea.

[willis]

You're telling me you linked an entire track in your e28? Stock m30? I have to see videos of this...

[Beware]

Just cut them. You'll thank me later. It's just easier and then you can run whatever you want.

I spent a few hours on Saturday getting all the sealant out and booked in for the roll this Saturday, so I'm going with that option as with all the sealant gone it should roll pretty well flat anyway. My E24 is in pretty decent original condition being only a 2 owner, and E24's are still considered somewhat uncommon here and have held their value pretty well, so I don't want to chop into it too much as to sell I'll probably have to take it back to stock to widen my market, and at least with a neat roll it won't be so obvious.

[jrcanes55]

I thought about trimming mine in a similar way, but I think I'm going to go with a roll....I do have one car with squared off/flat bottom arches, so I'll have to trim that, as rolling isn't an option, The fronts of the E24 have such a small lip I'm not even sure I'll do them, but they'll be simple if I do. I guess I'll be back under the car this weekend with a wire brush attachment on a drill getting that crap out from under the lips.

Just cut them. You'll thank me later. It's just easier and then you can run whatever you want.

will be taking the plunge into making my own soon. I had been thinking about using E38/39 front spindles, which would let me use similar center-link/tie-rod setup as the E28... but without having to weld. slide tube on to spindle seems easier, and I have a E39 parts car available.

Unfortunately, I have not had time to take on this challenge, yet. still putting together a parts list, since this will basically require almost a new front steering/suspension ...will post something up when I have more

Dude do it. I'd love any more info that could help.

[Bimmerman]

will be taking the plunge into making my own soon. I had been thinking about using E38/39 front spindles, which would let me use similar center-link/tie-rod setup as the E28... but without having to weld. slide tube on to spindle seems easier, and I have a E39 parts car available.

Unfortunately, I have not had time to take on this challenge, yet. still putting together a parts list, since this will basically require almost a new front steering/suspension ...will post something up when I have more

[Beware]

I thought about trimming mine in a similar way, but I think I'm going to go with a roll....I do have one car with squared off/flat bottom arches, so I'll have to trim that, as rolling isn't an option, The fronts of the E24 have such a small lip I'm not even sure I'll do them, but they'll be simple if I do. I guess I'll be back under the car this weekend with a wire brush attachment on a drill getting that crap out from under the lips.

[jrcanes55]

JK I found the pic for you.

[jrcanes55]

Thanks for the photo's, it looks to sit pretty nicely....your on 18's though right? What size tyres? I haven't checked how close my frame is to the ground yet......the only thing that scrapes at the moment is the mudlfaps over speed bumps, but they'll be coming off once the wheels go on!

So, the moral of my story is, check how the car has been lowered yourself and don't necessarily take the word of the guy that fitted the stuff. I decided to jack the car up today to start cleaning out the body deadner/silicon crap that's inside the rear lips in readiness for rolling next weeekend, I didn't get around to doing this as I decided I'd fiddle with the rear coils a bit first. Just out of interest, how important is it to get rid of that silicon for a good roll, absolute necessity, or leaving it there just won't allow a full flat roll???

Anyway, it looked to me as if there was an awful lot of thread still visible on the shock body, so I decided to loosen the bottom ring and see how much further it would wind down into the coilover body. I'd been told it had been wound down all the way....well this was far from correct. I wound the springs back up until there was some preload on them again(up from about the 2in down that they were wound!!) and then proceeded to wind the shock body down into the coilover body. They went about 1 3/4in, almost a full 2in further down, and that alone had the car sit almost as low as it did before, still with full preload on the springs!!! To get it back to about the same height as in the previous photo's, I wound the preload down about 1/2 - 3/4in leaving the spring about that same amount off full preload. So there's only about 1/2in of slack in the spring when jacked up now, rather than 2in they had before!!!! So no wonder it rode like crap.....my springs/shocks were so compressed they had no movement in them.

Anyway, so the car sits at the same height it did before, but now lowered correctly, with minimal preload having been wound down off the spring(soooo much happier ). There's still plenty more to go if I want to slam it, say another 1 3/4in maybe(where it'll probably still ride better than it did before). The car now rides very nicely, almost as if it hasn't even been lowered, it's like chalk and cheese from before......no actually like concrete and cream!!!!

I'm glad you checked. Never trust a person other than yourself. To be honest I just cut my fender liners out in the rear. That's the best way. The rear fenders on e28s are retardedly strong. If you go look at my build thread, if the pictures still work I just took a grinder to them and I'm glad I did. I can run pretty much anything now.

[Beware]

Thanks for the photo's, it looks to sit pretty nicely....your on 18's though right? What size tyres? I haven't checked how close my frame is to the ground yet......the only thing that scrapes at the moment is the mudlfaps over speed bumps, but they'll be coming off once the wheels go on!

So, the moral of my story is, check how the car has been lowered yourself and don't necessarily take the word of the guy that fitted the stuff. I decided to jack the car up today to start cleaning out the body deadner/silicon crap that's inside the rear lips in readiness for rolling next weeekend, I didn't get around to doing this as I decided I'd fiddle with the rear coils a bit first. Just out of interest, how important is it to get rid of that silicon for a good roll, absolute necessity, or leaving it there just won't allow a full flat roll???

Anyway, it looked to me as if there was an awful lot of thread still visible on the shock body, so I decided to loosen the bottom ring and see how much further it would wind down into the coilover body. I'd been told it had been wound down all the way....well this was far from correct. I wound the springs back up until there was some preload on them again(up from about the 2in down that they were wound!!) and then proceeded to wind the shock body down into the coilover body. They went about 1 3/4in, almost a full 2in further down, and that alone had the car sit almost as low as it did before, still with full preload on the springs!!! To get it back to about the same height as in the previous photo's, I wound the preload down about 1/2 - 3/4in leaving the spring about that same amount off full preload. So there's only about 1/2in of slack in the spring when jacked up now, rather than 2in they had before!!!! So no wonder it rode like crap.....my springs/shocks were so compressed they had no movement in them.

Anyway, so the car sits at the same height it did before, but now lowered correctly, with minimal preload having been wound down off the spring(soooo much happier ). There's still plenty more to go if I want to slam it, say another 1 3/4in maybe(where it'll probably still ride better than it did before). The car now rides very nicely, almost as if it hasn't even been lowered, it's like chalk and cheese from before......no actually like concrete and cream!!!!

[jrcanes55]

My car is a lot rake right now. I've got it fully cambered and it's pretty low. Only a few fingers between frame and the ground.

Here are a few pics.

[/URL]

Cambers


Side


front


back


As far as BC goes. I haven't had any issues with it. If you want to maybe you could contact them and talk with somebody. I'm to concerned. They go low enough to where I can slam it for shows and I can raise it back up to DD.

To continue my review
I drove on full stiff today. And holy crap. I can feel every change in the pavement. It's awesome. I wouldn't really recommend doing this because it sucks to drive around town. I set it to about 15 clicks all around and it seems to be a happy medium. I'm going to tail of the dragon next week so I'll have another report. I gotta fix my wheel bearing now. It's crapping out on me.

[Beware]

Yeah you are correct. The height adjustment is moving the coilover down into its sleeve. Preload is moving the spring lower down the threaded shock body. That's what you want to avoid. I have about and inch and a half between the bottom lock ring and the top spring lock thingy. If you want to really slam the car, which I don't really recommend you could take the rears off and slide the two small lock rings off and just use the top spring perch ring to adjust all the way down. I might do that for sowo but for daily driving I'm trying to keep it high so I don't blow them out.

I drove the car to work today for the first time. It's really comfortable on the highway. I can tell the car is stiffer but not to where it'a annoying or anything. It's sad, the coilovers have still had more time on the track than the road. I will say that I can really tell that my subframe and trailing arm bushings are destroyed. The rear end is starting to shift around quite a bit through turns.

Any photo's of yours as it sits now, with the BC's?

So mine are maxed out in the rear height adjustment, which is why the preload has been wound down a bit to match the front height(my rears are just a bit further than yours by the sounds of it as I have only about an inch between the 2 rings). I'm now a bit uncomfortable with the thought of the rear being at an adjustment that it shouldn't be at and feel I need to wind it up a little(off the preload).....do you feel yours is ok where it is with the preload having been touched, or should it be left 100% alone? I don't want to really slam the car and don't want to remove rings or have it absolutely maxed out on the height and preload, I like it where it is now......but not if it's not safe.

If you look at my photo back a page, the car sits pretty well level in the 2nd pic(a little raked). Thats with the front wound UP almost as high as they can go and it still sits a fraction nose down, so if I adjust the rear back up another half inch or so on the preload, then it's going to be more nose down with no more to go up in the front to level it. I obviously need to get my wheels sorted and fiddle with heights from there, but I don't really want the rear much higher than it is now, but if it has to be it has to be.

My car is not my daily, so it's not being driven regularly at that height, but I still don't want to blow out the shocks prematurely if it's too low as it is.

I wonder if BC are aware that the fronts have an enormous adjustment difference to the rear? Do they need to be informed and what would fix it....shorter shock bodies that allow more height adjustment down into the coilover body, or shorter springs?

[jrcanes55]

I think I'm having this issue.

Any chance you are selling your old setup? Or is it too beat up?

Dude if you want it you can have it but they're destroyed like broken as hell.

[los02]

I will say that I can really tell that my subframe and trailing arm bushings are destroyed. The rear end is starting to shift around quite a bit through turns.

I think I'm having this issue.

Any chance you are selling your old setup? Or is it too beat up?

I've only driven my E28 about 150 miles since I bought it last year. I don't like how loose the rear feels and for some reason I remember the previous owner saying that he replaced something suspension wise in the front right. Well, the front right is stiff when you push down on the car. Like no give stiff. That along with the loose rear makes it no fun to drive on anything but a smooth road. I can't visually see anything different.

[los02]

I will say that I can really tell that my subframe and trailing arm bushings are destroyed. The rear end is starting to shift around quite a bit through turns.

I think I'm having this issue.

Any chance you are selling your old setup? Or is it too beat up?

[jrcanes55]

Yeah you are correct. The height adjustment is moving the coilover down into its sleeve. Preload is moving the spring lower down the threaded shock body. That's what you want to avoid. I have about and inch and a half between the bottom lock ring and the top spring lock thingy. If you want to really slam the car, which I don't really recommend you could take the rears off and slide the two small lock rings off and just use the top spring perch ring to adjust all the way down. I might do that for sowo but for daily driving I'm trying to keep it high so I don't blow them out.

I drove the car to work today for the first time. It's really comfortable on the highway. I can tell the car is stiffer but not to where it'a annoying or anything. It's sad, the coilovers have still had more time on the track than the road. I will say that I can really tell that my subframe and trailing arm bushings are destroyed. The rear end is starting to shift around quite a bit through turns.