Thinking about dropping my car with H&R sports springs. I have read that few members have done this with their XI models. Curious about how these springs go with the stock shocks. Thinking about also getting Bilstein shocks with the H&R sports springs, but I'm not sure if that is necessary or if they even make it for the XI model. Thanks

People have done the HR Springs with OEM shocks, and some reported ok results (little bouncy on bumpy roads). Other people have reported horrible results with having to cut bump stops etc. A search yield some good threads on it (Drlev99 made an in depth thread on the subject).

No aftermarket shocks/struts are made for our cars unfortunately. The only real solution to lowering our cars is the KW Coilover line (costly, 1700-2500 without installation).

Had I known all of the limitations of owning an XI (Wheels, suspension come to mind), I would have bought a RWD :blink:

Good luck with your decision.

I'm riding on H&R sport spring and have no problem whatsoever ...

I have H&R's also with no trouble. I read a post from a member who just installed KW's on his XI and has clunking sounds. I'm curiose to see if he gets his stuff sorted out.

what's up , yes the H&R springs are made to work with your stock shocks, and alot of people fought to get springs for the xi, 1.4 in front and 1.3 in the rear, H&R is the only
company that makes lowering springs for the xi but nothing lower, i was going to get them to close the gap for 20'' rims but I bought 22's , but now I'm selling them because
my boy sold his xi and got the new 6 and 22'' forged wheels for the xi don't fit the RWD models.

Do the H&R's actually do anything for the handling? I've seen many pictures of cars with them, and they look great (perfect drop for me), but I'd like to see an improvement in handling as well. My previous car was an e46 M3, and while I don't expect a 5 series to handle like an M3, I feel like my car is far too soft. My car has the M sport package, but BMW (in their infinite wisdom) decided not to fit Xi models with the true sport suspension. As a result, I'm looking to get my car to at least feel like a M sport car.

Do I need to go KW's to get that, or will the springs get me pretty close?

I think the handling is pretty good, certainly stiffer then stock but not punishing. For me the deciding factor was do I want to spend $300 or $3000. Figured I would try $300 first and take it from there. So far I'm happy and so is my wallet.

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback.

Originally, I had the same exact thought. What I was hoping was that I could buy the springs first, and if they didn't quite do it for me, I could go further by adding shocks (I've done this with previous cars), but it doesn't appear that this upgrade path is available on the Xi.

I've got a couple months to decide still, but I'll have to consider both more carefully.

If you really drive your car, you need KWs.

I don't wanna go into it too much, because this has been discussed to death without any real news in this respect since about two-two and a half years ago. But the ride and handing on H&R springs will not be better than stock even - you can forget about any gains in handling. And to those of you replying to this thread, with whom I PM'd about this issue previously: you know that I know what I know, cuz you told me so yourself, so don't make me say what you know that I know :wink:

BTW, @NYC530XI, if you can get KWs for Xi for 1700 somewhere, please let me know ASAP :wow: