changing a front sway bar without doing the rear will decrease roll, but increase understeer. you want to do the rear first or both together.

I did the rear on my E39 without even lifting the car off the ground. the front was a PITA on the V8s so I didn't do it. required moving the subframe out of the way. Don't have to do any of it on my E60 because of the active roll bars, but roll bars are usually a great bang for the buck upgrade.

 

Rear is more important and the difference IS noticeable. Adding a bigger front bar will increase understeer by reducing grip up front while maintaining rear grip. Less grip up front, same or more grip in the back = understeer.

Springs control roll, sways do not. Sways are used to facilitate weight transfer and are used to fine tune handling characteristics. When looked at as a system, sway bars, because they are connected to the suspension at opposite sides and work in torsion, they add to overall spring rate but don't control roll.

 

Almost forgot....that e60 M5 bar is a great low cost idea for an xi. Thank you to whoever discovered that. But of course, this has got me thinking. If the OEM M5 rear bar fits, then the adjustable aftermarket bars from H&R or Eibach should fit as well. I just compared e60 (535i, 535xi and M5) rear suspension part numbers on RealOem and found the following:

535xi and 535i rear suspensions are identical save the rear struts, springs, rubber sway bar mount and sway bar. Heck they even have the same diff and output shafts. The M5 suspension is also very similar, exception being that a lot of the components are just heavy duty versions of the normal e60s.

Unless there is some magic in how the awd works on the xi (dont think so), then at least by this initial look-see, the adjustable rear bars from H&R and Eibach should fit.

Unfortunately, the front is a totally different animal. Lots of differences.

 

I have an M5 bar i am going to install. Do you guys think i should replace the end links as well? The car has 105000 miles on it.

Thanks

 

^^^ i wouldn't unless they're worn out at the ball joints. they're cheap and EASY to get to if you ever needed to replace them after your put your sway bar in. of course, the fact that they're cheap could be viewed as a good reason to replace them while you're in there. you make the call, but they are super duper easy to change out.

 

Do i need an alignment after install?

 

Nope.

 

Will the M5 Front sway fit on an non-M non-Xi E60?

 

Will using the m5 sway bar from the rear make a difference or is it even possible on a 545i sport with active suspension? If so seems like a great way to improve handling at a cheap price!

 

I Just installed Rdsport sways front and rear on my M5 with Dinan struts fronts and rear, I just cant believe I didnt do this mod way before hand. Rip around corners with ever so minimal body roll and I am on Med settings.