peter griffin

oem sport setting with 20's looks perfect, fit about 2 fingers and no need to drop, IMO

turboawd

am i in the minority here, by voting stock height?
lowered = less suspension travel, and more prone to scraping the front bumper...

dlima0284

I'm in the same boat ..I'm interested in lowering my car but undecided between a coilover set ( kw street comfort or any other brand) or doing a h&r set with bilstein shocks. I Would like a drop just above tire height on 19's and a good ride quality. I'm not going to be driving like a NASCAR driver just day to day street driving.. Anybody with advice??

G530

Sorry OP for interjecting a lot of 2 cents. But this is a topic I struggled with and wanted to share from my lessons learned that may benefit many members who are looking for that perfect balance of great looking, great handling stance w/o compromising too much ride quality.

It took me almost 12 months to get to a point where I am finally completely satisfied with my ride setup.

Here goes. Having a lowered car with acceptable ride quality is a combination of suspension and wheel & tire setup. It's a package deal!

So not only you have to taken into consideration of lowering springs, or CO's. You also have to look at your wheel size and weight AND most importantly, TIRES, TIRES, TIRES!!!

Why tires? b/c on a lowered car, the first criteria is non-rubbing especially in addition to wheel upgrades. So you get your fenders rolled or you shop for tire profile that is not too wide (in fear of rubbing). When you have aggressive wheel offsets, you are heading further down the wrong path in tire choice b/c tire width need to be more narrow, the stretch look, IMO is insufficient width for wheels resulting in rough ride. Use this for proper tire fitment http://www.tirerack....tnum=055WR6ECDW



Bilsteins rides stiff. Maybe you can take a look at your current wheel/tire setup to evaluate a potential ride quality improvement.






Hey man, I would re-evaluate tire setup.



I sat as a passenger in an E60 when I was getting my CO's installed. This guy I met had a 530i with OEM running eibachs springs. I must say it felt smooth on a short half block trip where road was good. The shop owner told me repeatedly to go eibachs springs if I cant handle CO stiffness. So you are right, but I cant speak to bottoming out hazard I only heard about.

G530

This was what I had. oem sport setting with 20's but only looks perfect in the front (under 2 fingers), but the rear was vile! 2 fingers on driver and almost 3 on passenger for some reason. So I stared at this daily and had to do something.





Yes, you are my friend . Stock ride is just great, but my setup now just ROCKS. I?ve had too many trial and error with CO?s height and damper adjustments and wheel setup 18, 19 and 20. All with different tire mfg that I cant remember how exactly OEM suspension and 18 RFT felt. I should go for test drive at dealer to compare with my current setup, but based on distant memory, I?d say OEM ride quality is an 8 out of 10 (-2 for RFT and 18? wheels). My PSS10 with 19? continental DW is a 7.5 out of 10, but I really need to test drive same car with OEM setup to be objective.



I?ve heard but haven?t tried Koni FSD + eibach springs. Straight line is same as stock ride, but you benefit from the lowered center of gravity and Koni FSD?s unique technology in cornering. This MAY offer the best of both world?s as dampers don?t tighten up in straight line normal driving (90% of the time), but stiffens up in turns when you need better control. The reason I didn?t go with any non-height adjustable was just that. My oem suspension for some reason didn?t level, so I needed CO?s height adjustability.

Bottom line, most setup will ride great on good roads, it?s the crappy road you need to test drive on. Even with OEM setup, car will feel crappy to lesser degree. But on that same crappy road with a lowered car, running 20?s with low profile tires without sufficient tire sidewall? oh boy, you?ll be in that world of pain we all loathe.



HTH

dlima0284

I?ve heard but haven?t tried Koni FSD + eibach springs. Straight line is same as stock ride, but you benefit from the lowered center of gravity and Koni FSD?s unique technology in cornering. This MAY offer the best of both world?s as dampers don?t tighten up in straight line normal driving (90% of the time), but stiffens up in turns when you need better control. The reason I didn?t go with any non-height adjustable was just that. My oem suspension for some reason didn?t level, so I needed CO?s height adjustability.

Bottom line, most setup will ride great on good roads, it?s the crappy road you need to test drive on. Even with OEM setup, car will feel crappy to lesser degree. But on that same crappy road with a lowered car, running 20?s with low profile tires without sufficient tire sidewall? oh boy, you?ll be in that world of pain we all loathe.






So koni and eibachs or bilsteins and eibachs? I hope it's low enough! Right now I can get a fist from fender to tire I hope to be like a finger or two

balbs

I've heard that Koni FSD's tend to leak. Also, they seem more for smaller compact cars and maybe not durable enough for the larger E60. Also, I heard that Bilsteins tend to be on the stiffer side. If you want to retain the ride as much as possible and want to lower your car without coilovers, I would do Eibach springs with Koni Sport (yellows). There are a number of members here that are running that setup and are happy with it.

ck-e60

Here is a recent photo of my 545, also sport package. I lowered it using the H&R Sport springs (Race springs seemed too aggressive), upgraded wheels to the 19" style 95's, and I haven't replaced the shocks yet. The springs have fully settled in, doubt it'll go any lower.

G530

Just realized link doesn't work. NEW LINK

Use this for proper tire fitment using the Specs tab http://www.tirerack....tremeContact+DW

lorinzo

I have driven with with 3-4 passengers, ranging in size and shape and have never rubbed when using 19" stock wheels/tires after Eibach springs installed.