scottylee

I'm sure this has been covered a million times but just trying to seek clarification on the best way to lower the rear on an e61. Struggling to find some one to do the software update to change the hight. Also have seen on here somebody has made some adjustable trac rod style lowering arms? Not really got a clue about e60/1 as I was an e90 man.

bmwmonkey

From what I've read lowering the rear to a reference point can be done using the INPA software. I am in the process of figuring this out myself as well. I will post a video when I get it down.

scottylee

That would be really helpful many thanks!

RCB

You can lower the rear using adjustable leveling arm rods (I posted a pic of them in the suspension thread), by changing the software setting or by removing the airbags and going to an adjustable spring.

scottylee

brilliant I will have to have a look. So out of the two which is best way in regulars to cost performance and ease of fitting? Any chance of a link?

RIHI

When I went to coilovers, I decided to keep the rear airbags, as I wanted the retain the self-leveling rear suspension. Evan did the lowering of my rear suspension to get them to he height I liked using INPA. You can use an adjustable rod for each side to get them to right height or use INPA, or get a coilover set with the rear springs. I think the INPA way is the best way to go as everything else is already there.

Just my $0.02.

scottylee

cool thanks for the info. So I am assuming somebody who can map the car can lower the rear end also through INPA? I think I'm going down this route I like the idea of keeping the self levelling suspension if I need it.

RIHI

Yes the rears can be lowered to whatever height you want it using INPA. I can't say for any other software as I know Evan was using INPA.

RCB

I set my initial ride height with the rods from KW and fine tuned it with INPA. I'll be using INPA to adjust the height based on usage. My wheels are an aggressive fitment so when I have 4 people in the car or a bunch of gear for a trip I'll plug the laptop in and bump it up a little bit to keep it from rubbing.
It's pretty easy to do with INPA but I'm not sure how low you can go using the stock leveling rods. You may want to make sure there isn't a point where the stock level arm is maxed out and being stressed. With the KW rods I am right in the middle of the range according to INPA at my current ride height which is not that low.

bmwmonkey

Here is what the INPA menu looks like. It's under the main E60 menu then suspension -> single axle

I had a lot of headache getting INPA to work, one important tip is to have the USB cable that connects to the OBD port set to COM1 on the windows machine and set latency to 1 ms.

Here are a few tips on adjusting ride height.

1. Once you start lowering or raising it won't stop so be ready to hit the F9 (OFF) button when you reach your target.
2. Each side sort of adjusts together, despite having separate controls the software doesn't let you get too far away from the value of the opposite side before it starts compensating in the same direction. In other words you will have to play with both sides up and down the scale to arrive at a equal levels for both sides.
3. In the previous menu to the one shown, make sure Energy saving mode is off and production mode is on. My understanding is that the settings don't remain in memory unless these modes are set this way.