phenryiv1

The wheels and tires came in but are not yet installed. I actually ordered a 5th wheel, just to have a spare. This style/specification combo is being discontinued so I wanted a spare, just in case I damage one. I got it for dirt cheap so it was worth having one spare in the event I damage a wheel.

phenryiv1

A couple shots of the wheels/tires and test-fitting:

mboat

Those wheels look sick. Good find!

phenryiv1

Thank you. I know that they are not top-tier wheels (or tires, for that matter) but after searching for budget-friendly wheels that are not cast from butter these Alzors consistently came to the top of the list on Audi/VW sites for being fairly durable.

Putting $1500(+) BBS wheels on an 11-year-old daily driver seems silly, particularly given that I drive my E30 about 80% of the time when the weather is 70* or above. Finding the right offset for the AWD setup was fairly difficult when I considered specs, appearance, and cost. Many (not all) wheels under $250 had poor reputations for bending. Having reps does not bother me- I am not trying to fool anyone, just to have wheels whose appearance I like.

phenryiv1

Little update...

So after a few weeks of waiting, the H&R swaybar arrived. Specs are 19mm H&R 71460. All the retail sites say that it is supposed to for the E60 M5 or sedan but the box says "All E60" and it fit the E61 perfectly.



Oooohhhh, the pretty color!



I eyeballed it and it looked like it was the same shape as the OEM bar but until I had the stock bar off I could not be sure.

The weather here has been weird. 70s last week, then we got 8" of snow Monday night into Tuesday. I finally felt like turning wrenches today after work so I did the install.

I used a T30, a 16mm pass-through socket, and an impact wrench with 18mm (more on that below), 16mm, and 13mm sockets, a 13mm combination wrench, and some Energy Suspension grease ( )

I made a HUGE mistake. Don't do this. I thought that the hole in the middle of the endlink was a 4mm allen but it is really a T30.

This picture shows how to use a 16mm pass through socket and a 3/8" socket wrench to hols the endlink bolt while spinning off the 16mm nut, but note that I had the 4mm allen on here. Don't do that-0 use a T30.



After partially stripping the inside of the endlink bolt I had to remove the whole endlink by smacking the 18mm nut with the impact wrench, then I was able to get some good pliers on the endlink shaft to hold it while I hit the 16mm nut with the impact, spinning it off.

I was able to replace the nut and tighten it down as well despite having slightly messed up the inside torx head.

Here is the H&R bar:



Comparison with the stock bar:





Endlinks and brackets on, with a liberal application of the Energy Suspension grease:





I used the middle stiffness setting. I did a short drive and made some left and right turns. No funny noises and the back end feels fine. I will do more testing under load conditions over the next few days and report back.

KyleB

so meaty!

kidwebs

looks great, thanks for the pics of the sway bar, now i have something else to add to to my list.

awaiting if noticeable difference

phenryiv1

Driving impressions after a few days are positive. Less roll in corners and a much flatter feeling in long sweepers and cloverleaf ramps. Not noticeably harsher over bumps (IRS can sometimes lead to a jarring sensation over bumps when you toe the 2 sides together with an overly stiff RS but much more level in corners. I can't say that grip is any better or worse but I no longer feel like the rear end is going to capsize in sweepers.

I would recommend it to others with the stock rear bar.

That out of the way, I started applying polish/wax to the wheels. I don't want a ton of brake dust on them all of the time so I am waxing them before installation of the tires. I am also going to swap in Brembo ceramic pads before i install the wheels. Hopefully the combo keeps them cleaner than status quo.

Some pictures of the wax I am using:



I also hated the Alzor center caps so I ordered some 64.5mm OE center caps. I tried off the Alzor emblem from the cheap plastic center caps and applied the BMW caps:



Results:





I also had a guy make me a powdercoated Yeti 20oz Rambler with the outline of the grille/headlights from the E30, E36, and E60/61. I thought that I had a photo uploaded but apparently not. But the guy also sent me a few vinyl stickers of the headlight outlines so I stuck one on the rear window:

KyleB

Those stickers are BAD ASS. I want.

mboat

Looking good!