Quote:
Originally Posted by Markyboyt
Evening all, been searching here and other places and as you would suspect there's a variety of opinions and experiences.
I'm looking to fit Eibach springs (along with either Bilstein B8's, Koni SA or Koni Sport Yellows) to my F36 435d Xdrive to fix the handling, I don't want to go as far as coilovers, too many adjustment options for someone as indecisive as me 
With the 06-22 kit Some people get an even drop whereas some get reverse rake, some are happier with the 05-22 kit.
Could the difference be in the axle weights of the cars?
The 05-22 front springs are 1065kg and the 06-22 are 1095kg, springs are the same thickness and winds just the 06-22 kit has a 15mm longer spring when untensioned which surely doesnt affect the ride height that much?
Could people who have used either on their xdrive's share their findings as well as their axle weight and possibly a pic?
I'm not overly fussed about lowering the car as the xdrive gap doesn't bother me (I would even be happy at its current height if it was more planted on the road) but it seems lowering is the only way to get it more predictable. I used to have an E92 335d M sport which for me had the perfect balance of comfort and firmness. If the 06-22 doesn't look stupid then id be happier to keep the additional height at the front if it offers any. My front axle weight is 1060kg so technically the 05-22 is the correct kit. |
I've actually been researching those two Eibach spring kits recently for a suspension refresh on my car.
The -05 and -06 spring kits have identical rear springs with a spring rate of 542 lbs/in. The two kits have different front springs but interestingly they have the same spring rate of 194 lbs/in. So the should drive the same. The difference is in the installed heights with the -05 front spring lowering the front of the car roughly 10mm-15mm more than the -06 front spring.
I have the Eibach-06 springs installed on my F30 335i XDrive. They lowered my front about 0.8" and the rear about 0.6". So the Eibach -05 springs should lower my front 1.2"-1.4" (from stock height) and the rear 0.6" (from stock height)
Reverse rake is simply the look of the tire to fender lip gap being greater in the front than the rear. BMW builds XDrives purposely with reverse rake with more room in front for the additional components to drive the front wheels. It's important not to lower the front of an XDrive by more than about 1.5" or it could get outside of its design geometry and break front drive axles.
Eibach spring kits for XDrive are nice because they typically lower the front more than the rear to eliminate some of the reverse rake look.
When adding lowering springs it's important to replace the stock bump stops with shorter bump stops like the F80 bump stops. Otherwise the dampers could bottom out on the higher stock bump stops prematurely and cause a rough ride. See photo. Note that in Europe one of the F80 part numbers is different.
Hope this helps!