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      05-12-2019, 09:13 PM   #1
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Eibach Pro-kit and 435i with Adaptive - how's it look? how's it ride?

Gentlemen:

[ UPDATE 59k miles ]
After driving a few months with this set-up. I began to notice the rear of my car was about 3/4" higher in the back (4-series) than then 3-series with the same kit. This is known as rake. After scoring a gift certificate from TireRack, I decided to try and lower just the REAR of the car using the Sportline kit which drops the rear of the car another .4". I like the rear end being lower and it's moved the center of gravity more to the middle/back than before. So I now have a mix of the Prokit up front (.8" drop) and the Sportline in the rear (.8" drop). The only consideration with this set-up is that the Pro-kit uses a linear spring rate and the Sportline a progressive one. An Eibach rep told me this isn't a life threatening situation and the car will drive fine.)

Thread on the update is here...
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1644558

---------

At 55k miles, I figure I'd had enough of the stock ride height and comfort-mode "float" of my 2015 435i with M Sport Adaptive Suspension. I've had Eibach Pro-kits on my old Miata and e36 M3 so I was already familiar with the quality of Eibach products.

Fellow forum member Farkle had a like-new set for sale and I pulled the trigger. The install went fine. One note though, this is an EASY one hour a corner job (4 hours). There's A LOT more things to unbolt and unplug. So if you are considering doing this job yourself, you WILL need a few tools and a laptop to reset the adaptive suspension. So don't complain if your favorite shop doesn't quote you a "deal." It is a time-consuming project.

And per Drew - get the E39/E60 "dinan" bump stops so you maintain a decent amount of spring travel before engaging them. I ran with them on my car when I had the adaptive suspension and they worked well. The PNs are 31331138814 and 33536762722. These bump stops are about 1" shorter than the stock ones so will let the suspension move a bit before they... well bump!

As a caveat, my driving environment/style is all street, short commute, aggressive on-ramp. Some track experience (1000+ miles) with the local BMW CCA and Hooked on Driving and Miata Club.


OK SO WHAT TO EXPECT:

1. Ride Height - The Pro-Kit drops the stock M sport package by another .5" from stock. The front more so than the rear. About 1 finger height up front and back from stock. See photos. (If you have the M Sport Adaptive suspension, Eibach says .8" up front and .4" in the rear.)

2. Ride Quality - In comfort mode, you definitely feel the suspension is stiffer. Given I've had street lowered cars - Miata, E36 M3, BRZ... it's actually not as stiff. I say from stock, it's the middle of Comfort and Sport. So for me, this is great.

3. Sport Mode - YEAH, When I am in sport mode, I expect flat cornering, no lean. Stock sport mode was pretty decent, but with the new springs... I'd say it's a *feel* shift of +10% to +15%. So it's *enhanced* if I can describe it that way.

4. Observations - you know with stock comfort mode, the steering wheel turns pretty freely. Almost like an over-boosted front wheel drive car. The steering feel has a little more resistance. Not as dramatic as Sport mode but like the ride quality, almost in the middle of easy and resistant. This was an unexpected plus too.

I'll check back in, in 20k miles about how the stock shocks are holding up.
A number of people have warned about the stock shocks blowing out... but Eibach claims these springs are conservative enough in lowering that they are OK for stock shocks. We will see.

Car with the Prokit front and Sportline rear. Drop is an even .8" front and back.

Last edited by exE36M3; 02-12-2020 at 10:44 AM..
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      05-13-2019, 10:07 AM   #2
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Great write up, thank you! I'm planning on doing this as well and this gives me a good idea of what to expect.
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      05-13-2019, 10:27 AM   #3
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Hopefully it will get even better after an alignment. Car's looking good though! Did you end up getting a carwash after you left Farkies?
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      05-13-2019, 10:36 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andino View Post
Hopefully it will get even better after an alignment. Car's looking good though! Did you end up getting a carwash after you left Farkies?
Ha ha ha, not yet. Great hanging out with you guys Saturday!
Alignment wasn't too bad. Car still tracked straight.

I ended up getting my wife's car washed for Mother's day. I may hold out another week as we've got rain coming Wed. and Sunday! :P
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      05-13-2019, 10:50 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eschmacher View Post
Great write up, thank you! I'm planning on doing this as well and this gives me a good idea of what to expect.
Glad this was helpful. It's a nice subtle upgrade I think to the 435i.
I added some more content around upgraded bumpstops. These give you another inch of travel before they bump.
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      05-13-2019, 12:36 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by percychow View Post
4. Observations - you know with stock comfort mode, the steering wheel turns pretty freely. Almost like an over-boosted front wheel drive car. The steering feel has a little more resistance. Not as dramatic as Sport mode but like the ride quality, almost in the middle of easy and resistant. This was an unexpected plus too.


I'll check back in, in 20k miles about how the stock shocks are holding up.
A number of people have warned about the stock shocks blowing out... but Eibach claims these springs are conservative enough in lowering that they are OK for stock shocks. We will see.
Great write-up, and thanks for the kind words!

Regarding the steering effort this could be due to two things I'm thinking. The first is that since you're a bit lower, you probably have a bit more negative camber. In my quest for more negative camber I found that as you go more negative the caster increases too, and that definitely affects steering weight. I'd be surprised if your negative camber increased by very much though (maybe 0.2deg?). The second thing is that the toe may have increased inward some since the negative camber increased.

I'm confident your OE adaptive shocks will handle these Eibach springs just fine. Those shocks have a very wide range they can operate in. I ran similar with my adaptive shocks for many miles and track days.

Additionally the spring rates of this kit aren't too much higher than your stock springs, for example, the front spring rate of the Eibach is 165lbs/in, and your stock spring (which is the same as the stock spring I had) is 157lbs/in. At the wheel that translates to 152lbs/in with the Eibach and 145lbs/in with the OE spring, only 4.8% stiffer.

Sometimes people can get into an underdamped condition if they only put springs on base suspension dampers. For example, for my F31, the adaptive M suspension front springs are the same 157lbs/in as yours, but the base suspension front springs are only 129lbs/in. At the wheel this translates to 145lbs/in (adaptive) and 119lbs/in (base), a difference of 22% stiffer vs the base suspension, and outside the typical range a damper is tuned for.
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      05-14-2019, 05:27 AM   #7
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Very nice!

The front looks lower than the rear in last photo. Might be due to uneven ground.
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      05-14-2019, 09:35 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by .BMW. View Post
Very nice!

The front looks lower than the rear in last photo. Might be due to uneven ground.
Actually, it's literally .5" higher in the back. Was like that even stock. Best guess, BMW accounting for luggage, fuel, passengers?
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      05-14-2019, 07:28 PM   #9
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Slightly related, anyone know the spring rates for the acs springs? Trying to pick between eibach and acs.
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      05-14-2019, 08:50 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eschmacher View Post
Slightly related, anyone know the spring rates for the acs springs? Trying to pick between eibach and acs.
You can use the links in my sig to find out which Eibach spring ACS is using for their PN and then look up the rate in the Eibach document drawings.
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      05-15-2019, 09:12 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FaRKle! View Post
You can use the links in my sig to find out which Eibach spring ACS is using for their PN and then look up the rate in the Eibach document drawings.
Thanks, I keep forgetting I don't see signatures on mobile.
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      05-19-2019, 10:39 AM   #12
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Thanks for the post. I've been wanting to close the wheel gap on my 2016 ZHP but wanting the max drop without sacrificing adjustability of the adaptive suspension.

Looking at images it seems Eibach is the way to go but not sure still?

Why do you need to reset the suspension after installing?
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      05-19-2019, 12:19 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oregondonor View Post

Why do you need to reset the suspension after installing?
ISTA says to re-calibrate/zero the ride height for the adaptive suspension/ICM after changing the height. It likely changes how the damping curve is modulated with respect to damper position and acceleration.
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      05-19-2019, 04:06 PM   #14
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I got AC Schnitzer springs and Dinan Shockware on my 340i and the combination it's amazing.

Looks great too.
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      05-20-2019, 07:56 AM   #15
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I also running on eibach pro kit with OEM shocks/struts
(I could not install bilstein hd b6)

Ride height is perfect for daily driving and feels better ( more stiffer) - No rubbing.

437m
235/40/19
275/35/19

Last edited by Kefka; 05-26-2020 at 08:38 PM..
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      05-23-2019, 12:02 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kefka View Post
I also running on eibach pro kit with OEM shocks/struts
(I could not install bilstein hd b6)

Ride height is perfect for daily driving and feels better ( more stiffer) - No rubbing.

437m
235/40/19
275/35/19
DUDE, LOVE THE COLOR on your car. And the 19s... was seriously look at those wheels too!
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      05-23-2019, 12:40 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kefka View Post
I also running on eibach pro kit with OEM shocks/struts
(I could not install bilstein hd b6)

Ride height is perfect for daily driving and feels better ( more stiffer) - No rubbing.

437m
235/40/19
275/35/19
Do you feel more understeer than stock?
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      05-23-2019, 01:06 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goj View Post
Do you feel more understeer than stock?
mm honestly nop,

more precise turns and car feels better planted to the ground, yes, if you are into sport/sport+ mode.

I will complement these springs with Bilstein B6 (HD) shocks...for a full suspension upgrade.
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      05-27-2019, 06:33 PM   #19
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And minor "warning" guys. So I took my car into East Bay BMW about 2 weeks after this install for an existing "collision warning system malfunction" and dead GPS. I have the adaptive cruise control on my 435i. The BMW techs scanned it and it came back as a "mis-alignment" issue. I have the Carmax extended warranty on the car.

And guess what?... the dead GPS requires replacing the entire iDrive system. $4k. Woo. BUT... Carmax/Maxcare REFUSED to repair the ACC/Collision Malfunction (it's just a software and alignment procedure, 4 hours of labor)... because the car... is lower.

Although I provided evidence of my car having this issue as early as October of 2018 (I gave them my forums posts in fact!) and photos of my car in October not lowered, AND THE BMW techs saying lowering does not affect the ACC... the extended warranty people don't want to pay it.

Just a caveat team. The East Bay BMW techs really went to bat for me. Just stupidly weird that the word of a factory tech is tossed aside by the mood of the warranty adjuster. We even pulled my 20+ year BMW CCA card and hey guys, I'm 49yo! This isn't a blown engine. It's cruise control. :\
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      05-28-2019, 12:05 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by percychow View Post
And minor "warning" guys. So I took my car into East Bay BMW about 2 weeks after this install for an existing "collision warning system malfunction" and dead GPS. I have the adaptive cruise control on my 435i. The BMW techs scanned it and it came back as a "mis-alignment" issue. I have the Carmax extended warranty on the car.

And guess what?... the dead GPS requires replacing the entire iDrive system. $4k. Woo. BUT... Carmax/Maxcare REFUSED to repair the ACC/Collision Malfunction (it's just a software and alignment procedure, 4 hours of labor)... because the car... is lower.

Although I provided evidence of my car having this issue as early as October of 2018 (I gave them my forums posts in fact!) and photos of my car in October not lowered, AND THE BMW techs saying lowering does not affect the ACC... the extended warranty people don't want to pay it.

Just a caveat team. The East Bay BMW techs really went to bat for me. Just stupidly weird that the word of a factory tech is tossed aside by the mood of the warranty adjuster. We even pulled my 20+ year BMW CCA card and hey guys, I'm 49yo! This isn't a blown engine. It's cruise control. :\
Wow, I've generally heard good things about maxcare. Sorry to hear they're being unreasonably stingy. Do you know what alignment procedure has to be done for the ACC radar? Is it just physically aligning the emitter and and telling the car to calibrate via ISTA? If so, we can try to knock that out some weekend.
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      05-29-2019, 01:26 PM   #21
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Thanks Farkle! I found a few forum members with similar issues (some as low as 7k miles, stock, and just driving to work). I *really* don't think it's an alignment issue because the unit looks like it's solid state AND it requires a software based alignment. I'm going to attempt to clean the sensor surface (not the front plastic part) and see what happens from there.

But we can experiment sometime if you like. The procedure is documented on Youtube to some extent.
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      06-08-2019, 12:38 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by percychow View Post
Thanks Farkle! I found a few forum members with similar issues (some as low as 7k miles, stock, and just driving to work). I *really* don't think it's an alignment issue because the unit looks like it's solid state AND it requires a software based alignment. I'm going to attempt to clean the sensor surface (not the front plastic part) and see what happens from there.

But we can experiment sometime if you like. The procedure is documented on Youtube to some extent.
Hey OP, has the springs settle more? Can you give us an updated pic?

Thanks,
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