[FinnF30]

Hello guys, this is my first post so please forgive me if this was posted in the wrong section. I am currently in the process of upgrading my F30 328i sedan and just need some opinions from those who have done this already. I’ve already fitted it with some staggered 18” M359’s, 235/45/18 up front and 265/40/18 in the rear. They are 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 respectively with a 35 offset for the fronts and 33 offset in the rear. My plan is to purchase some H&R sport springs and the M sport front bumper. The car does not have sport suspension and it is on stock shocks/struts. My question is, for those of you with similar setups, were you guys happy with the amount of lowering provided by these springs, and did you have any issues rubbing or scraping the front bumper on curbs or parking spot blocks etc? Additionally, will I need wheel spacers even on wheels with <35 offset? I know this topic has been likely beat to death by now, but any input is greatly appreciated! Pics would also help! Thanks.

[j.f.leonard]

I think offset wise you will be fine and happy with the fitment as those offsets and widths are pretty close to the sweet spot for these cars. As far as scraping goes, im on the eibach pro kit with the M sport bumper and dont scrape anywhere but Ive heard of people having slight scraping issues on the HR sports. Maybe as long as you dont install a lip and drive carefully in/out of parking lots and driveways you should be fine!

[cfm56d7b]

Mixing stock (soft) shocks with aftermarket lowering springs may result in an undesirable suspension behavior, where soft shocks can exacerbate spring oscillations leading to a bouncy ride.

Good thread to read:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1767895

[FinnF30]

Originally Posted by j.f.leonard

I think offset wise you will be fine and happy with the fitment as those offsets and widths are pretty close to the sweet spot for these cars. As far as scraping goes, im on the eibach pro kit with the M sport bumper and dont scrape anywhere but Ive heard of people having slight scraping issues on the HR sports. Maybe as long as you dont install a lip and drive carefully in/out of parking lots and driveways you should be fine!

Thanks for your reply! Interesting, what size wheels/tires have you got on your car?

[FinnF30]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Mixing stock (soft) shocks with aftermarket lowering springs may result in an undesirable suspension behavior, where soft shocks can exacerbate spring oscillations leading to a bouncy ride.

Good thread to read:

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1767895

I figured that, other than going the coil over route though, with some Bilstein B14s, what shocks would pair well with these H&R sport springs?

[j.f.leonard]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

Thanks for your reply! Interesting, what size wheels/tires have you got on your car?

I have 19x8.5 front, 19x9.5 rear on 245/35 front, 275/30 rear. Heres a pic!

[johnung]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

I figured that, other than going the coil over route though, with some Bilstein B14s, what shocks would pair well with these H&R sport springs?

A roughly 1.5" drop from those springs will quickly bottom out and destroy your stock dampers. They aren't designed with enough internal piston movement to handle drops.

Best choices are Bilstein B8 or Koni Yellow. Many people find B8's more stiff than they'd prefer. Koni Yellow are adjustable for comfort so you have about 10 settings to dial-in exactly how you want your car to ride. Bilstein's are set at the factory so no adjustments.
Good luck!

[FinnF30]

Originally Posted by johnung

A roughly 1.5" drop from those springs will quickly bottom out and destroy your stock dampers. They aren't designed with enough internal piston movement to handle drops.

Best choices are Bilstein B8 or Koni Yellow. Many people find B8's more stiff than they'd prefer. Koni Yellow are adjustable for comfort so you have about 10 settings to dial-in exactly how you want your car to ride. Bilstein's are set at the factory so no adjustments.
Good luck!

Thanks for that info! So would you recommend the Koni Yellow/H&R sport spring combo over the Bilstein B14s coil overs?

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

Thanks for that info! So would you recommend the Koni Yellow/H&R sport spring combo over the Bilstein B14s coil overs?

Welcome! Very nice F30.

If you are still considering B14 coilovers, I suggest to add KW Street Comfort coilovers to the list: excellent comfort oriented coilovers - with adjustable rebound controls. Compression is not adjustable.


https://www.kwsuspensions.com/produc...street_comfort

[johnung]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

Thanks for that info! So would you recommend the Koni Yellow/H&R sport spring combo over the Bilstein B14s coil overs?

I would recommend Koni Yelliw/H&R springs over Bilstein B8/H&R's because of their adjustable comfort settings. I think that's the best damper match with the drop of the H&R springs.

If you are considering coilovers, like the Bilstein B14's that you mentioned, then that is a different question.

Guys often choose coilovers because they want an adjustable amount of drop. The coilover market has more decisions/issues such as quality of materials and construction, the range of minimum/maximum drop, whether it is only drop adjustable or or the dampers themselves are ride adjustable.

If you look at it in terms of price, the Koni Yellow/H&R spring combination are high quality components at a certain price. The next higher priced coilover is often a step downward in quality of materials and ride, the only gain is some ride height adjustment. Often you need to spend much more on higher quality coilovers to get back up to that Koni Yellow/H&R quality level of materials and ride.

Bilstein B14's are a coilover that is made with high quality materials. It height adjustable but there is no damper adjustability. So the stiffness will be whatever was fixed at the factory. So the B14's have the same knock on them as the B8's vs the Koni Yellows, which do have comfort adjustments.

The B14's are adjustable from a minimum 30mm drop to a maximum 50mm drop. So that's about 1.2" to 1.9". I haven't checked the exact fixed drop of the H&R's for your car, guessing somewhere around 1.5" to 1.8".

So the practical trade off might be that to go with B14s you may gain the ability to adjust height by a few tenths of an inch, but you would lose the damper adjustability of the Koni Yellows. Just giving you a heads up because many guys love the stiffness of Bilstein's but there are also guys who find them too stiff.

Hope this helps!

[FinnF30]

Originally Posted by johnung

I would recommend Koni Yelliw/H&R springs over Bilstein B8/H&R's because of their adjustable comfort settings. I think that's the best damper match with the drop of the H&R springs.

If you are considering coilovers, like the Bilstein B14's that you mentioned, then that is a different question.

Guys often choose coilovers because they want an adjustable amount of drop. The coilover market has more decisions/issues such as quality of materials and construction, the range of minimum/maximum drop, whether it is only drop adjustable or or the dampers themselves are ride adjustable.

If you look at it in terms of price, the Koni Yellow/H&R spring combination are high quality components at a certain price. The next higher priced coilover is often a step downward in quality of materials and ride, the only gain is some ride height adjustment. Often you need to spend much more on higher quality coilovers to get back up to that Koni Yellow/H&R quality level of materials and ride.

Bilstein B14's are a coilover that is made with high quality materials. It height adjustable but there is no damper adjustability. So the stiffness will be whatever was fixed at the factory. So the B14's have the same knock on them as the B8's vs the Koni Yellows, which do have comfort adjustments.

The B14's are adjustable from a minimum 30mm drop to a maximum 50mm drop. So that's about 1.2" to 1.9". I haven't checked the exact fixed drop of the H&R's for your car, guessing somewhere around 1.5" to 1.8".

So the practical trade off might be that to go with B14s you may gain the ability to adjust height by a few tenths of an inch, but you would lose the damper adjustability of the Koni Yellows. Just giving you a heads up because many guys love the stiffness of Bilstein's but there are also guys who find them too stiff.

Hope this helps!

This helps a ton! Thank you for the info! I believe the Bilstein B14 coil over is more of what I’m looking for simply because I’m not looking to track the car, just really more trying to find that perfect ride height. I drag race an old 2003 Mustang GT which was once my daily driver making north of 600 rwhp, and that was lowered as well, with a terribly rough ride, so I don’t think the stiffness of the B14s on my F30 would bother me much, but who knows. I like the idea of the comfort adjustability of the Koni yellows, however I truly don’t know if I’ll make the most out of of them, it may as well be a one time adjustment type thing and never be touched again, so I’m heavily leaning toward the B14s.

[FinnF30]

Ended up going with the Bilstein B14s. Car will be going into the shop tomorrow for a full M sport package upgrade and the B14s! Will update with pics once it’s all done! Thanks for all the help guys!

[tacio25]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

Ended up going with the Bilstein B14s. Car will be going into the shop tomorrow for a full M sport package upgrade and the B14s! Will update with pics once it’s all done! Thanks for all the help guys!

Did you end up getting all the work done? Pics please!!! I'm seriously considering the B14's as well!

[chinniciF32]

Originally Posted by FinnF30

Ended up going with the Bilstein B14s. Car will be going into the shop tomorrow for a full M sport package upgrade and the B14s! Will update with pics once it’s all done! Thanks for all the help guys!

yea bro where the pics, you cant leave us hanging curious how much they quoted you for an Msport upgrade all around with paint and everything? (just ball park)

[FinnF30]

Originally Posted by chinniciF32

yea bro where the pics, you cant leave us hanging curious how much they quoted you for an Msport upgrade all around with paint and everything? (just ball park)

A bit late, I don’t know how I missed this, but here are some pics!