[340girl]

Good morning all!

Just purchased an '18 340i M sport and boy does that wheel gap keep it from being the best looking car out there!

After reading tons of posts on the adaptive suspension and everyone chiming in with risks of making the dampers wear faster than normal with the installation of Sport Springs (looking at the H&R Sport Springs) - has anyone had to ACTUALLY replace the dampers early?

https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/...odClar=M+Sport

All the threads just ask about the options, options are posted, people warn about the risks of damper wear, and then thread dies........sooooo any real outcomes?

I just want the car to sit a little bit lower, I do not take cars to the track, I just drive the car.

So what do we think here F30Post / BimmerPost forum?? Thanks!!

[cfm56d7b]

How particular are you about achieving a specific suspension lowering target?

Lowering springs offer one "setting": what the springs have been designed to - plus - post installation settling. Will it be satisfactory? Only you can decide. In addition, there are no mechanisms to tune suspension behavior after lowering springs installation.

Replacing all 4 adaptive shocks will cost about $2K. This is price range is within entry / mid level coilovers pricing and coilovers include springs matched by design. EDC Delete module can be added to negate M Adaptive ECU logic.

[FaRKle!]

As long as you have adequate damper travel (not bottoming out the piston) lowering alone shouldn't increase the wear. You'll probably want to see if you can find how much stiffer the H&R springs are than your stock springs to prevent feeling underdamped, however the EDC shocks can do pretty well with up to ~20% spring rate increase (especially with shockware). With a lowering of 1.5" in the front though you'll probably be riding the bump stops, so you'll probably want a shorter pair.

[340girl]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

How particular are you about achieving a specific suspension lowering target?

Lowering springs offer one "setting": what the springs have been designed to - plus - post installation settling. Will it be satisfactory? Only you can decide. In addition, there are no mechanisms to tune suspension behavior after lowering springs installation.

Replacing all 4 adaptive shocks will cost about $2K. This is price range is within entry / mid level coilovers pricing and coilovers include springs matched by design. EDC Delete module can be added to negate M Adaptive ECU logic.

Thanks for the response - I am not very particular about the specific height - just looking at what is available out there and the H&R Sport Spring lowering targets would work out just fine in my uneducated opinion

I guess if the H&R Sport Spring weren't $242 I wouldn't be so focused on them - they appear to be pretty cheap!

[340girl]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

As long as you have adequate damper travel (not bottoming out the piston) lowering alone shouldn't increase the wear. You'll probably want to see if you can find how much stiffer the H&R springs are than your stock springs to prevent feeling underdamped, however the EDC shocks can do pretty well with up to ~20% spring rate increase (especially with shockware). With a lowering of 1.5" in the front though you'll probably be riding the bump stops, so you'll probably want a shorter pair.

I understand like 25% of this post haha

I will have to also google 'bump stops'

How do you know know the length to suggest a "shorter pair" ? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for all the info!!

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by 340girl

Thanks for the response - I am not very particular about the specific height - just looking at what is available out there and the H&R Sport Spring lowering targets would work out just fine in my uneducated opinion

I guess if the H&R Sport Spring weren't $242 I wouldn't be so focused on them - they appear to be pretty cheap!

Among all options, there is always one more: do nothing option until more information becomes available to make a better decision.

It might be helpful to post pictures for the forum community to comment on the wheel gap. I will humbly suggest that non xDrive models have reasonable wheel gap.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by 340girl

I understand like 25% of this post haha

I will have to also google 'bump stops'

How do you know know the length to suggest a "shorter pair" ? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for all the info!!

These threads of mine should help to explain:
A Look at Bump Stops
A Look at F8x Springs for F3x Vehicles

You should choose your springs first, then bump stops according to the drop of the springs.

[BWbimmer]

First of all, you should know that the springs with the adaptive suspension are already lowered. The springs are acually the same as the ones form the M Suspention. This means that any springs you buy will not reach the level of lowering as with the "normal" suspension. H&R and Schnitzer actually point this out when you search for springs for your car.
Any aftermarket springs are usually firmer. H&R and Schnitzer more than Eibach.
So I would not worry too much about the dampers as long as you do go lower than -30mm.
What I did to overcome the comfort issue I just got myself OEM M-springs form a lighter car which got me around 18mm lower with almost the same comfort. Yes they got a bit firmer since the M-springs are slightly progressiv.

[quikM2]

I think a nice setup for you would be the dinan lowering springs and their bumpstops as they get rid of the wheel gap, and improve the 'feel' of the car. you keep your warranty as well which on an 18 you probably care about. You might like them as is and they will be fine for your dampers as they are not overly aggressive. it is currently what I have on my 18 340 and the springs alone in sport mode are a nice improvement. Spring install is fairly pricey however so that needs to be considered. You will also need a new alignment after.

If you want more out of your dampers the shockware flash mentioned above by dinan is a nice cheap little extra for the dampers while retaining some of the EDC functionality but say goodbye to comfort mode, however comfort mode sucked anyway so no big deal

That is if your car will accept shockware. from what I'm told it seems 99% of cars take it no problem however it seems at the moment I am in the 1% as they are struggling at the dealer with dinans help to get it to take without throwing error codes.

[BWbimmer]

With any obvious lowering springs you will lose your warranty on the shocks, and some parts of the drive train. I had several discussions about that with BMW, even with Schnitzer springs...
I'd ask my dealer if I was you.

[MONSTAR]

This is just my purely anecdotal experience:

I've had H&R sports installed for just over 2 years and 30k miles now. They offer a great amount of drop for someone looking for practicality and "daily"ability, not for someone trying to be slammed. They also eliminated a nice amount of body roll.

As far as bump stops and dampers....even after my usage, I think that it's too early to see any damage done. If you are planning on riding your car out until it falls apart, maybe consider them. Otherwise...."pass the buck" onto the next person, when (or if) it actually becomes an issue

[Raphy]

I recently went with the Eibach Pro Kit (specific for the XDrive) and I'm happy with the "mature drop". It's not as much as the H&R and others but that's waht I wanted...

A few times it bottomed out (because some of our roads are sh#t) but other than that, comfort is awesome!

[jdg54]

Originally Posted by Raphy

I recently went with the Eibach Pro Kit (specific for the XDrive) and I'm happy with the "mature drop". It's not as much as the H&R and others but that's waht I wanted...

A few times it bottomed out (because some of our roads are sh#t) but other than that, comfort is awesome!

Sorry to hijack but my god those M2 Comp wheels look phenomenal.

[upsidedownfunnel]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

As long as you have adequate damper travel (not bottoming out the piston) lowering alone shouldn't increase the wear. You'll probably want to see if you can find how much stiffer the H&R springs are than your stock springs to prevent feeling underdamped, however the EDC shocks can do pretty well with up to ~20% spring rate increase (especially with shockware). With a lowering of 1.5" in the front though you'll probably be riding the bump stops, so you'll probably want a shorter pair.

When a spring is mismatched to the damper, it can increase damper wear. A particular damper might be made for a particular spring rate and a higher spring rate (which most lowering springs have) will be too much for a stock damper to handle. It's not really the travel that kills the damper. Higher spring rates will basically be "stronger" than the dampers and so the ride will feel bouncy and the dampers will be overwhelmed.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

When a spring is mismatched to the damper, it can increase damper wear. A particular damper might be made for a particular spring rate and a higher spring rate (which most lowering springs have) will be too much for a stock damper to handle. It's not really the travel that kills the damper. Higher spring rates will basically be "stronger" than the dampers and so the ride will feel bouncy and the dampers will be overwhelmed.

It doesn't really increase damper wear, but it "feels" that way since it's underdamped with much stiffer springs. Where wear can happen is if the seals on a twin/triple tube shocks are seeing much higher forces/pressures due to stronger springs, but they'd have to be designed with a REALLY low safety margin for this to be a very significant thing with a spring rate increase of only 20%.

A point you're missing is that she's got EDC dampers which have a VERY wide operational range that BMW constricts to certain slices for their driving modes. This is why Dinan Shockware can arbitrarily increase damping rates by 15% in driving modes. I've dyno'd these dampers myself and seen the forces they can output.

For example, with my OE EDC front struts the compression forces at full stiff (solenoid most closed position) are higher than a stock Bilstein B6 across the entire range. On rebound the the OE damper and B6 are equal to about 3in/sec, then the OE gets as much as 20% weaker than the B6 by 5in/sec, but then closes the gap and provides higher rebound forces from 10in/sec onwards.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

When a spring is mismatched to the damper, it can increase damper wear. A particular damper might be made for a particular spring rate and a higher spring rate (which most lowering springs have) will be too much for a stock damper to handle. It's not really the travel that kills the damper. Higher spring rates will basically be "stronger" than the dampers and so the ride will feel bouncy and the dampers will be overwhelmed.

Agree... extra work = extra wear.

[Raphy]

Originally Posted by jdg54

Sorry to hijack but my god those M2 Comp wheels look phenomenal.

Thanks. I fell in love with them the second I saw them and told myslef... "they will be mine, yes... they will be mine"

[340girl]

Originally Posted by MONSTAR

This is just my purely anecdotal experience:

I've had H&R sports installed for just over 2 years and 30k miles now. They offer a great amount of drop for someone looking for practicality and "daily"ability, not for someone trying to be slammed. They also eliminated a nice amount of body roll.

As far as bump stops and dampers....even after my usage, I think that it's too early to see any damage done. If you are planning on riding your car out until it falls apart, maybe consider them. Otherwise...."pass the buck" onto the next person, when (or if) it actually becomes an issue

great to hear - do you have a pic that you can share?

[340girl]

Originally Posted by jdg54

Sorry to hijack but my god those M2 Comp wheels look phenomenal.

yep - those wheels are sexy!

[therealm3]

Hello,

Which x-drive kit did you get? (Eibach part number) I like the way your car looks and would like to know which flavor of their springs you used.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Raphy

I recently went with the Eibach Pro Kit (specific for the XDrive) and I'm happy with the "mature drop". It's not as much as the H&R and others but that's waht I wanted...

A few times it bottomed out (because some of our roads are sh#t) but other than that, comfort is awesome!

[hybris]

I recently installed HR sport springs, so I can't really talk about long term - but the level of drop is great - that front wheel gap especially was driving me nuts. Now it's perfect!

What you may want to consider is the quality of roads you typically drive on. If you're on a highway you won't even notice the difference. If you are on bad quality B-roads with cracks and the occasional bumpy turn, you will find yourself driving a bit slower than usual to avoid abusing your dampers. That would probably happen even if you moved on to sport dampers or coilovers, because the stiffer ride of a low/stiff sport suspension just isn't appropriate for bad roads.

On good B-roads on the other hand, it's awesome. More settled, slightly less body roll - more confident.

Note that I already had the M-sport (non adaptive) suspension (10mm drop from standard), so that's what I'm comparing with. Also I'm RWD.

[Raphy]

Originally Posted by therealm3

Hello,

Which x-drive kit did you get? (Eibach part number) I like the way your car looks and would like to know which flavor of their springs you used.

Thanks!

Thanks - this is what I ordered:

E10-20-031-04-22 | PRO-KIT Performance Springs (Set of 4 Springs) (E10-20-031-04-22)