E36 328is Lowering springs and TC questions

[crimbo]

My 1998 e36 is getting pretty old now so a few things need to be replaced, I have noticed that one of the front springs has broken up a little so I'm think of replacing these for newer and slightly lower ones because I feel the car sits to high as standard like most, I dont want to foul the arches so i'm just wondering by how much you reckon would be best to lower it by and what springs would be advisable to use, I dont want to spend alot of cash I just want the car to ride well and look smart, My wheels and tires are 18inch by 40profile and im thinking of lowering the front a little more than the back as the front seems to sit alot higher than what I want.

My second question is I have removed the butterfly valve from my traction control as I am fitting a 3.23 LSD from an M3, I thought that this would stop the TC even when the TC button was on because there is no butterfly valve to cut the airflow, Does the Ecu cut the amount of fuel to the engine when the TC flashes as it expects the airflow to be cut as the car seems to bog down when my Tc is left on?

Edited by crimbo on Saturday 7th November 01:29

[Mark34bn]

I'd go with Eibach Pro Kit springs and Bilstein B4 dampers if you're changing them aswell. The rears will be just the right height and the front drops 30mm. I've fitted a set of lowered spring cups on the front aswell which drops the nose by a further 10mm. Gives just the right stance, low but not silly and with a slight nose down stance.

[willE36]

BMW recommends that if lowering, you lower no more than 30mm at the front, and 20mm at the rear. Cannot remember where I got these figures from, and I don't think it really needs lowering at the rear with 18's (I've got 17s on mine, and they do seem a little smaller on the car than I had imagined), but I do think the front could do with a lowering, just to infatuate the lines of the car, and make it look nicer = P

[Mark34bn]

There are 2 pics of mine in another thread to give you an idea of how it looks
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Not too low to ruin the ride, but enough to look purposeful.

[monthefish]

I went the Eibach route on my 328i and the results were superb.

[bmthnick1981]

I put the eibach kit on my 328i Sport and it was superb.

Still have my old 328i sport springs lying around (done circa 60k) - drop me a PM if they might be something you're interested in.

[crimbo]

thanks for the replies, i've been looking at the eibach springs myself but im sure they say they drop the back around 35mm an the front 45mm-50mm, forgot to mention the car was a 328sport model if it makes a differance, I was hoping keep the standard shocks at the moment

[Mark34bn]

That's the Sportline kit which is lower still. The Pro kit is more like 30/30 which is fine with std shocks.