320d coil springs replaced - car sitting twice as high?

[KamiljanO]

Hello everybody,

So yesterday I was unfortunate to find that my front coil spring has slid down the strut on my e90 320d msport, so I put it into a garage for them to replace both of the front springs. £250 lighter and I’ve come back to a car that is sitting pretty much twice as high at the front comparing to what it was. Is this normal? Euro car parts supplied the part but I’ve got a weird feeling that they’ve ordered the non msport springs to save money and making the car sit way higher. I’ll try upload a picture later on as I’m currently at work

[Rubins4]

Give it a few miles, it will likely settle down. It did after replacing the spring and shocks on my W201. It loked like it was on stilts for a day or two.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

If you know that they came from Euro Car Parts then have a look up what part number your M Sport springs should be. Then compare this to either the part number printed on the new springs, or get the garage to confirm the part number of the springs Euro Car Parts supplied to them.

[f1nn]

If I’ve understood correctly and the springs needed replacing because the originals had snapped, the car will obviously appear higher.

[PorkInsider]

I wouldn't be surprised at them being the wrong springs.

I've given up with ECP due to the number of incorrect parts I've had for various cars. It seems to be whenever parts are variant-specific that it goes wrong, regardless of the care taken with the order process.

[KamiljanO]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

If you know that they came from Euro Car Parts then have a look up what part number your M Sport springs should be. Then compare this to either the part number printed on the new springs, or get the garage to confirm the part number of the springs Euro Car Parts supplied to them.

They never gave me a receipt from euro car parts so I’ll call ECP tomorrow to give me the code of the springs purchased for my reg. Could just be a bit higher since it’s not oem. Might just be paranoid.

[KamiljanO]

f1nn said:

If I’ve understood correctly and the springs needed replacing because the originals had snapped, the car will obviously appear higher.

One side snapped and slid down the shock. Other side was fine but I’d rather replace both than have to go through the hassle again in the nearest future. I understand that the new springs will make the car sit higher but it looks odd sitting so high up and I didn’t think they would double the gap from what they were.

[Kawasicki]

Ring a bmw dealer and ask how high it should sit, there are specifications for ride heights.

[KamiljanO]

PorkInsider said:

I wouldn't be surprised at them being the wrong springs.

I've given up with ECP due to the number of incorrect parts I've had for various cars. It seems to be whenever parts are variant-specific that it goes wrong, regardless of the care taken with the order process.

That’s what I’m afraid of and that sometimes the parts ain’t of good quality. When I had my scirocco my window regulator cable snapped in winter and I got a new one from them and that lasted a day before it started jamming so had to return that and buy OEM

[Demelitia]

The car will settle but I’d get on to ecp now so if it doesn’t settle far enough at least you’ve a chance of sorting it with them.
I think the tech specs on the euro car parts system are automatically scraped for a lot of parts. They dont seem very accurate most of the time.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e90-320d-lim/re...

That should give you something to go on with regards to seeing how far out the springs have put the car.

[227bhp]

Twice as high, reeeaaaally? Learn to appreciate the benefits. Do some green laning, plough through some flooded roads at high speeds and rescue marooned residents. Climb mountains, drive over parked cars etc, the possibilities are endless.

[stevieturbo]

The only way to get correct springs....is buy OEM. Usually prices are very high though.

[KamiljanO]

[Kawasicki]

Looks a bit low at the back and normal at the front, though I’m no expert!

[jackh707]

My e90 sits pretty low at the back on standard springs after 95000miles, looks like yours.

[stevieturbo]

Kawasicki said:

Looks a bit low at the back and normal at the front, though I’m no expert!

Pretty much. Doesnt look too bad either way, so who knows what it looked like before though.

If that's twice as high....original cant have been much different lol.

[DeadCatWalking]

I can't really imagine why anyone would want less tyre to wheelarch clearance on the front than what I see here. If you're turning into a corner and hit a bump the tyre would smash into the arch with much less than that.

[Chris32345]

Are you the original owner?
If not somebody could have fitted shorter spring's at some point

[KamiljanO]

Chris32345 said:

Are you the original owner?
If not somebody could have fitted shorter spring's at some point

I’m not and it’s definitely a possibility. I thought the increased ride height made the handling dodgy. However I’m now starting to think they didn’t do the wheel alignment. Should they have done the wheel alignment in the price or am I expecting too much? The cars steering feels kind of unpredictable at times, it goes round the corner fine but then feels heavy for a second or sloppy. When trying to throw it from side to side it just feels like the wheels aren’t on the same page and steering aint sharp. Could that be due to no wheel alignment ?

[GreenV8S]

The geometry should definitely have been checked and adjusted. Suggest you ask the garage whether they did that, and also check the tyre pressures, before you jump to any conclusions. Most places offering geometry adjustments will check it free of charge if you want extra reassurance.