Unwanted body roll on my E36 Coupe
Unwanted body roll on my E36 Coupe
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Renn Sport

Original Poster:

2,761 posts

239 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
I have recently acquired yet another BMW a E36 328i Coupe as a everyday car and I really happy with the compliance and comfort of the stock suspension. However I am pretty disappointed with the body roll the car has.

Apart from buying a set of expensive blisters or H&R coilovers is there another modification I can do to limit some of the body roll? Trying to avoid the cheaper coilover options as I don't want to ruin the ride quality.

Fatter anti roll bars?

scz4

2,839 posts

271 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Before I put coilovers on E36 M3 Evo, I has Eibach springs (std shocks) and Eibach anti roll bars. Made a huge difference, even worked pretty well round the Nurbrugring. Could do both for £500 I'd think.

Renn Sport

Original Poster:

2,761 posts

239 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Awesome...

I have seen some Eibach anti rollbars available on ebay for around £300 so that a good start. What size were the new anti-rollbars that you ran?

Also what springs, in terms of how much shorter were the springs? I don't want to bottom out my shocks.

scz4

2,839 posts

271 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Renn Sport said:
Awesome...

I have seen some Eibach anti rollbars available on ebay for around £300 so that a good start. What size were the new anti-rollbars that you ran?

Also what springs, in terms of how much shorter were the springs? I don't want to bottom out my shocks.
£300 sounds a little high, maybe £280. These come with Poly ARB bushes which will tighten things up too. There was only one kit available for my M3. The M3 already has thicker bars than standard, so you'll probably see even more of an improvment. Plus you can adjust them to you liking.

The Eibach springs (about £155) I had were 20mm drop at the front and 30mm rear, so not too low at all, but it did make a difference. You get 60mm kits, but I wouldn't recommend these.

Edited by scz4 on Tuesday 23 February 13:51

Renn Sport

Original Poster:

2,761 posts

239 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Many thanks for this information buddy.. I'm on the hunt.

smile


Just out of interest does this help reduce the understeer?

Edited by Renn Sport on Tuesday 23 February 14:44

scz4

2,839 posts

271 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Renn Sport said:
Many thanks for this information buddy.. I'm on the hunt.

smile
Just out of interest does this help reduce the understeer?
Adjusting the anti roll bars will let you dial out some understeer yes. There are quite a few modifications which all help in the handling dept, increasing front camber by fitting adjustable top mounts (or swapping over the standard Evo top mounts (fitting left to right and vice a versa), also worth fitting rear trailing arm poly bushes and front wishbone bushes... the list is endless, depends how far you want to go (and how much money you have).

BMSport to a handling kit for £605. "Starter package to transform the road holding of your M3. This Stage 1 Tune kit comprises of the following:

* Powerflex rear trailing arm bushes
* Eibach Pro Kit suppied and fitted
* Full 4 wheel alignment set up."

Shropshiremike

24,479 posts

233 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
quotequote all
Renn Sport said:
I have recently acquired yet another BMW a E36 328i Coupe as a everyday car and I really happy with the compliance and comfort of the stock suspension. However I am pretty disappointed with the body roll the car has.

Apart from buying a set of expensive blisters or H&R coilovers is there another modification I can do to limit some of the body roll? Trying to avoid the cheaper coilover options as I don't want to ruin the ride quality.

Fatter anti roll bars?
Just get some verniers and check the existing ARB dias first. Should be 25.5mm front 18mm rear on a coupe unless someone has already upgraded them or you had a rare 704 delete.

Eibachs ( and H&R ) are about 28mm front 21mm rear. Not sure what the Whitelines are but I think all are adjustable anyway.
Only thing I think you'll find is that you will knock out front droplinks fairly quick on rough roads if you run full stiffness as they run at at quite an angle.
Also watch out for the rear ARB mounts as they can tear on an E36 with an uprated rear bar

Renn Sport

Original Poster:

2,761 posts

239 months

Wednesday 24th February 2010
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Thanks fellas... I am just going to tweek the car a little really, I'm not going to spend too much cash on the 328 apart from the regular servicing.

I don't mind spending around £600 on the suspension to make it better.

Shropshiremike

24,479 posts

233 months

Wednesday 24th February 2010
quotequote all
Unless they have been done recently, check the rear subframe bushes, rear trailing arm bushes and front wishbones ( ball joints and rear bushes ).
Either renew or if you want to tweak it subtly use E30 wishbones with 328 Sport offset rear wishbone bushes ( maybe poly ones if you wish ). If you're doing the shocks/ struts use Z3 rear shock tower reinforcement plates and front E36 M3 reinforcement plates.
Don't know how far you want to go with or if it's just fast road use but there's much more you can do - M3 top mounts at front or camber/caster plates
You can also get an X-brace off a convertible for the underside.

All these are little improvements but they all add up - depends how knackered the original kit is and what you want to use it for

Renn Sport

Original Poster:

2,761 posts

239 months

Thursday 25th February 2010
quotequote all
Thanks fellas... I am just going to tweek the car a little really, I'm not going to spend too much cash on the 328 apart from the regular servicing.

I don't mind spending around £600 on the suspension to make it better.