Suspension help

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hi all, just got my mot failure back :( with a snapped coil, so thought it mite be a good time to upgrade the suspension. I just wanted some opinions/advise on the best way to spend 250-300 on upgrading. I had a quick look at air ride and coilovers cough cough. so I realise it's not a great budget lol but am asking.
 
TBH @The lastdon you get what you pay for in terms of suspension, a full set of Eibach springs will be in your budget though.
 
Ii would spend a little extra and buy the Bilstein B12 kit, which is sport dampers and matched eibach springs
 
The lastdon said:
hi all, just got my mot failure back :( with a snapped coil, so thought it mite be a good time to upgrade the suspension. I just wanted some opinions/advise on the best way to spend 250-300 on upgrading. I had a quick look at air ride and coilovers cough cough. so I realise it's not a great budget lol but am asking.
Click to expand...

What's your aim? Ride height, handling or just happy with new suspension. I have been fitting a lot of standard shocks with lowering springs recently and find them a really good ride and a good price. Also should get fit in your budget.

Lee
 
Firstly yes 1.9
Had a look at my he bilstein 12 but a lil off the budget.
Tbh am not sure what am after lee, I wouldn't mind a lil drop but not essential. Since I've had the car I've never liked the way it leans when cornering, sometimes I feel like am gona fall out lol (I am 6ft +) but it's my first z so don't know if this is the norm, jus warn parts or the pants tyres I have 255/50/16 me thinks.
The eihbach pro springs has my attention, question is how will they work with my stock shocks(if any good) I've read they can increase the deterioration of stock shocks?
Also looking at apex for a cheaper option, I don't drive to aggressive anymore, I have a sim rig and a copy of forza 6 which has helped to calm that down. Lol
So I guess jus a firmer ride.
Thanks for help,
 
The front of my 1.9 looks OK height wise happy with it but the rear is very high big gap between the tyres and top of arch ?
All on standard shocks which i am happy with.My other car has firm suspension so sometimes nice to have a comfy ride for a change.
Can't help thinking 2 rear springs might lower it even if to level the look out a bit.
But question is what's springs for the rear only?
Guess this is what the original poster might be seeking.
 
The new shocks OEM (Boge or Sachs) quality will be perfect with apex springs. Good for a 25mm drop (Max 30mm). Springs you can order from demons tweaks and shocks from your local GSF or euro car parts. The leaning your feeling will be the shocks not preforming as they should. (Edited, With the ARB being the main component)

Lee
 
Last edited:
New springs and shocks will not sort out the lean, if this is your main concern then you need to fit H&R Anti Roll Bars, it removes the severe roll of the 1.9 completely and transforms the car, so on your budget, replace standard springs and fit the H&R ARB.

Springs arrest the up and down movement of the wheel as it goes over bumps, dampers, absorb this shock so the car does not bounce, both working in tandem to keep the wheel in touch with the Tarmac, in creasing rate of Spring and damping just does the job quicker, hence it feels more harsh.

Anti Roll Bars prevent the car from flipping round when going into a bend, by ensuring the rear wheels do not lift. The higher the rate of the ARB the less roll, or tipping you feel when in a bend, and the quicker you will travel through it with all four wheels on the ground.

Handling is a mixture of the two, but the ARB has the greatest handling effect when changing on a road car.
 
My car is sat on Apex springs and Sach shockers. Ride comfort is good certainly no harsher than i would expect and over stock little difference in my view.
20151010_152407.webp
 
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zedonist said:
Handling is a mixture of the two, but the ARB has the greatest handling effect when changing on a road car
Click to expand...
Got to agree, the name says it all.;)

Tony.
 
I agree guys but the handling characteristics of these cars do tend to make the back ends lean in the corners this is only what I have observed. Out of the 14 I've rebuilt none have had any issues related to the roll bars but all have had totally knackered shocks/bushes. I think Gary's was the worst it even bounced in heavy cornering.

Lee
 
zedonist said:
New springs and shocks will not sort out the lean, if this is your main concern then you need to fit H&R Anti Roll Bars, it removes the severe roll of the 1.9 completely and transforms the car, so on your budget, replace standard springs and fit the H&R ARB.

Springs arrest the up and down movement of the wheel as it goes over bumps, dampers, absorb this shock so the car does not bounce, both working in tandem to keep the wheel in touch with the Tarmac, in creasing rate of Spring and damping just does the job quicker, hence it feels more harsh.

Anti Roll Bars prevent the car from flipping round when going into a bend, by ensuring the rear wheels do not lift. The higher the rate of the ARB the less roll, or tipping you feel when in a bend, and the quicker you will travel through it with all four wheels on the ground.

Handling is a mixture of the two, but the ARB has the greatest handling effect when changing on a road car.
Click to expand...
This has helped alot
 
From personal experience of driving the 2 Z3's I've owned, the rear end lean was considerably improved by the rear sub frame rebuild. It's hard to describe how the car leaned before, but it feels like the back end sits down on one side when pushed in to a corner. It was really disconcerting when you turned in to a long corner at reasonable speed.

From memory the related things we changed on mine were rear shocks (original and done 100k+), beam bushes & drop links. We didn't replace the ARB bushes and retained the original ARB itself. I agree that an uprated ARB is a good thing I do want to do that at some stage, but for now all I've done makes the back end behave much more stable than before!

My rebuild was about bringing the car back to how it left the factory, not improving what BMW produced (I just cocked it up by fitting cheap coilovers!)
 
Ok so after a lot of dilly dallying drinking endless cups of tea, I think am going to go for the apex springs all round ( the cheaper option) and use the rest of my budget to replace as many bushes as I can, then sum time in the future hopefully January sales look into upgrading the anti roll bars. Really wanted the eibach springs but If it turns out I need new shocks so close to crimbo misses might not be to appy.
At the least This has been a great lesson for me on suspension.
Can someone confirm that if I take this route I won't need to make adjustments to chamber or anything else, spacers etc?
 
Quick question are the sach springs what come as stock?
Sold by eurocar
 
The lastdon said:
Quick question are the sach springs what come as stock?
Click to expand...
Sachs and Boge (same company, same products pretty much, different labels) were OE fitted to the Z3.
 
The lastdon said:
Firstly yes 1.9
Had a look at my he bilstein 12 but a lil off the budget.
Tbh am not sure what am after lee, I wouldn't mind a lil drop but not essential. Since I've had the car I've never liked the way it leans when cornering, sometimes I feel like am gona fall out lol (I am 6ft +) but it's my first z so don't know if this is the norm, jus warn parts or the pants tyres I have 255/50/16 me thinks.
The eihbach pro springs has my attention, question is how will they work with my stock shocks(if any good) I've read they can increase the deterioration of stock shocks?
Also looking at apex for a cheaper option, I don't drive to aggressive anymore, I have a sim rig and a copy of forza 6 which has helped to calm that down. Lol
So I guess jus a firmer ride.
Thanks for help,
Click to expand...


I'm really impressed with the Apex springs plus they lower the zed more than Eibachs.
 
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