JohnM575

What brand and model of tyres, and how many mm of tread left?

I have found the re003 pretty good , actually really good

I have 17" RE003 245's on my E36 325i - they are an impressive tyre for the price, however when I was looking for them in 19's for the M3 they were a lot more pricey in comparison to the highly rated Dunlop Sport Maxx's in the same size.

you wanna sell a set

I'm keeping them sorry so I can run square all around...once I do something with the ride height as it is currently on stock springs and shocks.

I'm currently running Eagle F1's on the front (245/35R19) and Dunlop Sport Maxx (275/30R19) on the rear of my M3. The Eagle F1's came brand new with the set of 19" M3 wheels purchased hence the mix n match. Both so far have performed admirably in the dry and wet. Try shop around as much as possible for tyres. Beaurepaires quoted me $540 per tyre for the Sport Maxx's, Discount Tyres did them for $390 each fitted and balanced. More than enough tyre performance for the open roads!

Contact Tom, he did have a set in 18" a while ago - don't know if he found a buyer for them though

I got those 18's off Tom, and also got a genuine set of 19's off one of the BMW buy/sell NZ facebook pages. 3 sets all up! Unfortunately they don't come up often hence why I snapped them up when I could.

Do it Tom!

Glad to hear you got a M3 after all!

Picking it up tomorrow. Church St had to do a few things to the car prior to selling it. New rotors and pads, new windscreen washer pump, new WOF, along with a few other things.

I paid 1300 from bm workshop for oem front disc and pads

For E46 M3 rotors and pads?

The dealer just had to replace these on the M3 I purchased off them. Something like $1,800 for front rotors and pads before labour...ECS Tuning or Pelican Parts would be your best bet I imagine.

Good luck with it I've had two before so I know they're nice!

This case was more of a stuff and communication error on the dealers end so I have no qualms over this situation

Thanks! I test drove this M3 on the weekend, along with the rough, white wrapped M3 at Fast4's which was some experience haha (salesman talked some nonsense!). When I first read this thread I was worried that the dealer had doubled up with two deposits going down on the one car when you said you had arranged an inspection too.

Were you dealing with Craig also?

Will be interesting to see what the pre-purchase inspection says. On the surface it appears to be very tidy, so hopefully there are no hidden demons underneath.

Going in for pre purchase check on Friday

Did you arrange this through Craig? I paid the deposit on the M3 to secure the car today, and I'm getting a pre purchase inspection at Bellar Motor Works on Friday...

Price for black MSport front bumper? Cheers.

As per the title, I was wondering if someone on here has an Z3 gear lever (and bushings) and ZHP 5 Speed gear knob. The gear change currently has a fair amount of "play", and the gear knob leather has worn through and is looking worse for wear and I am after a knob with a bit more weight to it.

I understand the play may be due to wear and tear internally, but I am keen to see if the new lever reduces that sloppy feel as many people seem to report an improvement when changing the shifter bushings.

Also I would be looking for install for the Z3 lever (or equivalent) if possible. HellBM? Anyone else stock these parts?

Deary me ......... shades of my own hassles 53,000k ago !

Similar prob. here with my E36 Compact, thought I did the right thing by believeing in the "shock" people, the "spring" people, and the "mechanics that know".

WRONG ! ... but its sorted now because I talked to reputable BMW people (not dealers).

I have the best handling, most economically running car that had parts replaced progressively until we got it to where I wanted it.

Sport Bilstein front and Rear, King Spring Sport pack, Mspec sway bars, complete suspension bush change, Toyo tyres, Wheel Align as per Mspec settings.

Contact me direct if you wish please,

and good luck,

Paul - E36

Cheers Paul. I do plan on doing the likes of sway bars, new shocks or full coilover setup, new wheel/tyre combo progressively. I am going to go with new camber arms on tuesday to restore the camber levels to oem specs (around -1.5-2.0deg) as it is the excessive camber which is most likely causing the inner arch rubbing, rather than the shocks being completely shot. Will also get them to address the toe in issue. Then hopefully I will be able to report back next week with some good news!

So back to the original problem:

The car handles like crap - its a baggy old 325 with tired old original shocks with 450,000 km on them and sh*t tyres;; WHAT do we need to do?

What made you assume the car has done 450k?

It's done 139k, and has the majority of its service history (including manual conversion) at Team McMillan. The car has been in the family for over 13 years with all lady owners/drivers prior to myself. Suppose I could have always bought a Subaru that had gone to the moon and back with a big bore and chromes for 1/3 of the price and put a full Bilstein setup in that... Pretty sure I made the right choice.

Answer : Replace the worn out baggy shocks and put some half way decent tyres on it - then go through the suspension rubbers, and.

Can neither confirm or deny whether the shocks are shot or not. I assume they are original though. I have had the car fully loaded (5 people) since putting the new springs in on country roads and haven't bottomed out the shocks yet, so they must have a little life left in them. Of course it rubbed, but I am now confident this will be solved by installing the rear camber arms.

When all of that is done and if we are still not happy bung in some higher rate springs and uprate the sway bars to match. (then you will need to uprate shock rebound to match new spring rate)

If I feel the want/need to invest pretty seriously in the suspension in an old car, I will do it properly. But for the mean time, the spring change is a temporary "upgrade".I have no ambitions of trying to make this a track day car here. It's not built for it (no LSD, low hp, brakes would be fried after 1-2 laps etc). Where as, an M3 would be great for that sort of thing. I think most would struggle to argue that the handling has been negatively affected by putting in the new springs once the rear camber issue is sorted. I guess the best way to put it, is that I wanted a nice touring ride, rather than a race-inspired rock hard ride.

As for the comment about the Ohlins a Tui Beer ad springs to mind - springs are springs and shocks are not::

Enlighten me?

I run Ohlins on my bike as well and yes they are on a different planet from stock bike shocks BUT they need the right spring to work as well.

Shock dont give spring rates, spring rates do, your Ohlins has three damping controls not 3 spring controls and unless you have changed springs they are usually linear springs not progressive.

Sorry, what I meant was that the 3 springs (Yes, linear rate) combine to provide a progessive rate in combination with the shock.

To correct the lowering induced excessive camber the only option is adjustable lower arms

Any brand recommendations? I did a quick TM search: D2, Hardrace and SHA have camber arms for E36/E46's. Unfamiliar with all of these brands so unsure if there is a big difference with quality/durability between the brands.

you said you were a poor student

Being a student just means I have to be thrifty

Bunging the OE springs back in will prove whether it is the new springs or the shocks doing the work , I am assuming you have changed shocks?

Nop, stock shocks. I know I am in effect cutting a corner by not doing the full shock and spring combo at once and that will be addressed in due course. But for the mean time...

A standard E36 set up in good condition handles well and does not wallow so your apparent first assumption that you have to lower to make it handle is probably your first mistake.

Wallowy ride probably was not the spings unless it had some dodgy , baggy or incorrect springs fitted.

I still run the OE (M-sport) springs in the rear of mine and slightly lowered in the front.

(Car is a 328 with 172 kW on 225/45 17 fronts and 245/40/17 rears on M3 rims)

I ride and race ATV's, and over the years I have picked up a thing or two about suspension. Setting up compression, rebound, preload, spring rates etc . Having had a triple-rate Ohlins setup on my bike, it offers a progressive rate of travel (3 springs in 1 shock with different spring rates) which is a damn site better than a linear setup with one spring (rubbish oem suspension bikes are sold from the showroom floor with). A linear rate setup fails to find a happy medium between soaking up the small bumps while offering ample resistance from the larger forces. Same concept goes for a car.

Your second is to continue with the assumption that Mag & Turbo can / will sort it out.

If you want function then:

Set the ride height the same as an M sport or M3 E36 and forget the silly amount of drop in the front and rear and most of your problems will be solved and you should get the handling you want.

I didn't think 20mm at the rear was silly which is where the issue is occuring due to the excessive camber. As a short term fix, would you recommend putting the stock springs back in the rear? Mag & Turbo said the adjustment is now maxed out and cannot dial anymore negative camber out of it...So guess camber arm kit is really the only way of solving that issue.

Rear camber should be -2 max 1.5 is better but the excessive camber you have is due to it being too low.

Toe should be about 3 as indicated on the data sheet not 1.3 as it shows and the left and right toe need to be equal not 0.4 and 0.9 - this means you have more than twice the toe on the right compared to the left.

Get the basics right and then start building from there --

It would also help if you identify exactly what M&T have put in by brand and what model your E36 is.

It is a 1994 BMW 325i, and here is the labelling on the box that the springs came in.

all the info you need is written on the alignment sheet.

Are you referring to a sheet Mag & Turbo are working off, or this printout? It sounds as if the current toe and camber readings could do with a bit of tweaking which may help the rubbing.

What can one deduce from the wheel alignment settings ?- way too much rear camber and not enough toe in on the rear.

The reality of going for fashion over function. Like many others I run bigger tyres on bigger wheels and have no problems with rubbing on my lowered E36.

No points for tyre choice either-- yuk!

What wheel fitment do you have on your e36? Running coilovers?

Tyre's weren't my choice. Yes they are sh*t, I won't hide from that fact at all. I just purchased the car last month off my sister, hence why they haven't been changed. She only used the car for round town city/suburb drivng and for that she couldn't justify putting top of the line rubber on it. Each to their own.

I have also stated I was after function, not form. I want to be able to do big k's with this car, and improve it's handling a little better from stock. Hence, given my budget (univeristy student) I opted for the best progressive rate spring kit avaliable as a compromise from getting a full Bilstein or KW coilover kit. I think I have done a little better than getting Jamex rubbish or superlow king springs, where I'd be ripping off the sump on every little bump.

I am NOT after a "hellaflush, stanced-out and slammed whip". My primary reason for the spring kit was to remove the wallowy/sofa-like handling, by which the springs have provided a noticeable improvement. The guys at Mag & Turbo are baffled somewhat that we haven't got to the bottom of the rubbing issue yet. Their f**k up, not mine. They are doing all the follow up work free of charge.

Have you got any ball park figures from your toe/camber readings on your E36? Could pass it on to them on tuesday to see what adjustments they can do to try get on top of this once and for all...

For the rub on the front you will need to centre the steering rack. A good wheel alignment should sort that out. You can also get steering limiters

Has mag and turbo done a wheel alignment?

I'd get them to do everything or return their product and go about doing it yourself with a different set of springs

Yes Mag & Turbo have did a wheel alignment on the day of install. Next tueday they are doing the 2nd wheel alignment as the springs have had time to "settle" in the past few weeks of driving.

Attached are a few pictures to help out, including the wheel alignment printout.

Anyone able to deduce much from the camber & toe readings? Would mag & turbo be able to make the rears stand up a little more when they re-do the alignment? Would that help the inside arch rubbing?

Hi all,

So I have had the E36 lowered on B&G springs which offer a 50mm drop at the front and a 20mm drop in the rear. Mag & Turbo did the installation but I have had to take the car back there 3 times now to try remedy the problem with no luck! The car is booked in again for next week to try sort it. I emphasised before purchase that I did not ANY issues with rubbing as I am after function rather than form. In response they effectively "guaranteed" there would be no rubbing of any sort with this kit (even fully loaded).

Rubbing is occuring at the rear on the inner arch, and also did a bit on the bumper, where they have trimed back some plastic. The front right also rubs at full lock, very minor but guess VTNZ will still pull you up for it...? Left front doesn't seem to be showing any rubbing whatsoever. Having looked under the each of the rear arches, it seems to appear that the guards are free of rubbing, and sidewall of the tyre does not show any signs of rubbing either. This is all happening without a loaded car on country roads. Once I have 1 or 2 mates in the car, it will do it in 40-50km/h zones on suburb/city streets over the slightest of bumps.

Now, for those who have lowered e36's with either same or similar kits, have you experienced any problem with 225/50/16's ET37? What would you recommend Mag & Turbo/myself doing to sort this problem?

that's one of the standard tyre sizes for the e36

Sorry, I should have said, anyone had rubbing issues with the car being lowered only slightly? As you can probably see from the picture, it isn't the most aggressive drop seen on an e36 (20mm at the rear)...

I've shift kitted my M5 along with H&R lowered springs and K&N filters.

All are a must do in my book but that's just me.

Being a M car it's not too bad stock but I'm always amazed how the sum of small mods changes the car.

Yes you can feel the difference with a after market filter, factory are restrictive. You probably wont feel the difference between a $100 drop in K&N and a $1500 carbon fiber pod filter kit however.

To replace your filter with a BMW OEM item it will be around $70-80 every year, so the K&N reuseable is a no-brainer. Just don't over-oil it when it comes to cleaning time.

Stick with some quality german springs for a slight drop. H&R are some of the best around. As long as your shocks are in reasonable nick then it will be an improvement.

I wasn't sold on the shift kit and shortened weighted gearstick until I drove it. Now I can't believe BMW didn't fit it standard.

Not a direct 325i comparison but the advice still stands I think

Ok, first mod done!

So I did my homework and asked round various places for the best offering for springs for the E36 sedan. I had intended on getting a set of H&R's, but Mag & Turbo said the next shipment would be at least 3 months away, so opted for the B&G sport springs (Mag & Turbo offered the most competitive pricing for springs, install and 2 x wheel alignments & proximity to home) . I did not want to comprimise on quality and go down the shitty Jamex route with linear rate springs, and am glad I didn't. According to the manufacturer, the drop is 50mm front, 20mm rear. I have been having some minor rear quarter and bumper rubbing issues on the left rear with the car carrying a pretty reasonable load(right rear is absolutely free of rubbing). Mag & Turbo have been sorting out by trimming the plastic inside the bumper a little each time. They said there should be no rubbing whatsoever with the car fully loaded; car load of mates,full tank of gas and gear included, so will be sorting this out over the coming weeks.

Here are the before and after pics:

Before:

After:

Overall, I am very happy with the way the car now handles. The progressive rate springs makes the cars ride round town very forgiving and almost feels stock, whilst out on the open road it offers a lot more resistance and has removed the sofa-like handling when being pushed.

I do not know the offset of the wheels, but has anyone else had rubbing issues with 225/50/16's on an E36 sedan?