hunter

Awesome 👏 

Decent box of suspension parts arrived from fcp last week. All the front and rear bump stops, spring pads etc needed in preparation  to refresh the shocks, struts and springs around September. 

On 6/7/2021 at 4:36 PM, jon dee said:

Is there any valid reason for such cars to exist ? I mean, apart from... "because we can!!!".

Cheers...

Yep, technology advancement in the real world. The Late Brake show has a good interview with the owner of Rimac, part 1here where he explains the longer term plan for te company and in Part 2, (havent watched yet) i think he goes into detail about which other manufacturers are using Rimac tech.

Put the back seat of the E39 back together in a freezing garage.🥶

Had the rear guide links replaced this week and rear shocks swapped left to right. 
After Ana alignment at Coombes these changes have made a huge difference to rear end feel. I no longer have the sliding rear end feel and the car is no longer leaning like it was in the rear  

 I also noted a rattle with the back seat out this was a worn rear sway bar link, so replaced this today too. Not a hard job in the garage just tight for tools. 

now to put the back seat back together and save for new suspension 👍
 

Added some yellow LED lights to the E39. A lot more vibrant than the OE ones. 
 

also purchased a new rear sway bar link to replace the rattling one I found the other day. 

Tbh bilsteins have a pretty patchy reputation from why I’ve been reading across the models with many reports of harsh performance. What model have you used, Jared?
 

koni yellows I’d be happy with as had these in my E46. Doing some searching tonight I see demon tweeks seems to be one of a small amount of places that have fronts and rears.  

Ultimately i’d rather spend the money knowing what I’m getting than rolling the dice. 

got rear guide links refrshed and shoks swapped this week. it was noted they are quite worn with one leaking. 

The car was aligned today, coombes measured height also and only ~3 mm diff side to side now on their alignment platform. big diff in feeling when driviing too.

With the most worn shock in the left rear i can now hear it wooshing all the time as it compresses and rebounds, the right (old left) is silent)

so, from here i will be saving for new MS2 shocks and springs and other bits for a full refresh later this year.

9 minutes ago, hqstu said:

Did the same last weekend Ben to put all the Bavsound speakers into the 540.  Sounding good now, just need the BlueBus to arrive...

Sweet! Good to hear you like the Bavsound. Nice easy upgrade aye. How far away is bluebus? I’d be keen to check that out once it arrives. 

Removed rear seat from the E39 to access rear shocks. 

Bit of a pita but no broken bits so yay!

Cheers mate. Will keep in mind. Organising a shock swap next week when I’ve got a bit of time so see how that goes and make a plan from there. While they are out I’ll assess how flogged they are. 
 

for comparison I took a fellow club member e39 530 with 2 or 3 year old m sport 2 shocks and springs for a drive Saturday. Was very taught but compliant, was well impressed. Hopping back in mine still felt reasonable but not as “fresh” that’s for sure. 

Does anyone have experience with E39 and KW V2 coil overs?

2 hours ago, BreakMyWindow said:

Can ya feel any play in the rear wheels ? Loose feeling in the rear is usually the lower rear swing arm balljoints. Good idea to replace these along with the upper arms/guide links in one hit.

Didn't notice any when i was wiggling stuff around, and I didnt notice anything with visuial inspection - will recheck more closley on this joint 👍

For clarity @BreakMyWindow you mean the wheel carrier ball joint? 

While investigating a loose feeling in the rear suspension I noticed both rear guide links are shot as well as an exhaust leak. 
will replace the links ASAP as car needs some realignment anyway to correct a crooked steering wheel. 
 

exhaust is a bit of a mystery but the crack is fairly long and not sure how long it has been there. 
 

Yeah man. That cube trim is boss. I had it in my e46 sedan. Cleans up so good. 

Cheers Eagle. Yeah I did a bit more investigation and see that the top mount has the shim installed. 👍

I’m  really in two minds about how much to replace when swapping the shocks over. On one hand it makes sense to me to refresh as much as possible as well as investigate the height difference. 
On the other I wait and replace it all at once after I’ve swapped shocks over and (hopefully) discover new shock will help fix me height issue as well as price of mind. 
. 
I don’t want to put new static shocks in if it right away without knowing if it’s  going to help the height differential as well. If this is the case I’d rather go for something like a KW v2 so I can even out the height. 

I hope I’m explaining this clearly, still recovering from a concussion 🤕 and getting thoughts out clearly is a bit muddly 

On 4/30/2021 at 6:19 PM, Eagle said:

Probably are from my pov knowing what a refreshed E39 feels like. The strut mount rubber can compress over time along with the strut dampening weakening which can lower you.   

Height hasn't chnaged but is still uneven. i removed the wheels today to visualy inspect for obvious differences eg diff shocks. none seen other than both L and R rear guide links have torn bushings / boots so need replacaing. that also probably explans the loose feeling in the rear end / feeling or extra rotation when going around tight corners ( the car feels like its often slide when its not is the best way i  can describe it)

I do plan on swapping the shocks from left to right as mentioned above, while im doingthis i wil also replace all the bump stops and strut top mounts etc,

Cheers

Hmm ok. I’ll re measure myself and compare to previous measurements from last year. If it’s dropped further that’ll tell me. 
 

1 minute ago, Eagle said:

Are you still on the original struts? 

Yeah mate. M sport 2. Quite expensive to replace so I’m wanting to try a few thing unless they are obviously shagged. Coombes checked a year ago at they reported no issues. 

one thing i might try, is to get the left and right suspension swapped over to see if that levels it out theory being low vs high with weight on the swapped high side. 

Thanks Allan. Good info. 

11 hours ago, Allanw said:

 

You can buy "rough road version" rear upper shock mounts, with longer studs fitted (you can also fit longer studs, but why not replace the mount). BMW had factory fitted spacers on the top for rough roads.

I machined up a plastic spacer to go on the top, to lift our E39 with the Mtech suspension.

 

yeah cheers, @Allanw i did a bit of research on the rough road version but cant see how much taller it is than stock anwhere, have asked my local dealer if they know.

Where did you sit the spacer you made? right at the top of the assembly? mine has M Tech 2 suspension . 

My E39 (like my E46 before it) has a ~9 - 10mm difference in ride height between left and right, the right rear being lower.

I know it's "normal" and according to BMW "in Spec" and probably due to gas tank, battery and driver all on the one side, however it bothers me.

On the e46 I had a local suspension shop make a spacer for the spring (which is seperate from the shock) in the E39 the shock and spring are configured in a "coil over" set up, making it a bit more difficult (?)

Has any one resolved the issue described above? IE  i'd love to get a 9mm (edit) of lift with a spacer in their somewhere to level the rear out.

I dont have the desire to go to coil overs.

http://www.speedhunters.com/2021/04/billet-3-rotor-turbo-bmw-m4/

Today I disconnected the reverse bing wires. So simple yet so satisfying.