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Stiff Ride

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I have a E36 318i fully stock standard...I want a stiffer ride without going any lower on the suspension because of my driveway, anything lower than the stock height will mean that I would be having to scrape it everytime I leave and come home.

Is there any options out there? Do I simply change to stiffer springs? or shocks?

Thanks for the advice...

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better shocks (koni/bilstein) to start off with, and then stiffer sway bars. but def the shocks first

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better shocks (koni/bilstein) to start off with, and then stiffer sway bars. but def the shocks first

Thanks for the advice Gus, will get onto that...cheers

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Get the motorsport sway bars.

27mm front and 18mm rear.

huge difference in handling around the corners.

Then get Motorsport shocks or Bilstein/Koni etc.

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Get the motorsport sway bars.

27mm front and 18mm rear.

huge difference in handling around the corners.

Then get Motorsport shocks or Bilstein/Koni etc.

Would that lower the ride height? or is that only through springs?

Ill have a look at the those options...thanks

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And the best source for motorsport sway bars & shock/spring combos is?

I'm looking to upgrade my suspension soon too and prepared to drop to M spec ride height.

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Sway bars will not affect ride height, only springs do.

Nor would shocks? lol...

Im looking to replace/upgrade a few things later this year with a stiffer suspension setup, replace front brake discs with Bembro OEM and change the rear drum brakes to discs from a another E36...hopefully those modifications should bring out the true potential of the car.

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And the best source for motorsport sway bars & shock/spring combos is?

I'm looking to upgrade my suspension soon too and prepared to drop to M spec ride height.

Wreckers for the bars unless you want to pay for new ones at the dealer, shocks/springs - I'd go aftermarket.

Nor would shocks? lol...

Im looking to replace/upgrade a few things later this year with a stiffer suspension setup, replace front brake discs with Bembro OEM and change the rear drum brakes to discs from a another E36...hopefully those modifications should bring out the true potential of the car.

Quite sure shocks shouldn't affect the ride height, just the dampening. Brembo OEM discs should not make a difference at all, they are just made to OEM spec so should be the same as any OE BMW items. I had PBR (Axxis) Ultimate pads and new OEM Brembo discs and it felt pretty much the same as OEM.

Perhaps the drum to disc brake conversion will give you better braking, but I'm wondering if it would be noticeable since most of the braking is done by the front brakes.

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I got Brembo rotors for $195incl from BM warehouse hamilton. I'm not sure if you can get them anymore but if I had to get new rotors, I'll source them from Znoelli.

www.znoelli.co.nz

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leave it and save up for a better car?

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^^Lol

Just drive at your driveway on a slight angle?

I can get up mine with a full car even on an angle without scraping anything.

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^^Lol

Just drive at your driveway on a slight angle?

I can get up mine with a full car even on an angle without scraping anything.

Its like a down hill one and my neighbours drive way has a different height to mine with a massive gap, so its easier said than done lol...

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Get the motorsport sway bars.

27mm front and 18mm rear.

huge difference in handling around the corners.

Then get Motorsport shocks or Bilstein/Koni etc.

One of the things that I have experienced in driving the twisty roads of North Shore, when going around a corner aggressively, sometimes I feel as if the rear wheel of the inside corner is off the ground for a split second...would sway bars mend this issue or simply harder shocks?

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Bigger sways will probably make the problem worse, they keep the car flat by effectively trying to lift the other wheels, you could try a larger front swaybar, but that will increase understeer.

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Bigger sways will probably make the problem worse, they keep the car flat by effectively trying to lift the other wheels, you could try a larger front swaybar, but that will increase understeer.

Hmmm heaps of aspects to consider...I love the current handling and everything, its just the suspeion could be a bit harder and maybe eliminate that uplift problem as much as possible, would wider tires do the trick? When I am planning to put on some 18" later this year, maybe a set of hubs for the rear to even increase the width even more?

Im running the standard 205/60/15...so maybe with some 235/40/18 and maybe a slight hub on the rear, that should be wide enough to overcome this problem without playing too much on the sway bars? I hate understeer lol...

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Don't forget to do a urethane bushings kit !

Control arms, Sway bar links Subframe ect.

Usually Cheap to buy and easy enough to install.

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do you feel the the car has too much body roll?Or that the body roll is ok but overall the car is too soft

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