[Fundguy1]

I now have 220,000 miles and was on stock sport suspension from the factory. Car is tight again and I lowered rear 1/2", front an inch. Alignment is in 30 min. Drove it 30 miles on curvy bumpy roads and let it sit overnight. Next is AKE black subframe bushings, M3 front control arms, and Manzo rear toe arms. Anything else? I have WaveTrac LSD, rear diff lockdown, and M3 front strut brace already.

[Volasko]

At that mileage I would assume any of the suspension bushings would be well past worn out. I would start there.

[Fundguy1]

Just got coilovers. Ordered M3 front control arms. Installing rear subframe bushings. Getting Manzo rear toe control arms. Which others?

[SHEEDI]

Guys, pardon me caz I am new to suspension thing, what are benefits of replacing stock suspension and lowering the car and installing M3 Control arms?

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Just got coilovers. Ordered M3 front control arms. Installing rear subframe bushings. Getting Manzo rear toe control arms. Which others?

I harp on it a lot but gotta say the bushings in the trailing arms when worn will let rear caster go all over the place exacerbating wander under wot. Spherical bearings are pretty easy to install and not expensive really. Would leave only the inner lower camber arm bushing to be replaced with factory new or weld-in spherical bearings. Doesn't impact ride really but it does tighten up handling, fwiw.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by SHEEDI

Guys, pardon me caz I am new to suspension thing, what are benefits of replacing stock suspension and lowering the car and installing M3 Control arms?

Flatter cornering and more responsive steering mostly.

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by SHEEDI

Guys, pardon me caz I am new to suspension thing, what are benefits of replacing stock suspension and lowering the car and installing M3 Control arms?

Better handling, firmer feel, lower center of gravity. M3 control arms are more twitchy and want to jump into cornering more. I lowered just slightly. Front 1", rear 1/2" to even it out. It's a daily driver so I have to deal with speed bumps etc so I didn't want to go lower.

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by justpete

I harp on it a lot but gotta say the bushings in the trailing arms when worn will let rear caster go all over the place exacerbating wander under wot. Spherical bearings are pretty easy to install and not expensive really. Would leave only the inner lower camber arm bushing to be replaced with factory new or weld-in spherical bearings. Doesn't impact ride really but it does tighten up handling, fwiw.

I'm hesitant on spherical bearings as I've heard stories of noise and wearing out rapidly. I do need to know precisely what bushings need replacement. I have no clue even where they are or what they're called. I also don't know which are and aren't available in spherical. And which should stay oem. For example I saw transmission and motor mounts that were firmer but found out that if you do one but not the other they fall apart rapidly and if you do both its high NVH vs stock with next to no benefit. Flipside subframe bushings the stiffer the better. I stopped short of solid as I heard you get some but minimal NVH. I don't mind a firm ride but I want it quiet as a church minus my music inside the cabin.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

I'm hesitant on spherical bearings as I've heard stories of noise and wearing out rapidly. I do need to know precisely what bushings need replacement. I have no clue even where they are or what they're called. I also don't know which are and aren't available in spherical. And which should stay oem. For example I saw transmission and motor mounts that were firmer but found out that if you do one but not the other they fall apart rapidly and if you do both its high NVH vs stock with next to no benefit. Flipside subframe bushings the stiffer the better. I stopped short of solid as I heard you get some but minimal NVH. I don't mind a firm ride but I want it quiet as a church minus my music inside the cabin.

These are factory sealed (actually E46 M3 parts machined to a narrower body) that won't wear quickly like cheap ballend sphericals (link includes RealOEM image of where they're located):

http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerw...set-p2028.aspx

To be clear it's possible to have ballend spherical bearings that won't wear out quickly but they're stoopid expensive. And they're nowhere near quiet so I wouldn't recommend them anywhere on a car you want to be street level quiet.

The camber arm spherical is more hardcore but it makes a big difference in making the handling a lot more solid and predictable. Also factory sealed and quiet but installation costs aren't low and requires someone with seriously high quality welding skill:

http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerw...kit-p1921.aspx

I have both installed and they make a big difference along with Aurora Race Performance spherical ballends on the toe arms.

Also have the spherical bearing installed in the M3 control arm which is also fully sealed:

http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerw...kit-p1921.aspx

Makes a yuugggge difference.

All of these are usable on the street and they don't make any extra noise or add any vibration that I can tell but then the suspension pretty much swamps it I suspect.

They also make full spherical ballend bearing front end and upper rear link replacements for full race cars on the same page as these parts. Really makes for a loud suspension with relatively short street life for anyone completely daft enough to run them on the street.

Anyway, with the above linked parts, M3 control arms and upper rear links, and a stiff enough suspension the car will handle like it's on freakin rails and still be perfectly streetable, or well at least not any significantly noisier.

Definitely right about the engine, trans, and diff mounts, they all need to be roughly equally stiff to avoid whipsnapping the driveline under wot and heavy decel which is what tears them up - gotta make them all the same to get any life out of them.

Making these bushings and mounts stiffer is definitely a guaranteed way to increase NVH but I guess it depends on where one's threshold is. Personally I wouldn't recommend it unless you want a street legal track car and everything that comes with it. There is a helluva advantage though, loss of driveline windup makes the car a shitload quicker by putting all the torque to the road right f'in now and that makes the car substantially quicker.

Really have to have a solid flywheel and dual plate racing clutch to take advantage of this though and that makes the car virtually unstreetable but damn does it ever make for a seriously fun car to track. Sane people know better.

[edit]
Forgot to mention Vorshlag camber plates (no, they're not noisy in the slightest) so you can easily adjust camber and caster, the latter set to full positive will yield racecar-like turn-in with highest dynamic camber.
[/edit]