RE: Time to change the suspension <E36>

["Berney, Butch" <butch.berney@xxxxxxxxx>]

Excellent advice. Now I am unsure which way to go on the shocks/springs. On
the other cars I put Bilsteins on (Golf 16V, Ford Escort), I was very happy
with the ride. Of course this was more than 10 years ago, so my tolerance
may be different now. Tastes change as we grow older I guess. Eek!
 
Tough decision.
 
On the steering, it's not so much tramlining as a vagueness on-center, and a
change of direction over bumps. Then again, maybe we are talking about the
same thing, I might be attaching a different meaning to the word. This
started about 3 or 4 months ago and has continued to get worse. I have the
same set of 16" wheels for quite a while now, and this is the second set of
tires on them. Didn't have this problem before.
 
I still have a few days before I start ordering. Thanks for your help, and
for taking the time to respond :-)
 
Butch

- -----Original Message-----
From: Purvis Brad Civ UAVB/DOI [mailto:brad.purvis@domain.elided]
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 2:21 PM
To: Berney, Butch
Subject: RE: Time to change the suspension <E36>



I would be real careful putting sport Bilsteins on this car. I put HD
Bilsteins on my 95 325i with sport suspension and I can tell you the ride
was rougher then my 97 M-3. I think a great deal of your slop may be the
control arm bushings and ball joints/tie-rods. Even though they feel tight
they are probably shot. Tramlining of your car could well be due to the
tire/wheel combination. Did it tramline when you put the ties on, are you
still running stock 15" or 16" or are you running 17"?

I had to take my control arms into the BMW dealer and have the new bushings
pressed in as where I live in north Florida, no one seems capable to do the
work. Took my control arms to NAPA and they pressed the new ones in and
ruined then with a bubba approach.

If you proceed down the H&R springs and sport BS shocks be prepared for a
very stiff ride where you bounce over tar strips.

I would never do this again to my car and yes I was able to compare my 95
with my 97 M-3. My M-3 is a delight to drive and the 95 325i was way too
stiff with HD BS and stock sport springs.

YMMV 
Brad Purvis 
currently with an 
89 325i with no AC 
97 M-3 

- -----Original Message----- 
From: Berney, Butch [ mailto:butch.berney@domain.elided
<mailto:butch.berney@domain.elided> ] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 11:55 AM 
To: bmw@domain.elided 
Subject: Time to change the suspension <E36> 


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