Installed Eibach springs on non-edc m3.....

[Black Gold]

I just recently installed eibach springs on my e90 m3. There was some good and some bad. Pics of the car can be found in this thread linked below with my new Morr wheels.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11106780

The Good

-the ride height is spot on for a daily driver
-the ride comfort is identical to stock
-body roll significantly reduced over stock
-turn in is sharper and quicker
-great price point

The Bad

-the car feels unsettled over larger bumps
-slow to regain balance after becoming unsettled
-increases suspension travel which i already thought was excessive on the stock m3
-all of the above in a word = more bouncy

Overall, its a good mod, but to me, its incomplete. Prior to ordering i was very concerned about issues with bounciness because of not running properly valved and shortened shocks / struts with the springs. I read a million reviews and almost everyone said the ride is identical to stock. This is sort of correct.

At this point, id say the mod gets a B. I am not satisfied long term with the extra bounciness. I am not sure if the answer is a bilstein sport shock / strut combo, or what. Ideally, an eibach pro system kit setup (matched shocks/struts with eibach pro kit springs) would be perfect. Ive driven this setup on a few different types of cars and its an excellent streetable compromise.

Seemingly, no products like I am mentioning will likely be made for the e9x m3 because of the EDC function that many m3's have. So an eibach pro system kit would either throw codes and not work with EDC and basically not apply for most of the m3's that were sold.

Im not sure what I will do yet, but doubt that this solution will work for me long term. Id be interested to know if anyone has run bilstein sport shocks with eibach springs.

[Maseroche]

Very nice review and as someone who has the Eibach's installed on his EDC M3, i concur as to the slight bounciness felt after the install. As it seems that your M3 is a non-EDC M3, maybe should have installed springs and shocks that were made to compliment each other. No idea if the Bilstein would solve your bounce issues or not but I hope someone has gone that route so you can have their impressions.

[Sleeper519]

You said that you have increased suspension travel? Did you install E36 bumpstops? Otherwise, I thought that the suspension travel would be decreased (shorter, stiffer springs with static distance closer to the bumpstop).

Perhaps it is bouncy because you are now relatively underdamped...

I am curious because I've been thinking of putting on Eibachs also (vs. Dinan).

[Black Gold]

Originally Posted by Maseroche

Very nice review and as someone who has the Eibach's installed on his EDC M3, i concur as to the slight bounciness felt after the install. As it seems that your M3 is a non-EDC M3, maybe should have installed springs and shocks that were made to compliment each other. No idea if the Bilstein would solve your bounce issues or not but I hope someone has gone that route so you can have their impressions.

yes, after thinking and driving some more, i probably exxagerated a slight amount, but still, the extra bounce is noticeable.

the problem is that there are no shocks and springs that are made to compliment each other for this car, and i believe that is due to the fact that most m3s were made with EDC shocks / struts which are too expensive to R and D for most shock / strut companies.

I also hope someone has used bilsteins to see if they would help alleviate the issue. But even then, they wont be perfectly matched to the eibach springs.

Originally Posted by Sleeper519

You said that you have increased suspension travel? Did you install E36 bumpstops? Otherwise, I thought that the suspension travel would be decreased (shorter, stiffer springs with static distance closer to the bumpstop).

Perhaps it is bouncy because you are now relatively underdamped...

I am curious because I've been thinking of putting on Eibachs also (vs. Dinan).

I think there is an issue of semantics here. When I talk about suspension travel, I mean the amount of travel that is encountered every time I hit a major bump. Whereas before the eibach, say a given bump would cause the suspension to move approximately .5 inches, after eibach maybe it now moves .75 inches.

I am not talking about the amount of strut compression that can occur prior to contacting the bump stops. That is a separate issue.

I definitely believe it is because the car does not have shocks / struts that are properly matched to the springs. From reading reviews from other eibach users prior to buying this kit, it seemed like they matched up pretty well, but to me, there is definitely room for improvement.

Unfortunately it doesnt seem like there are any options.

EDIT : I will say that the handling definitely has been improved by a noticeable amount which is awesome. The body roll seems to be all but gone, and turn in is excellent. Also, the steering has weighted up a bit and feels rock solid, less wobble than before. I also got the car aligned at Firestone using my lifetime alignment (yea I know) who did an EXCELLENT job getting the car right in spec. Running 1.4° camber on the front left and right. I will post up alignment specs tonight.

[Maseroche]

I think I saw somewhere that RD do a spring and shock combo but that was a while ago.

The handling has really improved when I put the springs. Noticeable as well as i could feel the front end much better and it wasn't as vague as it felt before.

EDIT: http://www.racdyn.com/IC_01.cfm?ic=1960690650
RD does have a package.

[checkmate]

I have a non-EDC E90 as well and was considering getting the Eibach Springs Now I may need to reconsider...

[kitw]

All you non-EDC folks can just install Bilstein Sports. That will take care of the suspension issues you're feeling on stock shocks.

[Black Gold]

Originally Posted by kitw

All you non-EDC folks can just install Bilstein Sports. That will take care of the suspension issues you're feeling on stock shocks.

Just curious, what is your reasoning for this?

Id feel a lot better if someone had run this setup with success...

[kitw]

Originally Posted by KennyPowers

Just curious, what is your reasoning for this?

Id feel a lot better if someone had run this setup with success...

I've run Bilstein Sports and Eibachs on several other chassis. the RD Sport kit is revalved bilstein sports. I ran H&R coilovers on my non-EDC E93 (which are coilovers built around Bilstein shocks).

I am leaving my comp package car's suspension alone for the time being

[Black Gold]

Originally Posted by kitw

I've run Bilstein Sports and Eibachs on several other chassis. the RD Sport kit is revalved bilstein sports. I ran H&R coilovers on my non-EDC E93 (which are coilovers built around Bilstein shocks).

I am leaving my comp package car's suspension alone for the time being

So there was a tangible improvement from eibach with stock dampners and eibach and bilstein?

Thanks for the info