E53 Sport vs Non-sport suspension (non-air)

[Russianblue]

this is excellent stuff guys.

absentmathis, we should get together sometime. i'd love to get a feel for sport springs. btw, i saw a dead in the water gray e53 getting towed from the middle of Providence Road on Sunday and i was calculating odds in my head....

1) expansion tank/water pump/hose explosion
2) CCV system caught a clot
3) tranny is in limp home mode


back to the topic though. again excellent feedback. i like the 'tiresome' description of the sport springs. were the sport dampers installed as well (presumably YES if this was a factory sport setup from the beginning)?

what kind of eibach springs did you go with? and which struts?

Bilstein B6 = Bilstein HD if i am not mistaken. I've read varying accounts of this setup...both positive and negative results. Perception is everything. I had a pair of Bilstein HD's on another car and LOVED it.

okay, i don't want to beat this to death. i betcha at the end of the day i just go with the stock setup and perhaps upgrade the rear sway and hope to eliminate a tad bit of body roll. anyway, i find that whenever i am driving aggressively enough to make use of upgraded suspension parts in this car, I am also usings BUCKETLOADS of gas. my overall goal with this car is keeping the cost of operation as low as possible and having it last me another 3-4 years (hopefully to 200k, assuming tranny will hold).

[bcredliner]

I hope you don't consider this as beating a dead horse, that's a hangin' offense in Texas.

I checked RealOEM.com Online BMW Parts Catalog for you. In the front--only one sway bar is shown. There is a sport strut to go with Xs with self leveling and/or Xs with suspension settings. Spring part numbers are not listed although there is a note that springs are chosen by options.

In the rear--There is a sport strut listing. It goes with self leveling and/or air bags. and Xs with suspension settings. There are also 2 listings for sway bars that match up to self leveling system and/or air bags and Xs with suspension settings.

I didn't include part numbers as it is too easy for me to make a mistake.

FYI--one of the big mistakes I made getting to where I am on suspension mods was Bilstein heavy duty struts. My X rode like a hay wagon and was very skittish. I took them off and purchased new OEM struts. Note--this is on a 2002 4.6 that already had the sport package which included rear air bags so the HD outcome might be entirely different on yours. That was where I felt BMW engineering was far superior.

For what you want I think bigger front and rear sway bars will be more than enough though you might want to consider a strut tower brace because the X is so heavy. I found it helps more than a strut tower brace does on lighter vehicles and I felt it was a good idea. I feel safer when I am enjoying the handling improvement. Right or wrong, I feel I have extra protection against getting closer to BMW engineering calculations for max stress load. Maybe just for sake of comparison, check out aftermarket sway bars as the Eibach diameter I have is much larger than any OEM bars.

I hope this demonstrates my only intention is to be helpful.

[Russianblue]

I like the idea of the strut tower brace. I was thinking about that the other day....especially given the thought and apparent importance placed on the stiffening pate. there is obviously some chassis flex involved. i have had good experiences with strut braces in the past as well. the biggest drawback being the need to remove it for many common engine procedures.

i discovered the same when looking at part numbers for springs. basically they are not available. there are different shocks/struts for my truck depending on sport vs non-sport package.

as it pertains to my 5/2003 3.0i, the part numbers for:

non-sport OEM struts
31316764603
31316764604

OEM sport struts
31316764605
31316764606

Interestingly, cross-referencing these struts brings up ZERO additional applications, meaning they were used ONLY on the e53 x5 3.0i.

doesn't look like there are many aftermarket sources for the sport struts. this search is beginning to look rather fruitless. i am not interested in a $1000 pair of front struts from BMW. Will probably settle on non-sport OEM's and (as i mentioned) beef up the rear sway. at some point...possibly 18" wheels, which would be similar to a mild spring rate upgrade.

i appreciate your helpfulness and apologize for coming off snotty.

[bigwave2255]

my vehicle is a sport model, so was all standard sports stuff, it originally had 19 inch staggered rims and i changed to 20,s

to my knowledge there is only one listing for lowered eibach springs, and the 1.5 inch lower is not very noticable unless next to another standard height car.

however the ride quality was dramatically improved, i also fitted Sachs struts to the front ( touring from memory) and bilsteins in the rear, i cant remember the model.

all said the ride was superior and no loss of handling, car sits very flat.

however the thing that has effected handling was once i had lowered it the rear negative camber became excessive and at the max adjustment was eating the inner edges of the tyres, and yes all the rest of the suspension was checked and in good order.

i purchased the KMAC camber correction kit and now have the ability to dial out the massive rear negative camber, so my rear tyres are wearing even side to side, down side of this is that the handling has become a little more understeer, when pushed.

but for me a small price to pay to save my tyres, 315x20 tyres are not cheap in Australia.

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by bigwave2255

.......i also fitted Sachs struts to the front ( touring from memory) and bilsteins in the rear.......

I've never been a fan of mixing shock/strut brands or damping rates front to rear when swapping out OE parts. But, to each their own.

[o3x5e53]

Originally Posted by bigwave2255

i would not consider upgrading to sport springs, as in my case i found them tiresome

every imperfection in the highway reminded me that this car has NO suspension.

i would / and did replaced my springs with eibachs and replaced the struts/shocks.

now i feel for me anyway that i have the best of both worlds, good handling and a decent ride quality.

i have also had a KMAC rear camber kit fitted and i have to say while my tyres are now wearing beautifully however the handling has dropped off a little not having that factory negative camber

What is the factory rear negative Degree is it suppose to be? Cheers.

[Ricky Bobby]

^Between -1 and -1.9 degrees IIRC

[notatdi]

I bought oem lesofjors springs from BMA and installed bilstein HDs.
Love it, handles great