Anybody know the stock spring rates?

[THE VEIN]

Looking for the stock spring rates for the sport and non sport suspension

[oztme]

Hi Mate,

I have a 2005, 3.0d sport, with springs all around.

I have BC racing coilovers, with Front=9kg/mm(500lbs/inch), rear=12kg/mm(671lbs/inch).
Factory sport springs, Front=5kg/mm(300lbs/inch), rear=317lbs/inch. (calculated, not measured)

Please note, I didn't measure the factory springs directly yet; I used this website to calculate them based on measurements I made on my sports springs (removed) with calipers:
Suspension Coil Spring Rate Design Equations Formulas Calculator
and measured the factory springs. The values I got for the factory springs were 170mm mean diameter, 3 active coils, wire diameter 16.75mm on front, torsional modulus 11500000 pound/inch^2.
I could be wrong with my calculations. I reckon the fronts on the Australian 3.0d sport are between 250-320 lbs/inch, based on feel...

Hope that helps. I actually will try to measure them on the car sometime in next few weeks, using corner weighting gear I had from my rallying days; just can't find it under the house ATM...

Cheers,
Scott.

[bigwave2255]

scott, i also believe that the australian delivered x5 3.0d has higher suspension than other markets

i have a 2005 sport and the standard sport suspension was WAY to hard for my tastes ( with 20 inch wheels)

i swapped to ibach coils lowered 1.5 inches and sachs struts and now have a tolerable ride

yep i could go back to 19 inch rims but i like the style of the 20,s

only negative is that standing by itself my car does not look lowered, its only when you see it next to another stock height 3.0d that you can see the difference

however when looking around there seems to be a lot of pre face lift cars that seem to be the same height as mine, they can not be all lowered, maybe saged

[oztme]

Hi Mate,

Thanks for the info. Interesting read.

FYI: I have two sets of wheels. I have 18" snowflakes with 265/55 tyres on them; and I have 20" 214 replicas with 295/40 and 315/35 tyres. I normally run 20". I wanted a 1" drop to bring the height back to what it was with factory 19's.

Ride was OK with factory sport and 20" rims. Things are really subjective tho. I generally want the X5 to feel like my lounge suite and be a midrange-soft ride, yet BMW road feel + handling. The missus has a WRX if I want to go for a fang..

I put the 18" snowflakes on last night, and dropped the pressures down to 29PSI (need to do long drive on weekend). The 18" soft tyre setup, with my coilovers isn't toooo bad. Speedhumps are still hell though. Obviously tyre pressure and sidewall size+construction etc make a difference to ride, and the 20" rims have almost no sidewall ..

Do you know what the spring rate of your eibach coils are? (might be printed on them).

Would be great for xoutpost.com to build up a list of spring rates & suspension configurations, and people's personal opinions on ride quality etc..

Cheers,
Scott.