Lowering an X5 5.0: Eibach or H&R?

[ALPINE_X5]

If you lowered it two years ago I am not sure if H&R included the adjustable links then. I just lowered mine after holding off for a while and it had the links. There are after market links but I think you can H&R to send you a pair if it wasn't part of your kit then.

I have looked at other wheels and outside of some expensive aftermarket wheels i really like the style 214's the most for my X5. First car/SUV I haven't put aftermarket wheels on. Lowering really helps it out.

[Sylvan Lake V35]

Originally Posted by ALPINE_X5

Sylvan - if that is your new adjusted height then you need to raise it one turn more and it should level your car out to a close to stock ride. Glad they found the problem. I hope that resolves your issues. Mine is fine and no one complains about it. It's amazing what 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch can do. That's what she said

No that's the pre-fix height....but everything is better with pictures I am going to remeasure it when I get to my parking spot in my garage tomorrow. The shop said he was at 65mm then went back and gave it two more turns up. If it feels rough after my road trip tomorrow I may give it another turn or two.
I never expected it to ride like stock over the past 15 years i have been modding vehicles i have either lifted or lowered most of them and they never ride like stock after but I have seen a few guys post that they were getting near stock ride characteristics. I will live with some poor ride charateristics but before I was wincing every time I saw a bump and I am sure the rear caught air on at least 2 occasions in the week I drove it.

[ALPINE_X5]

Video of air or it didn't happen.

When I had set it to the recommended settings from H&R the back was lower than expected. On the smooth roads I was like yeah and on the bumps I was like oh crap that is dental work in the making.

It squatted in the rear as well which caused my headlights to point more upwards. I changed to 6K HID bulbs at that time and thought man they kinda suck. I went to my friends shop to realign to a better tire wearing alignment spec but not lose too much of the handling characteristics. While I was there I raised it up and gave it a couple of turns and it measured out the 27.5" from bottom rim to bottom fender and it leveled it out. That night I took the SUV out and BAM there was light on the ground. Haha.

There is always a give and take with springs and lowering. But I can live with this mod. I hope that you will find the right setting for your X5.

[dukesaquariuM5]

^^ pics please
Im lowering mine next week
Thsnk you alpine x5

[ALPINE_X5]

It's in the shop for maintenance until tomorrow. I will shoot a few shots this weekend.

[Sylvan Lake V35]

Originally Posted by ALPINE_X5

Video of air or it didn't happen.
5.

The first one was a set of train tracks, they actually dropped down so when I hit the pop up on the other side it felt like the rear wheels came off the ground....it was scary I was going about 120-130km/hr. the second time I had my family in the truck and there was a kick up for an over pass, my 4yr old was about to take a drink of milk when I hit it...milk went every where front seat/back seat all over then she was crying why would dad do that to me looking back it was funny. It may not have litterly caught air but I bet it was awful close with no air in the bags nothing would absorb the bumps it the rear.

[ALPINE_X5]

That's funny. My bad experience with air and thinking I might have cracked my car in half was when i played around with my Cayenne's ride height adjustments. I made a switch to enable parking height and also used lowering links to get the SUV to sit very low and the switch kept it there. It handled like it was on rails on a smooth surface. I left it on to ride around and it was soooooo rough going over even a quarter. I had 22" wheels as well which did help. I was going about 40-50 over some railroad tracks which looked smooth going into them from my side. It was a set of new tracks I haven't been over before. The other side was a small dip and then a minor bump. With a normal height and going over it slowly it would have been a little jarring but nothing bad. But with my settings I think the SUV's rear bounced up and shifted weight and body and my water went up about 2-3 inches and crashed. Needless to say that was the last time I drove over railroad tracks at speeds greater than 10mph. To be honest I don't miss the Cayenne except full air suspension that I had. It was nice to adjust front and back evenly at a flip of a switch.

[ZooyorQ]

I removed the HR links and instead lowered the car using the BMW GT1 tool, I took the measurements (and crap if I can't remember what they were) with the H&R lowering links in (at 67mm if I recall) and raised it 10mm from there. The car now evened out, i'm not longer blinding people at night with my lights pointing up, the truck looks level.. and the ride is sooo much better.

I decided to use a VAS 5054 I had to trick the suspension on my Bentley into thinking it was sitting higher than it should. When you run the calibration it will ask what height the car is currently at (as a basis) , its expect 395mm (in the case of the Bentley GT, which is hub to fender edge).. if you lie and say the current height is 410mm it will lower the car 15mm thinking it is NOW at 395mm. Same thing on the X5 with the BMW GT1 tool.

But the only difference is with the Bentley (like the Porsche) is you have a high/low setting. So I have the Bentley "low" settings programmed on the high button and the low button is now programmed for 15mm lower than it should be. It looks great, rides great.. and if I want another 10mm or so of travel/comfort I can just raise the suspension from in the car.

Wish the X5 had air suspension in the front so I could do the same.. maybe in the New X7/X8?

[ALPINE_X5]

Sylvan - have your Front Thrust Rod Bushings checked as well. I was getting a clunking noise from what I thought was the rear. It turns out that the noise was traveling from the front to the rear. Just got my SUV back today and I can tell you that it made a big difference on feel and ride quality. It wasn't bad to start but this feels even better. Just have it checked out when you get a chance.

Dukes - I will get you some pictures tomorrow. I just got the SUV back today and it was later and gray outside. I can take pictures tomorrow really quick and give you an idea on how my SUV sits.

[ALPINE_X5]

Dukes here is a picture if the lowering if you can make it out.