"Lowered" the 4.8is
 

Had a local indy recalibrate the ride height today. Process went smoothly and they helped me by setting up some other options as well.

I wanted to go with a decent drop but not too extreme - didn't want to risk bottoming out the suspension, rubbing, or causing unnecessary wear.

After driving it the vehicle does feel a little 'flat' - not tight as a drum like before, and it does lean a bit more as well. Effectively a lower spring rate due to the lower psi in the system. Honestly not sure if I like the result, even though it does look really good. I'll have to put some more miles on it to decide.

So on to the pics - here it is at ride height:
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-1.jpg
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-2.jpg

Entry Mode
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-6.jpg

Normal mode (ride height)
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-7.jpg

"Off Road" Mode
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-8.jpg

Love the UFO flying low.
Top it off with the ACS rep/oe roof spoiler and delete the rear wiper..... You be all set.

I am considering removing the rear wiper - is there a plug for it available from BMW?

Chalk this one up to the looks over function debate...looks great :thumbup: ...and i'm not a fan of the rear wiper delete.

o/t...my ideal bmw sav would have to be the E53 4.8iS fitted with the ///M engine/trany :D

Or an E53 with KW coilovers and an M5 V10 with SMG :)

I think I'll be reverting to regular ride height - entry mode is low enough at factory settings to look good cruising - I just wish it stayed that low up to about 40mph instead of 25.

I suppose the InTrax module would be the way to go, but at $900 it is just not worth it. Would rather wait and get coilovers some day.

How many mm did he lower normal ride height?

I didn't actually measure it but I would say about 1" lower than stock ride height.

It is about the same as the lowest setting from the factory.

Suspension lowering has been a difficult journey lasting two years for myself already. Should get it tweeked right in may. Looks real nice in all black sitting low.

Damn you, that looks awesome!

Now I wont be able to resist spending money on lowering mine.

For some reason in the first two pics the X5 looks really long and mafioso. I like it.

Haha thanks!

I think the iPhone lens adds a bit of a fish eye effect towards the edge of the frame :D

Nice job. Is there a kid by driver side rear window? ;)

http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/low-032910-2.jpg

I think they sit better at normal ride height, i think the standard set up gives it a much better stance and better look overall!

i think 4x4's which are lowered just look like they have a saggy suspension.... nice car though

Looks SWEET! Good Job! Curios to know what height your at.
Can you measure bottom of rim up to the fender? and give us the #?
Cheers

I really like the look - not sure about changing the ride though, I like the stock ride feel. Any worries about if it would impact the warranty although you are probably out of factory time now. I went with an extended warrenty and wouldn't want there to be an issue with payment from them due to a mod. Looks great.

Nom3cry..A dinan front strut bar will help with the body leaning if you don't already have one... BTW the car looks fantastic..I say keep the new look..

This is what I did with mine. Had the normal ride height set to the default entry mode height.

if the car is kept this low a set of eibach antiroll bars would work well with this. even a set of KW shocks for the rear will give some of that rebound back. It looks great but the functionality does go down the drain with the oem parts

Yeah, you're probably right. However, the X being basically being used to get groceries in my familly - not gonna bother. It still handles good enough for us.

Now, if I'm gonna be doing some of that canyon racing in the other post then okay! :D Probably have to remove everything like back seat, sliding tray, kid seats, groceries, strollers .... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Eh, maybe upgrade those anyways later. Just not a high priority right now.

I thinks she looks amazing! :DDropped my beast as well with KW Coilovers..... Nothing like the look of a lowered stance E53.....one mean bitch!!

Rich:thumbup:http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/DSC_0351.jpg

compliments of KYZ...fall meet last sept!

Does anyone no where you can buy the Intrax module?

what rims are these?

Nope just my gangsta lean seat (or so my friends say) lol

Not really a 4x4 so it gets away with it :) I know what you mean though. When we were setting it up we had it a bit lower and it looked really odd. Without a bit of wheel gap it looks broken.

Sure can, was planning on it as soon as I get out to my shop.

The impact on the ride is not worth the look, unfortunately. I do have the factory warranty through December, and CPO after that, so will be reverting it back shortly. I bought this because of the excellent ride and handling characteristics, I think if I want to lower it I will have to get the KWs if I want to retain or enhance the handling.

Does it really help that much? I figured the chassis was pretty stiff already but I suppose it could help.

The roll bars are on my list. Seems none are listed for the 4.8is so I am concerned about compatibility issues.

Unfortunately I drive like a maniac at all times and want the best possible handling so I can't settle for this. It will be fun to cruise around for a bit though.

How is the ride quality with the KWs? Do you know your spring rates? I think I will be going that direction once my warranty is up.

Raise it back to the orignal ride height; it does not look good to me and BMW did not design this model to be riding low and dirty. Raise her back or the BMW Gods are going to be pissed.

nom3cry- your right its not a 4x4, its a big car:D, i wouldn't lower it but if i did and as you said , you defo need a decent gap between the tyre and arch still otherwise it wouldn't look all that at all... but then again everyone has different tastes so each to there own!:cool:

I could get the same look by putting it in entry mode but I feel really pretentious when I do that haha

Haha, do you not like the look of the standard height? Do you not fancy ally running boards?

I beg to differ....the BMW Gods will love you for peeling back the onion and releasing what is hidden underneath it all......hence the reason for mods.....

Now i'm not saying you should lower....i'm saying in my humble opinion that a lowered stance e53 is easy on the eyes ...... also lowering my X was not for low and dirty but rather for performance in conjunction with my many many other tasty mods.....as was the case here ...I believe....

but as I always pre/post face.....to each their own!





Rich:thumbup:

These are style 215 reps.....

Also ...the ride on the KW's is fine....IMO better than regular ride height....to much play for my taste at regular height.

Rich:thumbup:

Hmm interesting, iv not got any play at all really, I wouldn't mind having a drive of a lowered x5 to see the difference though...does the steering feel sharper?

:D:DActually...a bad choice of word on my part....I should not have said too much "play".....let me say it this way.....once lowered the drive is firm and super reactive to how you control/steer the car....bumps are quick and firm. Maybe once Tom and justin reead this they could give input as well.. :D

Rich:thumbup:

:DDonone69, come take a ride in my X! hehehe youll "feel" the difference.

After driving it more and more I am really not liking the feel. It is not nearly as planted as before and just not 'right'

I think I'll head back to the shop tomorrow and see if they can set it back to normal. I was going to wait through the weekend but it is really an unsettled feeling to drive it as is.

I have noticed a lot of heads turning though - had an e60 M5 revving at me and a couple of different FX35 drivers doing double-takes. Never really thought I'd get that from driving a black X5 :)

How does it feel at the lowest setting when it was normal? do you mind taking measurements of that setting? rim to fender wise. I must say your X was riding pretty low :) I liked it.

I haven't really run it at the lowest setting, there is barely any gap to the inner fenders.

The ride would be a similar feel to letting a lot of air out of the tires. Not sure how else to describe it. At parking lot speeds the lower setting feels fine, and that's why I figured it would work to adjust it this way. But once you get on the freeway or on some twisty roads it shows it's downsides pretty quickly.

I'll plan on measuring everything before resetting it.

Brian we can try tomorrow but we have been really busy at the shop Call first as we are backed up. To many BMW's and Mercedes to fix and not enough time

Hey Seth - cool to see you found the site.

I'll give you a call to set it up, if not tomorrow no biggie.

Once u are happy with the height please post from bottom of rim to fender.

Do you plan to tow with the X? I talked a local BMW tech who tows with his X and he advised me not to lower my 4.8 for this reason. Just a thought...


Otherwise, I was very tempted as well but gave up on the thought...

sweet i'll book my flight :D see you in 12 hours:thumbup:
what colour is your car?

:) haha Ill be the one holding the sign "Donone69". I have done quite a bit to the X and I love the feeling. You can't do one thing and not the other, should all tie in together. Stratus Grey :) only offered in 06' cheers

:rofl: haha i'll keep a look out for the sign, i think grey is the best colour, they do one in a sterling grey in the uk, i cant tell if it's the exact same colour from your pic but i absolutly love that colour and thats the colour i would be getting if i was to get a 4.8is for sure

First off it looks awesome lowered, but I will agree with you on the feeling of not being quite as planted. I have been doing some adjusting on my 4.6 which has air springs in the back only. I recently returned it back to stock and it seems to handle much better and is more planted.

Would it make sense to say that lowering the X with air springs by letting out air basically is changing the spring rate?

Which kit do you have H&R? I would just go to the preferred height that they specify, which i believe is 1".

IDK. If there was a company that had shocks with shorter piston travel for lowered x's than we could compare the difference in rebound. once that bag is lowered by an inch or so that shock will not be able to do much at that range in drop. It seems that a 1.5 inch drop is the max on air bags but the proper shocks need to be installed(such as kw or ac schnitzer). Best bet is deleting air suspension(not realistic) and putting in front and rear kw coilovers. My idea was to put the kw coilover in the rear while leaving the air suspension and tuning it to the point where the coilover will operate in harmony with the airbag, but precise measuring has to be taken

Yes I will be towing with it - I'm sure that would only exaggerate the issues.

Yup, I think it effectively lowers the spring rate.

Hey did you do a wheel alignment after the drop? and curious what they charged you..my dealer quoted 225

So what kit did you use to lower the X?I had a 4.6is and now i'm buying a 4.8is soon and i'm lower it and such but wondered how sine the all 4 corner air suspension?
LMK
BTW your car looks straight OEM+ Baller status:thumbup:

Unless I am missunderstanding what you are saying, you don't need a kit to lower a 4.4is. Just find a quality Indy shop to loweer it using s gt1

^what he said :)

What is the GT1?

Gt1 is the IBM think pad and bmw's old programming software. Best bet is kW coilovers and delete the whole airride. I have the kw's and the ride is sweet. Not as stiff as Oem but still very good IMO.

True but just to clarify, in case someone doesn't read the whole thread, the ride quality will suffer.

At first it didn't bother me and I didn't notice the difference as much as its not my daily driver. However, after more time, I noticed its more bouncy and just felt a little unsettling when there were a lot of road imperfections.

I originally set my default ride height to the lowest access setting. Now I have it just a bit lower than stock - and I still don't like it at times. I might just set it back to stock, we'll see.

It can still carve corners but I know I lost some of that a little bit.

I've got a 4.6is and since I can't raise it up for winter, my next plan was to lower it for summer. So far, I'm leaning towards KW adjustable front and let the airbags level out the back end but did I hear correctly that I can delete the air suspension completely or is that only an option in other models? I was under the impression I didn't actually have regular coilover suspension in the rear.

Yes, you can delete the air suspension completely (front & rear air or rear air only). I would not leave the rear air and do the KW fronts only - do both if you're gonna do it at all.

Does my vehicle even have front air suspension? I thought there was purely just rear air on my X5. I need to be schooled on suspension options for my vehicle because clearly, I don't know enough about it. I'd imagine there would be a huge wieght saving by deleting the air ride suspension from the rear of my vehicle.

No, I don't believe you have front air but I wanted to make clear that it doesn't matter - you're ABLE to delete whatever air suspension system that you have.

The main point is that if you're changing things out in the front anyways, why would you leave the rear air - especially for those that have air in the front AND rear (not necessarily your X).

Why would you want to lower an SUV anyway?

If you want to really carve corners, get a 911, S2000, NSX, etc. etc.

I think it's more because some of us are tinkerers and can't leave anything alone. There is a better suspension system available for a vehicle we own so why not make our lives more complicated by removing stuff and replacing it with better stuff. It sounds silly put like that but i believe that where this is a will, there's a way to improve something. I friend of mine's father bought an Enzo and then had it shipped to Germany where they replaced the perfectly good engine it came with, re-routed the exhaust, intake, rear air defuser and a tons of other bits and pieces just to be able to say that he now has the worlds fastest ferrari. It was the feature car at Race The Base where it went head to head in a drag race against an F-18 fighter jet as a fund raiser to raise money for breast cancer and a couple of other good causes. Had he just left it alone, in this particular case, he wouldn't have had the drive to put together a fund raiser. Who knows, maybe I'll enter into a Cannonball Rally with my suped up X5 and blows the doors off of some of the competition because I couldn't keep my X5 stock.

I kind of went off a little there but the modding bug is in my blood and the excitement created when faced with logistical challenges keeps my hunger for cars alive. We all need a project car/SUV and I'm glad I have one for the summer and one for the winter.

I understand the mod bud thing. I'm guilty of it also.

But lowering an SUV just doesn't make sense. If anything, you LIFT an X5, not lower it, put a center diff, fatter tires, etc.

And your friend's story is interesting but unless you had the same amount of cash and time as he does, then it's a different story.

Lowering an X5 makes perfect sense. It is an on-road performance SAV and it has the reputation it has because of its awesome handling - lowering it accentuates it's qualities.

Unless you are on some really rough trails there is plenty of ground clearance, and raising it up with a center diff (lol) would be completely ridiculous because there are a ton of other vehicles that are much better suited to off-road duty.

In either case, it doesn't make sense, does it? Use the X5 for towing, etc... and get a "real handling car" for handling, and tow it to the track.

Oh and lowering does NOT necessarily mean better handling. Most people lower for bling...this thread is a perfect example of it.

Your sig is a perfect example of bling, not my thread.

Since the 'lifted X5' thread went over the very limited options of raising your X5, lowering your X5 for handling purposes does make a little more sense. If this was just a standard SUV, they wouldn't have fitted the 4.6is with the same size rims and tires as are on the back of a Lamborghini Diablo, not kidding, my buddy has one. And put 'W' rated tires on it for towing purposes, not to mention it having the capabiliity to do 155mph. This is simply not a towing SUV only, though it probably does it well also.

YouTube - Bmw X5 le mans V12 LMR engine 700 hp by Hans Joachim Stuck
He's a video clip of our vehicles with upgraded suspension, slightly modified by a modder. LOL

I don't disagree. My two cars are bling and I'm not hiding it. My M3 and 996 weren't. Your point?

A lowered SUV = bling.

Yeah, modded by the factory BMW race team. Think about it.

You don't know what bling means. :thumbup:

I guess so. You obviously do as you're lowering your X5 and making it useless... bling. :rofl:

Happy Holidays!

Looks good OP :thumbup:

1/2" lower suspension = USELESS :bustingup I guess that means that towing a 6000# boat, picking up cars from around the midwest, taking my mtn bike to trailheads, going camping down logging roads in northern MN, and going through deep MN snow without issue, are all irrelevant uses for an SUV

It is lower than your truck and is used far more purposefully than you could ever dream of. Get over it :rofl:

Pics of it's uselessness :yawn:

http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/x5-excalibur.jpg

http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/3110-x5.jpg

Good thing the air suspension can raise it up if I need it! Pretty useful!
http://www.nom3rcy.com/X5/x5-blizzard4.jpg

Thanks :thumbup:

Right, take pics of it so you can post it in the forums to see how "useful" it is. Take pics of it so people can see how cool it looks lowered, yet in this thread, people admit that it handles like crap because of the lower spring rate and/or bottoming out.

You don't think mine is useful because you don't see me post pics of me "using" it? smart. More purposefully than I could ever dream of? :dunno:

That's right, get over it.

BTW, did you hook up a hose to the suspension compressor so you can put air in your tires? :rofl: How did that work out for you? Another useless mod... make sure you take pics and post in the forum for the world to see, so we can see how useful it is. :bustingup

What are you, dense? I was the one who said it handled like crap! That's why I had it raised back to a height that didn't sacrifice it's utility! For someone that has such an air of superiority to your posts you sure don't know much about what you're talking about.

Same goes for the compressor. I start a thread asking if something is possible and instead of approaching it as a possibility or even a challenge, you dismiss it because it doesn't fit into your preconceived notions of how I should use my vehicle. You were a worthless addition to that thread, and indeed worthless in this one.

You should just stick to the bodykit threads where you guys can stroke each other's egos without annoying the rest of us.

i say, to each there own. Let's be excited for those of us that don't want to keep their vehicle stock or else this forum would only be filled with clean vehicles that all look the same or mechanical difficulties.

You keep going back and forth with your posts. You were so proud your car is 1/2" lower than mine (hence, you're 1/2" more of a man than I am, I suppose) and now you're reverting back to how it handles like crap in this post?


It's not that it doesn't fit into my preconceived notion of how you should use your vehicle, it just didn't fit my preconceived notion of intelligence.


Bodykit threads? Show me a bodykit thread that I've posted in. :rofl: You seem to be fixated on my sig. Weird. Gotta love forum kids.

Enjoy your 1/2" lower SAV that handles like crap...Oh wait, you raised it back up - nevermind. Did you just lower it to take pics so you can get props for the SAV looking good? bling bling!

BTW, I think you're the only one getting annoyed. I'm having fun...it's all harmless to me, maybe not to your forum ego. I'm going to stop posting before I get warned. :D

You're right about one thing, you are annoying.

Thanks for trashing another one of my threads.

I've never seen someone on this forum pick such a hard line about something like lowering a vehicle 1/2". Is it really that big a deal?? Seriously?? I, for one, am glad you posted pics of it lowered and then raised up again so I could see the difference between them.

Personally, I'd like to see pics of all the cars Icer006 has had like his signature line boasts. Icer006, please start a new thread with pics of all of those cars. I just want to see what kind of taste you have over all.

Lowering my X5 is within top 3 on "To Do" list. I plan on using the H&R springs that drop it 1.2" because they are supposed to be closest to stock ride quality.

Why have you had problems?

Your info will be appreciated.

There is another thread on Xoutpost that has some pix. I looked at it a few weeks ago. Can't find it now. Anyone able to direct me there?

Norm

the problem , as i see it is that lowering an air suspension vehicle is done by lowering the air pressure in the suspension bags, much like lowering the air pressure in your tyres, the handling becomes woeful

if you have an air suspension vehicle and want to lower it you would be better of reverting back to springs all round as has been previously posted

my personal opinion is that the Op gave a balanced and detailed description of his experience and as such added value to this site, doing stuff, experiencing the pitfalls and thereby saving the rest of us the time and money .

as for style im also of the opinion that slightly lowered with 20,s is about perfect.

i also agree that the x5 is NOT and off road vehicle, and is more a high performance ALL road vehicle

thats why i keep my old XJ Cherokee with 4 inch lift and big tyres for my OFF road adventures

ok i,m done

What are the settings?

Wow, where'd this thread come from? Someone's been doing some serious back-reading, eh?

I reset my normal ride height ('02 w/4wheel self-level) maybe about an inch lower for a little while maybe 6 or 8 months ago, but I didn't feel it was as well "sorted" as the normal height. That is, of course, a subjective thing, but I was interested in how the lower stance and COG would feel in regular driving; I didn't do it for appearance. My daily driving doesn't involve potholes or terrain that would otherwise cause concern, but after a month or 2 I set it back. In the non-scientific "I'm the driver, and I like this better" set of criteria, I preferred the feel and response at stock height.

fyi at the lower ride height, even driving on surface streets with no adverse impacts to the suspension, I didn't think it necessarily rode any better.

Anyone from Tampa Fl that can lower my X5?