I have had H&R kit installed for many years. I have 4.6 with 87s and Velocity 17MM spacers. There has been no settling in. Vehicle is still the same height as when springs were installed.

It's inconsequential since our 1st gear is super short as it is. The rest of the gears are still short, only the 8speed gave a good final ratio.

Yes, bigger tires will induce more inertia, but that's not as bad as those who run heavy 20 in ruins.

I don't know what inconsequential is to you. To me anything that reduces 0-60 time, negatively impacts handling and ride is not inconsequential.

As long as the total height of the rim and tire is greater, low ratio gears or otherwise, acceleration time from 0-60 is always reduced. An exception could be if there was one less shift before 60. Of course, the degree of impact depends on how much greater total height is increased.

You are correct that weight of rims is a factor. There might be taller rims/tires that are lighter weight and don't increase total height than what OP has, but, in comparison to other methods of filling the wheel wells it would be an expensive route to go.

I too am leaning heavily toward the Eibachs. A few times each year they come down closer to $300. We put H&R in the E53, but seems like 40-50% of the E70 guys think they're too springy. All the Eibach feedback seemed positive. Anyway...lining up deletes this month, so maybe springs in the spring...

On my other cars, the only approach that truly retained 'performance' was a coilover- so you can retain the same suspension travel, just 'move' it lower Added benefit is to be able to adjust spring rate (linear, progressive) and match that to the damper (Shock).


Not a real thing with X5s I guess. Or more likely nobody tracking X5s so you really dont mind the trade offs.


Wonder if OP talked w Godspeed.

I've spoken with godspeed and the guy who answered was pretty rude. Didn't really seem to be motivated to sell their products or provide any other info. Basically he said buy godspeed springs because we have the cheapest springs. That's it!:dunno:

I think sport struts have the electronic component that makes the strut stiffer when activating sport button near the shifter. It's not every noticeable but yet again, I have 12yo struts.

The key to improving X5 handling is lowering the center of gravity, increasing width of the stance, heavier sway bars and a strut tower brace. The goal being to reduce understeer. Just lowering, regardless of how you get there, will not be a dramatic improvement in handling.

got a link for better sway bars & strut tower brace?

Sway bars I have are Eibach and strut tower brace is Dinan. Eibach no longer offers the sway bars. I am not sure if Dinan still offers strut tower brace. I know some have run across Eibach bars on Ebay.