I cut down my stock springs

['76mintgrün'02]

Hi Pablo,

have you removed the spacers from on top of the strut mounts yet?  Did you check to see if you have one, two, or three dot pads in back?  Have you loosened/retightened the suspension bits with weight added to the car, per the instructions?  (I've been wondering how much of a difference those things made since the last time you posted about your new springs).

Tom

[Pablo M]

1 hour ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Hi Pablo,

have you removed the spacers from on top of the strut mounts yet?  Did you check to see if you have one, two, or three dot pads in back?  Have you loosened/retightened the suspension bits with weight added to the car, per the instructions?  (I've been wondering how much of a difference those things made since the last time you posted about your new springs).

Tom

Thanks for checking. 
I haven't had a chance to try that yet...my son took his car keys to school so until I get them back I don't have a place to work on my car lol. As an aside, he just got his car running, 1986 325e, after having an engine fire earlier this year, while home from school. Car stayed home as its not been really sorted for the 6 hour drive up and back yet. 

 

I did send photos to Andrew at IE and he said the car looked like it was sitting like its supposed to with the Stage 1 springs. Also, I don't expect much change in retightening the suspension bits as nothing except the sway bar end links and tie rods (at the center link) were loosened. 

 

The spacer removal I can do in the alley behind the house...probably. 

Still not clear what to look for on the stock spring pads. I don't recall seeing any markings on them. I should be able to see the dots near the spring end seat correct? There is practically NO spring pad under the spring; the pad is that short, paper thin. 

 

Related question: what of the three were standard on these cars, one, two, or three dots? I can't imagine the ones on my car were ever changed, based on how they look. 

 

The front has about 2" air space between tire and wheel arch, rear about 1-1/2" or so. 

after springs:

 

rear spring, viewed from back

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Pablo M

[Lorin]

The dots on the rear spring pads are on the upper ones. 

['76mintgrün'02]

6 hours ago, Pablo M said:

I did send photos to Andrew at IE and he said the car looked like it was sitting like its supposed to with the Stage 1 springs. Also, I don't expect much change in retightening the suspension bits as nothing except the sway bar end links and tie rods (at the center link) were loosened. 

 

The spacer removal I can do in the alley behind the house...probably. 

Still not clear what to look for on the stock spring pads. I don't recall seeing any markings on them. I should be able to see the dots near the spring end seat correct? There is practically NO spring pad under the spring; the pad is that short, paper thin. 

 

Related question: what of the three were standard on these cars, one, two, or three dots? I can't imagine the ones on my car were ever changed, based on how they look. 

 

I agree that tie rod and sway bar changes don't affect ride height, but you also changed the springs, correct?  Just because you did not loosen/tighten the trailing arms and control arms doesn't mean you shouldn't do that after changing springs.  There may not be much of a change in height, but that procedure is to insure that the rubber bushings are not under stress.  The rubber bushings do not rotate once tightened down and you don't want them being twisted when the car is in the at-rest position.  Polyurethane bushings don't have the same issue, because they pivot like a hinge.  There are specific instructions for the procedure in the factory manual, telling how much weight to add and where to put it.  Skip it if you want, but I would definitely do it.  As-is isn't necessarily what it should be, even if you didn't change it and you did change the springs.

 

The dots are dimples cast into the side of the top spacers in the rear.  I don't know which ones came stock, but if I had to guess, I'd say two dot.  That would give adjustability in either direction with a pad swap.  Mine were original looking two dot pads.  The pad thickness varies by about 3/8" with each dot, which doubles in the difference in ride height.  The front spacers came in two thicknesses and I'll guess that your car came with the thinner ones, whereas mine came with the thicker ones (later car).  Pulling those will drop the height by about the same amount as their thickness.

 

There are also top and bottom rubber spring perch pads up front, but they're very thin.  I found that the lowers were worn out, due to sitting in dirt, but the tops were still in pretty good shape.  I replaced all four, but threw the tops in the spare parts bin.

 

Based on your photo of the lower pad, I'd order two new ones.  That rubber is old and cracking and mine eventually got to where they let the springs slip off.  Here's a post I made the last time I fiddled with ride height.  It shows dots on pads and stuff.

 

 

I don't think you'll see the amount of drop you're after with the changes I'm mentioning.  H&R springs would probably put you at the height you'd prefer.  I've 'padded' mine to get to the height I like.  I like a bit of ground clearance and suspension travel.  

[Senna27]

When I installed camber plates, it raised the front higher than the rear and I didn't like that look. To level out the car, I added rear spring pads. For some reason, that messed up the handling. It created a snap-oversteer conditioned when driven hard. So I gambled and cut one coil out of the front springs and removed the rear pads. Thankfully it turned out to be the best modification to date and it's now an absolute pleasure to drive. Well balanced and super predictable handling. Front shocks have a damping adjustment on the top so you can literally dial in understeer or oversteer with a turn of the adjustment knob Koni included. 

 

- Eibach springs

- Koni shocks

- Adjustable camber plates

- Turbo front bar

- Dinan adjustable rear bar

- 15 x 6 Panasport

- 195/50 R15 Bridgestone RE-71R

- 5 Speed & 3.91 LSD

 

I will also add, my car feels like it corners super flat with very little body roll. That is until someone snaps a photo at a track day. I blame the roll on the extra weight of my passenger. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Senna27

[Pablo M]

On 11/30/2022 at 10:10 PM, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Hi Pablo,

  Did you check to see if you have one, two, or three dot pads in back? 

Tom

Just checked the rears, two dot.