X5 - All things suspension! Feedback Needed/Posted!

[JeST]

- Year/Model/Mileage
- What suspension
- NVH feedback? (Noise Vibration Handling)
- Cost/Purchased where?
- Pics
- Ride Height?
- Overall opinion (be brutally honest)

[JeST]

- 2011 X5M 51k miles
- H&R 2" drop
- (Noise Vibration Handling) Notice a weird low speed noise when turning on a incline/decline but nothing outside of that. Vibration feels like stock. Handling feedback posted below.
- Straight from H&R. Cost was $350
-



- Man what a complete fking let down. This suspension can only be described as springs no shocks. The stock valves are only valved to work at a specific height and these springs definitely pushed passed that limit. The suspension is BEYOND soft and I've played with the height settings in the rear (more rake) and although it helped a little its like putting a bandaid over a bone ripped from the skin. My ass cringes with every bump. Need to save for KW's.

[Cattivo]

I forgot to tell you, while following you yesterday your truck was bouncing around quite a bit over each bump on the highway...the ride height looks perfect but around 80-100 mph i was wondering if you were getting sea sick lol

[mitch808]

There aren't many options to you guys, or the e70 in general. It can be summed up in 3 parts.

1. Springs (H&R, Eibach, Dinan)
2. Complete matched strut/spring assembly (Bilstein, not sold in US, must order from UK)
3. Coilovers (KW v3 and some knock off Taiwan brand D2)

For the most part, I've sorted by price. But I've also sorted by performance... (Minus D2 as the exception)

#2 would be a great experiment, but alas my sales have been a bit down to splurge on that, and the house needs repairs. I'd take a matching combo over a plain lowering spring any day.

[JeST]

I saw that matching spring/strut combo but I dislike buying anything overseas. Almost as much as I hate paying retail for my parts.

Stefano, you should've seen the truck when I hit that monster bump going uphill. Thank god I have my wife's SUV. No way I would take my daughter in my fast Mexican jumping bean.

[m5 guy]

-Car: 2012 X5M 42k miles
-Suspension: KW v3 (settings in my journal), oem -.5 front camber arms, Powerflex 'race' front thrust arm bushings
-alignment: -2 camber front and rear, .02 toe in front, .06 toe in rear
-NVH: Very minute noise from the race bushings going over a speed bump as the whole car compresses on them, but that just requires more grease that I'm too lazy to apply. No vibrations. Harshness is more due to the less compliant nature of the bushings, but it does not bother me one bit. I actually like it as it feels closer to my old M3 now.
-Pics: to be added once on a computer
-Thoughts: If you guys have read my journal you all know full well how long I spent fine tuning my set up. Some of you here have even used my settings to great satisfaction as well. I firmly feel that if you guys use the parts I have and set the car up as such, you will find a transformed more responsive car with the feedback and feel that one expects from a proper M car.

[JeST]

M3 Guy, that's great! Exactly the feedback I was hoping to hear about the KW's.

[JeST]

Originally Posted by m3 guy

-Car: 2012 X5M 42k miles
-Suspension: KW v3 (settings in my journal), oem -.5 front camber arms, Powerflex 'race' front thrust arm bushings
-alignment: -2 camber front and rear, .02 toe in front, .06 toe in rear

Could you give me the ride height f/rear? I'm going this route

[UnicornM]

- Year/Model/Mileage : 2008, X5 M Sport, 88K miles
- What suspension: KW V3 Coilovers
- NVH feedback? (Noise Vibration Handling): None, handling drastically improved.
- Cost/Purchased where? : $2000 German supplier
- Pics: see below. Pictures are pre X5M conversion and on stock 20s not my 22s.
- Ride Height?: LOW!
- Overall opinion (be brutally honest): Well worth it, my tolerance to lowered car's is probably better than most. For my purpose I should really be running complete air ride system, otherwise I'd highly recommend the KW v3 coilovers vs springs as its the complete package, performance, looks and comfort.

[m5 guy]

Originally Posted by JeST

Could you give me the ride height f/rear? I'm going this route

Here you go.

Front:

Height - 30 inches from ground to bottom of fender
Rebound - 6 clicks from full closed
Compression - 6 clicks from full closed. This should be one full turn of the adjuster from closed. If it's not just do one full turn.

Rear:

Height - 30 inches from ground to bottom of fender
Rebound - 8 clicks from full closed
Compression - 6 clicks from full closed. This should be one full turn of the adjuster from closed. If it's not just do one full turn.

Remember these setting are from the shock set full stiff/closed then working backwards as per KW's directions.

[m5 guy]

Jest I also want to point out that half of the handling and feedback I have is from the camber arms and the race bushings. You will need these if you are going after the same result.

Btw Powerflex also makes some active sway bar bushings as well. I plan on adding them soon to further increase feel. My impressions are also with run flats so if you are on regular tires it should be even better.

[JeST]

m3guy, where did you pick up the control arms from? Wondering if the Powerflex camber bolt would negate having to need the upper control arm...?

[mitch808]

Originally Posted by JeST

m3guy, where did you pick up the control arms from? Wondering if the Powerflex camber bolt would negate having to need the upper control arm...?

I'm not aware of a powerflex camber option. Just a stiffer stock sized bushing.
http://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-seri...29-3051/1.html

The control arm is a BMW OE part, used in the case of an accident to get camber back to stock values.

[m5 guy]

Originally Posted by JeST

m3guy, where did you pick up the control arms from? Wondering if the Powerflex camber bolt would negate having to need the upper control arm...?

I purchased the oem camber arms from my dealer. You can get them from yours or places like Tischer. Just need the part number, which realoem has. Regarding Powerflex's rear camber eccentric bolts, those can be sourced from Powerflex USA directly, just like the bushings. I actually bought the bolts, but never installed them. My thinking was to maybe get the camber differences to be off by one degree front and rear at my height. When I saw that I hit -2 all around though, I decided that was good to go. Not sure how much more positive the Powerflex bolts would have taken me. -2 was as far positive as the stock bolts would go in the rear. Since it matched my front I left it alone.

This of course means that with the stock arms I would have only been -1.5 in the front and -2 rear. In that case the Powerflex bolts would probably be worth it to get to -1.5 rear at my height. Unless of course you like your rears with more negative camber than your fronts, which I do not. I prefer even camber or more negative in the front for how I like to drive.

[JeST]

Originally Posted by mitch808

I'm not aware of a powerflex camber option. Just a stiffer stock sized bushing.
http://www.powerflex.co.uk/road-seri...29-3051/1.html

The control arm is a BMW OE part, used in the case of an accident to get camber back to stock values.

Originally Posted by m3 guy

I purchased the oem camber arms from my dealer. You can get them from yours or places like Tischer. Just need the part number, which realoem has. Regarding Powerflex's rear camber eccentric bolts, those can be sourced from Powerflex USA directly, just like the bushings. I actually bought the bolts, but never installed them. My thinking was to maybe get the camber differences to be off by one degree front and rear at my height. When I saw that I hit -2 all around though, I decided that was good to go. Not sure how much more positive the Powerflex bolts would have taken me. -2 was as far positive as the stock bolts would go in the rear. Since it matched my front I left it alone.

This of course means that with the stock arms I would have only been -1.5 in the front and -2 rear. In that case the Powerflex bolts would probably be worth it to get to -1.5 rear at my height. Unless of course you like your rears with more negative camber than your fronts, which I do not. I prefer even camber or more negative in the front for how I like to drive.

Ah ok that makes sense. for some reason I was thinking it was an aftermarket upper arm you got with a fixed negative camber.

The Powerflex alignment camber bolt advertises +-1.75 adjustability. If that's true I would guess that would be enough of an adjustment and not require the arm.

What I'm thinking now is the kw v3's, powerflex camber bolt, and powerflex antirollbar bushing.

Plethora of info and advice! Thanks again M3guy!

[JeST]

KW's and powerflex bushings ordered . I can't stand it anymore.

PS. if anyone is interested in the H&R springs + rear linkage I only want a couple of Innus and Gunn rum oak aged beer and they're yours.

[m5 guy]

Nice!!!

Did you go all out and get Powerflex's swaybar bushings too or just the front thrust and camber bolts? I have yet to get the swaybar bushings so if you did order them please post up some feedback when you get them installed.

[JeST]

I didn't get the swaybar bushings (probably shouldve). Thought process was with swapping out the HR's and getting the camber bolts it'll be a complete change already. I can always change the swaybar bushings later without having to worry about getting another alignment.

[Doc GTO]

Originally Posted by JeST

- Year/Model/Mileage
- What suspension
- NVH feedback? (Noise Vibration Handling)
- Cost/Purchased where?
- Pics
- Ride Height?
- Overall opinion (be brutally honest)

2013 50i M Sport w/ 21inch 215s.
-H&R 1.2F/1.0R inch drop/factory shocks/struts
-No noises or vibrations. Handling is more crisp, less body roll and stiffer but not anywhere near as bad as the 2+ inch drop kits. I kept the nose down rake.
-Less then $300 from ECS Tuning
-1.2/1 inch drops F/R (nose down rake)
-I love it. Stock the truck was soft and rolled a lot. This did the trick. I also adjusted the alignment and added spacers to help with handling as well.

[JeST]

Got the suspension done today. Holy hell what a difference. Truck feels like a sports car. Everything is tight and responsive, almost darty. I'm going to wait on the alignment until Tuesday to see if it'll settle some. I'll post my alignment numbers and a better review then.

Thanks again M3guy!

[m5 guy]

Originally Posted by JeST

Got the suspension done today. Holy hell what a difference. Truck feels like a sports car. Everything is tight and responsive, almost darty. I'm going to wait on the alignment until Tuesday to see if it'll settle some. I'll post my alignment numbers and a better review then.

Thanks again M3guy!

Glad you like the change, those front thrust arm bushings paired with the KWs really transform the beast for the better! Maybe more folks here will upgrade their thrust arm bushings now. It has become a required mod imo.

[m5 guy]

As mentioned above here is the link to the thrust arm bushing in case anyone is curious. The 'race' spec is what you will want.

http://powerflexusa.com/bmwe70x5-fro...isbushing.aspx