Drove too hard at the DE...broke coil spring...

[ausgeflippt951]

Took the BMW in for a state inspection and was failed because...wait for it...Anisa broke the left-rear coil. Must have been at the DE last weekend because I know for a fact that it was intact at the tech session.

Must have been from all that grip her 7 y/o all-season tires and stock suspension were giving her.


WTF? Does BMW make their springs out of toffee or something?


I have no time to do this myself but some cursory interwebz research makes me think it's ludicrously easy to do. Apparently don't even need a spring compressor.

Considering that the shops I called wanted between $400-$700 in just labor, I'm thinking I'll just do it myself.


As far as I can tell:
1) remove wheel
2) remove lower shock bolt
3) have friend push down on hub
4) remove spring.

[John Clay]

Step 1, stiffer springs all around.

[jbailey930]

Rears are very easy. Wheels off. Lift axle with another jack. Remove broken spring.

Fronts will require removing strut and a spring compressor.

[cmartin]

x2 quite common on bwm's unfortunately.

[HoodPin]

You go, Anisa! :lol:

I don't have personal knowledge about BMW suspensions, but the suggestion to upgrade all 4 corners makes sense. Perhaps source a kit with better performance springs, shocks, and sway bars. Install the rear springs (sounds ezypeazy) to pass inspection, and then the rest of the kit at your leisure. Anisa can help, too. ;)

[Trak Ratt]

Also agree on upgrading (just a little). IIRC the car has north of 100K so exactly how long do you expect the oem parts last? Given that the car has seen lots of winters and the springs are exposed to it all. Seriously if the car is a keeper then renewing and upgrading bushes, shocks, springs, sways and ??? makes sense. Bet there are plenty of M parts that have been upgraded available for little $$$.

Bet Crazy Ray’s in Baltimore has plenty of replacements for very little $$$ ;)

[smdubovsky]

E36 rear is easy. Just like you said. You may have to have someone stand on the hub to get enough droop to get a new stock coil in. Aftermarket/stiffer ones are shorter and just drop in.

The stock fronts are under very little preload. Not that I would recommend such a crazy unsafe thing on the interwebz but on more than one occasion we've just put a towel around the top of the strut and impacted the nut off. :cool: IIRC only about an inch of preload on E30 & E36 so no drama. But again, I wouldn't recommend those sort of things on the internet :lol:

If enjoy really driving the car, good time to go to aftermarket springs. Can prob find a used set for cheap.

[Trak Ratt]

...
If enjoy really driving the car, good time to go to aftermarket springs. Can prob find a used set for cheap.
Was hoping you’d chime in w/the link or summary of your own cheap BMW track build.

[cmartin]

Or, OE type springs are dirt cheap. ~$100 per axle or less.

[smdubovsky]

Was hoping you’d chime in w/the link or summary of your own cheap BMW track build.

Trade secret boy-o;)

We have Koni(TCK) DA's that were revalved by bimmerworld to handle stiffer springs. Think we're running 850F/1100R now. Camber plates in front. Remainder is 100% stock in the front other than that (sways, FCA, lolipop bushings, brakes, etc.) We have a full monoball rear but still stock sways & brakes. Add a big rear wing, front splitter, hoosiers and huge cojones and you can be setting track records;) (Full disclaimer: Im not the one setting the records. Thats Wong/Dayton/etc.)

The springs/shocks/struts could be for sale. We've been discussing going to MCSs...

[Trak Ratt]

Trade secret boy-o;)

We have Koni(TCK) DA's that were revalved by bimmerworld to handle stiffer springs. Think we're running 850F/1100R now. Camber plates in front. Remainder is 100% stock in the front other than that (sways, FCA, lolipop bushings, brakes, etc.) We have a full monoball rear but still stock sways & brakes. Add a big rear wing, front splitter, hoosiers and huge cojones and you can be setting track records;)

The springs/shocks/struts could be for sale. We've been discussing going to MCSs...
Noooo, don't give away the secrets!!! Besides I meant the Lemons build :roll:

[smdubovsky]

Besides I meant the Lemons build :roll:

http://www.salazar-racing.com/lemons/

Lemons in an E30: machine your own plastic bushings where necessary (WAY cheaper than replacing worn out OEM ones.) Find heavier 5 or 7 series springs and cut a bunch of coils off to get ride height about right AND make them even stiffer. Knock out camber plate studs, rotate plate 180deg for max camber and drill holes for bolts. Rebuild brakes, install race pads, and front brake ducts. Proceed to kick ass... You may need to weld the diff.

[Trak Ratt]

http://www.salazar-racing.com/lemons/

Lemons in an E30: machine your own plastic bushings where necessary (WAY cheaper than replacing worn out OEM ones.) Find heavier 5 or 7 series springs and cut a bunch of coils off to get ride height about right AND make them even stiffer. Knock out camber plate studs, rotate plate 180deg for max camber and drill holes for bolts. Rebuild brakes, install race pads, and front brake ducts. Proceed to kick ass... You may need to weld the diff.:D

[ausgeflippt951]

Thanks guys, have a new-used pair of stock rears on order for cheap ($80). I'm sure that I could probably find them for cheaper if I perused the local junkyards but I just don't have the time.

This is a 2005 E46 with 85k miles that's been driven very blandly for its entire life (until last weekend!). While it does get driven in the winter, it also sees regular washes. I've never broken a spring before (I suppose I still haven't, considering it was ALL ANISA'S FAULT) and I'm still a little bemused. I've absolutely thrashed cars with 4x more miles on stock suspension and have never broken a spring before (now, other suspension components on the other hand...).


I think we're just going to do it ourselves; thanks for the confirmation that it really is a NBD procedure.

As for whether we're going to continue to track the car, we've actually decided to buy a Boxster. We need another DD and I don't want to start modifying the BMW to make it more track-worthy.

[cmartin]

As cheap as $27/ea from Rockauto

[John Clay]

Shouldn't you be making babies? A Boxster ain't gonna work.

[ausgeflippt951]

As cheap as $27/ea from Rockauto

I saw that too, but they're coming from the UK so shipping was $60.

Shouldn't you be making babies? A Boxster ain't gonna work.

Not anytime soon if I have anything to say about it...besides, that's what the truck is for (if it lasts that long...).

[tdatk]

Both my rear springs were broke @70k miles on the M3

[magnetic1]

Man, people usually cant GIVE away their stock suspension. When this happened on mine it was a street 160k mile car. Ended up paying a dude $50 for his entire 28k mile stock suspension.

smdubs is right though: TCK DA for sale for the right price so we can get into MCS. That would prolly happen faster if the guy who is thinking about buying my racecar actually comes through and does it. Then the yellow car would end up getting "ballerized" fairly quickly, though I doubt Stephen would be paying half for all that, lol. Unless I end up renting at full price...