[3t3p]

Cheers. Suppose it's best to measure and otherwise take the leap!

[Krelle]

Originally Posted by Alfy

I installed the B16's on my car last week and loved the handling of the kit but faced an issue regarding the ride height as well. My plan was to drop the front by 20mm and the rear by 15mm compared to the stock ride height to achieve a positive rake of 5mm between front and rear.

Before the installation, I read the instruction booklet carefully and noticed that Bilstein specifies a minimum and maximum measurement range for the front and rear spring adjusters of (175mm-190mm from the spring seat to the center of the pinch bolt for the front and 50-60mm from the adjustable spring plate till the spring seat for the rears).

So I respected this range and set my measurements to 190mm (highest setting) on the front and 50mm (lowest setting) on the rear. To my surprise, the front got lowered by 25mm and the rear dropped by 10mm compared to stock. So I want to lift the front by 5mm and drop the rear by 5mm to achieve my desired ride height but I will fall out of Bilstein's specified range if I do so!!!

There are still plenty of threads on the spring adjuster to lift or drop the car but I don't know what the consequences will be if I exceed the range. My front is lower than the rear by 15mm at the moment which is 10mm above my desired goal.

Do you think it will be fine to exceed the specified measurements?

I have had 2 sets of B16PSS10's and love it. I corresponded with Bilstein and have on mail that a lowering of 25mm fore and aft is accepted. (the recommendation was 30-50mm as advertised). I'm especially loving the easy set up as well as how easy they are to adjust.
I recommend to cover the knobs if you're in severe dust/beach'es or driving your car in the snow as the adjustment do seize.

Attached a photo of the Original ride height in order to compare with above photo of 25 mm lowering.

[M2RAW]

Originally Posted by Detoxified

Anyone rocking these coilovers? Would love to hear your thoughts and please share photos of your ride height with the settings as well. (Ur photo of your car and if you are at the min height setting etc)

Thanks!

Just told my installer set it at the lowest.. as per bilstein recommendation.

[Kattanah]

Originally Posted by Yellowflash21

Me me, as well and we're loving them.

Before I had stock shocks with eibach springs, but I hated the rear end.

The comfort was terrible and I was looking for something that can improve comfort and have better damping over standard suspension setup.

The B16 PSS10 was the right choice after very long search, and for my country shitty street use I run them on 5 knob position on all 4 corners. The height is bit lower then stock suspension, and the springs are really good quality as there isn't any height difference 4 months after installation.

There is a youtuber from Uk who reviewed them and he didn't like them after few months of usage. Because most of the people do the lowering and than expect that damping will be in check for standard road use. While adjustments has to be made when running them on street or on track.

That's why we measure the shock length when compressed and expanded in order to find the fine adjustment for standard road usage.

I found a great deal on the B16 for my M2C, and would really appreciate your feedback on the comfort, ride quality, and performance of the ride versus standard suspension.

My main purpose is to have an OEM+ ride, improve confidence on back roads, and reduce body roll. I won't be tracking the car. Lowering is not my priority.

I am also wondering if paying an extra 30% to get the Litchfield version of the B16 is worth it.

[carchrism5]

Originally Posted by Kattanah

I found a great deal on the B16 for my M2C, and would really appreciate your feedback on the comfort, ride quality, and performance of the ride versus standard suspension.

My main purpose is to have an OEM+ ride, improve confidence on back roads, and reduce body roll. I won't be tracking the car. Lowering is not my priority.

I am also wondering if paying an extra 30% to get the Litchfield version of the B16 is worth it.

I think the B16s will suit you well, I have them on my car with all corners currently set to 5, was installed during the winter and haven't really fine tuned it yet for summer. Overall car is more compliant and far less 'crashy' if that makes sense. The OEM suspension was almost jarring upon hitting any road imperfections where as the B16s as set are stiffer yet not jarring. I only lowered mine maybe 1/2" because that wasn't really a huge priority for me either, but you can keep it even closer to factory height if you want as I have room in both directions on adjustment.

Can't comment on Litchfield version, but there are some members here running it and I recall a thread on it that would be worth searching for.

[vrooooom]

Originally Posted by Gusman1

I don't "think", I know this is the case. I have them installed on my car. My installer set them initially to around half way and the car sat about the same height or higher than stock. This has also been the experience from other members if you search in the forum.

Hi. May I just clarify this statement, so in short at half way the allowed setting range, it's at OEM height? So I can actually go higher if I wanted (I do not)? I want to retain OEM height or just reduce to 10mm.

I was informed by the installer that there will be a 15mm drop from the OEM.

what about the case of DailyDriver here on this thread. https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1697147

[vrooooom]

Originally Posted by 3t3p

Cheers. Suppose it's best to measure and otherwise take the leap!

Did you do it?

[vrooooom]

Sounds like just gonna have to close my eyes and go for it. Forget or ignore the post by Alfy about what he read as min/max. Sometimes knowing more really isn’t ideal.

[D.Yooras]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Sounds like just gonna have to close my eyes and go for it. Forget or ignore the post by Alfy about what he read as min/max. Sometimes knowing more really isn’t ideal.

You can adjust the height outside of the Bilstein recommended heights, it is physically possible. When it comes to setting the car height higher than recommended there are two possible issues that can occur.

1) The dampers have a set range of travel and changing the ride height does not change this. If a 30mm drop (recommended minimum drop) leaves you with 50mm of compression travel (not the actual numbers, using as an example) and 50mm of rebound (droop travel), then a 0mm drop would only leave you with 20mm of rebound travel from that 0mm drop (stock height). That could led to your wheel/tire coming off the ground over minor bumps or road drop-aways which is why Bilstein recommends specific heights from stock.

2) If you raise the spring seat too far it's possible for the spring to compress far enough to coil-bind. Coil-bind (aka stack/block height) is when the spring compresses until all the coils stack up and hit each other. Every coil spring has a free length and block length and if you don't allow enough height between the spring perch and the damper body, you can bottom out the spring before damper stops against the bump stop.

The only way to safely run PSS10s at stock height would be to install a spacer in between the strut mount and wheelhouse, or send the struts to Bilstein and have the extended length increased. Not that you're looking to do that but this goes to show how much work would be involved in doing it.

[vrooooom]

Originally Posted by Alfy

I installed the B16's on my car last week and loved the handling of the kit but faced an issue regarding the ride height as well. My plan was to drop the front by 20mm and the rear by 15mm compared to the stock ride height to achieve a positive rake of 5mm between front and rear.

Before the installation, I read the instruction booklet carefully and noticed that Bilstein specifies a minimum and maximum measurement range for the front and rear spring adjusters of (175mm-190mm from the spring seat to the center of the pinch bolt for the front and 50-60mm from the adjustable spring plate till the spring seat for the rears).

So I respected this range and set my measurements to 190mm (highest setting) on the front and 50mm (lowest setting) on the rear. To my surprise, the front got lowered by 25mm and the rear dropped by 10mm compared to stock. So I want to lift the front by 5mm and drop the rear by 5mm to achieve my desired ride height but I will fall out of Bilstein's specified range if I do so!!!

There are still plenty of threads on the spring adjuster to lift or drop the car but I don't know what the consequences will be if I exceed the range. My front is lower than the rear by 15mm at the moment which is 10mm above my desired goal.

Do you think it will be fine to exceed the specified measurements?

Front: Highest setting is OEM's height reduction of –25mm (can still go lower)
Rear: Lowest setting is OEM's height reduction of –10mm (going lower = past the range)

Based on what Alfy posted, you can still make the front even lower (–25), however the rear is already at its lowest (–10). Why would anyone want to make the front even lower when the rear is already at its lowest limit @ –10.

This makes the car lower at the front and raised at the back (compared to a stock). Hotrod? Is that really what Bilstein designed this suspension to do?

How are you guys measuring the height? Garage floor to top of fender right? I'm getting 680mm F and 682mm R. I'm doing something incorrectly?

Pretty much mean all the other setups posted here (focused on lowering) has compromised the durability and functionality of their suspension? Yes there are threads left to bring the car lower (or OEM), but that setup brings it outside of Bilstein range = compromising the suspension.

In addition, if you look at several sites selling the B16 for F87, they're all saying different lowering range. Frustrating really.

[ZM2]

Can anyone else verify the above?

I was wanting to do the minimum 30mm drop in the front and 35-38mm drop in the rear, which is more of a track setup for better rear weight transfer & traction coming out of corners.

[vrooooom]

Nothing?

I’ve emailed Bilstein too but so far, nothing.

[D.Yooras]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Front: Highest setting is OEM's height reduction of –25mm (can still go lower)
Rear: Lowest setting is OEM's height reduction of –10mm (going lower = past the range)

Based on what Alfy posted, you can still make the front even lower (–25), however the rear is already at its lowest (–10). Why would anyone want to make the front even lower when the rear is already at its lowest limit @ –10.

This makes the car lower at the front and raised at the back (compared to a stock). Hotrod? Is that really what Bilstein designed this suspension to do?

How are you guys measuring the height? Garage floor to top of fender right? I'm getting 680mm F and 682mm R. I'm doing something incorrectly?

Pretty much mean all the other setups posted here (focused on lowering) has compromised the durability and functionality of their suspension? Yes there are threads left to bring the car lower (or OEM), but that setup brings it outside of Bilstein range = compromising the suspension.

In addition, if you look at several sites selling the B16 for F87, they're all saying different lowering range. Frustrating really.

Making the front lower than the rear (rake) can be desirable for two main reasons

Stance: Static 1G stance (or driving down the road at a constant rate) is different than the car's dynamic stance (accelerating/decelerating or cornering). One of the reasons to increase rake would be a track driven, or dedicated racecar, that is constantly under full acceleration or braking. If the car is capable of compressing the rear suspension 15mm under full accel and raises the front 5mm a net rake of 10mm lower in the front relative to the rear could result in a level chassis under full acceleration and, during the decel, will already have more weight on the front which is where most of the braking is happening anyway. For that reason, most race/track driven cars will have a noticeable amount of rake at 1G static.

Aerodynamics: Although not completely separate from stance, a car with rake decreases the aerodynamic resistance due to a lesser frontal area and, because of body angle, generally increases downforce on the rear (if the vehicle is setup to do that) or at the very least, decrease rear lift. This isn't as important in vehicles without wings or downforce, but most modern performance vehicles have far better aero characteristics from the factory than cars did even 20 years ago.

Ride Height: There are a few ways to do this, depending on the car/chassis. The first is, and BMW way, is from the lower lip of the rim through the axle center, to the fender in MM. However, this way of measuring is relative to the car body and whether it can be regarded as a true controlled reference of measure.

The other way is to pick and measure control points on the chassis itself. For true track/race cars the pinch welds tend to be good points for this or, in case of BMW, unmolested jack points are an accurate alternative. Additionally, subframe measuring points in conjunction with control arm and/or axle angles (the Mercedes-Benz way) also work very well but you generally have to be on an alignment rack.

If you only measure fender height (or do the old Honda "X" finger gap method) you can end up with a car that looks really stupid and handles as such. A perfect example is the E36 models, if you set ride height based on fender gap (and treat them as equals) you'll end up with a Tijuana dragster. That's because the fender gaps on the E36 are intentionally 2+ inches different at even chassis height (if memory serves me correctly).

To throw another wrench in things, the M2 uses a .5" tire diameter (.25" radius) deviation that rakes the car by .25" from tires alone which is why BMW measures from the rim edge rather than the ground.

Lowering Range: If Bilstein uses the same spring rates for all 1/2/3 series models in a given generation, all those different models will have different lowering heights because the lowering heights are based on few major factors, chief of which being preload. If there is a set amount of preload, plus or minus a certain amount that is acceptable on a given suspension, the actual ride height will vary based on the weight of the model. That's likely the reason for the differences in recommended lowering heights.

[vrooooom]

Having mine installed right now. Just one minor concern on the install—found some oil mark on the box of one for the rear. And some on the damper body itself. Should I be concern? Mechanic cycled it pushing it down a few times and we saw none coming out.

Shop has its full support and offered to replace it once they get a new shipment. Just wanted to hear if this is something of concern.

[D.Yooras]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Having mine installed right now. Just one minor concern on the install—found some oil mark on the box of one for the rear. And some on the damper body itself. Should I be concern? Mechanic cycled it pushing it down a few times and we saw none coming out.

Shop has its full support and offered to replace it once they get a new shipment. Just wanted to hear if this is something of concern.

It's a bit concerning but it's possible it's residual from when the damper was filled and sealed. There is a seal head that sits under the dust cap and there could have been some left over oil in between the seal head and the dust cap that leaked it's way out.

That said I did have a weird situation on one of my personal cars where there was a tiny chunk of chrome plated shaft missing on certain part of the damper that only leaked only when the damper moved far enough for that part to move passed the seal head. I was able to sand it smooth enough for the problem to go away but it was definitely interesting.

Best bet is to clean it and keep and eye on it. If it doesn't leak more after a few hundred miles it should be fine.

[vrooooom]

Thanks D.Y. I’m bringing it back in after a month for them to check. By then the spring should have already settled.

[NathObeaN]

Originally Posted by Alfy

I read the instruction booklet

Do you know where I can find this? PDF copy maybe? I had mine installed by a 3rd party and I want to make some adjustments, but I don't know what guidance to follow.

[NathObeaN]

Found it myself after some digging, for those that need it: https://productdesk.cart.bilsteinus....-Y705A00_6.pdf.

[vrooooom]

Tried to look for it, unsuccessful.