[Garo-]

Hello Everyone,

I am living in Italy. Right now I am an owner of a BMW E92 Coupe, 330 xd Futura, three months ago I've ordered a Mineral Gray 430d Xdrive coupe MSport . It should arrive soon, and even before than it arrives, I've already started to think of some mods to make it look better for my taste.

I've ordered the car with 18 inch wheels which I will be using for winter tires and then in summer I want to swap them for 19 inch HRE or BBS wheels, since the cost of OEM wheels are pretty high, this way for a similar price I can put wheels that are IMO aesthetically more appealing, and also rarer in Europe. Even tho 20 inch rims looks much better, for me the ride comfort is important too, I dont like very harsh ride and my E92 with Runflats and 17 inch wheels are pretty harsh compared to the F30s and F10 that I drove. For the F32, I will be swapping the RF tires to normal ones, most probably Pirelli P Zero tires to increase the comfort that will reduce with bigger rims.

Now the problem comes to the height of the X-drive. I have read many threads about suspensions on this forum and other forums, but I am still confused and wanted to ask my questions to you in a separate thread. I am a newbie on this subject so please forgive me if my questions sound dumb.

I want to lower the car, nothing exagerated tho. I will be happy if I can lower it more or less to the height of the RWD cars. Unfortunately when I ordered it, I thought that adaptive suspensions could be an important option, which may still be, but when I want to lower it, I think that it limits my possibilities. From what I understood from the threads, AC Schnitzer springs offer a very good compromise with a moderate drop. My second option would be Bilstein B16 Adjustable Coilover setup, but to be honest, I dont want to do that right away since I paid for the option of the adaptive suspensions (I should have made a better research before ordering the car).

Here are my questions:

- To lower the car with my adaptive suspensions and xdrive, which springs woulds you suggest that will not make my car very hash, or let's say the most comfortable option as the streets where I live are pretty bad.

- From what I understood from the threads, If i change only the springs, the durability of my suspensions will be less than the stock, ok but is it a night and day difference? Such as in stock it will be ok for 80.000 km but with aftermarket springs it will go down to 20.000 km?

- I think that the best choice can be lowering the car at first with springs and once the suspensions needs to be changed, i can go to complete coil over setup. Can I go to complete suspension setup with bilstein even tho i have adaptive suspensions? I mean there wont be any problem with the suspension ecu..etc right?

Sorry if my thread was a bit long or confusing, I hope that you can help me to decide.

My other mods will be:

* 435i style twin exhaust pipes and rear diffuser. (I love the look of it, may be a symmetry madness on my side. )
* M performance rear lip spoiler
* When it comes out, I will put LCI tail lights. (I find it prettier the LCI tail lights on F30 )

Thank you in advance
Regards,
Garo

[RM7]

ACS springs. Dinan shockware. Dinan swaybars.

[Garo-]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

ACS springs. Dinan shockware. Dinan swaybars.

Hello,

Thank you very much for your reply! Can you explain a bit more your answer? What does it add the Dinan shockware and the swaybars to the setup? As i had said earlier, I am a newbie about this subject and I appreciate the time you took to answer, thank you.

Cheers,
Garo

[RM7]

Originally Posted by Garo-

Hello,

Thank you very much for your reply! Can you explain a bit more your answer? What does it add the Dinan shockware and the swaybars to the setup? As i had said earlier, I am a newbie about this subject and I appreciate the time you took to answer, thank you.

Cheers,
Garo

You said you don't want it to be harsh. That means you need to do something about the shocks when you put those stiffer springs on. The shockware matches nicely to the basic ACS or Dinan lowering springs, but they don't make Dinan for most of the x-drives, so ACS is the choice. So this way you don't need new shocks all around, because the adaptive suspension can be "tuned". The swaybars control body sway and make the car corner more level as well as change directions faster without unweighting the tires.

[Garo-]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

You said you don't want it to be harsh. That means you need to do something about the shocks when you put those stiffer springs on. The shockware matches nicely to the basic ACS or Dinan lowering springs, but they don't make Dinan for most of the x-drives, so ACS is the choice. So this way you don't need new shocks all around, because the adaptive suspension can be "tuned". The swaybars control body sway and make the car corner more level as well as change directions faster without unweighting the tires.

Hello James,

Thank you very much for your informative post. When I add the shockware and the swaybars, will it decrease the wear caused by the aftermarket springs to the adaptive suspensions?

With those modifications would I loose the function of the adaptive suspensions? I had no idea about the shockware, so this answer opened new horizons to my point of view about the subject, thank you very much.

Cheers,
Garo

[cfm56d7b]

Bilstein announced Damptronic series coilovers which are Plug-and-Play replacements for BMW vehicles with adaptive suspensions:

https://www2.bilstein.com/en/perfect...s-to-4-series/

Damptronic coilovers will also lower your vehicle.

[Garo-]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Bilstein announced Damptronic series coilovers which are Plug-and-Play replacements for BMW vehicles with adaptive suspensions:

https://www2.bilstein.com/en/perfect...s-to-4-series/

Damptronic coilovers will also lower your vehicle.

Hello!

Thank you for the reply. This method means changing completely the suspensions? Or something that adapts plug'n play to the adaptive suspensions? Those bilstein suspensions are only for RWD?

Thank you in advance!
Cheers,
Garo

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by Garo-

Hello!

Thank you for the reply. This method means changing completely the suspensions? Or something that adapts plug'n play to the adaptive suspensions? Those bilstein suspensions are only for RWD?

Thank you in advance!
Cheers,
Garo

Glad to help.

My current vehicle is 2017 440i Gran Coupe with M Adaptive suspension and when the time comes to replace the shocks, I will consider Bilstein Damptronic coilovers.

This is one of those unfortunate-yet-fortunate instances.

Unfortunate: you already made an investment in M Adaptive suspension: control unit, wiring, and shocks. However, it's not a very expensive option.

Fortunate: your car already has the control unit and wiring for adaptive shocks. Bilstein Damptronic coilovers connect to the existing wiring and you can select Comfort / Sport settings just like you do now (or will do when the car arrives).

Since you are in Europe, it's best to call your local Bilstein dealer to check availability of Damptronic coilovers for xDrive vehicles.

[Garo-]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Glad to help.

My current vehicle is 2017 440i Gran Coupe with M Adaptive suspension and when the time comes to replace the shocks, I will consider Bilstein Damptronic coilovers.

This is one of those unfortunate-yet-fortunate instances.

Unfortunate: you already made an investment in M Adaptive suspension: control unit, wiring, and shocks. However, it's not a very expensive option.

Fortunate: your car already has the control unit and wiring for adaptive shocks. Bilstein Damptronic coilovers connect to the existing wiring and you can select Comfort / Sport settings just like you do now (or will do when the car arrives).

Since you are in Europe, it's best to call your local Bilstein dealer to check availability of Damptronic coilovers for xDrive vehicles.

Hello! Thank you very much again for your answer!

440i should be an amazing car to drive, enjoy it! After those messages I tried to search more deeply the Bilstein Damptronic, I couldn't find many threads about F3x with people who has installed them but found some (very few) reviews on F80.

From what I understood, minimum drop is 30mm, which would be unfortunately too much for me no matter how good it looks, because i have a ramp in the entrance of my garage, and even with my actual E92 xdrive with stock suspensions I am touching the front spoiler sometimes depending from which side I enter, so that drop can be too much for my case.

My second concern is the ride comfort, I read that it becomes like a race car (most probably it's an exagerated metaphore) and they say that with sport settings it becomes like a Go-Kart. Tho I have no idea if the owner who wrote that review likes stiff cars and he had set it to the stiffest settings when he had the suspensions installed.

This makes it a bit sad because I had tought that in the worst case they were my best choice (obviously more expensive) , and the car may handle much better but from what I see/read, I will loose a lot of street comfort.

This brings me back to my initial thought, lowering only with ACS springs, I guess that the loss of comfort will be minimal. But as I mentioned before several times, I have no clue on this subject, I am a bit lost. Also I think that adding the 19 inch wheels will help about the looks even with the stock springs.

With ACS springs would the shocks be bottomed (I guess it is said like this, sorry for my english) easier? Because there are many pot holes, and sometimes it becomes tricky to see in poor light conditions.

As you can see I am lost again.

Cheers,
Garo

[cfm56d7b]

Well - there is also a "do nothing for a few months" option.

After delivery of your vehicle, enjoy it, drive it, get comfortable with the adaptive suspension. At times, a better decision presents itself after waiting a bit.

The ride height however is a barrier if your current vehicle with stock suspension touches the spoiler when entering the ramp. Lowering springs or coilovers will make matters more difficult.

[Garo-]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Well - there is also a "do nothing for a few months" option.

After delivery of your vehicle, enjoy it, drive it, get comfortable with the adaptive suspension. At times, a better decision presents itself after waiting a bit.

The ride height however is a barrier if your current vehicle with stock suspension touches the spoiler when entering the ramp. Lowering springs or coilovers will make matters more difficult.

Actualy after continueing the researches. I guess that it may be the best advice. In this case at first in summer I will put the 19 inch BBS wheels to judge the comfort with them. IF i find them comfortable enough and if I dont touch the front spoiler with the stock height, at first i can try to use the ACS springs, to get used to the height, and also to judge the stiffness again. This may be the cheapest and the most logical solution to try something that I am not sure if it will work for me even tho I will love the look.

Tho at first, as i said, I will try the stock setup with the 19 inch wheels!
Thank you very much for your advices!

Cheers,
Garo