I just installed an M7 STB and then the USS. I did the strut tower brace after work the other day. Thanks to NAM I knew to wet down the insulator pad and wrap the brace in plastic wrap. Worked out fine, left myself a note on the dash so I would remember to remove the plastic before I drove to wok in the AM. I wiped the brace down with a light coat of WD40 since the pad was still a bit damp and that stopped any staining from the residual dampness.

This afternoon I installed the Under Strut System. The center and rear braces are dead simple. I had read the cautions about driveway installs on jack stands, so I put my car on four ramps. It was just enough clearance.

Instead of using the whale harpoon sized 13.5mm drill supplied by M7 I used my 1/2 bit which is much shorter and a bit smaller. This gave me room to manuver under the car to drill out the holes for the nutserts. The holes come out just a bit too small and I just used a round rat tail file to gradually open them up until I could force the nutsert in. This avoided drilling too large a hole which some posters had referenced doing.

I still managed to screw up though, theading the wrong bolt into the nutsert an cranking on it at which point the nutsert spun and pulled out. Damn says I. Now my hole was just too large so the next nutsert was spinning rather than compressing. I scratched my head for a while then I set the nutsert up on the tool supplied by M7 and used the tool to very slightly compress the nutsert (with the washer already on it!) so that it was now a tight fit in the hole. I was very happy to find that M7 had enclosed an extra nutsert in the kit. Did I just get lucky or do they always do that? Anyway after this one screw up all went well.

My obeservations after the install: When I took the car off the ramps, right rear wheel first it seemd to be highter in the air than when I first jacked tha car up-wish I had measured. I have a sharply sloped driveway and creaking and flex in my sunroof equiped MCS was lessened. Turn in is sharper, transitions seem smoother. I drove over the collection of pots holes and patches that passes for a road near my house in San Francisco and the car is more composed less rattling and crashing over the bumps. It feels better damped. Someone said that it makes the car feel more expensive-just smoother and more ridgid. That comment is what pushed me over the edge to buy the ystem. My impression is the same. Seems like there is a touch more oversteer, so I may back off the adjustment on the rear bar a notch. Next are Koni FSDs and Ireland fixed plates. I am aming for good handling in a street car with better ride than stock due to the driving environment I am faced with in SF.

Finally, kudos to the guys at Custom Mini Shop in Fresno. I saw their notice about M7 products on this site and called them good pricing, quick response via email and phone and one of the guys was driving up to the bay area the day after I called. He hand delivered the parts so no shipping. Thanks guys, I will be back as a customer.

To anyone that thinks these opinions are full of sh*t, you are of course free to disagree. Just do it politely : ) Pierre

 

I can't agree more with you about the M7 USS. I had mine done in Oakland by Bay Bridge Motors and before I had gone two blocks I was absolutely positive that my car was riding better. Firmer, tauter, less harsh over bumps and more as a unit than front and rear as separate.

Other posters have also said that after doing the M7 USS they have gone back a notch, softer, on the rear sway bar.

Just last week I had BBM install the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates and right away I could tell the difference. The 17 inch run-flats felt noticeably smoother than before. They, Ireland, use a BMW part for the cushioning part and it's noticeably larger that stock. The ride height is still the same and it's something you might look into doing on your car as well.

I can't speak for the Koni FSD's as my car has the JCW suspension.

Hope this helps...

 

Yep first steop when I got this car was to dump the 17s for 16" webbies with non runflats, now the braces are done. Nxt week will be the Ireland plates and the FSDs. PB

 

Amen. The USS rocks. That was my first suspension mod (even though it isn't part of the suspension... whatever.

It made my stock suspension MCSC understeer much less and made it much more "planted" in the twisties. Today I installed my H-sport 19mm rear swaybar. In the middle setting, that plus the USS is an awesome combo. I can't see myself doing anything else to screw with the handling anytime soon. I drove my nastiest set of local twisties and the car just begs you to give it more throttle - it's creepy but very, very cool...

Blimey says "Must Go Faster!!!"...

 

ANybody do this on a GP yet?