PSS10's came today....great. Rears go in like cake. Ready to finish the fronts off and anxious to drive! WELL, the shaft on these ****ers are so big, that even spreading the knuckle/spindle with a crow bar and the factory spread tool, there is still no chance of this thing going in. I would jack the control arm but I need the to align the strut so it makes it a guessing game and damn near impossible. I have my wife bitching at me to come inside. Somebody shoot me.

Does anybody have these coilovers? Can anybody help?

 

Yea. Been there. ( Just plain old HD's) It is a bit of a play. I used a wood pry bar to help align it pretty straight. As soon as 1/16 or so was in, twisted the strut back and forth while applying just a touch of force with a floor jack under the ball joint. ZIP! in they went. First one took me about 90 min, second, about 10.

 

I installed pss9 last month on my car and the passenger side is a b%$@# to put in and I ended up putting a chisel tool in the space and bang the h#$) out of it to open up and drop the shaft. good luck on your project..I read somewhere here in NAM that one guy dremel the hole to make it bigger

 

guys...thanks for not killing me. These thing ride like BUTTER even low and on RF's!!!!

The trick that I used was to actually use a 3M sanding disk to polish the ends....then they slide in while jacking the control arm. Christ almighty...what a pain! Anyhow, that did the trick. They should polish them out of the factory!

Cannot complain though regarding ride........FANTASTIC!!! Oh...and guess what? That noise is gone!

 

Great news.
What settings are they on?
What ride height?
Did it eliminate the "hop" over bumps?

I did not know a factory spread tool existed. What does it look like ?
Some kind of thin plate to slip in the slot and run a bolt in against?


I don't do things like wedge chisels into cast iron. I measured the ends when I had trouble with the first one and it was right on. It was the trick to get them exactly square. The slightest bit off, and they wedge. Twisting them aligns the knuckle. Maybe a 1/4 inch of the tube tapered by polishing would make it easier. Repaint of course. I would hate to have to ever get one out with the end rusted to the knuckle.

 

They are on #3 setting front and rear. Ride height is set to eliminate a bit of the stock rake and I'd say it's a good 1.75" drop or so. I haven't done a measurement....it got dark last night and took it for a test drive and grabbed an ice coffee. The factory spread tool is nothing more that a 1/4 drive socket extension really. It is flatter...that is about it. To clarify on the crowbar bit...I was just trying to spread the collar using leverage and no part of the bar touched the inside of the housing. This strut would NOT go in if not polished. I tried twisting it for 2 hours and it was aligned as best as humanly possible.

For anybody installing, I highly recommend a roloc polishing disc. It takes about 2 minutes per strut and works! Since these coilovers are aluminum...no rust worry!

The difference between these and the Eibach Multipro R1's is night and day. These are far, far superior and make NO NOISE. With the R1's I had a clunk up front and a loose change noise in the rear. The R1's rode ok for the most part these are really, really nice. I am happy.

 

Glad to hear it!

- drew

 

A buddy put these on his E46 M3 and absolutely luvs them. Glad to hear this all worked out.

And honestly......... I winced when you said " I have my wife bitching at me to come inside." My gawd, I so know what that's like. I was going to do the suspension on my R55 at home (springs and sway bar) and decided against it. Although I'm not happy about forking out money to have someone do soemthing I can easily do it myself, the relief of not having to pay for it for months from my wife will be well worth the money spent.

 

Yep....I am still hearing about it even today. "You spent all weekend in the garage....you never talk to me...blah blah blah."

 

Yup............. I ALWAYS get the following and more........ and I rarely spend any time in the garage anymore:


"You know...... we have other MORE important things around this house to get done."

"You know...... there are better things around here to spend money on that still need to get done."

"When do I get time to fart around with stuff I just want to do......... instead I always have to watch the kids......... while you do your stuff."


So anyways, the E30 M3 is tentatively sold right now so she's overwrought with joy. Needless to say when she sees me eye ballin' the R55, she's pro-actively commenting on how such and such just AIN'T gonna happen.......... heh, heh, heh.......... oh little does she realize....... her hubby has the bug and she may as well just give in.

 

My wife learned to "tolerate" my cars long ago. She knows where my time and money go. The rule was that I had to leave room for her car in the garage. I admit, it was tight with 5 in there. Fortunatlly, most were small British cars.

She is also looking forward to me completing the Mini so she will either steal it, or I will refurb her Civic.

 

Looks like I will have to move on to PSS10s from Multi-Pro R2s.

Ah well. I just hope that the Bilsteins won't mind a slight bump in spring rate, and the change to linear rates, cos I don't really like progressive rate springs.

Expensive too.

For the moment though, I have some KSport coilovers coming in for free, so I'm going to give them a whirl.

Anyone know much about KSports? I did my reading and heard that the older ones had quality issues, but the newer ones were ok. 7.4kg/mm up front and 6kg/mm rear. Obviously the dampers won't offer anywhere near the valving of Bilsteins/Konis, but hey, they're free, and surely they have to be better than stock (riding around on bumpstops)

 

Coilovers will almost always use linear springs. Sometimes a tender is necessary if the bump is too far.

Better than OEM? Try them to find out. The Delphi's may be inexpensive, but quality is fine. BMW choose a bit too stiff to start. They are gas though. Not junk, but Bilsteins are far better controlled.
I don't know where Ksport's are manufactured. I don't trust any of this kind of product manufactured in China. My ( and a few others) experience. Yours may differ.

 

Replied to your PM Elie....

In short, I'd prefer stock to K Sport. That's my being polite on the open forum answer.

- Andrew