From walking into my garage with a cup of coffee, to walking back in all done, only about an hour to put in my H&R rear bar. It sounded bad: "drop subframe and snake the bar". Well, no. Granted I do have an air wrench. That probably saved me half an hour.

I only dropped the top of the shocks, so the lower "dangerous" bolt was untouched. Dropped the 4 subframe bolts. Slight amount of prying the subframe to get one end clear and it slipped in and out just as easy as can be. This is a driveway easy job. So DIY, or at least don't let shops tell you how hard it is. Should only cost one shop hour. ( of course, you want to have the rear alignment checked as the subframe coming loose could effect the toe. )

It only took about an hour to use my Fordham grinder to slot the front fenders. So, all set I headed off the to local alignment shop. Closed. No power. Seems the storm last night that took out my office power ( reason I had today to play) also took theirs out. I will have to wait to see how the camber, bar, HD's and tires all work as a set. Being a cheap SOB, I am a happy camper this was easy. It leaves a lot more budget for more toys. Hmmmm. Gauges next.

 

Do you have pictures of the slots in the front shock towers?

 

if I did it correctly.

 

Shows one cut and the others original.

 

How much camber do you think you can get with that larger hole?

 

Rough calculation is between .6 and .7 degrees negative.
I will know after I get it aligned. Figure about 25 inches from the ball joint to the top of the strut. So a radius of 25 inches, gives a circumference, divided by 360 and so on. about 5/16 inch movement.

This sounds small, but change this small was quite noticeable in other cars I did. As another reader mentioned, caster differences between designs, how much progression the suspension provides, how stiff it is, and so on all play into it.
.

 

awesome!!! I'm about to do the rear bar too. I'm thinking a 19mm

I did the front sway bar recently and it was ridiculous. Took me a few hours, but I eventually got the JCW front bar on.

 

Shop was able to get .9 in the front and .5 in the rear with toe within stock specs. Speaking of stock specs, it was WAY off to start with. Yea BMW.

 

tvrgeek,

This is exactly how we install the sway bar. It's amazing how many shops do not know this even knowing we tell them every day.