PSA: Think twice before lowering your car

[Tbonem3]

Best alternative if I can’t get my hands on one?

OE CSL
Ground control

Those 2 above and hotchkis are all tubular (lighter weight). Ground Control has another level of adjustment that most other's don't as well (better for fine tuning on track behavior imo) There are cheaper bars that work perfectly well like the ones from Eibach (29mm) or Turner/H&R (30mm), but they're solid thus heavy.

[tomasidris]

Those spring rates are perfect for the street. Raise the car all around and add a front hotchkis bar on medium. Leave the rear sway bar. Adjust your camber and toe and the car will feel much better.

Sounds good, Ive been trying to order the hotchkis bar for the better part of a year now and they’ve been backordered every website I’ve tried ordering from. One even said hotchkis discontinued their front bars for the e46 m3s. Best alternative if I can’t get my hands on one?

[DJAM3]

Those spring rates are perfect for the street. Raise the car all around and add a front hotchkis bar on medium. Leave the rear sway bar. Adjust your camber and toe and the car will feel much better.

[tomasidris]

There are so many other things to address with your suspension, wheel and tire setup. Damping is one of the last things to consider. With a low ride height, you could be hitting the bump stops more often than not. That would cause all sorts of weird handling characteristics. Unsticking an M3 with a 265/285 modern tire is not an easy thing to do.

Gotcha, thanks for all the input!

[Slideways]

I’ve been driving full soft since yesterday now and I feel it’s a little less planted in the rear and a bit more tail happy. I assume stiffening the front a little more than the rear will reduce weight transfer to the front on turns, resulting in less oversteer?

There are so many other things to address with your suspension, wheel and tire setup. Damping is one of the last things to consider. With a low ride height, you could be hitting the bump stops more often than not. That would cause all sorts of weird handling characteristics. Unsticking an M3 with a 265/285 modern tire is not an easy thing to do.

[tomasidris]

Not sure about Fortune coilovers, but for Ohlins, a few people have recommended full soft for street use.

I’ve been driving full soft since yesterday now and I feel it’s a little less planted in the rear and a bit more tail happy. I assume stiffening the front a little more than the rear will reduce weight transfer to the front on turns, resulting in less oversteer?

[Slideways]

Sounds good, thanks man. One more thing, what rebound would you recommend?

Not sure about Fortune coilovers, but for Ohlins, a few people have recommended full soft for street use.

[tomasidris]

Correct the current issues before changing other parts. While the spring rates are not ideal for a street use, especially the fronts, you should would work with what you have before tuning springs and sway bars. Corner balancing is recommended when installing aftermarket suspension. Based on your profile picture, it looks like you have a BBS FI wheel. Here is a thread where the owner ordered sizes that fit the E46 - https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...t-advice/page2

Sounds good, thanks man. One more thing, what rebound would you recommend?

[Slideways]

I know lol😪 . I just fell in love with these wheels, I knew they were a bit of a stretch to fit. Im going to look for the same set in a more manageable size but in the meantime I’ll raise everything and dial back the front camber as much as possible. Would you recommend an upgraded front bar and/or removing rear bar for my spring rates? Do you think corner balancing would be worth it for a street car after I figure out all of my suspension needs? Thanks!

Correct the current issues before changing other parts. While the spring rates are not ideal for a street use, especially the fronts, you should would work with what you have before tuning springs and sway bars. Corner balancing is recommended when installing aftermarket suspension. Based on your profile picture, it looks like you have a BBS FI wheel. Here is a thread where the owner ordered sizes that fit the E46 - https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...t-advice/page2

[tomasidris]

Your setup has gone more track focused than street performance. For street performance, something close to CSL spec is a good start.

Stock caster is between 7 and 8 degrees - your's is way off
Raise the ride height
Dial back the camber
Narrower wheel and tire package - a 9 front and 10 rear would be max for street use IMO, 235/265 or 245/275 tires
Stock FCABs

I know lol😪 . I just fell in love with these wheels, I knew they were a bit of a stretch to fit. Im going to look for the same set in a more manageable size but in the meantime I’ll raise everything and dial back the front camber as much as possible. Would you recommend an upgraded front bar and/or removing rear bar for my spring rates? Do you think corner balancing would be worth it for a street car after I figure out all of my suspension needs? Thanks!

[Slideways]

Hey, figured I’d ask for some advice on my suspension/alignment setup since I’ve been struggling a bit recently. I’m into spirited street and canyon driving but don’t track my car and don't really plan on doing so. I’m running Fortune Auto 500 coilovers with 391 lbs/in springs in the fronts and 671 lbs/in springs in the rear. Current ride heights fender to hub with 3/4 tank and my weight in the drivers seat are: FR: 12.5”, FL: 12.25”, RR: 12.5”, and RL: 12.25”. Front and rear sway bars are stock with adjustable front links. I’m contemplating on raising my car to 13.5” in the front and 13” in the rear, removing my rear sway bar, and adjusting my rebound to full soft, as I have it pretty stiff right now (stiffer in front than rear). For alignment I run -3.0° front camber at the moment but want to reduce that to -2.5° if my fenders permit, as im running 18x10 +25 wheels with 265/35 tires in the front. Rear is set to -2.0° camber which I'm comfortable with, I’m also running 18x11 +37 wheels with 285/35 tires on the rear. Front toe is 0.15° both sides and same goes for rear. My caster seems a bit low at 5.7° and 5.5°, would it be worth getting z4m LCA bushings? Also, after I installed this set of wheels and tires I noticed my car tram lines a lot more than it did on my old setup and feels a lot more sensitive and unstable at higher speeds. I have already suspected my front tires might be the culprit and plan on replacing them soon, as they were used when I first installed them. I also suspect it could be my toe settings but im not sure. Any advice on ways I could improve my suspension setup/if my plans for my suspension sounds good and theories on what might be causing the floaty front end issue would be greatly appreciated, as I’ve been scouring threads for hours now looking for advice. Sorry for the long read and all the questions, thank you!

Your setup has gone more track focused than street performance. For street performance, something close to CSL spec is a good start.

Stock caster is between 7 and 8 degrees - yours is way off
Raise the ride height
Dial back the camber
Narrower wheel and tire package - a 9 front and 10 rear would be max for street use IMO, 235/265 or 245/275 tires
Stock FCABs

[BL92]

tomasidris

We have these here in Australia, It might help

I am struggling just to find standard springs here, Every thing is EX USA, U.K or Europe, All the after market spring don't suit SMG accept Suplex, and off course is " out of stock "

[tomasidris]

Hey, figured I’d ask for some advice on my suspension/alignment setup since I’ve been struggling a bit recently. I’m into spirited street and canyon driving but don’t track my car and don't really plan on doing so. I’m running Fortune Auto 500 coilovers with 391 lbs/in springs in the fronts and 671 lbs/in springs in the rear. Current ride heights fender to hub with 3/4 tank and my weight in the drivers seat are: FR: 12.5”, FL: 12.25”, RR: 12.5”, and RL: 12.25”. Front and rear sway bars are stock with adjustable front links. I’m contemplating on raising my car to 13.5” in the front and 13” in the rear, removing my rear sway bar, and adjusting my rebound to full soft, as I have it pretty stiff right now (stiffer in front than rear). For alignment I run -3.0° front camber at the moment but want to reduce that to -2.5° if my fenders permit, as im running 18x10 +25 wheels with 265/35 tires in the front. Rear is set to -2.0° camber which I'm comfortable with, I’m also running 18x11 +37 wheels with 285/35 tires on the rear. Front toe is 0.15° both sides and same goes for rear. My caster seems a bit low at 5.7° and 5.5°, would it be worth getting z4m LCA bushings? Also, after I installed this set of wheels and tires I noticed my car tram lines a lot more than it did on my old setup and feels a lot more sensitive and unstable at higher speeds. I have already suspected my front tires might be the culprit and plan on replacing them soon, as they were used when I first installed them. I also suspect it could be my toe settings but im not sure. Any advice on ways I could improve my suspension setup/if my plans for my suspension sounds good and theories on what might be causing the floaty front end issue would be greatly appreciated, as I’ve been scouring threads for hours now looking for advice. Sorry for the long read and all the questions, thank you!

[bigjae46]

Which ground control camber plates did you install? For the E46, there are M and non-M camber plates and non-M plates on an M3 allow much more negative camber, which is why you might have the negative camber problem.

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/184872-strut-mount-and-camber-plate-comparison

That makes sense. I run Vorshlag non-M camber plates and I can get -3.0 to -5.0 camber. The only reason I can get -3 is my front end is towards the top of the height adjustment.

Something to check! I wonder what the caster reading is. If there's less caster then it is almost certainly a non-M plate.

PSA...if you do run a non-M plate you need a Vorshlag plate or a plate that has a caster adjustment so you can dial the caster back in.

[elbert]

Below is a picture of the camber plates that I installed on my car. Comparing it to what they have on the website, my assumption is that they are for m ?

At this point I would just email those pics to GC and ask them directly.

LOL I just had the thought that both versions are the same, only clocked and marked differently.