I'm not sure if it's simply my age, or perhaps now daily driving an E90 M3, but I've been lamenting adding certain track parts to the E46 in recent times. You saw that I've been "de-modding" a bit. That continues now with the RSMs. I had bought some really nice AGK spherical mounts, but believed that they added unwanted NVH. Not so much noise, as the poly damper included do really keep them quiet, but there's more road noise than before, and some creaking of the body (I assume) when going slowly over driveways. While the car's purpose is still for very spirited driving, I felt the need to soften it a bit more.
So I decided that RE's rubber RSMs were the most stout rubber based mount you can buy. I was looking at TCKline as well, since their bush is rubber as well (I already had GC poly previously, and wanted rubber this time). I was also limited in my choice of mount due to the 12mm (versus standard 10mm) shaft diameter.
For race shocks, you simply don't use that bearing/collar, but you do need to source larger ID washers (7/16" sae ends up fitting perfectly, and the OD matches the bushing exactly - win/win)
Removing the AKGs (they're for sale hint hint)
I actually could have bought an RSM that didn't have the reinforcement plates since I have this DMG GTR brace, but that's ok, I wanted the RE ones. Luckily, the RE's studs were just long enough to reach through the DMG brace, and have enough for the underside nuts to fully engage.
All done.
Next, thanks to r4dr indirectly alerting me to an issue in this thread: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...es-14mm-shafts
I realized that TMS does not supply bearings to take up the slack between standard 16mm strut shafts and 14mm MCS shafts.
So, luckily, I found some perfectly dimensioned sleeves/bearings to take up that slack. I wasn't having issues, and I was very confident in the shtrut being well sandwiched by the top nut and shaft shelf, but worried mostly about my alignment angle being off if the shaft were not parallel to the strut mount wall.
AMZN link - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1
Here they are, even already have the edges bevelled!
I measured the depth of the TMS mount, and it'll take 3 of these bearings.
So I dropped the dampers. You can just see the slack or gap between the shaft and the TMS bushing (2mm).
Did a test fit. They slipped over the damper with little effort, but the OD was a tight fit into the TMS bushing.
I also noticed that with these bearing slipped on, I no longer had enough "shelf" for the damper to butt up against, under the TMS bushing. Luckily, I remembered that MSC had supplied washers with the suspension.
And those washers, obviously, fit perfectly. It will raise my front ride hieght by 1.5mm but that's ok
So now I'm ready - washers and 3 bearings.
With such a tight fit, I wasn't able to feed the damper up through the mount by hand. I had to use the jack to force it through. I went slowly, and there were no issues.
Perfect!
Now I can be sure the shaft is perfectly radially centered in the mount. This might slightly affect my alignment. There was a discrepancy in my castor angles left to right (in my last alignment), so maybe I'll get another alignment now.
Went for a drive and was very pleased with a little more compliance in the rear. Slightly less harsh, and the little bit of noise I had was gone!
So I decided that RE's rubber RSMs were the most stout rubber based mount you can buy. I was looking at TCKline as well, since their bush is rubber as well (I already had GC poly previously, and wanted rubber this time). I was also limited in my choice of mount due to the 12mm (versus standard 10mm) shaft diameter.
For race shocks, you simply don't use that bearing/collar, but you do need to source larger ID washers (7/16" sae ends up fitting perfectly, and the OD matches the bushing exactly - win/win)
Removing the AKGs (they're for sale hint hint)
I actually could have bought an RSM that didn't have the reinforcement plates since I have this DMG GTR brace, but that's ok, I wanted the RE ones. Luckily, the RE's studs were just long enough to reach through the DMG brace, and have enough for the underside nuts to fully engage.
All done.
Next, thanks to r4dr indirectly alerting me to an issue in this thread: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...es-14mm-shafts
I realized that TMS does not supply bearings to take up the slack between standard 16mm strut shafts and 14mm MCS shafts.
So, luckily, I found some perfectly dimensioned sleeves/bearings to take up that slack. I wasn't having issues, and I was very confident in the shtrut being well sandwiched by the top nut and shaft shelf, but worried mostly about my alignment angle being off if the shaft were not parallel to the strut mount wall.
AMZN link - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1
Here they are, even already have the edges bevelled!
I measured the depth of the TMS mount, and it'll take 3 of these bearings.
So I dropped the dampers. You can just see the slack or gap between the shaft and the TMS bushing (2mm).
Did a test fit. They slipped over the damper with little effort, but the OD was a tight fit into the TMS bushing.
I also noticed that with these bearing slipped on, I no longer had enough "shelf" for the damper to butt up against, under the TMS bushing. Luckily, I remembered that MSC had supplied washers with the suspension.
And those washers, obviously, fit perfectly. It will raise my front ride hieght by 1.5mm but that's ok
So now I'm ready - washers and 3 bearings.
With such a tight fit, I wasn't able to feed the damper up through the mount by hand. I had to use the jack to force it through. I went slowly, and there were no issues.
Perfect!
Now I can be sure the shaft is perfectly radially centered in the mount. This might slightly affect my alignment. There was a discrepancy in my castor angles left to right (in my last alignment), so maybe I'll get another alignment now.
Went for a drive and was very pleased with a little more compliance in the rear. Slightly less harsh, and the little bit of noise I had was gone!
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