Yes I haven't ruled that out. I may just go back to stock springs if it becomes just too unbearable. By the way, I compared the bump stop to frame distance on my car vs a stock car, I cannot believe how different it is. Seems like > 2 inches, I didn't think my car was lowered that much. Another data point is how the car handles speed bumps. My front handles speed bumps very well at any speeds, I can barely feel the car going over the bump. The rear, however, is violently bumpy if I go over a speed bump at anything over 5mph. This is one reason why I think I'm just bouncing off the stiff bump stops.

 

I have some success to report. I set my Tokico's to 5 turns out front, 4 turns rear. This significantly improved the ride quality! All the jolts I feel on my way home from work were better absorbed. This is the first time I tried a stiffer rear setting than front since everyone here has recommended softer in the rear. Anyone else want to try and see if you see similar results?

 

I had considered running a stiffer rear but I never tried it because of what everyone else reccomends. But its great to hear it worked for you. Im definatly gonna give that setup a shot! Thanks.

 

Sweet thats good to hear

 

jmsurpri

UCA's are generally recommended when you lower your car because the pinion angle changeswhena car is lowered. For a lowered car you need a shorter UCA. You can either buy a shorter one like the Steeda tubular UCA I purchased,or you can get an adjustable one. Note that I drove my car 5,000 miles after the installation of the Eiback Pro Kit and FRPP dampers before I installed my UCA and noticed no real difference in ride quality after installing the UCA.People who build their cars for the drag strip generally install heavy duty adjustable upper third links to eliminate the torque deflection associated with the factory piece. Perhaps stangsuspension.com recommended a new aftermarket UCA since some of them, like the Steeda tubular UCA on my Stang comes with a bump stop. Did they say if you installa UCAwith a bump stop you can remove the factory bump stops off? I installed Hawk High Performance Plus pads tonight, front and rear and while the rear tires were off I did notice that there was no dust where the factory bump stops would hit.




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Yes stangsuspension did specifically mention that the Steeda part comes with a "shorter bump stop" but he didn't mention if the axle bump stops can be removed. I'll ask.

 

Hi jmsurpri,

The thing on the UCA is a pinion snubber and it's shorter than the stock rubber snubber but not tht much really and you should not be hitting the stock snubber anyway.

HTH!

 

OK. Well, after taking a new way home from work and bouncing up and down all the way down the road, I'm pretty much done futzing with all this and will get a set of stock springs and have them put back in. I HOPE that can cure my aching back. If not, I'm selling this unrefinedbeast and buying another BMW. Quite frustrated!

 

Man sorry its literally going rough for you. I tried out your shock setup and was quite satisfied with it. The rear end no longer hits hard when I run across some rough terrain.

 

Here's an update. Today I replaced the Steeda rear sway bar with the stock bar. Of all the things I've done to improve ride quality, this has given the most improvement. Seems much smoother. Couple things I noticed: The steeda end links have zero play because of the aluminum brackets holding them in place, whereas the stock bar has a lot of play. The steeda bar is much larger too. Maybe it is rolling a little more, but I couldn't really tell.