E39 Lowering Advice

[Gee]

Well the time has come and I will be lowering my car within the next month in preparation for some 19's. I think I am going to go for the Eibach Pro kit but before doing so I was wondering is there anything else worth upgrading/replacing whilst the springs are being fitted (bushes, shocks, etc)? If it helps the car is just over 4 years old, has covered 61k and is a 530i Sport.

Also is the Eibach kit likely to get rid of my lop-sided problem where the passenger front sits higher than the drivers side?

Any thoughts guys?

[Juber]

i have an e39 and have the eibach pro springs does make a difference in handleing ect ect. the only problem i get is unevan tyre wear. but yeah go 4 it it gives the 5 a wiked new ride height!!!!!! :D

[Chaos]

It's possible it'll address the uneven ride height Gee, but it's unlikely that it'll remove it completely. It's a sort of 'feature' of having a car that's balanced as a LHD and then having it converted to RHD for the UK. Just make sure you only carry heavy passengers. ;)

[CA Automotive UK]

agreed , you should find the listing is reduced after fitting the springs

as for tyre wear , this can be reduced by having the geometry fully realigned after running the springs for couple hundred miles to allow them to fully settle .

As for shocks ...well it is always preferable to fit uprated items to match the increased poundage of the new springs .However many people dont and still get an acceptable improvement in handling and ride .

good luck

[Gee]

Thanks for the response guys. Will hopefully get this done within the next month :D .

[Gee]

Me again :D .

I've just spoken to my local garage and it sounds like lowering E39's is a bit of a pain. They've done a few jobs in the past and reckon about 5 hours is about right but they won't commit to this!

The fronts are easy enough but for the rears apparently the parcel shelf and rear seats need to come out :eek: . They have said if I do this myself it will save me on a bit of labour so my question is does anybody know where I would start if I wanted to rip the seats out myself?

If it's too difficult I'll just leave it to the pro's but if it's easy enough I may have a bash at it.

[Chaos]

There are clips that hold the seat down at the front. Just put your hands under the seat and pull straight up. There are three across the width of the seat I think, you have to give it a good pull (repeated jerks is maybe a better description) but it will come up - just be careful not to smack yourself in the jaw! for the seat back, there are two bolts at the bottom of the seat visible when you open the door and look at the seat back bottom from outside the car - remove those. You also need to remove the headrests. Once that is done, lift the seat back straight up and it should slide up and out. I'm not sure on the parcel shelf, but it will probably have fixings that are visible once you have the rear seat out.

[Chaos]

There's lots of 'How To' tips here: http://www.bmwtips.com/ if you select the Tips&Tricks tab at the top, but I can't find anything on shelf removal. If I'm being blind, then hopefully they'll have something that helps. If not, it's probably a useful page for you 39ers anyway. :)

[Gee]

That's excellent Chaos. Once again thanks for the tips and link [cool .

[donut]

Gee pop across to the 5er forum and see Russ's recent post and howto write up!

[Gee]

Cheer Donut I'll go have a wee look.