Adjustable End Link Recommendations and Suspension Ramblings

[tominizer]

ENDLINKS:

As I'm just starting to dive into ownership of the Z4M I bought in May, I'm finding stuff that the PO did that bothers me. When I bought her, she was running lowered on BC Racing coilovers and through my poking around I've noticed the end links look to be the stock pieces. They look fine but as the car is lowered, I believe that the setup will be incorrect. I can likely get away with it as I'm mainly a back-roads driver, but it will bug me as it's not "correct". Plus I'm still trying to sort out this suspension as it doesn't "feel" right to me. My past experiences have noted that BEFORE I go spend money at the alignment shop, make sure all the necessary adjustment hardware is in hand for your setup. Right now she's on BC Racing Type BR coilovers with camber plates (I haven't looked to see which ones yet). And that's it. I think everything else is stock (sway bars, end links, bushing etc.).

So any recommendations for good end links? I know there are a lot of manufacturers out there with them making claims but just curious what everyone is running and what your experience has been.


RAMBLINGS

Anyone here done their own camber measurements? We use to do it with the 2x4 across the engine, a set of weighted strings and a pencil/paper/calculator. Pretty old school. What about castor measurements DIY?? Just curious for your hint/tricks/tips/war stories in this area.

On another note, I understand BC Racing coilovers are apparently pretty entry level tech. I haven't noted anyone else running them here on this forum or any mention of them in any of the threads when I ran a search. Anything I should know about them ?!??!?!?

On the Z4M, is the suspension similar in arrangement to the E36 M3 parts and configuration wise?? I guess where I may be going with this is IF I consider selling off this BC Racing setup, is there a wider market I should recognize ??

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by tominizer

ENDLINKS:

As I'm just starting to dive into ownership of the Z4M I bought in May, I'm finding stuff that the PO did that bothers me. When I bought her, she was running lowered on BC Racing coilovers and through my poking around I've noticed the end links look to be the stock pieces. They look fine but as the car is lowered, I believe that the setup will be incorrect. I can likely get away with it as I'm mainly a back-roads driver, but it will bug me as it's not "correct". Plus I'm still trying to sort out this suspension as it doesn't "feel" right to me. My past experiences have noted that BEFORE I go spend money at the alignment shop, make sure all the necessary adjustment hardware is in hand for your setup. Right now she's on BC Racing Type BR coilovers with camber plates (I haven't looked to see which ones yet). And that's it. I think everything else is stock (sway bars, end links, bushing etc.).

So any recommendations for good end links? I know there are a lot of manufacturers out there with them making claims but just curious what everyone is running and what your experience has been.


RAMBLINGS

Anyone here done their own camber measurements? We use to do it with the 2x4 across the engine, a set of weighted strings and a pencil/paper/calculator. Pretty old school. What about castor measurements DIY?? Just curious for your hint/tricks/tips/war stories in this area.

On another note, I understand BC Racing coilovers are apparently pretty entry level tech. I haven't noted anyone else running them here on this forum or any mention of them in any of the threads when I ran a search. Anything I should know about them ?!??!?!?

On the Z4M, is the suspension similar in arrangement to the E36 M3 parts and configuration wise?? I guess where I may be going with this is IF I consider selling off this BC Racing setup, is there a wider market I should recognize ??

endlinks length doesn't change with height of suspension, OE are fine unless you want to set it up to track.
i.e. corner balancing and dial out preload.
I'm using Whiteline adjustables atm, they have lasted through a couple of seasons of tracking.

I do complete alignments myself.
For setting camber I use a Longacre digital camber gauge.
I laser level the car first.

[tominizer]

Yeah, I was thinking about it to dial out the pre-load (that I'm not even sure I have yet until I setup). Not likely a big issue considering my type of use a the end of the day. I know a few guys that always swear by it and are only using one adjustable end-link on the front and one on the back instead of replacing them all (depending on the condition of their hardware as well).


So my adventures with the BC Racing coilovers continues. It's interesting to say the least as to how to tune them. I haven't run across this sort of setup ever. With these BC coilovers, the spring is preloaded and then you set the ride height by adjusting the threaded strut housing. While I was poking around in the wheel wells, I noticed a few things that caught me by surprise. The fronts have three collars per side. Spring seat, spring seat locking ring and lower mount locking ring. Originally I was thinking that the lower mount locking ring was an error in the installation and I had an additional locking ring installed. Not the case. It locks the threaded strut housing which in turn is how you adjust ride height. Anyways, if I would not have dug into this, I may have blindly adjusted my ride height incorrectly. This setup came on the car when I bought it this past May.

I'm hoping this weekend to adjust my ride height to where I would like it to be "cosmetically". So we'll see if this used set of BC Racing coilovers is FUBAR-ed with regards to adjustment or still working. I have a feeling they are going to have to come off the car and get cleaned up before adjustments can be made easily.

[inTgr8r]

I had a set of JIC coilovers on another car that worked that way.
I really liked that design.
Buy adjusting for independent pre-load the springs don't hang free when in full extension.

[tominizer]

Pulled the BC Racing coilovers off the front, completely took them apart and then re-assembled. Tested the strut to make sure it wasn't leaking according to the manufacturers recommendations and all looks well. So put them back on the car and re-set everything up. Threw on some 15mm spacers, checked the front camber and now I'm off to the back end to have a go there. Hopefully this weekend.

On a side note, I was getting a slight rotational *ticking* after I buttoned things all up when driving it. Ended up being that the spacer bolts were just ever so slightly too long. The wheel didn't bind up but the bolt tip was just touching. When I spun the wheel I couldn't hear it on a noisy Saturday afternoon but on a quiet Sunday morning, it was detectable. Swap to a shorter (and proper length) bolt and all was well.

Also noted that on these camber plates, the bolts are press fit into the plates. I don't like this setup at all as I've seen the bolts spin and/or drop out in the past with this design. And with the front OEM M strut bar the PO added, these bolts are barely making it to grab the nuts. I think at some point I need to either source out longer bolts or change these plates all together.



Added some random pictures....... cause everyone likes pictures...... I know I do !!! LOL