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      11-17-2016, 06:15 PM   #1
yousefnjr
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H&R Coilover Broken Rear Adjuster

Last week, one of the rear height adjusters on my h&r coilover setup snapped while I was on the freeway. I think it had been slowly deforming over the prior week as I noticed my car was lower than normal, and I was waiting for the weekend to check it out... never made it to the weekend it caused the wheel to get extra cozy with the fender liner, and ate her right up










Was able to order a new adjuster (and tires...) and installed it, but I'm not convinced that the h&r design is any good. The adjuster isn't really aligned to the angle of the spring. I ordered a set of ground control articulating rear adjusters for the e46. FYI if you order directly from their site, you can choose between 2.25" or 2.5" cones, which isn't an option I found at other distributors

Of course, when I got the new tire mounted the guy fucked up my wheel. Every goddamn time, I swear. Hate letting other people work on my baby
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      11-18-2016, 10:28 AM   #2
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Wow Glad you're OK - I could just imagine how dangerous that could be. I have to remember this potential issue if I ever decides to upgrade suspension in the future. Thanks for the head's up.

Of course, I feel your pain on the wheels I need to find a good tire installer myself. The America's Tires I usually bring it to is a hit or miss.
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      11-18-2016, 11:49 AM   #3
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Its indeed a strange adjuster.
Looks like a metal fatigue issue. What is that inner thread size that snapped?
M14x1,25 or M16x1,5?

Most coilovers use a different design (same as kw/GC etc), so this kind of style:



Where yours is similar to this I think?



I think this type of adjuster only fits on the bottom, so on the control arm. that constantly changes angle, so forces are constantly wobbling from one side to the other. If it would sit on the top, those shifting forces are more equalled out in the spring I think.
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      11-18-2016, 02:35 PM   #4
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^^ yep that's the one, you're right. A quick googling showed me that it's not uncommon for these to fail, should've sprang for the KW's
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      11-18-2016, 03:25 PM   #5
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These are also known to damage the control arm
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      11-19-2016, 12:09 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yousefnjr View Post
^^ yep that's the one, you're right. A quick googling showed me that it's not uncommon for these to fail, should've sprang for the KW's
I thought it was a strange weak design when I installed mine, you can always buy adjusters for KW or BC Racing or similir who have the same type of design.
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      11-19-2016, 12:46 PM   #7
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But the question is, will they fit?
For the bottom half of the h&r spring the OP can fit for himself as the h&r spring has to fit into the stock bmw rubber spring pad (my guess is that the H&R spring will have a larger lower diameter than that the spring pad has).
For the top half of the H&R spring it has to fit that KW adjuster. I dont know if the diameter of that adjuster is the same as that stock spring pad the h&r spring sits in.
Of course he can buy a fitting kw or bc spring, but theres a chance that that doesnt match well with the front setup if thats much stiffer or much softer than the kw/bc setup

Actually the H&R springs look a bit like kw springs but fitted upside down. (where kw has the softer coils on the bottom and the stiffer coils on top and with H&R its the other way around)
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      11-20-2016, 03:15 AM   #8
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My experience is that most adjusters have a diameter of 60 mm (fits race springs). To be sure he would have to measure of course. So in theory he could always buy race springs and choose the same load rating as the H&R kit.
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      11-23-2016, 12:01 AM   #9
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Hey bud quick question, where did you buy a replacement adjuster from? Also, you mentioned you bought one from GC, do you have the link to it? I just installed my H&R'sport today, want to be ahead of future issues. Thanks!

Last edited by Mike_Z4M; 11-23-2016 at 01:19 AM..
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      11-23-2016, 10:12 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_Z4M View Post
Hey bud quick question, where did you buy a replacement adjuster from? Also, you mentioned you bought one from GC, do you have the link to it? I just installed my H&R'sport today, want to be ahead of future issues. Thanks!
Ordered the replacement H&R adjuster here, looks like they're on back order for a couple weeks FYI

Ordered a pair of GC adjusters here. Should be coming in the mail today, and I'll be installing them in a couple weeks when I do my brakes, will post an update then
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      11-23-2016, 12:10 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yousefnjr View Post
Ordered the replacement H&R adjuster here, looks like they're on back order for a couple weeks FYI

Ordered a pair of GC adjusters here. Should be coming in the mail today, and I'll be installing them in a couple weeks when I do my brakes, will post an update then
Thanks you sir!
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      12-08-2016, 09:21 PM   #12
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So finally found some time today to swap the h&r adjusters out for the ground control ones. Turns out my other side was broken too. Frankly, I'm more surprised that the replacement adjuster I installed a couple weeks ago was still in good shape.



Junk. Anybody with this kit should take a look at theirs, especially if riding on 19s
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      12-08-2016, 09:48 PM   #13
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here's the other issue that can be caused by these type of adjusters.
Too much load is placed in the middle.


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      12-08-2016, 11:02 PM   #14
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Yikes, praising the lord they only took a tire with them on mine. Ouch.
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      12-09-2016, 08:30 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yousefnjr View Post
Yikes, praising the lord they only took a tire with them on mine. Ouch.
This is worrying...

Just saw the GC link you provided. Which size fits the H&R spring, 2.25" or 2.50"?

Since the GC ones are articulating heads vs the original H&R which are fixed, will it change the handling characteristics in any way?
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      12-09-2016, 09:16 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pcube View Post
This is worrying...

Just saw the GC link you provided. Which size fits the H&R spring, 2.25" or 2.50"?

Since the GC ones are articulating heads vs the original H&R which are fixed, will it change the handling characteristics in any way?
No it wont.
The articulating head just keeps the spring inline better.

R.Eng also has the same type of mount, with a write up on function.
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      12-09-2016, 10:57 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pcube View Post
This is worrying...

Just saw the GC link you provided. Which size fits the H&R spring, 2.25" or 2.50"?

Since the GC ones are articulating heads vs the original H&R which are fixed, will it change the handling characteristics in any way?
I ordered the 2.5", but they didn't quite fit. What they give you is a pair of 2.5" plastic spring pad "adapters", but they didn't quite fit the bottom of the h&r spring. The very end of the coil wasn't clearing the adapter. Without the adapters, the spring wasn't getting enough purchase for me to be comfortable either. I ended up cutting out a small portion of the adapter pad plastic to allow the spring to fit.

I also ordered the nylon cones for the top. They gave me 2.5" and they don't fit at all. There isn't a selectable option, but maybe contact them and see if you can get the 2.25" upper cone if you need them. I ended up just reusing the factory rubber padding.
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      12-10-2016, 06:18 PM   #18
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The H&R failures are frightful.
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      12-31-2016, 06:11 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by inTgr8r View Post
here's the other issue that can be caused by these type of adjusters.
Too much load is placed in the middle.


Which is why I have these...

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspensio...rE4aAu6o8P8HAQ
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      01-01-2017, 05:21 PM   #20
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^^ yeah definitely the way to go. The GC adjusters have a plate just like that as well, good peace of mind after seeing that pic!

Side note, had to raise my rears yesterday, and was impressed that the GC adjusters can do this without jacking the car up (although it's much easier to crank them if you take a little load off by jacking a couple pumps). H&R's had to be completely unloaded.
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