AST 5300's on E90 M3

[Justin(OKC)]

Before I get into details, I want to give a huge thanks to Harold@HPautowerks. I worked with Harold when putting together AST 5200's on my 135i and the results were just simply amazing on that car. Harold has been very easy to work with and customer service has been amazing! The 135i had all sorts of M3 parts on it so it allowed me to take the damper setup and put it on the M3. I decided to go ahead and convert to triple adjustable dampers before they went on the M3.

Link to 135i install: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...light=ast+5200

I'm sitting here at a shop getting the alignment done right now so I will have a review of how it feels and everything when I have some experience under my belt with it. I'm still crossing my fingers that these LM-R's fit and that I didn't make a huge mistake on the wheels I bought. Basically, this is what was installed:

Vorshlag Camber Plates
AST 5300 Dampers with Remote Reservoirs
Swift Springs and Thrust Sheets (504# front/784# rear - 7"/8")
Swift Front/Rear Helper Springs
Powergrid Anti-Roll Bar Links
Rogue Engineering Rear Toe Links painted Porsche Guards Red

Front of the car has been lowered: ????? (will update)
Rear of the car has been lowered: ????? (will update)

Front Camber: ?????
Rear Camber: ?????
Front Toe: ?????
Rear Toe: ?????
Caster: ?????

Driver side canister


Passenger side canister


Rear


Ride height and setup prior to alignment. I am definitely having height issues. I need the front as low as it is to look right, but the rear is a bit too high. I've tried searching for measurements but people aren't really documenting this. I will take measurements after a baseline is set so that others will have the info.



Adjusting the rear height is a real pain as I didn't have a spanner wrench for the height adjuster and the whole thing wants to spin. I am going to look for a better solution for this as it was a frustrating battle to get it set where it is. Also, I don't know that it will allow me to raise the rear much more. Ultimately I will get the car cornerbalanced and that will really tell me whether or not these wheels were the way to go for me.

Oh, the EDC module. I did the Macht Schnell EDC emulator and at the moment, I can't get it to work. I'll update on that as well.

[STALKER]

I think your car sits nicely.
Im on KW Clubsports and my rears are too low, going to have to add a coil spacer to bring it up a little.
My car is sitting at
front 23 1/2" rear 22 3/4" from the lower rim edge to the fender. Im going to raise the rear 0.5" and the front 0.25".

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by STALKER

I think your car sits nicely.
Im on KW Clubsports and my rears are too low, going to have to add a coil spacer to bring it up a little.
My car is sitting at
front 23 1/2" rear 22 3/4" from the lower rim edge to the fender. Im going to raise the rear 0.5" and the front 0.25".

It looks nice, but it rubs in the back evan with -2.1 camber What is the measured diameter of your wheels? Are those the measurements you got after cornerweighting your car? I thought about adding another BMW coil bearing that I got from Harold to get another 1/4" or so. I'll measure here in bit when it cools down and see how much I have actually lowered the car.

BTW, I'd love to see some of those RAC wheels in person. I had a set of RG4's on my Topaz Blue E46 M3. If I remember correctly, you were a fan of that combination

What are your thoughts on caster? I'm thinking about moving it to the center like the stock configuration.

[rzm3]

Thanks for sharing Justin.

Just curious, have you always mounted the rear canisters on the toe arms? It might be safer to mount them on a non-moving part. I mounted my Moton Clubsport cannisters inside the rear trunk area through the vents.

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by rldzhao

Thanks for sharing Justin.

Just curious, have you always mounted the rear canisters on the toe arms? It might be safer to mount them on a non-moving part. I mounted my Moton Clubsport cannisters inside the rear trunk area through the vents.

I pm'd you last week or so about how you mounted yours. We were set to do it that way and when we ran it through there, the hoses were too short. I want to get the canisters in the car like you did. I had to do something. On the 135i I put them on the subframe just behind the diff. On the E90 I wouldn't be able to get to them to adjust them because of the exhaust.

I'd really appreciate any advice or input on how to do it differently. Thanks ridzhao for noticing that as I had forgotten to entertain any suggestions on their location.

[STALKER]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

It looks nice, but it rubs in the back evan with -2.1 camber What is the measured diameter of your wheels? Are those the measurements you got after cornerweighting your car? I thought about adding another BMW coil bearing that I got from Harold to get another 1/4" or so. I'll measure here in bit when it cools down and see how much I have actually lowered the car.

BTW, I'd love to see some of those RAC wheels in person. I had a set of RG4's on my Topaz Blue E46 M3. If I remember correctly, you were a fan of that combination

What are your thoughts on caster? I'm thinking about moving it to the center like the stock configuration.

Yes, those are after corner balance, my passenger rear is a little lower then the numbers I posted even.
I think my shop left my caster close to stock, as I only have camber plates, no caster adjustment.

Ya, I had a E46 M3 in Topaz....loved my RAC RS110s!!!!

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

It looks nice, but it rubs in the back evan with -2.1 camber What is the measured diameter of your wheels? Are those the measurements you got after cornerweighting your car? I thought about adding another BMW coil bearing that I got from Harold to get another 1/4" or so. I'll measure here in bit when it cools down and see how much I have actually lowered the car.

BTW, I'd love to see some of those RAC wheels in person. I had a set of RG4's on my Topaz Blue E46 M3. If I remember correctly, you were a fan of that combination

What are your thoughts on caster? I'm thinking about moving it to the center like the stock configuration.

Justin,

What size wheels and offset? Tire size?

Harold

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Justin,

What size wheels and offset? Tire size?

Harold

Aggressive...

-20x9 ET8 - 245/30/20 Yokohama Advan Sport
-20x10 ET18 - 275/30/20 Yokohama Advan Sport

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

Aggressive...

-20x9 ET8 - 245/30/20 Yokohama Advan Sport
-20x10 ET18 - 275/30/20 Yokohama Advan Sport

That is aggressive alright.

I would have gone conservative on the offset to start and space them out if there is room.

Have you rolled your rear fenders?

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

That is aggressive alright.

I would have gone conservative on the offset to start and space them out if there is room.

Have you rolled your rear fenders?

No need to roll the rear fenders on the M3 as there is not lip to roll. I'm only hitting the liner. Taking it on a road trip tomorrow so we will see how it goes. I opened up the rebound about 5 clicks front and rear for some streetability and it seems to be rubbing no more than fully closed.

Harold, I was going to try to raise the back up more but I'm out of adjuster room. I'll take some measurements but it makes me feel better that STALKER thinks it looks pretty close. I took notes on the stock ride height before I started so that I could compare. If I need to raise the rear, I either need to stack another radial thrust bearing in there somewhere or get different adjusters that are longer. I was in a pinch for time to get the height set for an alignment today and was having trouble raising the rear. I couldn't hold the threaded portion with my hand and turn the collar so I had to come up with a makeshift spanner wrench and hold the threaded collar with some channel locks. Result: raised it to the max position but did a good job of boogering up the adjusters I knew better.....

On a different note, it sure does look good. Ran to a sandwich shop and to the gas station and got three comments on how good the car looked.

[HP Autosport]

I do agree on how great the car looks! Plus I really like white cars...all my cars are white.

Before adding another radial thrust bearing, make sure you have enough room on the collar to seat and locate the spring.

[rzm3]

Originally Posted by Justin(OKC)

I pm'd you last week or so about how you mounted yours. We were set to do it that way and when we ran it through there, the hoses were too short. I want to get the canisters in the car like you did. I had to do something. On the 135i I put them on the subframe just behind the diff. On the E90 I wouldn't be able to get to them to adjust them because of the exhaust.

I'd really appreciate any advice or input on how to do it differently. Thanks ridzhao for noticing that as I had forgotten to entertain any suggestions on their location.

OK. I will think about it between my open track sessions tomorrow and let you know if I come up with an idea in terms of mounting the canisters

For the rear spring, you can always add a spring spacer if needed, as Stalker and I have done. See picture below.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1306475213

Did you get a corner weight balance before alignment?

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by rldzhao

OK. I will think about it between my open track sessions tomorrow and let you know if I come up with an idea in terms of mounting the canisters

For the rear spring, you can always add a spring spacer if needed, as Stalker and I have done. See picture below.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1306475213

Did you get a corner weight balance before alignment?

That spring spacer would be perfect, thanks for the tip! I didn't get it corner weighted yet as I wanted to make sure the wheels were going to work before I start investing a bunch of setup money on it. After the alignment experience I had with this place, I'm not sure if I want them to corner balance the car. My dream would be to have my own scales and rack to do this crap myself.

[rzm3]

I see. But definitely get corner balance before hitting the track. With higher rate springs, even if your adjusters are off by just a little bit, it can translate into quite a bit of corner weight difference.

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by rldzhao

I see. But definitely get corner balance before hitting the track. With higher rate springs, even if your adjusters are off by just a little bit, it can translate into quite a bit of corner weight difference.

I understand. I am actually sitting here surfing the web to see what it would cost to just buy a set of scales. Even looking at camber and toe gauges....maybe I don't need to take my car to an alignment shop anymore. The reality is that if I play with the height at all, I'm going to spend the money at shop to corner balance and then align the thing. Here in good 'ole Oklahoma, not having good luck with this.

[aus]

So the coils don't allow enough ride height?
Isn't that the "Ericsson LM-R set-up?" It's very aggressive.

Might as well learn to do the corner weight and alignment yourself if you can. That would allow trackside adjustments!!

[E90///M3`]

I love this suspension and can't wait to invest in it hopefully later this year =)

[RickyBobby]

Swift sells 9" springs which sounds like will fix your rear ride height issue. Strange how you are struggling with your rear adjustor. Mine spins freely with my bare hands when I loosen the pinch bolt. Maybe it's a snowbelt thing.

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by RickyBobby

Swift sells 9" springs which sounds like will fix your rear ride height issue. Strange how you are struggling with your rear adjustor. Mine spins freely with my bare hands when I loosen the pinch bolt. Maybe it's a snowbelt thing.

I'm not in the snowbelt I think I know what is up on the struggles on adjusting. Leaving for vacation tomorrow and will mess with the height when I get back. At the end of the day, I think I need to get either some spring spacers, taller adjusters, or 9" springs.

I think my next investment is going to be scales and alignment tools. I'm growing tired of the lack of resources here in Oklahoma.

[RickyBobby]

It looks like we've got different rear adjustors. Mine fit inside the stock cups and have a pinch bolt that you loosen up to rotate the collar. Like I mentioned, it's a very quick and easy operation for me. Not that that helps you now
Can't argue with alignment tools. I use my toe plates quite a bit but a set of smart strings would be even better. I've been balking at the price of the strings since the 90's. They would have paid for themselves by now if I bought them when they 1st caught my eye..

[Justin(OKC)]

Originally Posted by STALKER

I think your car sits nicely.
Im on KW Clubsports and my rears are too low, going to have to add a coil spacer to bring it up a little.
My car is sitting at
front 23 1/2" rear 22 3/4" from the lower rim edge to the fender. Im going to raise the rear 0.5" and the front 0.25".

Well, I broke down and put my ZCP wheels (12mm spacer front/10mm spacer rear) on last night due to rubbing on the right rear. They do not rub at all. I love these LM-R's and need to figure out how to make them fit. for reference, I measured like you did. Looks like I need to really raise the car up compared to what you are running. Here's where I'm at:

23 1/16" front
22 7/8" rear left, 23" rear right

I need different adjusters or a spring spacer to raise the rear more. Also, I raised the car up to unload the swaybar hoping that it would allow me to turn the adjusters easier....no dice. Not sure why I'm having such a hard time with this as it was easy on my 135i. I don't know if it is because the shock is so short or what. With the suspension completely unloaded in the back, my helper springs are almost fully compressed.

The car looks great on the ZCP's, but I still love the LM-R's. Glad I did the ZCP to use as my winter setup (very mild here in Oklahoma).

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've PM'd a few people with LM-Rs to get height and alignment settings. So far only getting responses from an E92 so I still need some advice from the E90 crowd.

[mastek]

Wtf?? Your running a 3-way Race Track Coilover with 500/700 lbs springs on a street car with 20" wheels and OE brakes?

You do know this is going to be a stiff street ride?

Otherwise, great track kit .... AST makes some quality gear