I'm needing shocks and control arm bushings for my car. I don't have the Sports Package, but would not mind having sports suspension. I'm running
225/45x17s on Double Spoke (Style 22?) Motorsport rims from an M3.
I have 140k miles on the car, and I'm the third owner. I've had the car for
5 years and have done nothing to it, except I fitted slotted and cross drilled rotors because they look cool with my tire package.
I was driving on a very rough road this past weekend with a back seat passenger, and the car bottomed out several times. I've never had any reason to think there was a problem, but the tires rubbed on the tops of the wheel wells several times -- not on the fender openings, but on the wheel wells. The suspension collapsed far enough that the tires hit on the inside of the wheel wells -- I can see the rub marks. The passenger is a very small woman -- under 110 pounds, if I had to guess -- so I was surprised that the suspension bottomed out. It's old stuff though, so I'm up to replace it.
So, I need shocks at the very least, and with the miles and time on the car, I probably need front and rear control arm bushings too. It would be stupid to not replace them...
What I want to know is, what's out there, and what package would include all of the stuff I need from one place. Also, since my car is a convertible (and I have no intention of taking it to the track), I would like to stiffen the body roll and twist up a bit. What do I do to do that? I see Websites with heavy duty shocks, but I don't think I want those. It's difficult to tell by reading the propoganda from the makers, so if anybody actually has a recommendation of shocks and springs, I'd love to hear it. I'm leaning towards Bilsteins for my shocks.
I don't mind a stiffer ride, but I'm not out to make my suspension aggressively different. Like I said, I have no plan on tracking the car, but I do enjoy my mountain roads from time to time. I'm no Ricky Racer, I just like good stuff.