I have been told that if you want to lower any vehicle without buying lowering springs .. all you have to do is make a ste of identical hight blocks then put them under your car around the wheels .. then put a torch to your springs heating them up and using the weight of the car to push them down .. then once the car hits the block .. remove heat and let them cool .. neone done this or herd of this before ... Does it work?
Another inexpensive way to lower the car is to look for the little round rubber things on the shiny center metal thing that holds the big round rubber things that hold the car up.
Unscrew the little cap on the little round rubber thing and you'll see a tiny valve. Press the valve in with something until all the hissing noise stops.
Repeat on each of the 4 round things holding the car up.
Your car will be about 3-5" lower at absolutely no expense.
I herd this werks rell good.
On 10 Oct 2006 19:24:00 -0700, "Kriznaft" waffled on about something:
Are you serious?
1) You'll need an hot torch, springs are pretty thick 2) The underside of the wheel arches are coated in wax and or plastic which will burn 3) Inside the front spring spiral is a damper full of rubber seals which will melt 4) You'll just soften one part of the spring and probably weaken it. 5) .... Oh sod this, he's gotta be joking... If he was this daft he wouldn't have managed to get a licence in the first place...Easiest solution... Eat lots of pies, get fat friends, distribute fat friends about cars interior. Fill tank with fuel, stick several sacks of potatoes in the boot.
Dodgy.
I've been told that the best way to succeed is to put several sand bags into the car in order to lower it as far as possible. When it's at the desired position, you have to use a roll of iron wire, the quality the farmers use for their fences, i.e. the big hard one 2.5 mm dia. Wrap the wire around the turns of the springs in order to avoid any extention when the sand bags are removed. The most difficult operation is when you wrap the iron wire because it needs not to be cut while it's coiled. It must be one piece per spring. Good luck
"Kriznaft" a écrit dans le message news: snipped-for-privacy@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
No.
Short answer: Don't do this!
Longer answer:
Springs are highly-stressed devices; in fact, possibly the most-stressed parts in the car. Springs are heat-treated for strength and to achieve the desired spring rate. Heating them as you describe will change the spring rate in the heated area, result in uneven spring compression, increase the deflection of the spring in the boundary area between the heated areas and the unheated areas, and I strongly suspect make them fatigue (and therefore break) faster (all springs break, eventually, if used long enough). Perhaps much faster.
The reduced spring rate is also bad for other reasons. For one thing, McPherson struts for lowered cars have shorter shock tubes and (usually) different shocks. If you reduce the spring height too much with the stock struts you will run out of shock travel. When the suspension bottoms, tire compliance goes away and the result might be hard to control. The probability of bottoming is increased if the spring rate is lowered at the same time the spring is shortened.
You are far better off getting springs (and if necessary struts) made for the application. Failing that, you can get a spare set and cut them to the desired length. IIRC, cutting them will also increase the effective spring rate (and, more important, the wheel rate), which is what you want. However, this is only practical when the change is small enough to avoid bottoming and when the spring seats are shaped to accept the spring in the resulting shape. Some are. Some are not. I've no idea whether BMW spring seats are shaped that way. I have done this successfully; however, the results--while better than stock--were nowhere near as good as those I also achieved with the right springs and struts in a similar car.
Another thing to consider is that the balance of the car might well change when you change the ride height and spring rates. Different sway bars could be needed to restore the handling characteristics you want.
Further, whatever you do, make sure the rear roll center remains above the front roll center. If you do not know what a roll center is, how to measure and calculate it, and how to make sure this will be so, buy some engineering in the form of a suspension kit you can install.
Last, note that you will have to adjust or even modify the rear suspension to decamber it if you lower the car. Nasty handling and faster tire wear will probably result if you do not take care of this.
JRE
what the ???
U bought and own a BMW..... .what u got 4 ur money was, more for servicing, more 4 parts, more for labour...... u name it..... U can pick up a mint E36 318is 4 $ 13k( AU) but what u get is a loverly ride, quality parts and build, u also bought a sometime fickle beast thats needs to be cared for............. having said that.... spend the $ and do it properly!
4 x King springs, leave the struts as is......$400 o.n (AU) The camber wont change much, so tyre wear isnt much of a prob...... Just grin and bare the cost.......I had a Loverly E36 318is in nvy blue,18" M3 rims lowered and M3 Badged, looked a $ million cost me AU $15k all up..... You had 2 look 3 times 2 make sure is wasnt a geniune M3. I could have bought a Jap car with all the shit and 3 yrs warranty 4 less...... but thats not the point is it......
I drove that very nice BM........ into a tree! and what do you know...... about 20sec after I crawled out the drivers window....BANG! She burnt to the ground!!!!! In their infinite wisdom, BMW put the battery in the boot( trunk) anyway, 1 spark, and KABOOM!!!!!!!
6 mths with a Holden Commadore?I bought another 3 series, Already cost me $800 in thermostat etc............. I dont care, I got another Beemer......... and Its awesome!!!
handles, goes, stops and its got the "Propellor" on the hood.................
Pay the $, lower it properly,, love it
mikker
Yes it works if you want to do it on the cheap, but you should also remove the shocks, cut them down by the same amount you lower the car by and then tap a new thread onto the end before refitting. You should also reset the toe-in on the front tie-rod ends. You might fail an inspection from the safety Nazi's depending on which Nanny state country you live in. You should also put an open exhaust pipe on so you can pick up girls outside the local High school after telling them the bus has been cancelled. Don't give out your real name to all the chicks you'll pick up. With all the money you save from these tips you should also be able to put a 1000W sound system in and pick up even more girls. Don't forget to hang a pair of fluffy dice from the rear-view mirror. Paint the car red if it's not already. Chicks love it - they don't care if you've done any work on the car "properly". Just tell them it cost heaps so they're impressed. Put a cheap RMR radar detector in the windscreen to make the car look even faster. Tell the honey's it cost $2000 but normally you just out-run the cops. Also remember that catalytic converters sap horsepower so smash them out with a hammer and stout length of steel pipe. You'll improve performance and add to the manly exhaust note of your car. Ever seen a race car with a cat? On BMW's remove the forward most large yellow relay under the rear seat to get rid of the cat warning light/bong. For about $20 you can get a much cooler racing-type steering wheel which takes about half an hour to fit. Chicks love the look. If your car has a sissy air-bag which has to function to keep the safety Nazi's happy, then take the wire from the air-bag test light behind the dash and hook it up to the oil pressure warning light. You should bolt a wing to the back of the car too. They make the car look even faster and can be quickly removed if you need to change the appearance of your car after being witnessed doing something illegal. An old oven dish with a slot cut in one end makes a real mean looking hood-scoop too. Especially at night or from a distance. Attach a six-pack on top of your scoop and you have poor-man's carburetor trumpets. Guys can spot the difference but you're not (hopefully) trying to pick them up anyway. People will want to steal your pimped-out ride so when you've finished cruising and shagging for the night, if you can't park it indoors do this: Unhook the battery earth lead and get a household extension cord with the end cut off. Attach the power end to the towbar or part of the suspension and then plug it into a wall socket. Remember to unplug it when you next go to use the car. This is illegal in some places so be careful and if you have the time start a campaign to scrap laws which discourage hard working citizens from protecting their property. Remember all these things cost very little to do but get great results which is of course to pick up and have your way with as many teenage girls as possible.
Hope this helps,
Steve
"Kriznaft" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
I agree. This is the professional way to do things but you forgot to mention the hood and deck lid stripes and extra front fog/driving lamps as these will cut through the air better than stock items. Remember to place the large speakers from the fast sound system facing forward from the trunk area otherwise the air equalization unit will cause drag and reduce the intake noise. Red is a nice fast colour but pink with blue wheels really make the girls heads turn..................!
Sir Hugh of Bognor
The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!
Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK
On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:15:01 +1000, "mikker" waffled on about something:
You crashed it into a tree, and you blame BMW for putting the battery in the boot?!
Personally I love the battery in the boot, makes wiring in the sub so much easier :o)
If you really want the battery in the front, you'll need a front with less engine in it. IIRC the E36 316 has the battery in the "normal" place.
There are dafter places... VW Beetle - Under back seat Landrover 90/110 - Under front passenger seat (driver sits on petrol tank!)
Dodgy.
I think you should listen to T-bird Steve. Sounds like the voice of
*experience*.-- C.R. Krieger
While your second statement is true, the first usually isn't. For at least my direct experience with the E28, only one manufacturer (Bilstein) makes a different length shock for lowered suspensions. This doesn't keep enthusiasts like me from running lower springs with stock-length shocks from other manufacturers - and with no ill effects.
Also true, but I know of no shorter springs that are lower rate. They are all higher rate.
Well, anything is better than this heating idea, but there are boatloads of aftermarket springs for the E36.
Faster tire wear, yes; nasty handling, no. Most BMWs do without any adjustments of this kind. If the lowering is for performance reasons, the driver usually manages to even out the wear of the rear tires (I do!) by driving more aggressively in turns because the rear 'plants' better. If it's purely for appearances' sake, then IMO he can afford to buy more tires.
-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)
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