Yes! Finally the beast is looking as it should...nice and low.
After some research here on the M5 Board (thanks everyone), I decided to go with the KW Variant 2 coilover setup, which has adjustable ride height and adjustable damping.
More information about the suspension can be found here:
http://www.beastpower.com/Merchant2/...Store_Code=BMI
I took the advice of a fellow M5 Board member (Alpine M5), and had the suspension installed at America's Best Automotive in Alpharetta, GA. More information on them can be found on this website:
http://www.americasbestautomotive.com
Dean at America's Best Automotive is a stand up guy, very friendly, and really knows his stuff. The focus of his shop is suspension and alignment, and they regularly work on Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW. He took the time to explain everything, and was very excited about the project. It took a good 12 to 14 hours of work to do everything properly, install, and testing...but he only charged me for 8 hours since he wanted to give me a break and told me initially it would take more like 6 hours. There is a lot involved in taking apart the rear deck shelf assembly and all the panels back there, just to get to the rear strut towers and bolts...plus, I have a semi built in amplifier and subwoofer box back there, which made things take longer. Anyways, everything went smooth with the install with the exception of that whole rear area being very time consuming. The install cost around $750...that included weighing the car (it weighed 4015 with noone in it if I remember correctly), testing, alignment, everything. The project took the shop two full days. A lot of the time is in the testing, and getting everything tuned in and nice and "perfect".
The only other thing worth noting is that the rear shelf area now has even more rattles than before...(with the subwoofer on)...I pretty much knew this would happen, it's just kind of the name of the game when you are taking apart so much stuff back there, there so many tabs and what not, anyways, one day when I have some time, I'm going to do some rattle control back there, it looks as if they put everything back together very well, but I haven't had time to do a full inspection in daylight.
I also had a Dinan 17mm rear anti-sway bar installed at the same time and it is at the middle setting. I just got the car back today, and I've only driven it home from the shop and on a couple back roads in the rain (about 35 miles)...so far so good, the ride height is exactly what I hoped for, nice and low, but not too slammed...and there is no rubbing at all, and there was no need for any fender rolling or modification. We didn't feel a need to even use the 10mm wheel spacers up front, there's no need for them for clearance or anything, they would only be cosmetic. The damping setting is in the middle right now...The ride is very nice, certainly not too harsh, you can feel the difference for sure though, nice and tight, more rigid, I want to say the car feels a tad lighter now, and maybe more steering feel...and it's really not much different than stock in terms of taking bumps...overall, the changes do not seem drastic in any regard, but then again I haven't pushed the car yet, and I'll have to play around with the car some more, and make further comments in a few days. Plus, the weather here in Atlanta is crap right now, rainy today and tomorrow. I did have a chance to take some photos, they are not the best but they will do for now.
I'm not sure of the exact amount the car was lowered, but I think it lowered about 1.5" in the front and 1" in the rear. They said I have room to go lower if I want to...but I don't think there's any need to...it looks very "correct" right now, and there's no rubbing!
I'm supposed to go back to the shop in one month to re-adjust the suspension after everything settles, just the normal routine to make sure everything is lined up and going good.
When I have time, and the weather clears, I'll of course take some nice photos, and provide some more information on the new feel of the beast and the performance side of things.
Let me know what you guys think...I think if I were to make any changes, it might be to firm up the ride a notch or two, and maybe go just a hair lower, like 1/8" front and rear. But...then again, I just got the car back from the shop so I need some time with it.
Big thanks to Dean at America's Best Automotive!
Here's the photos. More to come.
Garrett
Looking good Garrett.
Great Pics!
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