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Confirmed! M5 Front Sway Bar fits 535xi

67K views 340 replies 85 participants last post by  MunichMark 
#1 ·
Confirmed!! The M5 front sway bar is a direct fit for my 2013 535xi!!

All I have to say is wow and everyone must do this. This is how the car should have came stock. My car has DDC and ACS springs and I am in sport mode 99.9% of the time. Before the M5 sway bar I would rate the handling of my F10 a 4 or 5 out of 10 at best compared to my previous E46 and E90 on coilovers but now its a solid 7.

The suspension just feels tighter and more solid up front and you notice this when going over bumps and uneven roads. The car is flatter during turns and the steering feels alittle more direct/precise during high speed lane changes. Before I would anticipate the roll/sway movement but now the car just points to where you want it. It isn't a track car by any means but that wallowing feeling is pretty much gone or barely noticeable anymore. Nothing negative about doing this mod at all so far. Very pleased.

Another member already verified it also fits his 550i so it is safe to say this works on all F10's regardless if its rwd or awd.

Alan
 
#2 ·
The M5 part # is 31352284460

It comes with the bushings already mounted on the bar. You reuse your existing bolts and endlinks.

The install is a breeze. Once the underbelly pan is off there's only 6 bolts to remove the bar. You can do it easily yourself on ramps or let your shop do it. They should not take more then 20-30mins tops.

Alan
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the info Alan, this is definitely going to my to do list.

How much did you paid for it?
 
#3 ·
Great upgrade.

I know that on my old Volvo VR, I swapped in stiffer lowering springs and hated it. Looked good but the ride go worse and the handling didn't get much better.

Put the stock springs back on and I swapped in stiffer roll bars front and rear. Wow, what a difference. The car just turned in with no hesitation, and the ride was fine.

Makes me wish that I didn't have active anti-roll bars, or I'd be all over this.
 
#11 ·
Makes me wish that I didn't have active anti-roll bars, or I'd be all over this.
I am getting active roll stabilization on my 550. I thought there was only an active bar in the rear. Is there also one up front?

How is ARS?
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thicker rear bar is next. Confirming if the 550GT Msport bar will fit or not first. Stock rear is 14mm while the 550GT one is 18.

I'm sure in extreme maneuvers the car is more likely to understeer the way it's setup now but all I know is that the car just feels more connected and reacts with less delay/wobble when changing lanes or turning at a decent rate of speed now.

For those who are familiar with the NJTPK most people are driving between 65-80 on average and although the pavement is pretty smooth there are a lot of long bends/turns with dips from expansion joints etc... Usually when I am traveling about 80 there all of those would cause the car to sort of bounce around or wobble especially if I am changing lanes at that speed and especially hitting a dip/expansion joint at the same time. I just drove on it and the car just felt awesome and stable. Stayed more flat, steering felt more immediate and the car felt solid.

The difference I feel when hitting dips or bumps is like comparing a feather filled pillow (stock) vs a tempurpedic pillow (M5). Both still very comfortable but yet feels very different. The M5 FSB just feels solid compared to before.

Alan
 
#12 ·
Thicker rear bar is next. Confirming if the 550GT Msport bar will fit or not first. Stock rear is 14mm while the 550GT one is 18.

I'm sure in extreme maneuvers the car is more likely to understeer the way it's setup now but all I know is that the car just feels more connected and reacts with less delay/wobble when changing lanes or turning at a decent rate of speed now.

For those who are familiar with the NJTPK most people are driving between 65-80 on average and although the pavement is pretty smooth there are a lot of long bends/turns with dips from expansion joints etc... Usually when I am traveling about 80 there all of those would cause the car to sort of bounce around or wobble especially if I am changing lanes at that speed and especially hitting a dip/expansion joint at the same time. I just drove on it and the car just felt awesome and stable. Stayed more flat, steering felt more immediate and the car felt solid.

The difference I feel when hitting dips or bumps is like comparing a feather filled pillow (stock) vs a tempurpedic pillow (M5). Both still very comfortable but yet feels very different. The M5 FSB just feels solid compared to before.

Alan
Like your analogy with M5. With your ACS and M5 front bar, would you say your car closer to M5 in term stability now? If stock suspension is 1 and M5 is 10, would you say your car is 7?

I loved M5 stability when test driving last time.
 
#13 · (Edited)
This is interesting. I think an f10 535 probably pulls around ~.84 g's in a circle. This relatively simple mod probably gives you 2 or 3 extra 10th's of lateral gforce without changing the ride characteristics of your car for like 99.99% of everyday driving. My understanding is that the f10 is a very stiff chassis to begin with...

great bang for the buck.

This is a perfect "NYC" modification!

In this case, I'm not even certain that you'd need to stiffen the rear set-up. On the track, sure, but sometimes it's better if the back-end doesn't start skipping around on say the FDR.

The reason I stopped driving 911's is exactly this reason. The ass used to kick out on our ****ed up streets a little too much for my nerves and my patience. Great for the track: downright scary at say 34th street when there's a car in the lane next to you...
 
#17 ·
This is interesting. I think an f10 535 probably pulls around ~.84 g's in a circle. This relatively simple mod probably gives you 2 or 3 extra 10th's of lateral gforce without changing the ride characteristics of the the car for like 99.99% of everyday driving. My understanding is that the f10 is a very stiff chassis to begin with...

great bang for the buck.

This is a perfect "NYC" modification!

In this case, I'm not even certain that you'd need to stiffen the rear set-up. On the track, sure, but sometimes it's better if the back-end doesn't start skipping around on say the FDR.

The reason I stopped driving 911's is exactly this reason. The ass used to kick out on our ****ed up streets a little too much for my nerves and my patience. Great for the track: downright scary at say 34th street when there's a car in the lane next to you...
I agree. It is better/safer for a car to understeer than oversteer. We do have some of the worse roads in the united states and sometimes it can really toss your car around causing an accident if you are driving too fast hitting a pothole, massive dip during a turn or a expansion joint or even all of those at the same time while traveling highway speeds. The F10's suspension is too soft and the car bounces as if its out of control for a split second but now that is either eliminated or significantly reduced. I was hauling a55 on I95 and the car felt so good for the first time!

Alan
 
#18 ·
From my research there is two options for the rear. The M550dX's rear bar is 16mm and the F07 550GT Msport is 18mm. Stock is 14mm. Cars without sports package might even have a smaller bar but not sure. Going from 14mm to 18 is a huge difference. Joe@ptech is trying it out next week on his 550i so i'll wait and see what his finds are first. I may go with the M550dx's bar because i don't want the car too 1)decrease ride quality and 2) be too tail happy. My goal isn't to make this thing handle like a track car but just make it handle like how i've come accustomed to a Bmw should handle.

Alan
 
#21 ·
Alan, this is very interesting stuff. It would be great if someone could try how the car with sway bars installed handles on the track. I understand you are not trying to convert your car into racing machine, but making sure that the suspension is well balanced after the mod would bring comfort to others ready to try that improvement too.
 
#22 ·
Thanks Alan L...your report is going to make a lot of us without ARS happy. My thoughts the same on the M550dx bar. 16mm is a tad over 10% roll stiffness. Maybe just enough to balance the effect of the new M5 bar without adversely affecting ride. Just curious...do you know what the M5 bar diameter is? Realoem didn't indicate the size.
BTW: You might of already heard this 1000 times...Your car looks GREAT!
 
#23 ·
Thanks Alan for the tips and suggestions! Always looking forward towards your detail feedback.
 
#25 ·
Floaty feel?

The floaty boat-like feel is a result of soft springs and dampeners. Adding lowering springs (typically higher spring rates) reduce the floating feel a bit, but proper dampeners (tuned for sport instead of comfort) well tame the float. Sway bars by themselves will not cure the float. Where sway bars come in is when you're turning and feel the car plow and give that roll over effect. Upgrading your bars to larger (torsionally stiffer) will aid in reducing your roll center, thus causing the car to corner flatter.

If you already have DDC, then your shocks are electronically controlled and can be stiffened by just selecting Sport or Sport +. You then need only to add lowering springs to control float and sway bars to control roll.

There is also the coil over option that upgrades springs and shocks all in one shot.

Several solutions out there depends on what you want and how much you want to $pend.
 
#26 ·
The floaty boat-like feel is a result of soft springs and dampeners. Adding lowering springs (typically higher spring rates) reduce the floating feel a bit, but proper dampeners (tuned for sport instead of comfort) well tame the float. Sway bars by themselves will not cure the float. Where sway bars come in is when you're turning and feel the car plow and give that roll over effect. Upgrading your bars to larger (torsionally stiffer) will aid in reducing your roll center, thus causing the car to corner flatter.

If you already have DDC, then your shocks are electronically controlled and can be stiffened by just selecting Sport or Sport +. You then need only to add lowering springs to control float and sway bars to control roll.

There is also the coil over option that upgrades springs and shocks all in one shot.

Several solutions out there depends on what you want and how much you want to $pend.
Thanks for the information. This is my FIRST car that I could not bear with the stock suspension, so I'm still finding out what is the right thing to do. Mine's just the most basic stock non-M sport suspension. I'm not going to track with my F10 (I don't see what's the fun in driving a big heavy car on the track anyway), so I won't need anything extreme. I just want to feel like I'm in a BMW, not a Lincoln, like Alan mentioned.

I was looking at KW coilovers to get it done right in one shot, but I guess they are too expensive for my basic needs. Seems like lowering springs + sway bar upgrade is sufficient for me.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Now with the rear bar.

Turns out on the 535 theres several sizes that the car comes with depending on options and if its RWD or AWD.

535i standard rear bar is 13MM
535i Msports rear bar is 14MM
535xi standard rear bar is 14MM
535xi with EDC/DDC rear bar is 15MM

I did not check this for the 528 or the 550 but you can easily do it with realoem.com

Since my car comes with a 15MM rear bar I will go with the 18MM F07 550GT's rear bar for a 3mm increase. Looks like you will also need to purchase new bushings with bigger internal diameter to hold the thicker bar. Hopefully thats it.

Alan
 
#35 · (Edited)
I also want to add the install for the M5 front sway bar is super easy. You can do it with the car on ramps in no more than 30mins and thats taking your time.

I normally DIY all of my parts but now with a baby I decided to let my shop do it. I watched the whole process and it was in and out in 30mins and that includes getting the car on and off the lift. Theres maybe a dozen small bolts that holds the belly pan up and once that is off you have a total of 6 bolts that holds the sway bar in place. Its in a area that isn't blocked by anything and you can reach all of the bolts with ease.

My stock front sway bar - The red circles are where all of the bolts are except one that is off the pic.


Alan
 
#54 ·
Good idea to match the M5's rear bar size

Good plan Alan...It would be great if the F07 bar fits and even better that we will then have a choice of 16 and 18mm. I've had experience with factory upgrade sway bars in the past and it really is convenient to upgrade as a set (since the factory does the engineering). To that point, I'd like to mimic BMW's match for the front M5 bar (ie do they use a 16mm or 18mm rear bar on the M5). I've got a 550i so curb weight should be close to the M5. I don't intend to track or drift so I really don't need more sway bar than what the M5 is equipped with.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Tried to get a H&R group going last year but it failed. Link to thread.
We can revive if there is interest. ACS or H&R or both, your choice guys.

Note: mounting springs on the F10 is apparently a pain. Labor isn't going to be cheap, $500 is where we had left things at in that thread.
Here is a DIY thread on 5post with pictures from someone who did it with a buddy in 3 hours. Link.

Alan/ anyone who understands this well - Could you please chime in and comment on why ACS vs H&R?
And Alan do you still hear that sound from the center of your console since you installed the ACS?
 
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