Stock: 23mm front, 18mm rear
Sports: 24mm front, 19mm rear.

For comparison, UUC sways: 25.4mm front, 23.8 rear if I'm not mistaken.

eugeneDC/TX said:

is the sports package OEM sways same thickness as stock sways on e46s?

Click to expand...

Re: Re: sways thickness

The HACK said:

Stock: 23mm front, 18mm rear
Sports: 24mm front, 19mm rear.

For comparison, UUC sways: 25.4mm front, 23.8 rear if I'm not mistaken.

Click to expand...

wow, 1 mm... i wonder how much of a difference it makes. i havent driven an e46 w/o sports suspension. but geez the uuc's are big... i want, but it'll have to wait a little longer...

Re: Re: Re: sways thickness

eugeneDC/TX said:

wow, 1 mm... i wonder how much of a difference it makes. i havent driven an e46 w/o sports suspension. but geez the uuc's are big... i want, but it'll have to wait a little longer...

Click to expand...

The springs and shocks are more important for the SP

Re: Re: Re: Re: sways thickness

nate328Ci said:

The springs and shocks are more important for the SP

Click to expand...

Hey nate, if you're right, will the UUC sways that are rumored to be coming out for the Xi be ineffective? Everyone always says that sways are the biggest handling improvement you can give your car (without spending thousands). Is that all BS, are you just wrong, am i misunderstanding what you wrote above? I just pray that the sways will get rid of some of this body roll - i feel like i'm driving with huge fat love handles attached to my car:yikes:

He's not saying that... I believ ehe is saying that putting in H&R Coilovers would make a bigger difference... At four or five times the cost.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: sways thickness

joes325xi said:

Hey nate, if you're right, will the UUC sways that are rumored to be coming out for the Xi be ineffective? Everyone always says that sways are the biggest handling improvement you can give your car (without spending thousands). Is that all BS, are you just wrong, am i misunderstanding what you wrote above? I just pray that the sways will get rid of some of this body roll - i feel like i'm driving with huge fat love handles attached to my car:yikes:

Click to expand...

Sways will reduce body roll somewhat, but the primary use of sway bars is to adjust the attitude of the car, by adjusting the dimentions of the rear bar.

Spring and shocks are the best way to reduce roll and improve the handleing, IMO. The effects of a sping and shock upgrade are MUCH more pronounced than merely upgrading the size of the anti-roll bars.

For your XI, the best way to improve you handleing would be to buy a suspensinon kit. XIs need a lot shorter springs...

I would recommend changing the spings before the anti-roll bar on an XI for shure. There are spings made for you guys now...

Coilovers are best suited for the track. I believe that H&R makes springs for the XIs :dunno:

Nick325xiT 5spd said:

He's not saying that... I believ ehe is saying that putting in H&R Coilovers would make a bigger difference... At four or five times the cost.

Click to expand...

Coilovers are best suited for the street, too, from what I hear. The xis have really short springs to begin with, AND a rather harsh ride. The spring kits make both a good deal worse. I understand that the coilovers actually have a smoother ride with more suspension travel.

No, coilovers are best at the track

how can they have short springs when the look like off-roaders compared to the regular E46 :dunno:

Nick325xiT 5spd said:

Coilovers are best suited for the street, too, from what I hear. The xis have really short springs to begin with, AND a rather harsh ride. The spring kits make both a good deal worse. I understand that the coilovers actually have a smoother ride with more suspension travel.

Click to expand...

The spring travel is shorter but where the springs are mounted on the shocks are much higher I believe.

nate328Ci said:

No, coilovers are best at the track

how can they have short springs when the look like off-roaders compared to the regular E46 :dunno:

Click to expand...

That's right, xi have shorter springs and less suspension travel compared to non-xi or even SP.

Bentley claims this is for 2 reasons. 1: keep the higher CoG xi cars' suspension movements under better check 2: to keep the front drivetrain components within acceptable alignments

nate328Ci said:

how can they have short springs when the look like off-roaders compared to the regular E46 :dunno:

Click to expand...

Doh! I should have looked that up, but XIs still need shock and spring work :bigpimp:

No question on that one. I'm just saying that I think springs are a lot less desirable in the xis than in most other vehicles.

So getting shorter springs to improve the handling will end up making the ride worse and not really correct much of the roll? Damn! (i've seen a couple of people here, at the org, and e46fanatics that have lowered their XI using springs and claim that handling/roll is much improved - maybe it's more psychological than truth). At least i won't have to worry about dropping a couple hundred on the install for springs :yikes: , although getting rid of that "four-wheeler" look would be nice.

So to improve the handling of the car, i'm going to have to go out and get a coilover system (bilstein PSS/PSS9 or something) and drop close to $2000 on the coilovers plus install!?! No thanks. Maybe i'll just get the sways and try to install them myself - any improvement in body roll would be worth it, but not at $2000 (at least not on my budget). Sways and CDV removal sounds like a fun weekend for later in the summer (btw: thanks Nick!:thumb: ).

So Nick, what do you plan on doing for your XI (if anything)?

I've been calling UUC weekly about sways.

Also, I'm NOT saying that there isn't an improvement with the springs... I just think that the benefits do not outweigh the costs. I'm not willing to make the ride in my car significantly more unpleasant for a little bit of performanc ethat I only use some of the time. I also understand that lowering springs can make highway float worse.
So far as I can tell, coilovers are the no compromise solution. They improve handling a great deal and, I understand, they improve the ride, too.

That said, I'm not forking out for 'em.

Nick