Took my 91 325iC to IE last month to have the suspension upgraded. I could have done the work myself but these days I have more money than time so for me it was worth it. Made the appointment to take my car down there and was somewhat surprised to see a shop full of BMW 2002s in various stages of race prep. I guess that's their specialty. Worked with Jeremy on what to do with my car and he was very knowledgeable about the effectiveness of different mods and whether they would be cost effective for me.
Here's what they put on the car:
H&R Sport Springs front and rear
Bilstein Sport Shocks front and rear
Fixed 1 1/4 degree Camber Plates
M3 Offset Control Arm Bushings
Steel Control Arms/Ball Joints
Strut Bearings
Billet Rear Shock Mounts
Front Strut Brace
IE Sway bars (25mm front, 22mm rear)
Urethane Rear Bushing Kit
Urethane Rear Subframe Mount
They gave me a discount up front on the parts since this was a significant purchase and estimated 12 hours for labor. They did all the work in about two days although they had the car longer than that. That was partly because I wanted to take it down when it was convienient for me rather than when they were ready to work on it.
When I went to pick the car up I was very pleasantly surprised to find they had done a couple extras for me without charging me for it. They installed new brake pads on the front (I guess they were a little thin) and they replaced the lug bolts with studs and lug nuts. I had just put different wheels that required spacers and they said the bolts I installed were too short. Not enough thread holding them in. I must say that it looks great and will make wheel removal and replacement much easier.
Driving the car since then has been enlightening and fun. The handling is very much improved although the ride is a bit bumpier than it used to be. Rough roads are harsh but luckily SoCal has mostly good roads. Turning corners is easier and much more controlled with none of the feeling that it is on the edge of losing it when pushing the limits. It just feels a lot more solid. It feels like it will go wherever I point the wheel. I've never had a car like that. I thought this car ws fun to drive before. Now it's exciting!
Next up is installing the IE Extruded Honed Intake, bigger injectors, adjustable fuel pressure regulator and the 'Big Six AFM.' I have most of the parts but I'm waiting on the intake. IE doesn't have any in stock and they usually wait until they have three or more intakes on hand to do the work all at once and get a quantity discount. I'll let you all know how that turns out.
Overall I'm very happy with the car and would gladly go back to have more work done if needed. Thanks to Jeff, Jeremy and all that made this a worthwhile and fun experience. Also thanks to all the members here that shared their experiences with suspension upgrades that let me go into this much more knowledgeable about what I wanted to do.
Steve
Here's what they put on the car:
H&R Sport Springs front and rear
Bilstein Sport Shocks front and rear
Fixed 1 1/4 degree Camber Plates
M3 Offset Control Arm Bushings
Steel Control Arms/Ball Joints
Strut Bearings
Billet Rear Shock Mounts
Front Strut Brace
IE Sway bars (25mm front, 22mm rear)
Urethane Rear Bushing Kit
Urethane Rear Subframe Mount
They gave me a discount up front on the parts since this was a significant purchase and estimated 12 hours for labor. They did all the work in about two days although they had the car longer than that. That was partly because I wanted to take it down when it was convienient for me rather than when they were ready to work on it.
When I went to pick the car up I was very pleasantly surprised to find they had done a couple extras for me without charging me for it. They installed new brake pads on the front (I guess they were a little thin) and they replaced the lug bolts with studs and lug nuts. I had just put different wheels that required spacers and they said the bolts I installed were too short. Not enough thread holding them in. I must say that it looks great and will make wheel removal and replacement much easier.
Driving the car since then has been enlightening and fun. The handling is very much improved although the ride is a bit bumpier than it used to be. Rough roads are harsh but luckily SoCal has mostly good roads. Turning corners is easier and much more controlled with none of the feeling that it is on the edge of losing it when pushing the limits. It just feels a lot more solid. It feels like it will go wherever I point the wheel. I've never had a car like that. I thought this car ws fun to drive before. Now it's exciting!
Next up is installing the IE Extruded Honed Intake, bigger injectors, adjustable fuel pressure regulator and the 'Big Six AFM.' I have most of the parts but I'm waiting on the intake. IE doesn't have any in stock and they usually wait until they have three or more intakes on hand to do the work all at once and get a quantity discount. I'll let you all know how that turns out.
Overall I'm very happy with the car and would gladly go back to have more work done if needed. Thanks to Jeff, Jeremy and all that made this a worthwhile and fun experience. Also thanks to all the members here that shared their experiences with suspension upgrades that let me go into this much more knowledgeable about what I wanted to do.
Steve
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