Just Lowered My Car!

[robcarync]

sup guys! as you may all know by now, i just got my hands on some h&r racing springs and tokico illumina shocks/struts...

and i just finished installing them now!

here is the story of our trials, errors, and poor luck

i got the parts from UPS tuesday...and installed the rears tuesday afternoon/evening. it wasnt too bad at all...problem being we decided to go at it without a spring compressor. that made it kinda tough, but we managed to pop them in.

today i got the fronts in. that was a bit more tough. we got the spring compressor from auto zone, and got to work jacking up the car and taking the passenger side off. two of the three bolts holding the strut to the hub/steering arm are seized on there with some locking compound...making it VERY tough to get off. it took FOREVER to get them undone with a breaker bar, as there was little room to get a lengthy rotation. the third bolt was easy...and we un did the top and the strut popped out...then we notice the little red spongey things on the strut...aka the 'absorber'...but ours was ten years old and disentegrating, so we needed to replace it. i drive to the BMW dealer, pick up the two absorbers, and drive back (an hour of driving, plus time in the shop). get back and we compressed the spring, take it off...and we notice something fishy...the h&r spring is barely more than HALF the height of the stock spring when both are uncompressed. i was starting to wonder if the springs didnt fit the TI...when assembled with the new strut...the spring was actually kinda loose on the shock. my only idea was that the race springs were stiffer...so they were shorter, but didnt compress as much. we decided to go with it and pop the passenger side strut back on. that took about 4ish hours or so...

then came the really bad part.

the driver side assembly. we take it apart like before...except as my pops is cranking one of the seized bolts off, the head snaps off and we now have a 1/2 inch of solid steel seized into the bolt hole on the steering arm with locking compoud. wow that is NO GOOD. we took 5, thought about drilling it out, thought about just picking up a new steering arm ($$$), and thought about just crying. the strut was already removed, so we went ahead decided to get the hub off.

so for that we went up to auto zone and returned the spring compressor and rented the tie rod seperator tool (the angled fork like thing used to pry the control arm ball join and the hub apart). we come back and hammer away at the ball joints. one pops off and the other ball jointish thing pops off too (after some heavy hammering) we disconnect the sensors and remove the hub (calipers already removed). damn we see how much of the bolt is still in the hole (the whole thing...the ENTIRE hole was plugged) we decided to start drilling that sucker out...starting small and gradually getting bigger as we go through about 5 drill bits that snapped on us. once we get most of the center drilled out, we get my pops tapping tool...and by turning the tap slowly, we managed to crank out the bolt threads that are stuck in there. we clear out the hole some more, and are relived to find out that after spending hours drilling through all this stupid steel, the threads are still intact.

next we go ahead looking for the M12 bolt with a 1.75 pitch that is 20mm long...NO ONE has one! we checked ace hardware, auto zone, and advance auto parts. we find one that is 30 mm long, but that is too long...we buy it anyway for 94 cents.

so right now we got it back together, but we still need the right bolt...rihgt now we have the long bolt in there, with another nut screwed up on it like a spacer...kind of ghetto but until we can get to the dealer tomorrow...it will have to work.

then we let down the jack stands....and we are hoping the car stops dropping before it lands on the ground...as we were still concerned about the vast decrease in spring size....it drops pretty low, but i am pleased to see that after all that damn work, the parts seem to fit and work very well!

i have yet to drive it, as i want to get the proper bolt on it first, but it looks great!


ill have pics up tomorrow!

[Panzer_M]

tokico illumina shocks

ran them, for 20k(of hard track driving/street)..then they were gone, good for the time being.

Start saving for Bilstein Sports.

Other than that..good job....pictures! we demand pictures!!

[robcarync]

ran them, for 20k(of hard track driving/street)..then they were gone, good for the time being.

awwww dont tell me that! after spending several hours working on these struts and suspension pieces, i dont ever want to take them out again!!!

haha

well im off to the NC State Maryland Football game...pics coming later!

[cali-ti]

rob, this is the usual way of things (bolts breaking, unforeseen things happening). i think just about every time i've done work on my car, i've ended up with a bunch of new tools. latest ones are helicoil kits (two different ones) for rethreading two holes for bolts that broke off which i was unable to extract. so i guess, count yourself lucky you could extract the broken bolt :)

[robcarync]

haha yep it is the way things always happens...everytime ive tried to work on my car, something unforseen happens...its kinda sad really....and my mom is a nay-sayer and everytime something goes wrong, she rubs it iN!

haha...

just got back from the game....WOLFPACK WINS!

now off to grab the dig camera...ill get some pics and post them soon!

[cali-ti]

haha yep it is the way things always happens...everytime ive tried to work on my car, something unforseen happens...its kinda sad really....and my mom is a nay-sayer and everytime something goes wrong, she rubs it iN!
well, those are the learning experiences. i figure the experience gained will come in handy later.

when your mom's car breaks down, who does she call first? i'm guessing it's your dad or you, the ones with experience! so hopefully she's "rubbing it in" in more of a joking manner. :)

[robcarync]

actually she talks about her toyota camry that never breaks...all she has to do is take it to jiffy lube every once in a while and its all set.

actually, my mom is very vocal on the bmw of the family...she hates it...says its a money pit and we waste our money with 'performance' stuff cause we should save it since it breaks all the time...

like with the new suspension pieces...shes like what does it do...im tell her...'ehh it improves handling...basically it holds the car off the ground...' my mom 'your car is already off the ground...it already steers enough to drive around in it...thats a waste of money'

for my birthday and xmas and stuff...i always ask for car parts...but i always talk to my dad about it...my bday was nov 2nd...i never answer my mom when she asks what i want....i just tell her ive already talked to my pops about it and that its taken care of.

sadly, my GF is the same way....i figured shed understand since her brother had a heavily modified mustang cobra...she tells me she wouldnt spend 150 bucks to lower her car a few inches...i told her i wouldnt spend 150 bucks on a north face jacket, just since it has the north face logo on it...but argueing with a female is pointless you always lose....lol

some pics in user gallery...(link to left)

they are kinda dark and blurry cause it was kinda dark outside....but i will definently be getting some nice light ones soon!

[cali-ti]

actually she talks about her toyota camry that never breaks...all she has to do is take it to jiffy lube every once in a while and its all set.

actually, my mom is very vocal on the bmw of the family...she hates it...says its a money pit and we waste our money with 'performance' stuff cause we should save it since it breaks all the time...

like with the new suspension pieces...shes like what does it do...im tell her...'ehh it improves handling...basically it holds the car off the ground...' my mom 'your car is already off the ground...it already steers enough to drive around in it...thats a waste of money'

for my birthday and xmas and stuff...i always ask for car parts...but i always talk to my dad about it...my bday was nov 2nd...i never answer my mom when she asks what i want....i just tell her ive already talked to my pops about it and that its taken care of.

sadly, my GF is the same way....i figured shed understand since her brother had a heavily modified mustang cobra...she tells me she wouldnt spend 150 bucks to lower her car a few inches...i told her i wouldnt spend 150 bucks on a north face jacket, just since it has the north face logo on it...but argueing with a female is pointless you always lose....lol

some pics in user gallery...(link to left)

they are kinda dark and blurry cause it was kinda dark outside....but i will definently be getting some nice light ones soon!
yeah, men and women are different. i look at all the knowledge i gain from working on my car myself and see the value in it. my gf at least sort of understands that (especially when i fix her car :tongue:). does your mom have any hobbies? do they all have "value" in your eyes? different people enjoy different things. i don't spend money on gardening, but i don't give my mom crap for doing it. seems a little weird to me to give someone crap for essentially having a hobby.

if she does NO preventative maintenance to her toyota, it WILL break. she may get rid of it before that point, but it will happen. how many miles does hers have vs yours? bmw's are generally very reliable. toyota may be a little higher, but they're close. parts prices i would imagine are close too.

EDIT: doesn't look like it lowered it too much (most likely a good thing). be interested to hear how she handles now :)

and i'm sure you could find things your mom "wastes" money on too. does she buy new clothes when she still has current ones that are fine? shoes? people spend money on different things, just because you don't spend money on that thing, doesn't mean it doesn't have value. i can only imagine what she'd say about the audio gear i have (a boom box is fine!) or tools or ....

[robcarync]

haha EXACTLY!

my moms car is fairly new....i think its a 2001 camry...my car is a 95...nearly 100k!

the problem is...me and my pops wnated to buy the car a few years back...she didnt...she said she heard bmws were unreliabe...we were like no no no check consumer reports...95 3 series is a reccomended car! and ever since we got it, random stuff fails on it.

its never anything big like a blown engine or anything...but like o2 sensors, knock sensor, control arms and ball joints...problem is, she sees a CEL and freaks out (bad experience with her old ford windstar mini van...constant CEL light....3 new transmissions and 2 new engines and it still was crap)...

me and my pops try to explain that its maintainance...that you have to take care of it to make it last longer, and if you dont get this small stuff done, you will pay for it in the long run!

it basically got too expensive to take it to the dealer all the time...and through this site i got really interested in cars...so i decided to learn with my pops! i remember the first time i changed an o2 sensor by myself...i felt so great about myself!

i figure working on a car is acceptable for me since im studying mechanical engineering at NC State!

as for the drop...its actually a fairly significant drop, but i kinda shot the pic at an angle pointing up...making the fender gap appear wider...it bottoms out on my driveway a little bit now if i dont hit the perfect angle. i will get better, clear and light pics tomorrow showing it.

i still havent got the right bolt for the shock, so im staying off of it now except to park on the street to take those pics...i have to get to the dealer on monday to get the right size, then my pops will get to test her out....until i get home again for christmas break! i cant wait to see how she handles too!

[cali-ti]

my moms car is fairly new....i think its a 2001 camry...my car is a 95...nearly 100k!
yeah, that'd do it.
the problem is...me and my pops wanted to buy the car a few years back...she didnt...she said she heard bmws were unreliabe...we were like no no no check consumer reports...95 3 series is a reccomended car! and ever since we got it, random stuff fails on it.
other people have told me that too ("i've heard bmw's aren't reliable") ... i have no idea where they get this crap. any american brand, sure ... where they get bmw is not reliable i have no idea.
its never anything big like a blown engine or anything...but like o2 sensors, knock sensor, control arms and ball joints...problem is, she sees a CEL and freaks out (bad experience with her old ford windstar mini van...constant CEL light....3 new transmissions and 2 new engines and it still was crap)...
mmmm, that's cause it's a FORD! see above comment about domestic cars, lol.
me and my pops try to explain that its maintainance...that you have to take care of it to make it last longer, and if you dont get this small stuff done, you will pay for it in the long run!
has she ever had a car with that high of mileage as your ti? if not, that's why she doesn't understand it. if she's used to domestics, she probably gets rid of them before they get that high.
it basically got too expensive to take it to the dealer all the time...and through this site i got really interested in cars...so i decided to learn with my pops! i remember the first time i changed an o2 sensor by myself...i felt so great about myself! i figure working on a car is acceptable for me since im studying mechanical engineering at NC State!
yeah ... have you tried to explain that to her?
as for the drop...its actually a fairly significant drop, but i kinda shot the pic at an angle pointing up...making the fender gap appear wider...it bottoms out on my driveway a little bit now if i dont hit the perfect angle. i will get better, clear and light pics tomorrow showing it.

i still havent got the right bolt for the shock, so im staying off of it now except to park on the street to take those pics...i have to get to the dealer on monday to get the right size, then my pops will get to test her out....until i get home again for christmas break! i cant wait to see how she handles too!
cool. congrats on getting the job done. you saved yourself a lot of $$$ in labor. don't forget to go get an alignment!

[aceyx]

Rob; looks awesome man.

While not a permanent solution, you can shorten up the bolt with a hacksaw. Put it in a vise, spin a nut on there first, cut, then remove the nut to smooth out the threads. File the burrs if necessary.

Also, penetrating spray works well even on loctite.


As far as women go, you "lose" because you think logic will bear any weight. With women, it hardly ever does. Just tell her she can say "I told you so," if it all goes awry. We never listen anyway, so it's all good.

Anyway, congrats. Working on your own car is satisfying, isn't it? Plus, spent some time with the pops. Priceless, IMO.

[robcarync]

exactly!

i tried the price thing...i was like "hey mom, ya know i got hooked up with, say 700 dollars worth of car parts for only 150...and saving a few hundred by doing it myself...im saving several hundred dollars here!"...then she says 'why dont you just leave it alone and save all of your money then?" haha...women!

when i told my girlfiend the story of why it took so long to work on my car...she was like "see, thats why women would just take it to a mechanic...and let someone who knows what their doing handle it'...i tried to explain that i didnt have a few more hundred dollars laying around, and its more satisfying doing it yourself...

my favorite quote from my pops: "When argueing with women, logic and common sense go out the window"

as for the bolt...home depot had the right size but it was a plain zinc bolt, and the one we broke was the black kind...heat tempered steel or something like that...so we're just gonna grab one from the dealer monday...but i wont be back home til probably dec 15th or so after exams...i hope my pops enjoys driving that baby to work :) i thought about the hack saw idea, but since its the hardened steel type i figured it be tough...and since i wont be here for the next few weeks, its ok cause im not missing anything.

as for high mileage cars, my mom used to drive this OOOLLLLLDDDD toyota mini van....like 87 i think....TONS of miles on it, no problems, so thats what she uses as a reference...i tried to tell her there are a lot of things different between a BMW and a dust buster looking mini van...

whenever my mom complains about the car breaking, i just tell her that she spent over 10k on stupid crap for the ford windstar....and at least my car looks awesome and is a chick magnet :) id say the bmw is a step up....becuase the windstar was my inherited ride for the first 5 months i had my license....it was named the 'Loser Cruiser'...the engine was so jacked...id pray i wouldnt have to stop at a stop light cause it would take FOREVER to get the bad boy back up to the speed limit...and even the old granny would be passing me! the van couldnt even back up my driveway (not steep at all)...you kinda had to tap the gas a bit....and talk to it softly...and caress it into making it up the TINY little hill...

eventually my pops deemed the windstar unsafe to drive, and we got the bmw!

haha ok sorry for my random rant...better pictures tomorrow....im going to bed now...

[cali-ti]

i tried the price thing...i was like "hey mom, ya know i got hooked up with, say 700 dollars worth of car parts for only 150...and saving a few hundred by doing it myself...im saving several hundred dollars here!"...then she says 'why dont you just leave it alone and save all of your money then?" haha...women!
lol ... yeah. oh well ...
when i told my girlfiend the story of why it took so long to work on my car...she was like "see, thats why women would just take it to a mechanic...and let someone who knows what their doing handle it'...i tried to explain that i didnt have a few more hundred dollars laying around, and its more satisfying doing it yourself...
and that's also why (most) women have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA ABOUT ANYTHING ON THEIR CARS. if your girlfriend's car broke down while you two were driving around, who would she look to first? i'm guessing two eyes would be looking at you! :tongue: if my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, i'd like to have a clue as to what to look for and have a CHANCE at possibly fixing it, at least enough so i could limp to somewhere to get it fixed proper.
my favorite quote from my pops: "When argueing with women, logic and common sense go out the window"
yeah ... smart man ;)
as for high mileage cars, my mom used to drive this OOOLLLLLDDDD toyota mini van....like 87 i think....TONS of miles on it, no problems, so thats what she uses as a reference...i tried to tell her there are a lot of things different between a BMW and a dust buster looking mini van...
i would say something here ... about replacing/upgrading parts before they fail because it's a performance car ... but she won't get that, lol. she never replaced a battery or any other parts on that minivan? kinda doubt that. bushings and stuff, maybe not, because she just didn't care. razor sharp handling in a minivan is usually not a requirement.
whenever my mom complains about the car breaking, i just tell her that she spent over 10k on stupid crap for the ford windstar....and at least my car looks awesome and is a chick magnet :) id say the bmw is a step up....becuase the windstar was my inherited ride for the first 5 months i had my license....it was named the 'Loser Cruiser'...the engine was so jacked...id pray i wouldnt have to stop at a stop light cause it would take FOREVER to get the bad boy back up to the speed limit...and even the old granny would be passing me! the van couldnt even back up my driveway (not steep at all)...you kinda had to tap the gas a bit....and talk to it softly...and caress it into making it up the TINY little hill...
minivan and bmw should never even be uttered in the same breath ... lol

[robcarync]

word to that...i got some good pictures up now...ones light enough to see whats goin on!

check the user gallery

on a side note, my mom just walked in and asked me what i wanted for christmas...lol i told her i already talked to pops about it and she need not worry....ahhh women!

[96ti]

Looking good man. Need new rims and paint bumpers. What's your next mod?

[robcarync]

well xbrace is coming soon so that is definently next

as for that i havnet a clue...i have always wanted a color matched body kit....unfortunately, i dont really have that kind of money at the time...as i just got the shocks/struts and the xbrace now...the window is about to fail again, so i will have to get a new regulator and some sliders....and a new switch...so thats all on the list of things to do...

i would love new rims and painted bumpers, problem being that with bigger purchases, i have to first convince my pops that he wants it...so he can pay for it :)

i was thinking about doing this interesting experiement...

http://home.earthlink.net/~frankie66/cars/diy/E36_paintmatching.html

to paint match the side skirts, but havent really made any decisions yet...

anyway... basically the moral of this post was that i have no clue what im doing next...haha

[AlaskaBlue]

I have seen that done too. There are quite a few threads about it on bf.c

[robcarync]

xbrace is here...and im done with finals! i drove the car today! it looks so fly lowered and handles quite well! best performance mod ive done so far!