Good evening peeps. Been a member for a number of years but never introduced myself. In a previous life I worked at the family owned BMW Dealer in Inverness. When the Z3 was first launched I borrowed our 1.9 demo for the evening and thought I like this I must get me one. I owned an E36 323i coupe at the time which was a fine car but not as good as my previous vehicle, an E36 318is coupe with the M42 1.8 engine. Anyhoo, bought a Z3 2.8 in 1997 and loved it. The only thing lacking was some grunt from 100mph upwards (my partner and I used to go on european driving holidays to Germany, France, Belgium and so on (and on the Autobahn you need some top-end when a Transit van is sitting on your back bumper at 90 and you can't pull over to let him pass). Kept the 2.8 for a couple of years, and decided in September 1999 to trade it in for an M Roadster, which I still have, and which I'm happy to say, passed its MoT test last week. Fitted Spax lowering springs to it before this years test, which I bought in July last year in case it failed on broken coil springs, but it passed and so they sat in my shed until 2 weeks ago. Took them off today as car was bottoming over speed bumps, and replaced them with OE springs all round. Will probably end up putting them on ebay or gumtree cos they won't be going back on the car. So that's my brief intro. Sorry to go on a bit, but have been looking in on the forum for a wee while now and the help and advice on here is fantastic. Reminds me of my years in the trade when customers actually mattered.
New to the Forum
- Thread starter Davie B
- Start date
Hi Davie, and welcome from me down here near Lincoln.
Tony.
Tony.
Hi Davie
Welcome from Devon
Welcome from Devon
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2016
- Points
- 231
- Model of Z
- Z3M Imola and Z4 (e89)
Hi and welcome from London
Hi and welcome from me in Oxfordshire. Were your dampers changed as well as the springs? Asking as I though Spax were supposed to be quality replacements.
to the forum from West Cumbria.
I changed the dampers a couple of years ago for Bilstein B6's but kept the standard Mtech springs as they were pretty new having replaced them all (in pairs) when one broke as they seem to do every couple of years. The Spax springs are beefier than the factory ones with the coils being the same diameter from top to bottom unlike the factory ones which get narrower towards the ends. The BMW springs I bought from the dealer in are (on the front ones ) made by Eibach.
Often the case where the "Pig tails" break because they're thinner. In fact not so long ago this was only an advisory on the MOT test. In my opinion it still should be because it is not a safety critical issue when just the "thinner" end is broken. This why most after market springs are the same diameter from end to end.
Tony.
Tony.
