My 3 series sucks, help.

Joshy said:
Of course it won't, but spending £1000 on the suspension of a £2,000 E36 isn't going to make it worth £3,000. You're going to add a few hundred pounds onto the value at the most, and that isn't taking into account what having decent E46s in a similar price range might do the values.

I think suggesting that he'll get most of the money back is a bit off of the mark.
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Sorry, that wasn't what I mean't.

You very very rarely get a return on mods on a car, certainly almost NEVER pound for pound !

I was referring to the car not suddenly becoming worth pennies after doing the work. Anyone buying a 10-15 year old car should realise suspension replacement is almost as mandatory as doing an oil change!

I'd be interested to see what you end up doing and what success you have as a result of that. Worst case you'll have a car that at the end of it should sell a bit quicker as its had a full suspension refresh.
 
From going over similar things with old Rovers.

The biggest difference on those was made by replacing ALL the bushes with poly bushes. Its pretty pointless doing part of the car. Went from being sloppy to nice and tight and gave 100% confidence in the car as those who came to the MM when I had it can attest ;)

I was also going to suggest that going from FWD Colt to RWD BMW might attest for some of the confidence issue/feel, but since you have driven a "sorted" car and found it to be fine, we can rule that out.
 
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I would much rather have a £1500 E36 than a £2k E46.

E36s are relatively simple and very well known amongst the enthusiast community. You can fix virtually all of it yourself, and there's loads of DIY mods. E46s are a fair bit more complex, and cheap ones thoroughly ropey.
 
From the sounds of it, cheap mods, poor care and old age has got the better of your E36.

I think you should get some decent shocks/springs for it and almost return it to stock, then you can start modding it as you see fit. At the moment it sounds like it needs a good service (do they change the diff oil on these?), a decent set of tyres, a decent suspension setup and a geometry check and it will be no less than 1574% better than how it sounds at the moment.

EDIT: Oh and get new bushes ALL ROUND asap! This made a massive difference on my E46 and mine were barely worn.
 
I can only echo what was said above. My sport had Eibach springs, sport shocks, polybushes all round with m3 wishbone bushes. The poly bushes made a huge difference but took away a lot from the ride quality.

I also found the car very sensitive to tyre choice and drove a lot better on stiff sidewalls.
 
Gaygle said:
From the sounds of it, cheap mods, poor care and old age has got the better of your E36.

It doesn't have any cheap mods.

I think you should get some decent shocks/springs for it and almost return it to stock, then you can start modding it as you see fit.

Sounds like a waste of time and money, I'll only want it sportier anyway.

At the moment it sounds like it needs a good service (do they change the diff oil on these?)
Not really, it has FSH and 3 lights on before it's due an Inspection II, at which point yes, the gearbox and diff oil should be changed.

a decent set of tyres
Got, ok they're not AD08's but not nasty ditch finders either.

, a decent suspension setup and a geometry check and it will be no less than 1574% better than how it sounds at the moment.
This has been covered in depth just up the page.

EDIT: Oh and get new bushes ALL ROUND asap! This made a massive difference on my E46 and mine were barely worn.

All round meaning what exactly? Just castor bushes and RTAB's? Subframe mounts too? New top mounts?
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An update on this. Was a lovely day yesterday, so I took the car out for a blast around mid Wales.
e36bala.png

Nice, no?

Too much body movement, made my mind up, going to order the HSD HR coilovers next month.

There's a couple of other things though. Noticed that when driving over rough road that the front end wanders around the road and it feels pretty unnerving. I can only assume this is an effect of bad control arm bushes?
Also noticed that when turning with lots of steering lock i.e. around hairpin turn, there is a wierd bobbing motion, assuming there's a blown damper causing this.

Oh, and does anyone know of a source for new clutch discs for the LSD?
 
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It looks a bit chav to me, you sure the previous owner hasn't screwed something up? Those awful headlights inspire no confidence.
 
In the nicest way clarkey that picture speaks a thousand words for your suspension woes.

You'll love the car when this is all sorted. I loved driving Nicks E36 on track, and that was just a 318iS !
 
I'd still clear of the HSD coilovers we fitted some to a 318 owned by a friend of a friend and the way they're designed they couldn't be adjusted correctly on the car.
 
Firestar_3x said:
What's wrong with the front lights?
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[TW]Fox;21412272 said:
It looks a bit chav to me, you sure the previous owner hasn't screwed something up? Those awful headlights inspire no confidence.
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InvaderGIR said:
Cheap (or potentially expensive) aftermarket tat projector units by the looks of it.
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http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-4-hella-euro-angel-eye-headlight-kit.aspx

That is the light kit, as you can see it is not cheap tat although my opinion of them is varied. They might look a bit silly, but having driven a few of these with stock lights, the beam on these is considerably better so getting rid is going to mean downgrading the light.

This of course has nothing to do with suspension ;)

I'm aware that the HSD are tricky to adjust in situ, but they shouldn't need to be adjusted once set. I've heard nothing but good things about them, even reviewed by a race driver as being an equal to KW V3. That's good enough for me, plus these are dual perch design, and I'm keen to buy with driftworks, a local company supporting a sport I'm keen on.
 
Clarkey said:
That's good enough for me, plus these are dual perch design, and I'm keen to buy with driftworks, a local company supporting a sport I'm keen on.
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Driftworks seem to know what they'e doing with BMW's. Phil Morrison has built an awesome V10 (E60 M5) powered E46 M3.

If you're happy with what they are advising you to do I'd go with that.
 
Conanius said:
Clarkey,

is it these you want - http://www.driftworks.com/shop/hsd-hr-monotube-coilovers-for-bmw-e36-including-m3.html ?

They say they are monotube. Unsure if its the same make to make, but the Tein Monotubes are HARD. like, rock hard, like, country road at 60 is dangerous as you literally bounce hard.

Maybe get something a bit more forgiving... KWv1's or a Bilstein offering ?
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Yep, one of the main selling points of them is the ride quality is excellent, only marginally worse than OEM.

Just had a bit of a freakin downer put on the car plans though. My mechanic, a family friend, a guy who was there the day I was born, has had a stroke and passed away. I'll have to soldier on without his help, RIP Graham :(
 
Clarkey said:
Yep, one of the main selling points of them is the ride quality is excellent, only marginally worse than OEM.

Just had a bit of a freakin downer put on the car plans though. My mechanic, a family friend, a guy who was there the day I was born, has had a stroke and passed away. I'll have to soldier on without his help, RIP Graham :(
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Bad times :(

I haven't read the thread in much detail mate but if the car is seemlingly not performing on par to what it should maybe test driving a few different examples of the same car to see how yours compares?
 
Clarkey said:
Yep, one of the main selling points of them is the ride quality is excellent, only marginally worse than OEM.

Just had a bit of a freakin downer put on the car plans though. My mechanic, a family friend, a guy who was there the day I was born, has had a stroke and passed away. I'll have to soldier on without his help, RIP Graham :(
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That's sad :(
 
Are you still on standard anti roll bars?

They'd be my first port of call of ridding a car of excessive bodyroll if it already has some form of uprated suspension.
 
Clarkey said:
EDIT: Oh and get new bushes ALL ROUND asap! This made a massive difference on my E46 and mine were barely worn.

All round meaning what exactly? Just castor bushes and RTAB's? Subframe mounts too? New top mounts?
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Sorry, only just saw this.

On my E46 FCAB were a must. I also did all of the ARB bushes and the RTABs. The RTABs on the E36 were meant to have an even short life expectancy than on the E46! RTABs and FCABs reduced the tramlining/high speed "instability" i had significantly. Then getting rid of the Bridgestone tyres eliminated it altogether.

Also, i had a leaky rear shock by 65k and 8 years old and replaced both rear shocks and top mounts as a precaution. Also i replaced the front drop links which were like £25 for both and took a whole 5 minutes for the mechanic to fit - definitely worth doing.

Should be able to get ALL of this done for around £300. Quite a bit less if you can do everything yourself. If your E36 has never had any bushes etc changed, the difference should be massive.

EDIT: Sorry, only just read about your friendly mechanic :(
 
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