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     Dave called the right place. We talked about his plan and decided on a thorough suspension upgrade: springs, shocks, sway bars, control arms, bushings, tie rods, and more. These changes are the standard, best changes to make on any 1984-91 E30 3-series or M3 to make it a high performance street or track car.

     I like to say that the suspension is built around the shocks, but that's not strictly true. Given that the M3 already has a really well designed suspension, however, we CAN say that the shock absorbers are the heart of our modification plan. In my experience, Bilstein strut inserts and shock absorbers work the best and last the longest, so Bilstein Sport shocks went on our list first. 

     The way a car reacts to bumps and steering inputs is largely determined by the springs, and the springs on street or dual-purpose cars are always a compromise. Choose springs that are too soft or too firm and the ride quality will be unacceptable. Length and stiffness of the spring determine ride height. The stock M3 springs lower the car slightly for a lower center of gravity and better handling. Conventional wisdom says we should lower it some more. How much should we lower an M3 anyway? Lowering a car makes it handle better, no? Nope, not necessarily. Lowering a BMW changes the suspension geometry and lowering it a lot causes bad changes. Compromise, always compromise...the original springs were a compromise choice by BMW to serve the average M3 user. The new springs will be a compromise for Dave's projected use. There are lots of spring venders out there, and it's probably not too critical which ones you use, as long as they make a quality product. We chose H&R Springs because Turner recommends them and they know BMWs.

     Anti-sway bars were chosen the same way: by consulting a reputable and experienced BMW tuner and ordering what they recommended. We chose large Ireland Engineering bars which came with urethane bushings and heim-jointed solid end links. We also installed Ireland Engineering's new street adjustable upper strut mounts that fit between the upper strut bearing and the front strut towers. In the back we replaced the weak upper shock mounts with the durable aluminum upper mounts available from JT Design [and us].

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