Vorshlag Rear Spring and Ride Height Adjustment Kit for BMW E30/E36/E46
The BMW 3 series rear suspension utilized a "divorced" rear spring and shock; the rear spring has a beehive shape and it rests into two "pins" built into the chassis, at the top and bottom. These rear springs are both very soft and very tall, and do not have any height adjustment.
We have sold hundreds of sets of coilover shocks for these BMW models, but some people don't get their shocks from us. In those cases they might have made the mistake of using a "coilover" rear spring on these cars - where the spring is mounted onto the rear shock. It "looks cool" but doing this gobbles up a LOT of inboard wheel room, which is not the way you want to go on any car.
We always push the limits of the rear wheel room on BMWs, putting 9, 9.5, and even 10" wide wheels under the stock BMW rear fenders. You can NEVER have "too much tire" on these cars, and compromising tire width for a coilover spring mounting is not smart.
We have put together a trouble-free adjustable height rear conversion kit for the BMW E30, E36 and E46 chassis. This kit includes Vorshlag adjustable height rear spring platforms for the top, a pair of Hyperco or Eibach 60mm ID springs in the correct lengths and rates for the E30/36/46 rear, and a pair of the Vorshlag 60mm rear spring alignment platforms for the bottom. You can use this with any shock and adjust the height of the rear independently. This alone would allow you to corner balance the car, even without front ride height adjustment.
We offer a variety of spring rates that we have developed for a number of different shock and front springs, all tested on our own BMW track cars as well as hundreds of customers' BMWs.
If you have ever bought shocks for any of these BMWs from Vorshlag over the years (AST, Moton, MCS, Bilstein, etc) we included these exact same parts, and still do. But if you already have your own shock package and just want rear ride height adjustment or to convert from a "coilover" setup, this this spring and platform kit can do the trick. It works with any shock and allows you to adjust the rear ride heights independently. This alone would allow you to corner balance the car, even without individual front ride height adjustment.
The Vorshlag rear ride height adjusters are high quality products made 100% in house and have easy height adjustment, without the need for a locking set-screw. These platforms adjusts from 0.75" minimum to 2.25" tall (with full thread engagement), for 1.5 inches of height adjustment. The material of the platform is aluminum, anodized red.
The Vorshlag alignment platforms are Delrin machined here at Vorshlag (now black) and are made to press-fit over the lower or upper spring alignment stub. If you install these onto the the lower stamped steel piece on the control arm (see above), that ring can often be banged up, just make sure it is "round" and straighten it up if its bent. Or put them on the upper spring nub. On some models like the Z3 and E30, the O-ring can be removed for more clearance. These allow alignment cones for automatic, quiet spring re-alignment if the spring comes slightly unseated when up on a lift or a floor jack.
SPRING RATES : All Hyperco springs are measured in inch lengths and rate is in pounds of force per inch of travel (lbs/in). Eibach springs are measured in mm lengths and the rate is in N/mm, though we convert them to lbs/in. To convert to metric length multiply inches x 25.4. To convert to Newtons/mm for rate you need to divide the lbs/in number by 5.7. To convert rate to Kg/cm divide the lbs/in rate by 57. If you would like to order custom rates not listed here, please give us a call.
When placing your order please indicated which springs you would like.
For E36 and E46:
- 60mm x 6" x 350 #/in
- 60mm x 6" x 450 #/in
- 60mm x 5.5" x 571 #/in
- 60mm x 5.5" x 628 #/in
- 60mm x 5.5" x 742 #/in
- Custom (call)
For E30:
- 60mm x 5.5" x 342 #/in
- 60mm x 5.5" x 457 #/in
- 60mm x 5" x 550 #/in
- 60mm x 5" x 650 #/in
- 60mm x 5" x 750 #/in
- Custom (call)
