My shocks and brakes are done! Hurray!

[louiegz]

Yes folks, my car is finally ready. For those who haven’t read my past posts, here’s what I did. 1 Fuel pump and fuel filter (Replaced by yours truly)2 Tokicos all 43 Rear sway kit4 Tension rods5 Front sway bushings6 Brake pads and rotors OEM7 4 wheel alignment

What can I say; the old shocks were ready to go out. The new ones handle the bumps better. I will say that I didn’t get the desired effect from all the work, but I’ve only drove the car for a week without the alignment and I just got the alignment yesterday, so the verdict is still out on how much the handling has improved. After about a month, I’ll report back to tell you how much I like the changes. I’ve noticed some subtle improvements, but there’s still a good amount of roll in the curves. I guess I expected a little more improvement with the addition of the rear sway, but in all fairness, I was driving the wife’s 330i all week while I was waiting for the Q to be ready and I got a little spoiled. One thing that has changed is the rear is a little harsh on the bumps. I guess with the struts being brand new, they are still a little harsh. Overall the car drives better and I should be good for a while. The old ones lasted 9 years, and they were in fair shape. The installer was even puzzled with me that I even wanted to replace them. Next on the list, I’m getting the leak fixed in my power steering. The mechanic that did my alignment said that he thinks he can fix it rather inexpensively, so let’s see what he can do. After that, 60000 mile service witch is 10000 miles overdue and front strut bar and I should be done for a while.

[Q45tech]

20mm rear bar only adds 40 pounds per inch of rear roll stiffness.

With 123 pound rear springs that is only a 32% increase.......9/10th of an inch less sway compared to 3.5" normal if the rubber bushings are replaced with urethane........probably less than half an inch change with oem rubber bushings.

Many people think sway bars reduce sway, not really true when you have an Independent rear suspension.....the sway is compensated for in the camber curves.

A solidly attached 24 mm rear bar would ALMOST half the sway but at the expense of extreme harshness.