E36 BC Racing coil over install

After some careful planning and decisions I ended up going for the BC Racing "true" coil over setup on my E36 325i coupe. As this car will be built for handling oriented mindset. This coil over setup caters me the best out of the reasonably priced ones out on the market. At the same time I have also installed some other supporting modifications to make sure the chassis of the E36 which are notorious for flexing in the strut mount areas wouldn´t do it in mine. Specially with the true coil over rear setup.

Getting the coil overs out from the package first is the visual check that they are actually looking like the correct ones for the car. This is a step that is good to do when ever getting parts even from good suppliers as mishaps can happen. As everything checked out for me. It was then time to see what is current state of adjustments on the coil overs.

For me they were all almost identical, but the overall height was a bit too tall for my liking. So I shortened them just a little bit. And matched the front two together length wise as well as the two rear ones. This is easier to do on the workbench than in the car. Also at this stage I used grease on all threads. Grease used is designed for aluminium threads to prevent seizing. This will make future adjustments easier. Note that the height set on the workbench is rarely the final setup height, and the final setup needs to be done on car.

I did my install as I do most of my modifications. Outside with a proper jack and mainly hand tools. For the front I lifted the whole front up from the subframe. Used 17mm with impact to get the wheel bolts off and took the wheels off. Then to allow some more room to work. I removed sway bar end links. This was also necessary as I changed from lower control arm mounted end links to strut mounted ones. Mainly as old ones were quite sorn and in the future I´ll be getting tubular control arms.

With the end links out the way. Next up was to remove old strut. This is easiest to do by first removing all mounting hardware from the bottom mount that mounts to the knuckle. From these first I removed bolt and nut combo. Then the two bolts. After this knuckle and lower control arm drop down and you´re left with just the strut. Keep in mind that you might have brake wear sensor and brake line attached to your strut and these should be removed prior to this.

Then its just three nuts holding the top of the strut in the engine bay. Undo these and you can remove the old strut completely.

Fitting the new coil overs is reverse of this procedure. If you are going to run reinforcements that bolt to the under side of the strut mount. Between the coil over top hat and chassis. Remember to put them on at this moment. I had them, but also had welded on some more reinforcements so left them out for now as wasn´t sure if I would have enough threads left for secure mounting.

A good tip is to leave the top mount nuts a bit loose for now. You will have more room to position the new coil over when fitting the lower mount. With my kit there came washers that would allow you to set fixed camber. You can also adjust camber from the top plate, but this allows for bit more negative camber adjustment.

After getting all mounting hardware on to the coil over and knuckle. I tightened everything to spec. As these are solid mounted hardware there is no need to compress suspension for this step. Then it was time to fit the new sway bar end links and wheels back on. At this stage I just impacted them on.

As the front axle was done and lower back to the ground. I changed to jack up the rear of the car. For this I just lifted the car from differential or you could lift from rear subframe too. My differential is mounted with polybushings so they won´t be affected from the jacking up. If you are running OEM rubber bushings. I would recommend using subframe as jacking point.

Before jacking the car you need to go inside the trunk and remove upholstery hiding top mounts of your rear struts. When these are visible. You can choose to undo these when one ground or lift the car and do them later. I opted for later.

Now the rear axle in the air. I removed the wheels, and then again sway bar end links. This is important on the rear as original suspension setup on the rear is spring and strut separate. After having removed sway bar end links. I took another smaller jack to hold the weight of the rear longitudinal arm and then removed rear strut lower mounting bolt. Mounting bolt removed. I lowered the arm slowly. This won´t give enough clearance to remove the rear spring from it´s place. You will need long pry bar to leverage the suspension enough to be able to remove the spring. Depending on the condition of your bushings you might be able to also just push it down enough by your hands. Now that I had the spring out, and strut lower bolt out as well. It was just two nuts from up to.

Reinstalling would be reverse if you will be running similar OE style coil overs on the rear. As for me running true coil overs on the rear. Reinstall was simpler. I attached the sway bar end link back on to the control arm. Then it was just to put the coil over in it´s place. First the two nuts up top. This part is easier if you have other person to help with the install. Other way is to bolt the lower mount first. and then use a jack to lift the control arm up and guide the coil over to its top mount cutout.

Now both front and rear coil overs are on the car. At this point it is all wheel on to the car, and car on the ground. Make sure all wheels are securely mounted. Also check that nothing is binding anywhere and you have proper ground clearance.

If everything before went according to plan. Before final setup. Go for a drive. You will need to allow the suspension to settle before checking the ride height.

For me I had good ride height on the front but the rear was a bit too low for my liking. So after a little drive. Maybe somewhere between 5-10 km. I measured the length of the rear coil overs. Lifted the rear up and removed the wheels. On BC racing coil overs you have two locking rings to undo with the included spanners. After this you can you other spanner to turn the shock body that will thread in or out from the bottom mount. My rears didn´t need much adjusting. Just make sure you adjust both sides to the same length.

When you are satisfied to the setup. Put the wheels back on. Do another settling drive and confirm the measurements. After this torque your wheels to 120 nm.