Job is done, wheels are on, and I’ve done my test drive. So far I can say I’m absolutely satisfied. I ended up searching online inventories yesterday and found a Lowe’s 25 miles away with a corded 1/2” 450lbs electric torque wrench in stock (and it came with impact sockets in the sizes I needed to boot!). Sadly I got home with that only to find someone did a bait and switch and returned the “impact wrench” with a cheaper standard drill in it’s place. All told that cost me two hours and 100 miles of driving out and back twice. Impact wrench broke the stuck bolt loose. I actually drove it back in a little bit (not all the way, I had a 1/2“ to play with) then was able to wire brush the end threads, lube it up and worry it in and out for about 10 minutes and got it out by hand. Then replaced the bolt cause I didn’t want to do that again.
I did a quick drive around the block without issues, then loaded in the kids and went for a longer drive which included bumps and twisty roads. Initial impression coming out of the driveway (which I did harder than normal intentionally) was it was rock solid without being uncomfortable. Going around the first 90 degree turn in my neighborhood it was immediately evident that all of the slop I noted in my pre-job test drive was gone. Body roll was significantly reduced, and the understeer feeling was non-existent.
Driving over some moderately large speed humps at speed the rear end compressed, bounced the kids a little in the third row, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or jarring at all. Only noise was from the stuff in the storage tray above the spare tire. Taking it through the twisties did two things. 1) it immediately made evident the struts also need to be replaced.... absolutely mushy by comparison. I don’t blame them, they have 91k miles on them. 2) it gave this car the closest it’s ever had to an ‘on the rails’ type feeling. There was a very minor bit of the oversteer feeling, but I can’t say that wasn’t just the outside front strut compressing too much. It didn’t drive like my old ‘05 3 did, but it wasn’t far off despite being significantly heavier and taller.
So measurements: Measured from lower edge of fender panel across the center of the wheel to the ground.
Before mods: 26.5” Left / 26” Right
On the wheels: 28” Left / 26.5” Right
trip around the block: 27” Left / 26.75” Right
Longer drive: 26.5” Left / 27.25” Right
I assume the initial on the wheels disparity is because the passenger spring had been installed and compressed in place (trailing arm still hanging free) for over a day and a half vs. the driver spring which was just bolted up last night. For the differences as we drove around I assume the springs will take a little bit to settle fully. There was some general bouncy feeling while just driving around, so either the springs need to settle more fully, or the OEM ride style KYB Excel G shocks aren’t up to fully dampening the springs. If it persists I may look at swapping in the stiffer KYB gas adjust shocks and see if that evens it out more ( I just reread where AnthonyVerde said he did that and it helped). If that happens then I’ll just move the Excels over to my sister’s 1st gen 5 along with my 2nd gen springs, so no real loss.
With the caveat that I only have about 20-30 miles on them on one drive I’d currently recommend this set up to anyone else as an improvement.