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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 F10 Technical Topics Wheels / Tires / Suspension / Brakes Koni Sport adjustable installed on a F10 535i
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      04-11-2016, 01:55 PM   #1
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Koni Sport adjustable installed on a F10 535i

First thing to mention here is never put any lowering spring on your car without the proper shocks to match. I blew out my stock shocks 2 days after installing my Eibach OE springs. And those are the mild options from Eibach. The other thing to mention is get a shock designed to deal with lowered cars. For Koni it's sport adjustable and Bilstien B8. Take a look at the stock struts vs Koni's sports and the amount of travel Koni has over the OEM strut. M5 forums say the Dinan equivalent to Koni adjustable is 1 1/4 turn in rear and 1 full turn in front. I tried that and 1 1/4 turn is max so not sure why they say that. I turned them 50% 3/4 turn. We'll see how that goes.

I'm literally in the middle of install and will update to this thread as I get more seat time.
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      04-11-2016, 05:45 PM   #2
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1 seized bolt and 5 hours labor. Almost ready a test drive.
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      04-11-2016, 06:01 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bmw doubles
1 seized bolt and 5 hours labor. Almost ready a test drive.
Will these work on an Xdrive as well?
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      04-11-2016, 06:40 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vivanapoli806 View Post
Will these work on an Xdrive as well?

If I am not mistaken rear should fit but not the front. I do not know any front option for the Xdrive right now which is very sad.
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      04-11-2016, 07:18 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vivanapoli806
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bmw doubles
1 seized bolt and 5 hours labor. Almost ready a test drive.
Will these work on an Xdrive as well?
Not sure either however A Koni rep can quickly answer that question. I would venture to say yes if you do a edc delete, but don't quote me on that.
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      04-11-2016, 09:11 PM   #6
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Ok 1 hour drive home from Azusa to Marina del Rey with 3/4 turn dampening on each strut and it felt maybe a level better than an M Sport with DHP in Sport mode. Not quite 335 M Sport, but very composed for a 535i. 210, 605, 105 to the 405. Basically every crappy-ass freeway in LA. I hit a a lot of bumps, uneven overpasses, potholes and dodged a few Prius' cutting into lanes and I maintained composure meaning my car wasn't flying around like an orangutan on Ritalin when hitting every imperfection of the road. I now feel safe at above normal freeway speeds, freeway bends/corners are taken 20mph faster then before and the best part is the braking. Man! It's all about the braking with a tuned suspension. The car stops much faster and with way more dignity. Nose dives are almost nonexistent. I'm going to move the dampening up front to one full turn and see if that eliminates all nose dives completely. The acceleration is also a huge benefit. The squat is still there, but greatly reduced. I've not gained power(obviously), but have better access to it. What that means the engine isn't skipping around and the butt of the car squatting thus losing power. It delivers throttle input to the rear tires with out suspension factors interfering. It's really exposing what the tires are worth. The other benefit is; I immediately noticed the posture/stance of the vehicle is more stout. When I installed the Eibach springs and the shocks blown, my car seemed to be more slammed than I was hoping. I thought the springs retain height, but apparently the shocks play a role. The car sits a little lower than a M Sport now and higher then a H&R sport setup.

I'm going to crank up the dampening and put up a video of how to get at the rear shocks without having to remove the rear seats.i
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      04-11-2016, 09:49 PM   #7
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      04-12-2016, 12:19 AM   #8
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thanks for the review bro!
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      04-12-2016, 11:51 AM   #9
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Very good review bud, one of the most annoying differences between my previous E60 550 and the F10 is the nose dive under severe braking. That alone could be worth switching to the Konis and lowering springs. It boggles my mind that while the E60 wa about 500 lbs lighter overall, the 550 had a V8 in the front as opposed to the TT6 in my 535, so how did they manage to create so much nose dive in a car that should be lighter in the front than the previous model?
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      04-12-2016, 12:15 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PJinCA
Very good review bud, one of the most annoying differences between my previous E60 550 and the F10 is the nose dive under severe braking. That alone could be worth switching to the Konis and lowering springs. It boggles my mind that while the E60 wa about 500 lbs lighter overall, the 550 had a V8 in the front as opposed to the TT6 in my 535, so how did they manage to create so much nose dive in a car that should be lighter in the front than the previous model?
Bmw used the softest springs and the crappiest shocks in my opinion. I understand the theroy of softer springs = tire/grip, but those OEM shocks are such garbage. I didn't get lowering springs because I wanted to lower he car. I actually wanted to get a stiffer feel as there is clearly much room for improvement in that area. I thought about the M Sport Springs, but I have driven an M Sport 5er and it was good, but I wanted better. I thought Eibach 1, .8 set up would of been a nice and it is with the Koni's. Without the Koni's it's too low. Plus don't do springs without shocks. If I did it again I might have gone with the Dinan springs which is .5,.5
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      04-12-2016, 02:17 PM   #11
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I agree, springs alone will kill the OEM shocks very quickly. You are better off doing either shocks designed for lowering like your Konis and springs at the same time, or coilovers. Maybe a little late for you, but for anyone else, ECS tuning has the Konis on sale up to 44% off
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      04-12-2016, 04:14 PM   #12
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Great review unfortunately xdrive dont get the same options, also seems fronts are easy to adjust because of the knob on top what about the rears there seems to be 2 versions one of them requires removal of the shock
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      04-12-2016, 09:01 PM   #13
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Update to how many turns you have have for dampening. The full amount is 2 full turns. It says to turn them before installing and apparently I couldn't get enough grip. When they're bolted in you can get it to turn 2 full turns. So I turned t to max and that's very bumpy and is definitely a track setup. I rescind my M5 comment I think the sweet spot is going to be 1 full front and 1 1/4 rear.
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      04-19-2016, 12:48 AM   #14
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So have you settled with the settings for optimal comfort and handling?

I just blew my front shocks with ACS too,but BMW is not covering the repairs as I did the ACS with them. They will not entertain the option of aftermarket shocks, so another fresh OEM install .

What's the ride height? Do you have a before and after photo?

My car is still warrantied till next summer.
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      04-19-2016, 11:32 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2tek View Post
So have you settled with the settings for optimal comfort and handling?

I just blew my front shocks with ACS too,but BMW is not covering the repairs as I did the ACS with them. They will not entertain the option of aftermarket shocks, so another fresh OEM install .

What's the ride height? Do you have a before and after photo?

My car is still warrantied till next summer.
sux! someone posted that the dealer is covering his shocks even tho he put lowering springs on.
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      04-19-2016, 04:20 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2tek
So have you settled with the settings for optimal comfort and handling?

I just blew my front shocks with ACS too,but BMW is not covering the repairs as I did the ACS with them. They will not entertain the option of aftermarket shocks, so another fresh OEM install .

What's the ride height? Do you have a before and after photo?

My car is still warrantied till next summer.
Still playing with the optimal street settings. So far it's seeming Iike 3/4 turn up front and 1 1/4 turn in the rear.

Surprised to hear that a dealer would even allow after market springs and still cover the shocks.

I'll take a new picture, but the ride height is perfect IMO AFTER the shocks were installed. Ride height is 1" front and 0.8" rear. If I was to make one more mod I would do 19's in the front and leave the rear on 20's like the M4 GTS! Give it that mean-lean.
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      04-19-2016, 08:54 PM   #17
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http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1252044

Now that I can quickly access the rear shock it's not as horrible as everyone stated to make adjustments to the Koni's.

Also would like to add that when I made that video I cranked up the rebound to 1/4 turn below full firm on all corners and it is awesome. In the beginning I thought it was too bumpy, but now that the shocks are broken in they still absorb road imperfections very well and reduce nose dives and lean dramatically.
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      04-19-2016, 10:43 PM   #18
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I'm fairly new to the whole car modifying deal and I don't have as big of an income as one would want when upgrading his F10. Would it kill my car if I got front coilovers and then back ones or vice versa? Would It even be noticeable with only half done?
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      04-19-2016, 10:58 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woodpecker
I'm fairly new to the whole car modifying deal and I don't have as big of an income as one would want when upgrading his F10. Would it kill my car if I got front coilovers and then back ones or vice versa? Would It even be noticeable with only half done?
It would not kill your car. It would probably have a cool lean up front with a higher back and honestly I was trying to create that affect. The negative to that would be front brakes would wear out faster due to weight transfer. Also you could cause a safety issue with crazy oversteer. If you do it drive safely until you get both front and rear complete for those reasons listed above.
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      04-19-2016, 11:00 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lsturbointeg View Post
sux! someone posted that the dealer is covering his shocks even tho he put lowering springs on.
I am that person. Lol.

BMW is covering the shocks replacement.

Typo in my previous post.

I have ACS ,two blown front shocks at 42000miles. Car is booked for a shocks replacement on Friday by BMW at no cost to me whatsoever.
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      04-19-2016, 11:06 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bmw doubles View Post
Still playing with the optimal street settings. So far it's seeming Iike 3/4 turn up front and 1 1/4 turn in the rear.

Surprised to hear that a dealer would even allow after market springs and still cover the shocks.

I'll take a new picture, but the ride height is perfect IMO AFTER the shocks were installed. Ride height is 1" front and 0.8" rear. If I was to make one more mod I would do 19's in the front and leave the rear on 20's like the M4 GTS! Give it that mean-lean.
That's why I went with ACS, they have a two year warranty on Suspension related parts that fail. Obviously they will tell you to visit BMW first and if they stall you should contact them. I rang them prior to booking my car in.

They must have some sort of deal with BMW on this side of the pond.

Their springs are not the cheapest and they also insist you install using BMW official garages. Which I did. Shame they don't do dampers or full coilovers, I would have just done that.
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      04-19-2016, 11:09 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woodpecker View Post
I'm fairly new to the whole car modifying deal and I don't have as big of an income as one would want when upgrading his F10. Would it kill my car if I got front coilovers and then back ones or vice versa? Would It even be noticeable with only half done?
Yes. One end would be too soft or stiff vs. the other end. You would induce either greater over or under steer.
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