BMW M Performance Suspension (HAS height adjustable sleeve over kit)

[Porsha]

Just an update. Got the install finished on Friday and drove quite a bit this weekend. I'll just echo what others have said in that this is what the car *should* feel like. It's more compliant in just about every scenario while remaining more stable and flat in corners. All-around it's just a better feeling car now.

I then put on my new lightweight wheels with Pilot 4Ss and it felt even better again. It's like an entirely new car now.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by Porsha

Just an update. Got the install finished on Friday and drove quite a bit this weekend. I'll just echo what others have said in that this is what the car *should* feel like. It's more compliant in just about every scenario while remaining more stable and flat in corners. All-around it's just a better feeling car now.

I then put on my new lightweight wheels with Pilot 4Ss and it felt even better again. It's like an entirely new car now.

Do you have a base m3 or comp pack? How does the suspension handle bumps? I don’t like how the zcp even with CS coding gets unsettled over bumps on the road.

[Porsha]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Do you have a base m3 or comp pack? How does the suspension handle bumps? I don’t like how the zcp even with CS coding gets unsettled over bumps on the road.

2020 ZCP. And yes, I agree. That's kind of what I was referring to when saying it's more compliant. It feels far more stable on uneven surfaces.

[hellokitty]

Anyone know if the MP HAS will work with GC camber plates built for stock ZCP springs?

[Kev608]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Anyone know if the MP HAS will work with GC camber plates built for stock ZCP springs?

Yes, it definitely will. Make sure you select "stock" when ordering.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by Kev608

Yes, it definitely will. Make sure you select "stock" when ordering.

Thanks. I already have the GC plates installed but just want to make sure it's a direct swap

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Anyone know if the MP HAS will work with GC camber plates built for stock ZCP springs?

Yes, that's what I have on my car.

[9M4N71U]

For those who DIY'd the HAS kit, were you able to get the front spring seats hammered (or pressed) all the way down so that they were actually touching the gold install tube?

I could only get the spring seats down to about 1mm away from touching the gold tube on both sides. Put the contraption into a bench vise and starting hammering away using Tommy L's method on his youtube. Went down pretty easily till the last 1mm. Hammered for awhile and couldnt get it to move any further. The stickers on the shock were removed and shock thoroughly cleaned to ensure no remaining debris. Shock was also lubed up prior to hammer time.

Maybe i need a bigger hammer or a press... either way the car sits perfectly where i want it and drives fine. Was just curious if others encountered a similar problem.

[literbikes]

It will not go all the way down. I also almost broke my press trying to push it farther down. You are done if it will not go any further. The inside of the gold install tube is also tapered to resist any further movement. Hope that helps, let us know if you have any more questions.

Originally Posted by 9M4N71U

For those who DIY'd the HAS kit, were you able to get the front spring seats hammered (or pressed) all the way down so that they were actually touching the gold install tube?

I could only get the spring seats down to about 1mm away from touching the gold tube on both sides. Put the contraption into a bench vise and starting hammering away using Tommy L's method on his youtube. Went down pretty easily till the last 1mm. Hammered for awhile and couldnt get it to move any further. The stickers on the shock were removed and shock thoroughly cleaned to ensure no remaining debris. Shock was also lubed up prior to hammer time.

Maybe i need a bigger hammer or a press... either way the car sits perfectly where i want it and drives fine. Was just curious if others encountered a similar problem.

[ntg44]

Just picked up my car with MP HAS on my non-cp car w/ EDC shocks yesterday. Max drop in front, not sure about the rear, but it's not maxed out. A little higher than my previous lowering springs were, so somewhere in the -10 to -15mm range. Also corner balanced and aligned. Full list of suspension iterations:

- Stock - ~5000 mi
- Macht Schnell lowering springs - ~2500 mi
- Bilstein B16 Damptronic coil overs - ~1500 mi


After a roughly 50 mile drive home, I have to say I'm impressed so far. I'm not sure if it's the bump stops, springs rates, or combination of both, but the rear doesn't crash like my previous MS springs felt. I'm experiencing the ideal 1 compression/rebound far more than the MS springs. Maybe the MS were too low/soft and just riding the bump stops? I'm sure raising the rear height relative to MS springs helped as well. But the car still feels stock in a good way.

Compared to B16, it is more comfortable. I'd say that B16 in comfort is between Sport and Sport+ with MP HAS. The B16 damping is incredible, among other things, but I think it was too much for my wife, so I changed to MP HAS to be able to drive the car more with her in it. I can't compare any track impressions, because my car is 100% a street car, but I did lose some steering feel switching to MP HAS from B16.

I know this kit has had overwhelmingly positive reviews for a long time already, but so far, all I can say is I wish I did this first instead of the lowering springs. Whoever designed this kit definitely did their homework. Just feels so much better engineered. There's a few roads around me with larger dips that the stock and MS springs sucked on, but B16 fixed. I'm going to try going over those roads again with this kit to see if this is just the honeymoon phase, or if it really did sort out the floatiness I experienced before the B16 kit.

[9M4N71U]

Originally Posted by ntgarage44

Just picked up my car with MP HAS on my non-cp car w/ EDC shocks yesterday. Max drop in front, not sure about the rear, but it's not maxed out. A little higher than my previous lowering springs were, so somewhere in the -10 to -15mm range. Also corner balanced and aligned. Full list of suspension iterations:

- Stock - ~5000 mi
- Macht Schnell lowering springs - ~2500 mi
- Bilstein B16 Damptronic coil overs - ~1500 mi


After a roughly 50 mile drive home, I have to say I'm impressed so far. I'm not sure if it's the bump stops, springs rates, or combination of both, but the rear doesn't crash like my previous MS springs felt. I'm experiencing the ideal 1 compression/rebound far more than the MS springs. Maybe the MS were too low/soft and just riding the bump stops? I'm sure raising the rear height relative to MS springs helped as well. But the car still feels stock in a good way.

Compared to B16, it is more comfortable. I'd say that B16 in comfort is between Sport and Sport+ with MP HAS. The B16 damping is incredible, among other things, but I think it was too much for my wife, so I changed to MP HAS to be able to drive the car more with her in it. I can't compare any track impressions, because my car is 100% a street car, but I did lose some steering feel switching to MP HAS from B16.

I know this kit has had overwhelmingly positive reviews for a long time already, but so far, all I can say is I wish I did this first instead of the lowering springs. Whoever designed this kit definitely did their homework. Just feels so much better engineered. There's a few roads around me with larger dips that the stock and MS springs sucked on, but B16 fixed. I'm going to try going over those roads again with this kit to see if this is just the honeymoon phase, or if it really did sort out the floatiness I experienced before the B16 kit.

I'm glad you kept your MP HAS kit instead of selling it!

--------------------------------------------

My review below:

Similar to what others have said, i'm very happy with the MP HAS.

Car is a 2018, non-zcp, but has adaptive suspension. MP HAS is lowered all the way in the front, and the rear coils has the gap set to equal to the thickness of the included adjustment spanners (1/4 inch or less). This resulted in a ride height (from fender to ground, on OEM 18s) of 25 10/16 inches in front and 25 13/16 in rear. Gap between fender/tire is equal on this setup. Minor rake in front, but i dont mind the look.

Ride Quality:Comfort on MP HAS is similar to Sport/Sport+ on OEM suspension (probably closer to sport+), so do keep that in mind if you're trying to maintain as 'lexus' of a ride quality as possible. HOWEVER, there are no spine shattering "hits" on big bumps. You feel more of the road, but not to the point it takes away from the experience and crosses over to discomfort. Overall i'm pleased with the ride quality and its definitely not as raw as lowering your car on a track oriented coilover (e.g. ohlins). FWIW - my wife has not said anything regarding a change in ride quality, and i didn't even mention the car has been lowered. She noticed right away on previous rides.

Install: Huge shout out to Tommy L Garage on Youtube, and everyone else who compiled install threads on this forum. I'm only a weekend wrencher and have done a few coilover/spring installs on previous rides, which were mostly japanese. This definitely was on the easier side, with not many bolts having to come out, and components lining up easily afterwards. Biggest tip is to make sure you have 2 specialty tools, the 18mm strut socket for the fronts, and also the spindle separator socket for the fronts as well. Note that in the rear, the nut holding the alignment bolt cant be accessed using an impact so you'll probably want to break the NUT side loose by hand (dont advise trying to back it out from the bolt side using an impact, the tension from the suspension is holding down the bolt quite tightly). Much easier to take the nut off with leverage, jack up control arm then whack the alignment bolt out once tension is relieved. Otherwise, install is very straight forward.

Negative: Biggest negative, and this can be solved by simply raising the fronts, is that my lightweight lip scrapes everywhere with the fronts set to max low and on OEM 18s. I dont mind since the lip is durable, but if it was a carbon lip, it would be destroyed by now.

Anyways, enough typing. Hope this review helps someone who is on the fence of whether or not to move forward.

[///M///]

Originally Posted by 9M4N71U

I'm glad you kept your MP HAS kit instead of selling it!

--------------------------------------------

My review below:

Similar to what others have said, i'm very happy with the MP HAS.

Car is a 2018, non-zcp, but has adaptive suspension. MP HAS is lowered all the way in the front, and the rear coils has the gap set to equal to the thickness of the included adjustment spanners (1/4 inch or less). This resulted in a ride height (from fender to ground, on OEM 18s) of 25 10/16 inches in front and 25 13/16 in rear. Gap between fender/tire is equal on this setup. Minor rake in front, but i dont mind the look.

Ride Quality:Comfort on MP HAS is similar to Sport/Sport+ on OEM suspension (probably closer to sport+), so do keep that in mind if you're trying to maintain as 'lexus' of a ride quality as possible. HOWEVER, there are no spine shattering "hits" on big bumps. You feel more of the road, but not to the point it takes away from the experience and crosses over to discomfort. Overall i'm pleased with the ride quality and its definitely not as raw as lowering your car on a track oriented coilover (e.g. ohlins). FWIW - my wife has not said anything regarding a change in ride quality, and i didn't even mention the car has been lowered. She noticed right away on previous rides.

Install: Huge shout out to Tommy L Garage on Youtube, and everyone else who compiled install threads on this forum. I'm only a weekend wrencher and have done a few coilover/spring installs on previous rides, which were mostly japanese. This definitely was on the easier side, with not many bolts having to come out, and components lining up easily afterwards. Biggest tip is to make sure you have 2 specialty tools, the 18mm strut socket for the fronts, and also the spindle separator socket for the fronts as well. Note that in the rear, the nut holding the alignment bolt cant be accessed using an impact so you'll probably want to break the NUT side loose by hand (dont advise trying to back it out from the bolt side using an impact, the tension from the suspension is holding down the bolt quite tightly). Much easier to take the nut off with leverage, jack up control arm then whack the alignment bolt out once tension is relieved. Otherwise, install is very straight forward.

Negative: Biggest negative, and this can be solved by simply raising the fronts, is that my lightweight lip scrapes everywhere with the fronts set to max low and on OEM 18s. I dont mind since the lip is durable, but if it was a carbon lip, it would be destroyed by now.

Anyways, enough typing. Hope this review helps someone who is on the fence of whether or not to move forward.

Couple of questions.

- Is is necessary to change the yellow bump stop in the rear. Looking at it, it’s hardly an6 different from the OEM one and if the difference is marginal, it saves a ton of time by not having to remove the shocks in the rear.

- what is a spindle separator socket? Can’t you just use a screwdriver to spread the bracket while you pull the front shocks out?

Thanks.

[9M4N71U]

Originally Posted by ///M///

Couple of questions.

- Is is necessary to change the yellow bump stop in the rear. Looking at it, it’s hardly an6 different from the OEM one and if the difference is marginal, it saves a ton of time by not having to remove the shocks in the rear.

- what is a spindle separator socket? Can’t you just use a screwdriver to spread the bracket while you pull the front shocks out?

Thanks.

1. Honestly - probably not. A lot of spring kits dont even come with a replacement rear bump stop. I did replace it anyways since i had it. It added about 5-10 mins/per side so not a huge deal, especially since you dont have to compress a spring to take apart the shock. Additionally, orientation of the top hat to shock doesnt matter during reassembly since it spins freely from each other (versus other setups where you have to line it up top hat/shock as best as you can)

2. Yes, you can use a screwdriver, albeit a little more effort and some potential cussing getting the spindle to separate. The spindle separator i used is linked below. For $16, it was well worth it since my other car also has a spindle setup in the front, and in the event i do this install for other members. The socket just makes it a bit more effortless: insert, rotate, remove strut (may require a tap with a mallet). Socket stays inside spindle when its expanded and you just give it another twist to remove after the strut is reinstalled.

Strut Separator: https://amzn.to/33p0uFu

and also, for those who need it:

Schwaben 18mm front strut nut socket: https://amzn.to/32sWdjb (this is a must have)

[///M///]

Originally Posted by 9M4N71U

1. Honestly - probably not. A lot of spring kits dont even come with a replacement rear bump stop. I did replace it anyways since i had it. It added about 5-10 mins/per side so not a huge deal, especially since you dont have to compress a spring to take apart the shock. Additionally, orientation of the top hat to shock doesnt matter during reassembly since it spins freely from each other (versus other setups where you have to line it up top hat/shock as best as you can)

2. Yes, you can use a screwdriver, albeit a little more effort and some potential cussing getting the spindle to separate. The spindle separator i used is linked below. For $16, it was well worth it since my other car also has a spindle setup in the front, and in the event i do this install for other members. The socket just makes it a bit more effortless: insert, rotate, remove strut (may require a tap with a mallet). Socket stays inside spindle when its expanded and you just give it another twist to remove after the strut is reinstalled.

Strut Separator: https://amzn.to/33p0uFu

and also, for those who need it:

Schwaben 18mm front strut nut socket: https://amzn.to/32sWdjb (this is a must have)

Thanks a lot. Sorry if you posted already but what was the main purpose of the HAS for you? The drop for looks or handling? I am primarily looking for the latter as the car doesn’t feel as planted on elevation changes. What has been your experience?

Thanks.

[9M4N71U]

Originally Posted by ///M///

Thanks a lot. Sorry if you posted already but what was the main purpose of the HAS for you? The drop for looks or handling? I am primarily looking for the latter as the car doesn’t feel as planted on elevation changes. What has been your experience?

Thanks.

Goals were both looks and handling. I didn't want to slam the car, going for an OEM+ so the mild drop on the MPHAS does the trick.

In terms of handling, can't comment on that yet, my alignment is definitely off (nothing like some toe whine!). will report back after it's aligned and potentially corner balanced.

[ntg44]

Originally Posted by ///M///

Thanks a lot. Sorry if you posted already but what was the main purpose of the HAS for you? The drop for looks or handling? I am primarily looking for the latter as the car doesn’t feel as planted on elevation changes. What has been your experience?

Thanks.

I just came from B16 Damptronic. The B16's shocks are amazing. If stability over elevation changes is what you're looking for, THESE are the coil overs to get. 100% plug and play as well. (I also happen to be selling my old set - shameless plug)

I still can't believe how the car would not cut throttle over bumps and elevation changes. It almost feels like if someone is pushing the rear of the car down to keep a lot of weight on the ground - and my traction control was loving it. Never cut throttle except for wheel spin, which is normal.

I'm not saying that the MP HAS won't behave this way per se, but I did instantly notice the car has more suspension travel vs. the Bilsteins, and the dampers don't push down with as much force. Time will tell if I regret my decision haha.

[ntg44]

Also - a question for everyone on this kit:

I'm not sure if there were revisions to the design or not, but I noticed that my kit only came with one spanner wrench, and when I spoke to my installer, we both thought it was strange how this kit doesn't "lock" using 2 rings like most coil overs do. I understand how in the front it has that screw to lock it in place, but what about the rears? I didn't see any such screw, and I find it odd how the rears wouldn't eventually shift over time?

Has this been answered somewhere before? I had a hard time searching for it.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by 9M4N71U

I'm glad you kept your MP HAS kit instead of selling it!

--------------------------------------------

My review below:

Similar to what others have said, i'm very happy with the MP HAS.

Car is a 2018, non-zcp, but has adaptive suspension. MP HAS is lowered all the way in the front, and the rear coils has the gap set to equal to the thickness of the included adjustment spanners (1/4 inch or less). This resulted in a ride height (from fender to ground, on OEM 18s) of 25 10/16 inches in front and 25 13/16 in rear. Gap between fender/tire is equal on this setup. Minor rake in front, but i dont mind the look.

Ride Quality:Comfort on MP HAS is similar to Sport/Sport+ on OEM suspension (probably closer to sport+), so do keep that in mind if you're trying to maintain as 'lexus' of a ride quality as possible. HOWEVER, there are no spine shattering "hits" on big bumps. You feel more of the road, but not to the point it takes away from the experience and crosses over to discomfort. Overall i'm pleased with the ride quality and its definitely not as raw as lowering your car on a track oriented coilover (e.g. ohlins). FWIW - my wife has not said anything regarding a change in ride quality, and i didn't even mention the car has been lowered. She noticed right away on previous rides.

Install: Huge shout out to Tommy L Garage on Youtube, and everyone else who compiled install threads on this forum. I'm only a weekend wrencher and have done a few coilover/spring installs on previous rides, which were mostly japanese. This definitely was on the easier side, with not many bolts having to come out, and components lining up easily afterwards. Biggest tip is to make sure you have 2 specialty tools, the 18mm strut socket for the fronts, and also the spindle separator socket for the fronts as well. Note that in the rear, the nut holding the alignment bolt cant be accessed using an impact so you'll probably want to break the NUT side loose by hand (dont advise trying to back it out from the bolt side using an impact, the tension from the suspension is holding down the bolt quite tightly). Much easier to take the nut off with leverage, jack up control arm then whack the alignment bolt out once tension is relieved. Otherwise, install is very straight forward.

Negative: Biggest negative, and this can be solved by simply raising the fronts, is that my lightweight lip scrapes everywhere with the fronts set to max low and on OEM 18s. I dont mind since the lip is durable, but if it was a carbon lip, it would be destroyed by now.

Anyways, enough typing. Hope this review helps someone who is on the fence of whether or not to move forward.

Originally Posted by ntgarage44

Just picked up my car with MP HAS on my non-cp car w/ EDC shocks yesterday. Max drop in front, not sure about the rear, but it's not maxed out. A little higher than my previous lowering springs were, so somewhere in the -10 to -15mm range. Also corner balanced and aligned. Full list of suspension iterations:

- Stock - ~5000 mi
- Macht Schnell lowering springs - ~2500 mi
- Bilstein B16 Damptronic coil overs - ~1500 mi


After a roughly 50 mile drive home, I have to say I'm impressed so far. I'm not sure if it's the bump stops, springs rates, or combination of both, but the rear doesn't crash like my previous MS springs felt. I'm experiencing the ideal 1 compression/rebound far more than the MS springs. Maybe the MS were too low/soft and just riding the bump stops? I'm sure raising the rear height relative to MS springs helped as well. But the car still feels stock in a good way.

Compared to B16, it is more comfortable. I'd say that B16 in comfort is between Sport and Sport+ with MP HAS. The B16 damping is incredible, among other things, but I think it was too much for my wife, so I changed to MP HAS to be able to drive the car more with her in it. I can't compare any track impressions, because my car is 100% a street car, but I did lose some steering feel switching to MP HAS from B16.

I know this kit has had overwhelmingly positive reviews for a long time already, but so far, all I can say is I wish I did this first instead of the lowering springs. Whoever designed this kit definitely did their homework. Just feels so much better engineered. There's a few roads around me with larger dips that the stock and MS springs sucked on, but B16 fixed. I'm going to try going over those roads again with this kit to see if this is just the honeymoon phase, or if it really did sort out the floatiness I experienced before the B16 kit.

This makes me wish I had EDC on my non-ZCP. Would've already gone with MP HAS to remain OEM. I find the stock passive suspension to be a little too crashy and bouncy in the city, whilst elsewhere it is great (mid-corner bumps on the Autobahn come to mind). BMW engineers said in one of the suspension articles that passive is like EDC in Sport mode.

Have you got any pictures of your now-lowered car with the 513M wheels? There are so few on the Internet.

[ntg44]

Originally Posted by swagon

This makes me wish I had EDC on my non-ZCP. Would've already gone with MP HAS to remain OEM. I find the stock passive suspension to be a little too crashy and bouncy in the city, whilst elsewhere it is great (mid-corner bumps on the Autobahn come to mind). BMW engineers said in one of the suspension articles that passive is like EDC in Sport mode.

Have you got any pictures of your now-lowered car with the 513M wheels? There are so few on the Internet.

In that case, I would say get a set of B6 passive shocks, or go with Bilstein PSS10, the passive version of the B16. The B6 shocks are really next level.

Here's a link to when my car was on B16. 3.5 inches from bottom of the front lip to the ground. Looks so damn good:

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/at...1&d=1568396043

[swagon]

Originally Posted by ntgarage44

In that case, I would say get a set of B6 passive shocks, or go with Bilstein PSS10, the passive version of the B16. The B6 shocks are really next level.

Here's a link to when my car was on B16. 3.5 inches from bottom of the front lip to the ground. Looks so damn good:

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/at...1&d=1568396043

Damn, that's hot! I'm liking the lip, too (Lightweight?).

Warranty runs out next June so hoping to get rid of the wheel gap by then. Have to say I have been pretty satisfied with KW V3's on the 135i (30k mls) but on the M3, they go too low in the rear. V3-based AC Schnitzer RS coilovers have a more conservative drop with, apparently, custom valving.

Think there's a guy with passive PSS10's on here.

[ntg44]

Originally Posted by swagon

Damn, that's hot! I'm liking the lip, too (Lightweight?).

Warranty runs out next June so hoping to get rid of the wheel gap by then. Have to say I have been pretty satisfied with KW V3's on the 135i (30k mls) but on the M3, they go too low in the rear. V3-based AC Schnitzer RS coilovers have a more conservative drop with, apparently, custom valving.

Think there's a guy with passive PSS10's on here.

Yep, Lightweight lip.

If the full set of standalone B6 Damptronic shocks were available to me, I would have just gotten those shocks with lowering springs, most likely Eibach v2. Such a simple solution, but unattainable in the US. Height adjustable springs or coil overs are overkill for my purposes.

But PSS10 had a lot of good reviews from what I've read.

[9M4N71U]

Originally Posted by ntgarage44

Also - a question for everyone on this kit:

I'm not sure if there were revisions to the design or not, but I noticed that my kit only came with one spanner wrench, and when I spoke to my installer, we both thought it was strange how this kit doesn't "lock" using 2 rings like most coil overs do. I understand how in the front it has that screw to lock it in place, but what about the rears? I didn't see any such screw, and I find it odd how the rears wouldn't eventually shift over time?

Has this been answered somewhere before? I had a hard time searching for it.

I ordered my kit in Oct '19 from getbmwparts and received 2 spanners. The larger spanner is for the front, and smaller spanner is for the rear. The locking rings are different sizes and you can't really use one spanner for the other (tried it), so my hunch is you are missing one. Also to note, my spanners were taped to the bottom of the box under all the suspension components and packaging materials. The rear (smaller) spanner is useless TBH, its extremely difficult to adjust the rear height even w/ wheels off.

And yeah the 1 locking ring is weird. Looks like the KW HAS is the same way too. The front i'm not worried about since its lowered all the way (and honestly probably doesnt need the locking screw at that point). Also added some antiseize to the locking screw as there is no doubt the screw would otherwise get stuck after winter driving.

Best guess on the rears is that since it uses a helper spring that spins independent from the larger coil, this prevents the collar from moving.

Originally Posted by swagon

Have you got any pictures of your now-lowered car with the 513M wheels? There are so few on the Internet.

I do, having some trouble trying to post them from mobile. Will take another crack at it after work from a PC.