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      03-06-2020, 06:23 PM   #1
jmciver
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Ride Height Question For Track w/MP HAS

I just installed the MP HAS kit with GC Camber Plates as I plan to start taking my F80 to the track soon for the first time. My car will be going to the shop for an alignment next week. For the alignment specs, I plan to run the common street/track specs of ~ -2.5 deg front and ~ -1.5 deg rear w/stock toe settings front & rear. For wheels/tires, I plan to run EC-7's 18x10 w/275/35-18 front and 18x11 w/305/35-18 rear. So a very common setup.

My question is, is there a recommended ride height that works well, especially with the track wheel/tire setup I am running? My initial ride height seems a bit low - definitely lower than the "stock" MP HAS setting. I set it using some initial settings from a DIY thread. It rides well on the street, but I am concerned about it possibly bottoming out on the track or possibly rubbing with the track tires installed.

So, any recommended ride heights? When my car is getting aligned, I plan to have the shop tweak the ride height as well if necessary. The pic below is where the car is sitting now with my stock 666Ms with 275's in front and 295's in the rear, and essentially the stock alignment (post MP HAS install).

Thanks!

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Last edited by jmciver; 03-08-2020 at 08:58 AM..
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      03-06-2020, 10:45 PM   #2
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I don’t have an answer for you, but the car looks really good with that stance and blacked out 666!
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      03-07-2020, 07:03 AM   #3
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I did a fair bit of fiddling with the ride height to balance the handling on my M4cs. I can share the numbers with you, but I doubt you could apply them directly to your M3 comp due to the different weight distribution and suspension tuning. I am also lower than the recommended height front and rear, but with the front less so than the rear. I went lower overall to further reduce weight transfer and imorove grip, but re-raised to front a tad to improve corner exit rear grip. I never suffered from bottoming out on track nor on the street.

As for alignment, -2.5 front and -1.6 rear camber is what gives me the best tread temperature spread across the tire for optimal grip and wear.
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      03-07-2020, 07:11 AM   #4
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As an aside question, how is the NVH with your setup?

On my my MP-HAS and GC plate setup, I get a fair bit of muted clunking and rattling going over low speed road ripples, which is quite annoying.
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      03-07-2020, 07:57 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CanAutM3 View Post
As an aside question, how is the NVH with your setup?

On my my MP-HAS and GC plate setup, I get a fair bit of muted clunking and rattling going over low speed road ripples, which is quite annoying.
Thanks for the ride height insight. Would you be willing to share your actual ride height measurements? Just like with the street/track alignment settings, I am trying to find a happy medium for ride height that works well on the track for all the things you mentioned but also works well on the street. Admittedly, I may be over thinking this a bit...

Regarding any NVH with my MP HAS/GC setup, did you not remember what I posted in the the recent thread on this topic over in the suspension forum ? But to quickly answer your question, still no additional clunking or suspension noises post MP HAS/GC install...
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      03-07-2020, 12:14 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmciver View Post
Thanks for the ride height insight. Would you be willing to share your actual ride height measurements? Just like with the street/track alignment settings, I am trying to find a happy medium for ride height that works well on the track for all the things you mentioned but also works well on the street. Admittedly, I may be over thinking this a bit...

Regarding any NVH with my MP HAS/GC setup, did you not remember what I posted in the the recent thread on this topic over in the suspension forum ? But to quickly answer your question, still no additional clunking or suspension noises post MP HAS/GC install...
Oups, sorry, I should have noticed you had already replied in the other thread

PM sent regarding ride heights.
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      03-07-2020, 04:44 PM   #7
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I am not a fan of M3's 4 door look, but your car looks pretty good!
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      03-08-2020, 05:08 PM   #8
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For anyone who is curious, the ride height specs of my car in the pic above (using the standard BMW measuring method with 20" wheels) are as follows (this was after ~300 miles of driving so the suspension may have settled a bit since the initial install):

Front: 620 mm (stock MP HAS is 633 mm)
Rear: 608 mm (stock MP HAS is 626 mm)

Admittedly, this ride height is growing on me. Especially since I am not scraping my front splitter at a lot of places where I normally drive and I thought I would scrape at this ride height (including my driveway). I also don't appear to have any rubbing of the tires on the fenders, especially in the rear. As long as I don't have any rubbing issues with my track wheel/tires after the street/track alignment, I may just keep this height .
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Last edited by jmciver; 03-09-2020 at 01:26 PM..
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      08-28-2020, 08:37 PM   #9
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I am on 275/35 and 305/35 Toyo RR's on Apex FL-5 18x10 and 18x11. I've been tracking with the car quite low and noticed I only had 1/2" of shock travel before engaging the bump stops. Running TC Kine DA coilovers. Raised the front exactly 1/2" evenly and raised the rear 3/16". Measured at the flattest part of the rocker, the car has 7/8" of rake with 2/3 tank of gas. Oddly, the left side of the car is 3/8" higher than the right side. At least it will go down with driver weight.

With the tire/rim sizes listed, the measurement from ground to fender is as follows:

LF - 26-1/4 RF - 25-7/8
LR - 25-13/16 RR - 25-7/16

Mind sharing your measurements as well?

When I was tracking on street tires, never really noticed the bump stops bottoming and car pushing. Now that I'm on real R-comps, the front pushes on corner entry which I think is a result of the shock bottoming. My entry speeds are slightly slower as a result I believe.
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