[BarryJI]

Ok, well I just drove it on a local errand and, noticing a suitable break in traffic ahead, was able to throw it pretty spiritedly at a long, curving two-lane transition where a few fast drivers take a racing line in and out of the apex when safe.

I have to say, the difference is very striking. Even in Sport mode (not Sport +) and using regular gearing (not Sport), the car is so much livelier, the suspension so much more aggressive. It's obviously some combination of the new springs, new bump-stops and the Shockware mod and I can feel the tuned shocks and stiffer springs conspiring to plant the car at speed and to counteract lateral counter-forces with a lot less body roll. The car just feels faster, more eager and above all, for the first time I felt just enough oversteer at the apex to embolden me to stay on the gas for a second longer, where previously the tendency to push would have caused me to lift. The highest compliment I can pay to the 228i with this setup is to say that for the first time ever it feels like an M3. That's no exaggeration; my tuner tech, who races an E36 M3 says he would rather replace it with a very tuned 228 than the heavier V6 M235i.

Here is an initial photograph. It's not a great portrait and apologies for the shadows, but you'll get some idea of the look of the car with the 1/2" drop. I noticed it immediately and the M-Sport front end is plenty low. I will post more when I get the spacers, possibly tomorrow.

[Tpeterson]

Hope you'll post more reports after you have more experience with the springs and ride kit. And.... stay in the gas when the back end starts to come around!

[pimp4cheddar]

Originally Posted by BarryJI

The highest compliment I can pay to the 228i with this setup is to say that for the first time ever it feels like an M3. That's no exaggeration; my tuner tech, who races an E36 M3 says he would rather replace it with a very tuned 228 than the heavier V6 M235i.

Taking shots at the old M235i eh...

Post some more pictures when you can from different angles...I'm interested to see how aggressive the drop is.

[BarryJI]

No disrespect to the M235i. It's a 6-cylinder engine so most performance comparisons are unhelpful. My objective is simply to make my 228i M-Sport as high-performance as possible for street driving without jeopardizing warranty coverage or going outside emissions regs.

Here you can see the half-inch drop front and rear. It fills the wheel wells nicely and will look better still with moderate spacers. Much lower and the car will look like something in the suspension broke and will be impractical to drive in the city and the hills.

[BarryJI]

Here's another pic:

[2msport]

You know I was looking at the picture of your car in the garage and it appeared the front was much lower than the rear. Was it just the angle? The stance in this recent picture looks to be pretty even from front to back.

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by 2msport

You know I was looking at the picture of your car in the garage and it appeared the front was much lower than the rear. Was it just the angle? The stance in this recent picture looks to be pretty even from front to back.

It might have been the angle. And there may be a bit of a downslope in my garage where in the second pic the car is parked on a slight upslope. I am pretty sure from eyeballing it thoroughly over the last few days that there is no change in the rake.

[Dylan86]

Nice write up, thanks. I'll be doing mine shortly, also

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by Dylan86

Nice write up, thanks. I'll be doing mine shortly, also

It's well worth it, Dylan. You can feel the energy that would otherwise have been dissipated in the springs being put down on the road.

I am going to resist spacers, though, Much as I'd like a slightly wider stance, I think I'd be am tempting fate. I've modded the car extensively, as you can see, but I have tried always to err on the side of caution and any break from that philosophy might become very, very costly.

[pimp4cheddar]

The feedback and pictures and definitely appreciated!

I think I'm going the DINAN route. H&R looks great but I'm worried about the struts just giving out.

[Dylan86]

Originally Posted by BarryJI

It's well worth it, Dylan. You can feel the energy that would otherwise have been dissipated in the springs being put down on the road.

I am going to resist spacers, though, Much as I'd like a slightly wider stance, I think I'd be am tempting fate. I've modded the car extensively, as you can see, but I have tried always to err on the side of caution and any break from that philosophy might become very, very costly.

Thanks, Barry!

I have the springs and ride kit already, just waiting for spring etc. Also need some camber plates before I hit the track, but these cars are very capable otherwise..

Spacers aren't an issue, really. Ran spacers on almost every VW/Audi I've owned and never had a problem. Use the correct length bolts, and torque to factory spec, that's all. I will be running 15mm all around, with my 19's. I wouldn't run spacers on a track wheel/setup, though...

Dylan

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by Dylan86

I will be running 15mm all around, with my 19's. I wouldn't run spacers on a track wheel/setup, though...

Are you sure the fronts won't be rubbing at 15 mm? Well it sounds like you are pretty competent at doing this stuff and correcting if necessary.

[Dylan86]

My rims are only 19x8 up front, so there's room for the 15mm spacer, the factory offset really sucks the wheels under the fender. Been running the spacers on stock suspension with no rubs, hoping I'll get away with the same on the springs.

I do come from a VW background, so a bit of rubbing ain't no thing

[simoneves]

Hey BarryJI , are you still happy after another week?

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by simoneves

Hey BarryJI , are you still happy after another week?

Hey Simon, yes, I love this mod. If I'd have known how transformative it was, I might have done it earlier. Compared with before, so little of the car's momentum is absorbed by the springs, so that there is very little roll on cornering, dive on braking or leaning under heavy acceleration. All of the above behavior I can attribute to BMW's need to package the non M2 2-series as a small luxury coupe but these springs bring out what I think is the true nature of the car and make it a pretty aggressive little sports coupe.

Yes, there are tradeoffs, certainly for consumers who will never track the car and who appreciate the refinement of a BMW. To me, this is why folks like me go Dinan. Where previously Sport was my default mode and Sport + my weekend mode, I now use Comfort a lot more because in normal stop-start Los Angeles driving, there is no need to feel every bump and undulation when you are taking your kids to school, which is the case now in Sport, but wasn't before. In Sport and Sport + the ride is significantly stiffer but the car's response to any directional or momentum change is so much truer; it behaves like a performance car should, i.e. there is very little delay between your asking the car to do something and the car doing it. You will notice this in lateral moves like lane-changes, in braking (at least with the M-Performance brakes) and in acceleration, when it leaps into action rather than eases into it once the softer springs have absorbed too much of the energy to make the transition feel truly instantaneous. Above, all, I love the effect of this mod on cornering; I have now had ample opportunity to establish that there is minimal understeer left in any phase of cornering and a little well-balanced oversteer means I'm not lifting off the throttle in sweeping corners because it's pushing but can stay on it, steering a little with my feet.

As always, I have to point out that Dinan products will not satisfy those that want to squeeze every last drop of performance out of this car. There is some softness left in it, in Comfort mode, and I suppose the reason BMW works with Dinan is because they trust Dinan to bring out the sporting potential of their cars, not change them into something else. I should also point out that the great benefits I am experiencing are not the result of the springs and ride kit alone but of the rather harmonious combination of those things with the Shockware mod, which, as you know, really sharpens bump and rebound values, and the Stage 1 tune, which dials out turbo lag and really makes the car eager under power.

My last few observations/pieces of advice, FWTW, are these:

- Always get this done at a top indie Dinan-licensed BMW tuner, never a Dinan-licensed dealership service department.

- I really like the drop (I would definitely go no lower, it looks like something broke), but you do have to be careful. There are awkward dips and undulations in the hills of Los Angeles everywhere -- not to mention the potholes -- and you will bang the front underside if you attempt these things at the speed you might have got away with before the drop

- As I said, I really like the aesthetic effect of the drop and spacers might fill out the wheel wells even better but I'm not doing it because the car is now pretty highly tuned for performance and I just don't want to introduce any possible weak spots in the suspension/drivetrain. The car looks fine as it is and the 18" wheels do not look recessed.

- Make sure you get an alignment if you do the springs.

- Do not do the springs without the bump stops (ride kit).

Yesterday I even received my Dinan badge. I am not going to put it on the car, it's not really my style, so the the tuner tech joked that I could sell it on eBay for $200. Not going to do that either. It will be an asset when I come to sell the car but my gearhead 17 year-old son is sad that I'm not replacing the 228i badge with the Dinan badge.

Hope this helps and please keep us posted re. your own course of action.

[simoneves]

All good to know. We've agreed before that we are in the same mindset when it comes to our cars. As you said, I already got Shockware, and that is great, and I'm now awaiting my AA8 tune. That will probably have to do for a while, for financial reasons. I'm trying to tell myself that just because I *can* get a mod, doesn't mean that I should, but it's not working very well. Still on my list are the Bimmertech amp upgrade, which might well lead to (at least some) new speakers, and then because I'll have had to have disabled ASD, I shall feel the need for an exhaust. I'm still not sure about the springs, as I'm pretty happy with the handling, and I'm actually not sure I want the car any lower, plus it's not cheap, but who knows... I plan to keep this car for a while, so there's plenty of time!

[BarryJI]

Yeah, fixing the car's very mediocre stock audio is a money pit. Much as I like good audio in cars, I have chosen to put up with the stock setup in order to have the resources for performance mods. You will continue to love the car even on stock springs but now that I have done both springs and the tune, I have come to the conclusion that these two mods are what turns the 228i with THP into a sports car.

[simoneves]

I'm not as far into that particular pit, as I have the HK audio (I wouldn't have chosen it, but I bought the car from dealer stock so I didn't have the choice to omit it) but it's very easy to fall under the spell of what is said on these forums. I try (also) to tell myself that the people who complain about such things here are undoubtedly in the minority of overall owners who just don't care.

I guess it's the same effect as "everyone on here says the such-and-such tune/exhaust/intake is the best so that's the one I should get", when I should stop to think whether I'm even in the 0.1% of owners who want such a thing, and maybe I only started to want one because I became aware that it was an option. It's not like I've ever really considered modding any other car I've ever had in 30 years of driving!

Maybe I should step away from the forums for a while...

[BarryJI]

Ah don't be too hard on yourself. I've driven high performance cars all my life and the reality now is that small, turbocharged engines are really fast and efficient. However, because of competitive warranties and widespread leasing, manufacturers have a vested interest in restraining engine output, and therefore the potential for stress-related wear, before the cars roll off the production line. This is why aftermarket tuning and suspension modifications are so popular among performance enthusiasts, because all they are doing is bringing out the true, uncompromised capabilities of some very impressive powerplants/drivetrains. ECUs and computerisation make it easier than it once was. I say do these mods, as they will only make an already good car better, but always consider the warranty and make sure you will get to enjoy the enhanced performance. No point getting a car tuned unless you are able to wring it out a little.

[OpenAir]

Originally Posted by Tpeterson

A post with your impressions after the install will be appreciated.

+1

[Tpeterson]

Barryji Thanks for all the comprehensive analysis in your posts.I don't think I have any reasons not to get the Dinan Springs and ride kit now.Maybe even the muffler!

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by Tpeterson

Barryji Thanks for all the comprehensive analysis in your posts.I don't think I have any reasons not to get the Dinan Springs and ride kit now.Maybe even the muffler!

Very happy to have helped. I think I'm done now. Got the car set up so that it flies, but it's still a practical, luxurious DD. Your choice of aftermarket exhaust may well be heavily influenced by the emissions regs where you live. I've done no purely aesthetic mods and have resisted wheels, spacers and (much needed) audio upgrades from stock.