[SoFlo3]

I've just received a new 330i that was previously a loner vehicle. Only 2,000 miles on odo when I received.

I changed to this from a 2015 328i with M-Sport Suspension, so that may be the culprit for why I find this so high.

Can anyone give any insight? I thought maybe shipping blocks but I looked and I don't think they're still in place.

Thanks in advance!
John

[SoFlo3]

Originally Posted by LobB

Certainly in the UK the Msport suspension sits 15mm lower, which takes the edge of that too high stance.

I figured that may be why, I was so use to sitting lower before. The back end doesn't bother me as much as the front end...feels like im navigating a boat lol

[Billfitz]

Drive a typical SUV and you'll know how a boat feels.

[SoFlo3]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

Drive a typical SUV and you'll know how a boat feels.

Fair enough

I guess I was spoiled by the M-Suspension before..

[SoFlo3]

Originally Posted by LobB

Here in the UK we cure the high ride height by some new springs. Not too expensive and solves the issue whilst tightens up the handling.

Yup, was considering H&K Super Sports to hopefully do away with this gap and add some better handling. Just trying to let my wallet recover after ordering a bunch of stuff for the car already

Thanks for the insight!

[sspade]

AC Schnitzer springs. PM for contact. Do your research!

[SoFlo3]

Originally Posted by sspade

AC Schnitzer springs. PM for contact. Do your research!

From what I've seen, those would lower the car about 1.1". I'm sure that's not the only aspect I should be worried about, but this wheel gap keeps me up at night

[sspade]

Originally Posted by SoFlo3

From what I've seen, those would lower the car about 1.1". I'm sure that's not the only aspect I should be worried about, but this wheel gap keeps me up at night

These are all the options (for just springs) and their manufacturer stated drop.

I did a lot of research and went with ACS. Very happy with my choice so far. Would recommend. No need to change bump stops. Definitely an improvement in handling and feel. Depending on road surface, there are moments when I feel some "bounce." I believe this is directly related to the stock dampers not having quick enough rebound for the stiffer springs. From what I can tell, this is going to happen with any spring swap alone... still - without a doubt a welcome improvement over stock. Less body roll and tighter turn in feel.

Obviously coil overs or a matched spring/damper combo is the ultimate improvement over stock, but at 4 times the cost. I did this install myself and with a Hunter alignment and a pass through socket set from Harbor Freight, Im all in at under $500.

I was VERY concerned with not lowering the car too much. These appear to be perfect. No issues at all so far with scraping or bottoming out.

I would be careful with choosing a spring towards the bottom of this list. I have seen people with both #7 and #8 who have turned around and resold on the forum in a month or two. Depends on what your going for, I guess.

I have non adaptive suspension / base suspension (like you).

[sspade]

AC Schnitzer springs on F30 passive suspension.

[SoFlo3]

Originally Posted by sspade

AC Schnitzer springs on F30 passive suspension.

Ok, that looks like where I'd like to be at. I had no intention of "slamming" the car, but the current gap is driving me crazy and I feel the car doesn't handle as well.

I don't have any of the equipment to do the install myself, so the way I figured it, I'd be in around $600-$700 all in after springs, labor, alignment, etc.

[upsidedownfunnel]

My 2014 F30 335i with the M Sport suspension had excessive body roll. I won't go into it since this has been discussed ad nauseum, but it was completely unacceptable based on previous M Sport/sport suspension equipped BMW 3 series. I can only imagine how bad the suspension was on non M sport cars. I know the LCI cars had improved suspension, but I'm assuming the base LCI suspension is not as sporty as the pre-LCI M sport suspension. I feel like even the base E90 suspension was sportier than the F30 M Sport suspension.

My solution was to buy the M Performance suspension and that pretty much made it drive like the M Sport should have out of the factory. The M Sport suspension drops the car 10mm and the M Performance drops it another 10mm (20mm total from based). That's just under an inch. Other than the steering, this makes the car nearly perfect. The problem is that upgrading an LCI non-sport suspension car to M Performance is very expensive. You have to buy the more expensive kit that comes with a beefier sway bar as well as pay much more to install said sway bar (front subframe needs to be dropped as I understand).

All that said, to me that fender gap looks too big in your picture. One thing to note is that if you're parked on an incline, the side of the car that is higher up will have more gap than the other. If you do have an incline, park your car on a very flat surface and take another picture. Or better yet, back the car into the same spot and check to see if there's any difference. Any change in incline should be doubly apparent that way compared to the first picture. If that is the real fender gap when the car is level, I'd go to the dealership and measure the gap for similar cars as yours. Perhaps your car has the wrong springs somehow?