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Installing M5 Swybars On 540i Non-sport.

970 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Eric S. 
#1 ·
Hi,
as i like the smooth ride my non-sport suspension 540i has and will get a set of new Bilsteins soon, i've been thinking abut getting M5 swybars to improve the handling.
I saw both F+R M5 swybars with bushings somewhere under $200 and there is not much to lose. Will the upgare make significant difference? And are polyurethane bushings for both swybars worth the extra hundered or are stock rubber ones good enough?
Thanks guys.
 
#2 ·
Originally posted by HardStep@Aug 17 2005, 09:16 PM
Hi,
as i like the smooth ride my non-sport suspension 540i has and will get a set of new Bilsteins soon, i've been thinking abut getting M5 swybars to improve the handling.
I saw both F+R M5 swybars with bushings somewhere under $200 and there is not much to lose. Will the upgare make significant difference? And are polyurethane bushings for both swybars worth the extra hundered or are stock rubber ones good enough?
Thanks guys.
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I installed F&R M5 sway bars on my '99 540 recently. However it is a 6-speed and so already has the "Sport" suspension (25mm front, 15mm rear bars). I found installing the M5 front bar to be a TREMENDOUS pain in the butt!! It was about the toughest car repair/mod I've had to do in my 27 years of car ownership! :wrench Given how much trouble that was, combined with how the car handles now as compared to before, my opinion is that the front M5 bar was NOT worth the trouble over the stock 25mm sport sway bar! :nono

Although I guess it corners flatter, the steering "feel" is noticeably heavier, and the car has a much more pronounced understeer feel, not desireable traits to me.

The rear bar by itself was a relatively simple job. It offered a VERY subtle, hardly noticeable difference, but at least that difference was more toward neutral handling.

Dave Zeckhausen says that the ideal combo is to use the Dinan adjustable rear sway bar (set to "medium") in conjunction with the M5 front bar. I've also heard that the M5 bars (F&R) totally rock when used along with H&R lowering springs and Koni struts. Since I plan on new Konis next year and Dinan anything costs too much money, I'll have to wait until then to test out that theory.

I hope I've helped. Hopefully someone who has gone from non-sport to M5 can chime in regarding a bigger before/after difference.
 
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