M5 Front Sway Bar

[paulg]

greetings, want you guys knoweldge on the M5 frontsway bar, what is the greatest advantage over the 540's sport, where is the best place to purchase one other than the dealer, the price and any input from anyone who had it installed(can it be done in my garage) do myself..... thanks guys

[Eric S.]

Originally posted by paulg@May 16 2005, 01:54 PM
greetings, want you guys knoweldge on the M5 frontsway bar, what is the greatest advantage over the 540's sport, where is the best place to purchase one other than the dealer, the price and any input from anyone who had it installed(can it be done in my garage) do myself..... thanks guys

[snapback]344931[/snapback]

540 Sport front sway bar is 25mm diameter, M5 bar is 27mm. Sport rear diameter is 15.0mm, M5 = 16.5mm.

Rear is easy to do, front is much tougher. Check Dave Zeckhausen's web site for tips & step-by-step. Doing the front bar is about a 4+ hour job and requires 2 people for some steps. It requires unmounting steering box, sundry parts, and engine mounts and raising engine, while unbolting front subframe and dropping that a few inches and then fishing out the old bar and fishing in the new one through the crevice created. I plan to do it, but ugh!

With my BMWCCA membership, my local dealer offers 20% off and so it's the best place to buy the M5 front bar, at about $110 for the bar and $10 for each of the two rubber pivot bushings. I've heard Pacific BMW is cheap, but haven't priced them. Eibach makes an aftermarket set that isn't cheap - about $400 for both front and rear bars and I think you gotta buy them as a set.

Check the Roadfly forum for a recent post by a guy who did his own front M5 bar with his wife's help...

[paulg]

Originally posted by Eric S.+May 16 2005, 09:35 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Eric S. @ May 16 2005, 09:35 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-paulg@May 16 2005, 01:54 PM
greetings, want you guys knoweldge on the M5 frontsway bar, what is the greatest advantage over the 540's sport, where is the best place to purchase one other than the dealer, the price and any input from anyone who had it installed(can it be done in my garage) do myself..... thanks guys

[snapback]344931[/snapback]

540 Sport front sway bar is 25mm diameter, M5 bar is 27mm. Sport rear diameter is 15.0mm, M5 = 16.5mm.

Rear is easy to do, front is much tougher. Check Dave Zeckhausen's web site for tips & step-by-step. Doing the front bar is about a 4+ hour job and requires 2 people for some steps. It requires unmounting steering box, sundry parts, and engine mounts and raising engine, while unbolting front subframe and dropping that a few inches and then fishing out the old bar and fishing in the new one through the crevice created. I plan to do it, but ugh!

With my BMWCCA membership, my local dealer offers 20% off and so it's the best place to buy the M5 front bar, at about $110 for the bar and $10 for each of the two rubber pivot bushings. I've heard Pacific BMW is cheap, but haven't priced them. Eibach makes an aftermarket set that isn't cheap - about $400 for both front and rear bars and I think you gotta buy them as a set.

Check the Roadfly forum for a recent post by a guy who did his own front M5 bar with his wife's help...

[snapback]345084[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]
hey thanks a lot, since i am her in europe, thanks to the army, i am going to try my luck at the ring, so i want to have the car ready, i run pretty good at the hockenheim ring which is not a real power track but handling is important. thanks again

[Eric S.]

Paul -

Good luck to you, and do a lap at the 'Ring for me. And a personal thanks to you for the sacrifice you've made in serving your country overseas. Please take the opportunity to enjoy the few benefits of being there, such as the high speed driving!

FWIW, based on my limited autocross experience, the most important things you need to upgrade for track time of any kind will be the brakes and the tires.

Let us know how it goes once you've had a thrash or two! :P