Last weekend I actually had some personal time, and decided it was best used with a wrench in hand and a mask on face. In my search for suspension upgrades in preparation for reduced body roll without completely sacrificing ride, I decided to try H&R Sport springs with my already-installed Koni struts.
In researching this route there are numerous opinions, and I realized that none of them held actual value to me, so I decided to just go for it. Because coil-overs are expensive and because I already had the struts / shocks, my first thought was to install a Ground Control coil-over conversion, which for the E46 is well-documented and seems like a great choice (https://groundcontrolstore.com/collections/e46-coilover-conversion). I kept thinking about it, and because I would be doing the work myself and my research said that the Ground Control setup would then require constant tinkering to get the ride height, spring rates, corner balance, etc., etc., all sorted, my best route was a conventional lowering spring. OK great, now what to choose.... Long story short, my friends at Turner Motorsport suggested the H&R Sport spring. While in there I also replaced the front strut mounts, front sway bar end links, installed strut mount reinforcement plates, and tidied things up.
I am mostly distrustful of any aftermarket products where ride and safety are potentially compromised, but man, that body lean has to be sorted out, and doing it on a budget is my favorite way. As advertised, the drop was spot-on between .5" and .75", and my initial impressions are that the ride has not changed for the worse-- It does feel different, but not in a completely detrimental way. So initial vote for this install is a thumbs-up!
I'll wait to get an alignment until I get a few miles on the springs, check ride height to make sure nothing weird is going on, and make sure I'm good with how it feels-- I still have to drive this thing so I cannot have something terrible in the ride department, and my original springs are good to go back in if necessary.
