In reply to bravenrace: On RealOEM, when you click the click hear to enter link it takes you to the search page. You can then enter your year/model/etc, but just above that (below the banner ad) it asks for the last 7 of your vin. Or you can post it here and I can punch it in for you. If you go Here and enter the last 7 it'll tell you all the options your car came with, so you know which sport thing you have.
bravenrace wrote: Okay, now I'm confused. I went on another site and looked up rear springs. Then I saw this written under one of them: "Buyers Note: Not for models with factory sport suspension or //M suspension. Sport suspension is not the same as sports package." There's a sport suspension AND a sport package? How do I know which I have?
If you got 17" wheels as OE you probably got the sport suspension. Sport "package" cars got bumper accents, different seats and some other appearance goodies. Cars that rattle with 100k on them got the sport springs 
bigev007 wrote: In reply to bravenrace: On RealOEM, when you click the click hear to enter link it takes you to the search page. You can then enter your year/model/etc, but just above that (below the banner ad) it asks for the last 7 of your vin. Or you can post it here and I can punch it in for you. If you go Here and enter the last 7 it'll tell you all the options your car came with, so you know which sport thing you have.
Thanks. They give you too many places to click on that page! I clicked in the wrong place, apparently. So I put my VIN in and it says I have the sport suspension, but didn't give me any part numbers. Where can I get the part numbers for the correct rear springs? Every supplier I have found so far only has standard springs. Every spring has a note under it "not for sport suspension". Many suppliers carry Suplex springs, and the prices are pretty good, but even on their own website they don't list sport suspension springs. I just can't get my head around the BMW prices for what are just coil springs. I just sold a 52" commercial mower for not much more than they want for 2 springs.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Well I have the sport suspension, and while it doesn't mention the sport package, it says I have the sport seats, sport leather steering wheel, and a couple other things. I think my front bumper looks a little different than others I've seen, but idunno. The previous owner told me the car had just one option and that was the sport package.
This Site sells them, but doesn't give a part #. Might have to call a dealer to get a part # (or see if you can read it on the spring). You can usually find something on Pelican with a number even if it isn't in the catalogue. Edit: sorry, that link isn't great, but their site doesn't link well.
In reply to bigev007:
Thanks. I saw that one, but their prices aren't much better than OEM. I normally buy parts from Pelican, but they don't list anything for the sport suspension. I have an email into them but haven't heard back yet.
Tischer BMW (which bigev007 linked to) is generally regarded as having the best prices on OEM BMW parts. The only cheaper option I found was through the "Group Buys" forum on Bimmerforums:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?125-Group-Purchases-amp-Supporting-Vendor-Specials-presented-by-eBay
In reply to dj06482:
So I'm looking at $140 per spring when I've seen non-sport aftermarket replacement springs for as low as $65? What I've been trying to find is an aftermarket replacement for the sport spring.
Are you sure the springs are sagging? (Is that a common problem with the Sport springs?) At $280 it might be worth the hassle to remove a spring, measure it, and compare that to the new spring spec.
In reply to dculberson:
No, they aren't sagging, they're broken.
Whoops, that'll teach me to skim.
bravenrace wrote: In reply to dj06482: So I'm looking at $140 per spring when I've seen non-sport aftermarket replacement springs for as low as $65? What I've been trying to find is an aftermarket replacement for the sport spring.
The difference is that these are OEM, the non-sport springs are aftermarket. It's likely that the aftermarket doesn't offer a sport spring option. Rock Auto shows this:
BOGE Part # 25Y840 Spring Design: Coil Spring; Sold individually; Rear Axle; Heavy Duty Version:; Convertible
If you can't find anything from the usual suspects, I'd look at a BMW-specific forum and see what others have done.
For my E36, mechanical parts were very reasonable, but OEM-specific parts were crazy. How does $641 sound for a seat rail for one seat? Or $380 for a rubber door seal for a coupe?
At this point, for a daily driver, I'd be tempted to spend the extra $160 just to get the car back on the road with parts that you can be sure are a good match for the fronts. I understand your fear that they might fail again in a few years, but this would buy you the time to figure out exactly what you want from the aftermarket. You might be rolling the dice with the aftermarket ones and I'd hate to have to swap springs twice in a short period of time.
I would go the other route and swap all four for a set of H&R OE Sport springs. When it's time for dampers... billy sports all around. That will be nice and compliant but still sporty.
If I was going for OE BMW, I'd be looking for a used set of rear on ebay.
I'd just post a wanted ad to E46fanatics ( http://forum.e46fanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=7 ). There's bound to be someone who has some low mileage springs laying around after they swapped to coil overs or aftermarket springs.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I would go the other route and swap all four for a set of H&R OE Sport springs. When it's time for dampers... billy sports all around. That will be nice and compliant but still sporty. If I was going for OE BMW, I'd be looking for a used set of rear on ebay.
this... for the price you are going to pay for 2 oem springs, this is the better deal.. and as a bonus, they won't break in 75 to 100k miles
mad_machine wrote:Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I would go the other route and swap all four for a set of H&R OE Sport springs. When it's time for dampers... billy sports all around. That will be nice and compliant but still sporty. If I was going for OE BMW, I'd be looking for a used set of rear on ebay.this... for the price you are going to pay for 2 oem springs, this is the better deal.. and as a bonus, they won't break in 75 to 100k miles
If they are the same springs, why wouldn't they break? I'm not getting the used spring thing.
In reply to bravenrace:
They are not talking about OEM springs, they are talking about the aftermarket H&R "OE Sport" line which are supposed to be close to identical in height with a very minor (most say negligible) increase in stiffness.
EDIT: unfortunately though, it would appear they are not available for the convertible...
You know, a thought just occurred to me. A post from a vendor on another forum confirmed that E46 convertible springs are different from coupe/sedan springs (which use the same) to compensate for the extra weight of the 'vert. The sport suspension only consisted of springs and re-valved dampers; there is a chance that the convertible "sport" suspension used the re-valved dampers, but with non-sport springs in order to compensate for the greater weight of the convertible, which may be why you are seeing non-sport springs listed on RealOEM.
Just a theory, but who knows...
I've installed the Sport Suspension springs (three green stripes) on my non-sport Sedan, and they worked great. Aside from pushing my 200,000 mile dampers over the edge, that is.
If you need cheap parts, hit up Steve at Blunt Tech. He's usually pretty good at finding the best price on stuff, and ships fast.
Thanks for all the help, guys. I wish I could have waited, since more of you chimed in and I got some good information on E46fanatics, but I had just bought new rear tires and had to do something quick. So I bought the correct OEM springs from getBMWparts.com. I probably paid too much, but they were the only springs I could find that had a description that specifically matched my car, so I bit the bullet. Now to figure out how to change them. I've changed springs many times, but these are really buried up in there. Any tips that are specific to this car?
It's not that bad of a job. From memory:
On the driver's side, you have to remove the halfshaft from the diff flange so the suspension can fully droop, then you'll be able to muscle it out of there. It's tedious, I wound up having to use some long extensions. Since it's an external torx, you've got to rotate the axle so the CV boot is out of the way. Not the easiest thing to access on the car, that's for sure. I rounded one off, so be careful, it's easy to think you've got a good purchase on the fastener when you don't because of the resistance from the CV boot.
My steps would be:
1) Remove tail section of exhaust.
2) Unhook one side of sway bar to allow full droop.
3) Remove lower shock bolt.
4) Put foot on rotor hub and simultaneously kick down, pull on on spring.
order new exhaust donut/bolts and rear rubber hangers if it's never been down before and the mileage is high.
My e46 is a wagon. This procedure worked fine as it does on all E36, E30s... YMMV.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
So no spring compressor required?
bravenrace wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: So no spring compressor required?
I've never used one in the rear. That is what the foot pushing down on the hub is! There are rubber bushings in the upper/lower inner and trailing arms that have some pre-load you will have to overcome with your leg as well as some rubber spring pads that have grown attached to the springs... so yank them about a little or twist them around to loosen them up.
I have used a bottle jack to skip the "unhook swaybar" step on a track car by prying the control arm open when swapping rates on a test/tune day (can't recall for sure if E46 or 36... but they are basically the same). I don't recommend that on cars that still have rubber end links though.
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