Dinan Front and Rear Sway Bars Installed!

[ciscostud]

I have a 2013 Non CP M5. I just installed the Dinan front and rear sway bars. I did not do any other suspension modifications. Let me just say that I am mystified why the car didn't come from the factory like this. Body roll has been massively reduced. The car now drives much more like a M should. Ride has changed little if at all. Its perfect.

The only thing I noticed is slightly heavier steering. I am sure that is coming from the front bar. My recommendation, if you haven't, is to run the steering on the comfort setting. Which feels now like the old medium. I think the medium and heavy now are ridiculous and I always thought the old heavy (sport plus) was ridiculous.

I highly recommend this upgrade and a huge bang for the buck. I am not sure I could think of a handling mod that gives you more for the money.

I could never go back to stock.

[chong0]

Getting mine done next week, thanks for the review. did you set the bars to least or most stiff? I am thinking of doing the latter...

[ciscostud]

That I am not sure as the Dinan/BMW dealer did it without specifying and I forgot to ask when I picked it up. All I know is that it is great.

[mpower3330]

Originally Posted by ciscostud

I have a 2013 Non CP M5. I just installed the Dinan front and rear sway bars. I did not do any other suspension modifications. Let me just say that I am mystified why the car didn't come from the factory like this. Body roll has been massively reduced. The car now drives much more like a M should. Ride has changed little if at all. Its perfect.

The only thing I noticed is slightly heavier steering. I am sure that is coming from the front bar. My recommendation, if you haven't, is to run the steering on the comfort setting. Which feels now like the old medium. I think the medium and heavy now are ridiculous and I always thought the old heavy (sport plus) was ridiculous.

I highly recommend this upgrade and a huge bang for the buck. I am not sure I could think of a handling mod that gives you more for the money.

I could never go back to stock.

I had the exact same upgrades, as well as the Dinan coilovers, done a month ago and..... LOVE my car after them. Best ~$4k ever spent on my car. Handles amazing and planted, I too had the same stiffness in the steering feel. Other benefit I saw was with the steering vibration and it is much better now.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by chong0

Getting mine done next week, thanks for the review. did you set the bars to least or most stiff? I am thinking of doing the latter...

I have these Dinan sway bars as well. I set them to the softest setting but the improvement over stock is dramatic. It has virtually no body roll in Sport mode.

[mcvaughan]

Looking forward to this. Mine go on next week!

[M5TXGuy]

So why not just buy the CP sway bars and pay half the price? From what I have read on other posts, the Dinan sways aren't any bigger or stiffer than the CP sways. Thoughts?

[Spinny02]

Originally Posted by M5TXGuy

So why not just buy the CP sway bars and pay half the price? From what I have read on other posts, the Dinan sways aren't any bigger or stiffer than the CP sways. Thoughts?

Have not compared the two but The dinan R&d gents have my cp and have taken out the cp sways and compared them. I don't have pics but from what I was told there is a size diff + they are adjustable.

[HelzRage]

Originally Posted by M5TXGuy

So why not just buy the CP sway bars and pay half the price? From what I have read on other posts, the Dinan sways aren't any bigger or stiffer than the CP sways. Thoughts?

I don't believe you can buy just the competition sways by themselves can you? Thought it was just part of the competition pack at 7k. If you can't though the only option would be to by them used. Something most M5 owners I would imagine is unacceptable. =)

[Spinny02]

Originally Posted by HelzRage

I don't believe you can buy just the competition sways by themselves can you? Thought it was just part of the competition pack at 7k. If you can't though the only option would be to by them used. Something most M5 owners I would imagine is unacceptable. =)

You can buy them at the parts dept. of the dealership. about $550 for the set.

[HelzRage]

I stand corrected then. So $550 vs $1000 for the pair. Eh I'm sure there has to be some difference. Although being adjustable is pretty significant by itself albeit not sure if that is worth $500.

[ciscostud]

Everything I have read is that the Dinan are lighter, but more importantly stiffer. I knew I could just buy the competitions bars, but purposely chose the Dinan. Also, I have read several times that the competition bars go better and were designed to work with the competition springs. For those of us who have stock, non CP springs, the Dinan bars might be a better fit.

Everyone can decide for themselves. I also have a 2013 991S Cab with PDCC Porsche Dynamic Chassis control that has almost zero roll (I will never claim anything has ZERO). The M5 is not far from this car now in terms of lack of roll. However, you still feel the extra weight somewhat. ;-)

Also if it could fix my handling issues (too much body roll for a M) without having to buy springs or a coil over, I was willing to spend the extra $450. Although most dealers will give 10-15% off on these. So assuming no discount on the competition, the difference could be as little as $350.

[chong0]

Originally Posted by ciscostud

Everything I have read is that the Dinan are lighter, but more importantly stiffer. I knew I could just buy the competitions bars, but purposely chose the Dinan. Also, I have read several times that the competition bars go better and were designed to work with the competition springs. For those of us who have stock, non CP springs, the Dinan bars might be a better fit.

Everyone can decide for themselves. I also have a 2013 991S Cab with PDCC Porsche Dynamic Chassis control that has almost zero roll (I will never claim anything has ZERO). The M5 is not far from this car now in terms of lack of roll. However, you still feel the extra weight somewhat. ;-)

Also if it could fix my handling issues (too much body roll for a M) without having to buy springs or a coil over, I was willing to spend the extra $450. Although most dealers will give 10-15% off on these. So assuming no discount on the competition, the difference could be as little as $350.

sweet. I've been tainted by the p-cars since doing their driving school. I got into the m5 and the car not only felt big but it also felt very soft. I think I will tell the installer to set the bars to stiffest setting as I am looking for that 0 roll now.

My sense of speed is also tainted after doing launches in that turbo s

[boots]

MacVaughan let me know how this works out for you.

[mcvaughan]

Dinan sways installed. As mentioned above, the car is much flatter in the curves. I do notice a bit more weighted feel in the steering, but I don't think it's an issue. I had my tech set the bars with medium stiffness. All in all, happy with the upgrade!

[chong0]

Just had my sways installed today. Set to stiffest setting.

Ciscostud's and stealth's comments are spot on. The car should have come with stiffer sway bars from the factory. The car feels much more stable in comfort and at speeds > 90 mph. that floaty feeling that resembles my old chevy celebrity is gone. comfort is actually tolerable again and though there is a slight sacrifice on poor roads the improvement is a necessary upgrade.

I chatted with the Dinan tech a bit about bar adjustments- car needs to go up on a lift to offload the suspension. Back sways are bolted to 2 bolts which is fairly simple, but front (mentioned in another post) is attached to the steering and requires more work. Total time he could do it would be a 45 minute adjustment.

Dinan (at least locally) is running a 15% off sale. Highly recommended investment.

[vafan13]

Digging this up instead of starting a new thread to say that I installed these last night (along with Turner monoballs) on my non-comp M5 and can heartily affirm what others have said: big improvement. Car feels noticeably more planted in turns and if there's more harshness on bumps, it can't be much.

As far as adjusting them...I'll say that based on my experience doing the install with a friend, the back would be very quick once it's jacked up or lifted (the link nut is easily accessible). Front is more complex, as it involves the adjustable links, though it's still not a problem as long as one has access to an alignment rack or lift that otherwise loads the suspension. Otherwise, like me one will have to do some contortion to re-adjust said links to have no preload after putting the car back on the ground. Luckily I have long arms and I'm not built like Popeye.

[1320racer]

Recently, I had my M5 tuned and I am completely shocked with how manageable and stock feeling the car is when driving around town. But beyond half throttle the car has been transformed into a highway missile.(Click here)

This past weekend, I was being taunted by two motorcycles just outside of Olney, MD. After they followed me to an empty road, we had several roll races from ~40 to 150+ mph. They were shocked after I rolled by the faster bike every time between 80-90 mph.

During the initial roll race, the faster bike swerved in front of me, as he assumed he had pulled several car lengths on me, but I was rolling up on him quickly and I needed to slam the brakes with both feat and the rear of the M5’s stock suspension rose up SHOCKINGLY HIGH. I almost lost control. Needless to say, the following races they did not change lanes as they knew I’d be rolling by them.

We actually stopped and talked for a bit afterwards. One bike was a Triumph and the faster bike was a Honda CBR 1000. The slower bike said he trapped ~120 mph in the 1/4 mile. The faster bike (Honda) had never raced at a 1/4 track. I think he was not a long-time rider since I just looked and that bike should run 135+ mph in the 1/4 mile. I expect my car will be lucky to hit 128 mph. This does not seem to add up.?.?.?

I now intend to upgrade the suspension and reading this thread is helpful. Please continue to make helpful and thought provoking replies.

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by vafan13

Digging this up instead of starting a new thread to say that I installed these last night (along with Turner monoballs) on my non-comp M5 and can heartily affirm what others have said: big improvement. Car feels noticeably more planted in turns and if there's more harshness on bumps, it can't be much.

As far as adjusting them...I'll say that based on my experience doing the install with a friend, the back would be very quick once it's jacked up or lifted (the link nut is easily accessible). Front is more complex, as it involves the adjustable links, though it's still not a problem as long as one has access to an alignment rack or lift that otherwise loads the suspension. Otherwise, like me one will have to do some contortion to re-adjust said links to have no preload after putting the car back on the ground. Luckily I have long arms and I'm not built like Popeye.

Wonder if the upgrades are worth it on my comp pack M5?

[vafan13]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

Wonder if the upgrades are worth it on my comp pack M5?

Middle setting on them would be in the ballpark of 25% and 35% stiffer* than your comp pack bars for front and rear, respectively. that's quite a bit more than the CP bars are over the standard bars.



*assuming the middle setting is about in the middle of the range of increased stiffness Dinan indicates.

[etnsandman]

Really curious about these bars for my 2015 CP, otherwise I’m happy with the way she rides and handles. You can see she leans pretty heavily on the Dragon.
https://xtremesportsphotography.phot...gf=true&page=0