The Difference an Inch Can Make – Part 2

Saturday 5th December 2015

I am so excited! Christmas has arrived early! Oh my gosh, I didn’t know it would have such a huge effect! It’s amazing, it looks awesome, why did I wait so long? What on earth am I talking about?

Well a little background first. As much as I like my BMW i3, there has always been something just not quite right about it. I’ve never really been able to say exactly what it is until this week.

Now, while I am not the biggest of car enthusiasts, I know what I do and do not like. I know that I prefer a firmer ride, I cannot stand soft suspensions, I like a car that looks nice and one that is the correct colour inside and out. I know when I see the correct car that it is the one I should have. Whilst the i3 has been perfectly okay, it has always being missing something for me. Is it that it sits too high maybe? Is it that is looks a bit too SUV like?

Well, yes, it does sit too high for me and does remind me of an SUV, albeit a small SUV but still. I do prefer something that sits lower and is more ‘car’ like.

Anyway, I will get to the point in a minute… A while ago, over on that ‘Facebook thing’, I saw that a couple of i3 owners had put lowering springs on their cars. While I thought they looked good, I didn’t pay a huge amount of attention to them at that time. Then a month or so later, I saw that a couple more had also done theirs which made me start to look a bit closer and I thought the car looked an awfully lot better sitting that bit lower. I happened to mention to my sidekick that they looked quite good.

A few minutes later I had purchased some H&R springs for my BMW i3. You know, like you do!

It took a few weeks for them to arrive and then a bit longer trying to decide whether my sidekick should try to change the springs himself or just take the car somewhere. If we were to take the car somewhere, where would that be?

Whilst we were still in the deciding phase we happened one weekend to be at a Cars and Croissants meet up and nearby were some lowered BMW’s so we sauntered over to their owners to ask them if they had any recommendations. Well, of course they did, they mentioned two places, one quite north of us and the other place just 10 minutes away. After I did some internet research my sidekick rang the place that was closet to us, Redline Speed Worxs in Greenbrook NJ. After a good chat with them, and liking what he heard, the i3 was booked in for Monday 30th November. It was all very exciting and I couldn’t wait to see what the car would look like.

The weekend before the car was due to have it’s springs changed, I did have a couple of doubts… what if it all goes wrong? Do they really know what they are doing? And the biggest of all – What if I don’t like it?

But then, on the other hand, I was rather excited to see what it would be like.

Monday morning arrived and my sidekick took the car in. We were expecting it would take around 4 hours and that I would have to pick him up in an hour or so – so he wasn’t stuck there all morning. Turns out he didn’t want to come home, he was more than happy to stay there. He was enjoying watching what the guys were doing and chatting with them. Turns out we made the right choice about where to go. This place really knows what they are doing, their place is immaculate and they really care about your car.

It ended up taking them about 3 hours to do all four springs. When my sidekick arrived back home I was slightly nervous as to what I would think. But, heading outside to see the car and oh my goodness, what a difference. The car looks so much lower and it definitely looks so much better. Sitting in the car you feel so much lower down. I like it – A LOT!

It is amazing, it’s awesome, it’s brilliant, it’s super duper and all the rest. I never expected it would make such a difference. Driving out in the car, it now has a nice firm suspension, it’s so much better for me, not bouncy like it was before. Yes, I am so amazed at the difference. I can’t get over how much better the car looks – this is how I’d have liked it from the beginning. The car is actually only an inch lower, but it looks and feels like more. It’s great! What a difference an inch can make!

And that is why Christmas arrived early and I was so excited and well, actually, I still am!!

Hmm, now what shall I do next?