Your experiences of aftermarket suspension on the Z4 MC

john, yes i went to see the GTS in detail at autosport 2 years ago..... i ook detailed pictures of the wheel spacer setup.....

it uses 5mm spacers all round and a conversion to stud and nuts. i posted this data on the american forum and they were pretty shocked by the fact bmw used spacers :-) Proper hub centric spacers are as you know essentially the same as a more agressive offset wheel, my moms panamera turbo S also has them stock although much larger 15mm front and rear!!
 
I've got 12.5mm hubcentrics on mine to clear the brake kit and also a stud conversion. Happy with the setup although got some rub in the front..
 
ga41 said:
I've got 12.5mm hubcentrics on mine to clear the brake kit and also a stud conversion. Happy with the setup although got some rub in the front..
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You've got StopTech if I recall correctly? Standard wheels GA41 or have you joined the CSL 19" brigade? (not sure if CSL's come in 18".

Presumably if you change wheel size you need to adjust the suspension too?

this thread is convincing me more and more towards KW Clubsports :) Just have to wait April for Bonus time :D (want forged Rays too...)

Beedud and Exdos could you keep,us posted on proegress with your settings on road and track please?
 
ChawenHalo said:
You've got StopTech if I recall correctly? Standard wheels GA41 or have you joined the CSL 19" brigade? (not sure if CSL's come in 18".

Presumably if you change wheel size you need to adjust the suspension too?

this thread is convincing me more and more towards KW Clubsports :) Just have to wait April for Bonus time :D (want forged Rays too...)

Beedud and Exdos could you keep,us posted on proegress with your settings on road and track please?
Click to expand...
Yep, Stoptech 6pots front and 4pot rears with 355mm discs all around. Using stock wheels. New set of wheels would be more than 3 times what the spacers cost so it was a no-brainer for me. Only suspension change other than the spacers was a more aggressive alignment.
 
ChawenHalo said:
ga41 said:
I've got 12.5mm hubcentrics on mine to clear the brake kit and also a stud conversion. Happy with the setup although got some rub in the front..
Click to expand...

You've got StopTech if I recall correctly? Standard wheels GA41 or have you joined the CSL 19" brigade? (not sure if CSL's come in 18".

Presumably if you change wheel size you need to adjust the suspension too?

this thread is convincing me more and more towards KW Clubsports :) Just have to wait April for Bonus time :D (want forged Rays too...)

Beedud and Exdos could you keep,us posted on proegress with your settings on road and track please?
Click to expand...

Was nice to see bmw choose then for their 100k car ;-) but unfortunately the gts reviews show, and in my own experience shows the clubsport setup is a track setup that's "usable" on the road. Which is exactly what kw advertise it as, IMO it's not DDable.
I am however very pleased with it, I will update this when I get back to my laptop.


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wow.....

very interesting thread here!!! motons ;-) serious stuff!!!

BUT.... rear coilover is a no no imo!!!!!!!!! major no no, this car was never designed for that, Ive spoken at length with simpson who say a proper barrell spring and damper setup at the rear as per BMws spec will perform just as good :-) theirs no need, you can however drop the spring rate with a coil over setup.

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786933
 
Hi Chaps,

So the H&Rs are now on the car. A brief writeup and pictures can be found here:

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46088

Will update again once i put them through their paces and have some track time scheduled for the 16th Feb.


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Beedub said:
wow.....

very interesting thread here!!! motons ;-) serious stuff!!!

BUT.... rear coilover is a no no imo!!!!!!!!! major no no, this car was never designed for that, Ive spoken at length with simpson who say a proper barrell spring and damper setup at the rear as per BMws spec will perform just as good :-) theirs no need, you can however drop the spring rate with a coil over setup.

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786933
Click to expand...

Seriously expensive too :o although there was a basic set on discount on Turner. Anyway, want to keep it all made in Germany (no comment o the Gruppe M :P ).

Do you mean usable on the road as ion GT3 usable or does it squeek and rattle all the time?
 
Hi All,

So at last I had the opportunity to really put the H&R coilovers through their paces yesterday at Bedford autodrome.

I have driven this track many times and its normally the first track ill head to early on in the year because its still great fun in the wet due to the amount of space the place provides. However, I was praying for a dry day to really put my suspension and geometry changes through their paces.

So you know about the suspension but the geometry I chose to run is as follows:

Front 0.0 combined toe and -2.0 camber
Rear 0.04 combined toe and -1.8 camber

I woke up early and as I opened up the garage door i was happy to see a dry road, i could believe my luck. I got to the circuit as the sun was coming up albeit trying to burn though a small amount of cloud, perfect conditions to put the car through its paces.

In short I am very happy with both suspension and geometry. The suspension has the following advantages over the old setup which was oem dampers with eibach springs:

I finally am getting even tyre wear no longer is the outside edge of the front tyres getting destroyed.

Body roll is greatly reduced which lends itself to much more feel and ultimately higher levels of grip

Quick change of direction does not unsettle the car as much

When the limit of grip is met the transition from grip to slide to grip is nice and smooth and more controllable.

High speed corners - i now need to grow a set because the level of grip is astonishing here, much more than before, I needed some more time to really push this but unfortunately got black flagged for excessive noise (a story in itself) so had to call it a day shortly after lunch.

I have been fine at bedford before and the only engine/exhaust mod i have done is the remus back box's. All I can assume is I was carrying more speed so had higher revs and more noise at the points in track they had noise meters... Most frustrating.

Anyway, geometry settings were great also. Its a very balanced cay now, easy to balance on the the throttle. If you track your car i would definitely recommend this setup.

So in summary am I am happy with the H&Rs. They get a big thumbs up yes. I was concerned they might not be a big enough improvement over stock for the track. However, after a few laps my concerns were short lived, they were great on track. Definitely a worthy upgrade if you want an affordable fast road setup which is also great on track look no further.
 
Dondp...

Why tyres are you running that made so much noise?

I know my OEM Conti's were much more 'squealy' than either PS2s or my current PSSs at the 'Ring.
 
mmm-five said:
Dondp...

Why tyres are you running that made so much noise?

I know my OEM Conti's were much more 'squealy' than either PS2s or my current PSSs at the 'Ring.
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I was on PS2s yesterday, I don't think it was tyre noise that tripped the meters, more likely engine/exhaust noise. Ive got some in car footage of the session I tripped the meter. No massive squealing slides although I did have a good half turn of opposite lock coming out of the corner where I apparently hit 1.5db over the limit. Perhaps loss of traction put more strain on the engine creating more noise.

I am just speculating of course, I find it bizarre it was fine all morning and then tripped it by so much after lunch....
 
DONDP said:
I am just speculating of course, I find it bizarre it was fine all morning and then tripped it by so much after lunch....
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Maybe the air pressure dropped, or the wind changed direction?
 
Nice to hear Don, these are well priced, did it also stop the dipping and diving under braking. Shame about the noise, very odd.
 
mmm-five said:
Maybe the air pressure dropped, or the wind changed direction?
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Quite possibly, those were my other thoughts. Just unfortunate that at bedford its a one strike and your out rule.
 
daz05 said:
Nice to hear Don, these are well priced, did it also stop the dipping and diving under braking. Shame about the noise, very odd.
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Sure did, very composed under braking now. obviously still some dip due to the weight transfer but I could pick extremely late braking points, albeit I am also running an ap racing bbk...
 
Don,

Glad to hear another positive vote for the aftermarket suspension solution. :thumbsup: 8)

How do you find the ride on public roads?
 
Well, I'll be asking for opinions/experiences of aftermarket suspension some time this year as I'll be doing some preventative maintenance by replacing the stock items due to their age anyway. So might as well save some money (by not renewing OEM) and putting that cash towards an aftermarket set-up.

I've taken the hint that coilovers (for the rear at least) are not the way forward, but don't want to lower the car at all, so will be looking for solutions that retain the stock height with just a bit better (performance-biased) ride.

Never got on with the H&R set-up I had on my 3.6 M5 (thought they were way too harsh and I kept hitting the rear arches on hard cornering, on OEM size wheels/tyres), and I swapped that for some custom-valved PSS12s. I didn't customise them, but a friend with contacts in Bilstein got them done to a similar spec as the old e34 Ring Taxi - that's what he said anyway, and I was plenty happy with the result (and so were a couple of other M5 owners who went for the same set-up after using mine as a proof of concept). I'm hoping he has some suggestions for something similar on the Z4.
 
exdos said:
Don,

Glad to hear another positive vote for the aftermarket suspension solution. :thumbsup: 8)

How do you find the ride on public roads?
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On public roads I would say the ride is comparable to stock albeit marginally stiffer but the damping is considerably better. Very rough roads are still therefore a bit of a chore. However, on the majority of roads it is improved.

If was using the car every day and If money was no object I would probably put on fully adjustable suspension for the best of both worlds, but thats not to say you couldn't live with the h&rs as a DD.

I picked up my set from a fellow forum member at a great price and am very pleased with the package as a whole.
 
Right on :) after much consideration I've gone for the following. Delage Sport will be doing the fitting and suspension settings for fast road and track.

(sorry translation from french may be a little off)
BILSTEIN - B16 PSS10
H&R Anti Roll bars front & rear
Front strut brace
BMW Motorsport off centre front suspension joints
Rear suspension bushes
Rear suspension arm blocks (to stop wheel movement during cornering) Delage's own.

Will post pictures updates as and when. Hopefully next week :D .

Nice to go to a reknowed preparator. He had a good lisen to the car, plugged it in and was ple&ased to see that the car was "clean". Price was decent too. :thumbsup:
 
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