Drifting a Z4 2.0i

M

miki

Member
 scotland
this might be a stupid question, I bought my z4 2008 2.0i couple weeks ago, and i shall not lie i am loving it (I had a fiesta 2012 1.2l before this) for the past couple week i was learning the car aka, how fast it can go on straight and corners, the balance of the car, the breaking speed and a lot more. It was a big jump for me from going to a 80hp fwd car to a 150hp rwd car.

anyway to the question, as it started to rain where i lived i decided to learn donuts or try to send it sideways a bit, i had my friend with me who has a mx5 1.6L. i did turn off DTC fully off (holding the button for roughly 3s), so i rev the car to 4 to 5k rpm and drop the clutch, fully locked wheel either side instead of doing donuts, i was doing a big circle like i didnt even lose any traction, i do know the z4s non m have a open diff but i was kinda hoping the rain would help with that. the friend was also kind off surprised about this because when he had a open diff he still could have done little donuts and go sideways a bit.

does anyone have an idea what i might be doing wrong or something? any help will be very apricated :)

(I do know i can get an LSD for the car but i ain't prepared to drop a grand on a Quaife diff just yet, and i didn't want to buy the higher Hp z4s just because i am a full time uni student and the tax and insurance would eat me alive 😭)
 
john-e89 said:
Have you looked into whether prison does your uni course for when you enrol because you’ve killed some poor innocent f***er…? 🤔
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first, man there is no need to swear, i was just asking a question.
second, luckily i have PRIVATE area where i can learn, so sadly for you i wouldn't kill anyone or be sent to prison:poke:
 
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miki said:
first, man there is no need to swear, i was just asking a question.
second, luckily i have PRIVATE area where i can learn, so sadly for you i wouldn't kill anyone or be sent to prison:poke:
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You want to learn so you can do it on the road, and don’t say you don’t, your mates are all over YouTube :poke:
 
john-e89 said:
You want to learn so you can do it on the road, and don’t say you don’t, your mates are all over YouTube :poke:
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Yeah, they’re all over YouTube, maybe you should watch and take notes, since talking s**t seems to be your only skill so far.
 
sp3ctre said:
From your questions, it is apparent you might quickly find out the “breaking” speed
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so you area saying no one takes their z4s to a drift days or anything like that. cause i wanted to learn and take it to one of theses events
 
Warnings about don't be a prat on public roads aside, the z4 isn't great for drifting. Underpowered, short wheelbase, open diff. You'd be better off with an old 3 series, with a welded diff. or perhaps a 350z.

you can watch youtube/tik tok/whatever for how to drift.

But I doubt you'll get much more help that that on here, not that kinda forum.
 
You’ve chosen a tough crowd, Miki, no-one here has ever tried to break traction in their RWD sports car!

I’m not an expert when it comes to drifting, but the lack of an LSD and not much power are likely the limiting elements. I can get the back end to step out fairly easily in my 190hp Exige (which has no LSD) when the road ahem “private tarmac surface” is wet. Phew, narrowly avoided prison there. However, it doesn’t weigh much, and it has a very short wheel base and semi-slick tyres.

My Zed will break traction at will and doughnuts or power slides are easy to initiate, wet or dry. The latter take a little skill to control though, again due to the short wheelbase.

Short of being brutal with the clutch to kick the car into a slide with full throttle mid corner, I’m not sure you’ll get it sideways. Certainly, doing so from a standing start is probably asking a little more of it than it can deliver. I definitely wouldn’t recommend trying that anywhere near hard objects or people who might laugh at you (or be brutally killed).
 
I live near a sandy beach and took my old 320d down there one winter and booted it round the place sideways with the DSC off. Think I managed about 90 seconds before I got bored.

I like the idea of not being able to break traction easily as I'm keen on getting round corners rapidly without finding myself heading into the scenery backwards. Also, being an engineer, the stress and strain on the mechanicals from roughly dumping power into them and the resulting damage brings me out in cold sweats. But then I don't understand the mindset that wants to chew up tyres and cars by welding the diff and lowering them so far they scrape on flat tarmac.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
I’m not an expert when it comes to drifting, but the lack of an LSD and not much power are likely the limiting elements. I can get the back end to step out fairly easily in my 190hp Exige (which has no LSD) when the road ahem “private tarmac surface” is wet. Phew, narrowly avoided prison there.
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thank you a lot,

"ahem" you were very close going to prison there 🤣
this is something i was looking for. I was just surprised that the z4 didnt want to break any traction.
I do know that the z4 is heavier than a mx5 but they have similar weight to power ratio (2.0L Z4 vs 1.6L mx5) and i aint planning to join drift competition, just wanting to join some drift days on open tracks there or there.
 
I don't really think power is the problem, you just need LSD.



Another proof you don't need much power, here is 318i doing donuts, but watch the both wheels spin.

 
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If you have 18" wheels then you likely have too much grip as you'll have 255's on the back. Swap to 17" wheels with 225's all round.

Also, not all tarmac is equal.
 
Quite a welcome . Get signed up on a few courses. Lose gravel skid pan and such. For the record I used to kill my old tyres on some flat ground close to the tyre shop, doing. Donuts never killed or injured anyone. Twas in an ///MR though. Now I'm old of course I thoroughly disapprove of such behaviour. LoL
 
You can do what you like. Those drift days look great. At Oulton park they use a Z4 as a drift car but it definetely has a 2JZ in it.

A word of warning is that the 2.0 is not particularly reliable, and treating it as such may not make it last long.
 
Usel said:
If you have 18" wheels then you likely have too much grip as you'll have 255's on the back. Swap to 17" wheels with 225's all round.

Also, not all tarmac is equal.
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I do have 17” wheels with 225 all round 😅
my friend used that private area to do donuts before with no problems but has an mx5 tho
 
futureZ4buyer said:
I don't really think power is the problem, you just need LSD.



Another proof you don't need much power, here is 318i doing donuts, but watch the both wheels spin.

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Do you have any ideas for a cheap lsd,
Because the ones I found are around 1k and sadly I can’t afford that just yet.
 
I suspect your mate might be able to do donuts because he has a relatively rare mx5 with a factory fitted lsd maybe?

There isn't a cheap option for a new lsd. Not even sure there is a factory option for an lsd in a z4, not even sure a z4m got a proper lsd?

The cheap option is weld the diff, but it'll be pretty horrible to drive normally.

You could overinflate the rear tyres... about 50psi should help them break traction. Also... how's your handbrake?

But yeah as I said before, if you want to go drifting there are many more suitable cars out there than a z4.
 
brillomaster said:
I suspect your mate might be able to do donuts because he has a relatively rare mx5 with a factory fitted lsd maybe?

There isn't a cheap option for a new lsd. Not even sure there is a factory option for an lsd in a z4, not even sure a z4m got a proper lsd?

The cheap option is weld the diff, but it'll be pretty horrible to drive normally.

You could overinflate the rear tyres... about 50psi should help them break traction. Also... how's your handbrake?

But yeah as I said before, if you want to go drifting there are many more suitable cars out there than a z4.
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My friend fitted himself the lsd, but even before doing that with the open diff he could have done donuts,
And like you said welding the diff is a terrible option
I was thinking about over inflating the tyres but I was worried about doing that, just in case they burst
The hand break is bad, I do need to fix that either tighten it or fully replacing the cable.
I know there are way better cars to drift, and I’m not going to drift the Z every day. Just wanted to see how tail happy it might be and if it can handle a bit of drifting.
And thank you for the suggestions
 
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