Thoughts to bring some life to steering

The Michelin PS4/PS5s are relatively soft and I find they feel worse compared to Goodyear Asymmetric 5/6s. Steering feels particularly dead at centre. I made the mistake of going for the PS5s last year, I will be going back to Goodyears whenever I need new tyres.

This tallies up with what TyreReviews say about how these tyres should feel. I just didn't believe it would be that evident.
 
I’m running KW Clubsports with camber plates / Rogue Engineering top mounts, Turner RTAB limiters and H&R ARBs front and rear. The steering is sharp and the handling is very precise but the street manners take some getting used to!
My daily driver is an S2 Exige with no power steering and an aftermarket quick rack, and nothing I’ve driven compares with that.
 
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BMWZ4MC said:
I’m running KW Clubsports with camber plates / Rogue Engineering top mounts, Turner RTAB limiters and H&R ARBs front and rear. The steering is sharp and the handling is very precise but the street manners take some getting used to!
My daily driver is an S2 Exige with no power steering and an aftermarket quick rack, and nothing I’ve driven compares with that.
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2 pages in and probably the only actually worthwhile response to the op, aside from Brillomasters! 😂

What are you actually after OP? sharper handling immediately off centre? More grip, less understeer?

The Z4m has a very quick steering rack (quicker than the 'purple tag e46 m3 csl' rack!) so if there is any vagueness in response to inputs it will be likely as a result of tired/worn bushes, tyre choice (sidewall stiffness) and alignment.

I've got intrax coilovers with spherical bearing top mounts running a lot of camber and zero toe at the front, powerflex black lollipop bushes with additional caster, and black RTAB bushes at try rear with a chunk of rear camber and a little toe in. I have yoko AD09 semi slick tyres with proper stiff sidewalls. This combination makes the steering unbelievably responsive, to the point that it takes a fair bit of mental recalibration jumping from the daily e91 se into the zed! There is zero slop in the steering off centre, turn in is insanely sharp and the car rotates perfectly with a throttle lift.

You mentioned centre gravity having done a lot of your setup work - I've only heard good things about them; have you communicated your thoughts to them, both in terms of what you're after, and what you're not quite getting from the current setup?

Fwiw regards tyre pressures; 32psi is the lowest pressure I'd be looking to run on these cars, they aren't light so you need the pressure in them or you lose steering directness and you just end up falling into the sidewall of the tyre as you start to push on...
 
I think the OP is after road feel through the steering on a street driven car like I am. I have no problem with steering response, quickness or slop it's just numb.

But OP will answer I am sure.
 
not been in here on a while
so with adjusted pressures there is certainly a positive difference
ive not had much luck in getting hold of chris post the work he did on my car - i need to see the settings and will then report back
the car is on 40k miles and he spent a lot of time checking all suspension components and nothing to report

the issue might be that i have come directly from a 997.1 gt3 cs so im still used to that

its just a general vagueness and it feels like a lot of play ie i can wiggle the wheel left to right a lot without much movement in the direction of the wheels
 
RC1 said:
not been in here on a while
so with adjusted pressures there is certainly a positive difference
ive not had much luck in getting hold of chris post the work he did on my car - i need to see the settings and will then report back
the car is on 40k miles and he spent a lot of time checking all suspension components and nothing to report

the issue might be that i have come directly from a 997.1 gt3 cs so im still used to that

its just a general vagueness and it feels like a lot of play ie i can wiggle the wheel left to right a lot without much movement in the direction of the wheels
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Mate,

I have an E86M and a 997.1 GT3 and you’ll never get the steering feel the same as the Porsche. Like you, I’ve increased the tyre pressure and it made a difference. I also got a set of BBS RC303 wheels which saved 18 Kilos all up and that also made a huge difference in steering feel.

(You seem to have too much play in yours, mine has none and I’m on original steering, suspension, etc and at 86000KMs. I do have new engine mounts.)

Also, driving style is critical and the BMW must be treated with a little brute force and a lot of confidence which is scary on public roads, so I don’t do it. In fact, both the Porsche and the BMW are way too fast for any street especially in Australia with poor roads, militant police and cameras.

The only car I drive fast is my Peugeot 205 GTi Mi16 which only feels fast (and handles the best of all three on public roads).

You could just ride your fabulous bike collection - jealous here😃.

The Z4M is a fabulous, rare, ugly-beautiful, GT car in a sea of Porsches at a quarter of the price.

Cheers!
 
I have converted my 3.0 Si to purple rack hydraulic and more importantly removed a layer of foam from the M sport steering wheel so like a porsche wheel not a pool noodle - folks really should do this and those that make it even thicker jeeze.. The result is better steering feel than my 981 boxster now which isnt one of the best admittedly. It is however still behind my A110. Its now pleasing to use and with the right geo goes in a straight line but it will never match Porsche or Lotus finest. I treat and set up mine as a GT now and drive something else if i want real sport feel.
 
That conversion sounds like a great idea. My M has much better steering feel than my 3.0Sis did.

And if my steering wheel ever needs a refurb I'll be wanting the rim thinner.
 
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