A SOFTER RIDE REQUIRED

[P100 GT]

I have a Z4 Coupe fitted with Bridgestone Tyres. 255/45 R17s at the front and 255/40 R17s at the rear. The ride is quite firm, as befits a car with the Z4’s performance.
As I am a retired gentleman, I now drive in a subdued manner and would dearly love the suspension to be a lot ‘softer’.
Any suggestions or advice as to how to achieve a less lumpy ride will be much appreciated.
GT

 

[RichardG]

Assuming your Bridgestones are the standard Potentza', you could find a massive difference by changing the tyres, there are a couple of options, ditch the runflats completely as alot of owners have done and fit something like Falken 452's (a popular choice on this forum) and carry a mobility kit (small air compressor and a bottle of tyre sealant) or if you want to keep the runflats Michelin PS2's (I think) seem to give a better ride.

Do a search on tyres and you will be indunated with answers and options to the point of information overload.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Well you've already got the smallest wheel and you don't mention it being on sport suspension so you have the softest combination available.

As Richard says changing the tyres to standard will make a huge difference.

Aside that you're probably done as pretty much all suspensions focus on firmer, mor tout and possibly lower.

Speculating only, but variable rate shocks on the lowes setting might help

 

[pmeloche]

Buying a Toyota Camry would do wonders.

 

[sp3ctre]

You could try one of these:



Lol, on a less sarcastic not, I think the previous posters are right, if you have ditched the runflat tyres there really is not a lot else you can do to make the ride softer.

 

[Darren M]

Only known way seems to be to try different tyres as already mentioned.

Start searching for the Holy Grail or a mystical fountain of youth to drink from or something . I think you`d have more success with that than trying to soften the car up suspension wise.
A little more seriously, you could try speaking to a company specialising in suspension to see what they could do but would the result be any good? Leda might be worth a try, but you`ll find most companies offer harder race suspension offerings although I`m sure they have lots of spring rates and dampers available

I try to avoid pot holes and drive slowly over dodgy surfaces if I can. I drove over one pot hole a few months ago causing my head to bounce off the headrest and I had a headache after that for a couple of hours - might of been concussion.

 

[ksher]

I have a Z4 Coupe fitted with Bridgestone Tyres. 255/45 R17s at the front and 255/40 R17s at the rear. The ride is quite firm, as befits a car with the Z4’s performance.
As I am a retired gentleman, I now drive in a subdued manner and would dearly love the suspension to be a lot ‘softer’.
Any suggestions or advice as to how to achieve a less lumpy ride will be much appreciated.
GT

Rover 75 should suit your need.

 

[Smokin]

Drove hubby's X5 last week for a few days. Definitely softer ride but ever so much bigger and less nimble. Of course, I could traverse small streams and up muddy embankments that my Z would run scared from......