E89 Handling

Z

Zedsixer

Member
Well call me a boy racer :evil: ..... Came across a E90 M3 the other day and we decided to PLAY a little...I have a 35i, Evolve tuned to give 370+ HP at the wheels so not slow, He was in front and on the straights and coming out of slow bends we were pretty much equal, as things hotted up and the road got a lot twistier I have to say he blew me away, maybe he just had bigger balls ??. NO, its because his car handled Soooo much better!!. I've read for ages that people think of the Z4 as more of a GT car than an out and out Sports car and now, with something to compare it to, i totally agree.
I still wouldn't swap though, the Z is far better looking and a more fun package. All IMHO :D
 
Apparently the Z4 is compatible with all of the E90 M3 parts which connect the wheels to the chassis... I am not overly technical, but all of the arms, bushes and other bits can be sourced and fitted. I have read a blog of someone doing this... should increase handling somewhat. Shame they didn't make an M version.
 
Deepseaskateboard said:
Apparently the Z4 is compatible with all of the E90 M3 parts which connect the wheels to the chassis... I am not overly technical, but all of the arms, bushes and other bits can be sourced and fitted. I have read a blog of someone doing this... should increase handling somewhat. Shame they didn't make an M version.
Click to expand...

Player1, Sam, has done some the mods you mention, M3 arms, bushes etc, with good results apparently. The old saying you can polish a turd springs to mind as no matter what you do to the E89 it’s a fundamentally flawed car as we know, but it does seem as if you can improve it, anything s better than nothing right..? :D
 
john-e89 said:
Deepseaskateboard said:
Apparently the Z4 is compatible with all of the E90 M3 parts which connect the wheels to the chassis... I am not overly technical, but all of the arms, bushes and other bits can be sourced and fitted. I have read a blog of someone doing this... should increase handling somewhat. Shame they didn't make an M version.
Click to expand...

Player1, Sam, has done some the mods you mention, M3 arms, bushes etc, with good results apparently. The old saying you can polish a turd springs to mind as no matter what you do to the E89 it’s a fundamentally flawed car as we know, but it does seem as if you can improve it, anything s better than nothing right..? :D
Click to expand...
Smartbear said:
Have you still got the runflat tyres fitted? :?
Rob
Click to expand...
Yep still on run flats and all standard suspension.. not really complaining about handling just an observation...if you really want a car for that last 10% then i suppose you have to buy something suitable and not try and make your car into something its not
 
john-e89 said:
Drop some non run flats on it Zedsixer, you won’t believe the difference they make. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I made some before and after runs on a very twisty road. Before runs were on the Potenza RF and after was the Michelin Pilot 4s. It is a huge difference. Chasing some Porsches I scared myself but it stuck like glue to the road and big bonus - the ride improved greatly.
Maybe something else is faster & stickier but this is certainly capable of scratching the itch for me
 
scootr said:
john-e89 said:
Drop some non run flats on it Zedsixer, you won’t believe the difference they make. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I made some before and after runs on a very twisty road. Before runs were on the Potenza RF and after was the Michelin Pilot 4s. It is a huge difference. Chasing some Porsches I scared myself but it stuck like glue to the road and big bonus - the ride improved greatly.
Maybe something else is faster & stickier but this is certainly capable of scratching the itch for me.
Change the rubber / change the ride.
Click to expand...
 
You'll probably find that you were driving much closer to your personal limits than the M3 chap. So ultimately you should have felt more satisfied. Your car didn't help you half as much as his did.
James Hunt used to drive an old Austin van (A35 I think) as he said it was the only way he could drive near to his limits but stay within the speed limits.
Are you happier driving at 95% slowly or at 50% fast?
Guess it depends on whether you want to feel good, or look good?
 
enuff_zed said:
You'll probably find that you were driving much closer to your personal limits than the M3 chap. So ultimately you should have felt more satisfied. Your car didn't help you half as much as his did.
James Hunt used to drive an old Austin van (A35 I think) as he said it was the only way he could drive near to his limits but stay within the speed limits.
Are you happier driving at 95% slowly or at 50% fast?
Guess it depends on whether you want to feel good, or look good?
Click to expand...
Amen to this.
Speed is the illusion of fun. How something feels far outweighs how fast something is. Just look at go karting as an example.
 
I once bought a knackered 1 lt Nova off a kid for £200 to use in winter as a going to the gym car, it had a big hole in the bulkhead that blew freezing cold air up me shorts, that soon got fibreglassed over...!! :lol: It was probably the most fun that I’ve ever had in a car, I could leave it anywhere and not bother locking it, I didn’t care if it got dinged, scraped etc, but best was ragging seven bells of crap out of it, hitting the rev limiter in every gear, drifting it round bends at full throttle with it at sliding point yet going so slow it was easy to back out at an instant, brilliant stuff.
 
john-e89 said:
I once bought a knackered 1 lt Nova off a kid for £200 to use in winter as a going to the gym car, it had a big hole in the bulkhead that blew freezing cold air up me shorts, that soon got fibreglassed over...!! :lol: It was probably the most fun that I’ve ever had in a car, I could leave it anywhere and not bother locking it, I didn’t care if it got dinged, scraped etc, but best was ragging seven bells of crap out of it, hitting the rev limiter in every gear, drifting it round bends at full throttle with it at sliding point yet going so slow it was easy to back out at an instant, brilliant stuff.
Click to expand...
I used to have a mrk 1 Astra that I used to hoon around in when I was a teen, it didn't end well when I ran out of talent, I have pictures of that car which ain't pretty, I'll show you some time.
 
And I had a 1972 Triumph spitfire that lacked power and exuded fun. You had to catch every shift just right or pay the poor performance price. It was great fun when I was a kid. I never got enough of the country roads.
Now the 3L 6spd Zed is a glorified version, having all I wished the old Spitfire had had :thumbsup:
 
You want to try a C63. It makes you feel lucky to be alive after every such journey :evil:

ARBs and stiffer springs give a noticeable improvement on the E89 I felt.
 
Also the shock absorbers by now are well used and were not that good to start with..new shocks are a revelation
 
Pbondar said:
Also the shock absorbers by now are well used and were not that good to start with..new shocks are a revelation
Click to expand...
I agree - I replaced the struts and shocks with Bilstein, and tires with Michelin PS4S, installed a good strut brace, and it rides as good or better than the day it was new. Handles better than anything you could really test on a public road.
 
[/quote]
Handles better than anything you could really test on a public road.
[/quote]

A very wise remark. Cornering takes a lot of practice, which is just not practical on an open road.
I am a throwback to the old days when MGs, Triumphs, Porches and Alfas and BMW had less than 200 and even <100 HP. We rat raced around country roads having a great time late at night. We rarely got going over 75 mph, while we double clutched with worn out synchros. The cornering limits were easy to find on the bias-ply tires. These cars were still way better than the average passenger car of the day.
Modern passenger cars are so much better handling, braking and cornering that there is almost no need for a so called sports-car performance on public roads, except for basic driving pleasure.
It is a shame that owners of very fast cars like the Z4 do not get much opportunity to test the limits safely. They would find that alignment set-up, especially camber, proper tires especially summer tires or racing slicks, and mostly a lot of practice are the main determinants of fast cornering.
The M3 guy in the OP probably did have these. There is not much difference between an M3 and a well set up E89.
Remember no matter what, there is always something/someone faster.
Enjoy
 
A lot of it is to do with how well you know your car and to put it bluntly, how good a driver you are. Crap driver in M car = slow, great driver in E89 car = fast
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom