How much better is //M steering over "normal" Z4s?

N

nicollow

Member
So one of the biggest things I miss from my old car (VX220) is the steering feel. My 3.0i isnt in the same league. Ive read that the M does away with the electronic system and uses a more conventional power assistance setup. To be honest, my E46 has better steering feel than my Z. Is there much of a difference, can anything be done to improve the normal Z steering feel, does anyone care, have you read this far, are you bored of the questions? Discuss... :P
 
I'm can't recall ever hearing of anything that can be done to improve the normal Z steering feel. Before I got the ///M I previously had 2 Z4's with the electric steering which I learned to live with. As sixspeed noted there is a lot of difference and was one of the first things I noticed the first time I drove the ///M.
 
I feel I should expand a little, but it's been a long time since I drove a standard Z (I did a back-to-back test drive before I bought). There was a lot more feedback though, more feel of the road and grip that was available to the tyres.

Hard to quantify more than that really - only thing you can do is drive both and see for yourself.
 
Hydraulic over electric anyday.........
Really gives detailed feedback......... I love the steering on the z4m.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yeah, thats what I thought... :cry: Do I save up for an M, or get a shed and a VX220/Lotus Elise again? Decisions decisions...
 
There's 2 ways I've head or modifying the steering feel on non-M Z4s:
1/ changing the castor angle
2/ people who've fitted wheels with a different offset (resulting in wider track) have reported heavier steering

I can't find the info on changing castor angle, but it was another member from years ago who explained it to me - search for posts by "Curtis" and you might find something. Castor is - I believe - the angle of the struts when viewed from the side of the car. This would change how the steering feels but I don't know if it'd improve feedback or not as I've not looked into it all. Plus I'm unsure exactly how you'd go about changing castor to begin with.
 
Night and day. Personally though when I had the roadster and got used to it I enjoyed the experience.
 
its still a bit rubbish in terms of feedback compared to a 911 or Elise etc. Although a lot of it could be down to suspension set up bushes etc???
 
ChawenHalo, agreed. But as has been mentioned, it is a lot better than standard, it just has a lot more weight.

With the standard setup a lot of faffing about can improve it... pretty much as A11y said... I have the M wheels, so a wider track on mine, which improved the feel. A strut brace and then polybushes made everything feel a little better again. Finally I had the geo setup by Wheels In Motion - who are excellent - they fiddled with the castor, camber and toe and the steering feel was improved again slightly, but with a big improvement in handling, the front end actually feels quite nice under cornering, but that is set up with a track bias which will tell on the tyres. Still not as good as an M though.

Almost forgot, oddly, one of the best improvements, fitting the M Sport steering wheel.

So, you may as well just have done with it and get an M. Go on.
 
It was a little over £100, I took the 5% discount voucher off of alignmycar.co.uk, which they hadn't seen before but did accept. I'll be getting mine done again next year - clattering through pot holes is probably putting it all off slightly.
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Almost forgot, oddly, one of the best improvements, fitting the M Sport steering wheel.
Click to expand...
It definately improves things but no real quantifiable reason I think of.
 
oi - you two cut it out :D

not that keen on the interior colour....

love the monaco blue though...

must admit I have been looking on the AUC site - there are only 3 :o
 
Was at the dealer today, he said that the number of M car was so low that the pricing was going up. He sold one for 17k, a 2006 just a few days back.
 
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