Newly purchase coupe - suspension help?

M

mrlightyear

Member
So after almost 2 years sitting & waiting for my ideal spec and colour (well almost) guess I’v finally became an official member and the pulled the trigger and on a 2007 62k z4c SE Sport. Bought in middle England and taken home to the the north east Scotland to roam the A, B roads up the cairngorms hill and beyond.

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But…the suspensions just not working for me, nice smooth bit of tarmac sure no problem but on the rough roads around here I’m driving like my gran. Didn’t really notice when I test drove her twice, actually was one of the best of almost 10/12 z4c I drove over a few days, but find my self pottering along at 50 with a Passat pushing me on as the suspension just too hard almost feels unstable certainly not confidence inspiring, been inspected twice different garages previously to purchase and now in with a local specialist, nothing obviously wrong no broken springs etc guess just on the originals and getting on a bit…

So basically asking for advice on how best to proceed. Read a lot of people refreshing with standard parts and it being a game changer, or do I go aftermarket, coil overs etc etc. suspension not my area at all to be honest so more Info the better please.

Initially I thought when buying she’ll needs some work at 62k but been told coilovers would be harder than standard and it is a sports car hence its hard. Don’t mind it being hard but I don’t like being bounced about sitting over the rear axil. Think I’m after better stability and bump, pot hole management. Even on smooth undulating roads feel almost like getting thrown up out of the dips, sorry find this hard to explain…

Also if someone can explain the various suspension variations out their as I think there’s standard, sports and m suspension? Is the setup the same just different springs rates and dampers etc or is even the “layout” / geometry different. Ideally no I don’t want to put 17” on either. And If I can reduce the tram lining that be great too. Turns out at 35 Im getting old…

Apologies that got long fast,

Thanks!
 
Ditch the run flats, if it has them.

(Coupe in Glasgow coping with awful roads, and the occasional trip to our Glenlivet cottage for fun!).

Welcome to the rather exclusive Scottish E86 owners club!

Oh and it's either an SE or an M-Sport.
 
Are you sure they are not runflats? Bridgestone Potenza were the runflats fitted as standard to all E85/E86. They have very hard tyrewalls and changing them can make a big difference. But also check your tyre pressures before you start spending money on suspension hardware.
 
So I’m told, not on the original tires for sure. Haven’t checked in person tbh or I didn’t look for the run flat code on the sidewall, just I noticed the name when washing the car. A quick google now and apparently Bridgestone do a run flat and standard version…?
 
Well firstly welcome to E86 ownership. :thumbsup:

Yours looks great but then I do have a bit of a soft spot for Montego Blue!

As has been suggested starting with tyre pressures and tyres is probably a good plan. If you have Bridgestone Potenzas fitted I'd be surprised if they weren't run-flats. If you see "RSC" on the sidewall they are run-flats and best binned! They don't help ride quality or tramlining.

If you can find a vin-checker enter your VIN and that will tell you whether it is an SE or a Sport. Other clues are that Sport models had a black headlining, M-Sport seats, steering wheel and suspension as standard, and while some SEs had some those as options it's unlikely anyone chose them all!

M-Sport suspension sits 15mm lower and is therefore a bit stiffer because there will be less travel on shorter springs and coil-overs are likely to be the same.

If you still aren't happy and it is a Sport you could think about fitting SE springs and dampers or maybe a Bilstein B4 kit that seems quite popular.
 
If it's still on its original 2007 Sachs shocks then almost certainly they will be completely goosed. Fit a new set of something decent like Bilstein B4s etc, new front lollipop bushes, arb drop links, rtab limiters AND ditch the runflats. The transformation will be huge :thumbsup:
 
mrlightyear said:
Agh!
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So you know where to start then!

I've had 3 other BMWs on run-flats and the Bridgestones were the worst by far.

Just bear in mind if you do go for non RFTs you''ll need Tyre Weld or similar and a compressor, or a 17" space-saver, jack and wheel-brace and/or recovery cover!
 
Mr Tidy said:
mrlightyear said:
Agh!
Click to expand...

So you know where to start then!

I've had 3 other BMWs on run-flats and the Bridgestones were the worst by far.

Just bear in mind if you do go for non RFTs you''ll need Tyre Weld or similar and a compressor, or a 17" space-saver, jack and wheel-brace and/or recovery cover!
Click to expand...

Definitely, not much tread left on them anyway had always m intended on getting the suspension and wheel alignment done first before sticking on new tires.

Somehow think suspension still need a refresh bit will see what the specialist comes back with.

What’s annoying I was told it was not on run flats!

I guess I’m still curious about coil overs vs standard suspension. Difficult to get a back to back comparison on new standard vs new coilovers, as imagine most people experience would be old suspension vs new coilovers…?
 
mrlightyear said:
Definitely, not much tread left on them anyway had always m intended on getting the suspension and wheel alignment done first before sticking on new tires.

Somehow think suspension still need a refresh bit will see what the specialist comes back with.

What’s annoying I was told it was not on run flats!

I guess I’m still curious about coil overs vs standard suspension. Difficult to get a back to back comparison on new standard vs new coilovers, as imagine most people experience would be old suspension vs new coilovers…?
Click to expand...

This is purely my experience and I'm sure plenty of people on here are far more knowledgeable. But I did spend quite a while reading up on suspension because my MC also came with 8 old OE dampers, 4 Eibach lowering springs and 4 H & R lowering springs.

Anyway it was fitted with H & R coil-overs about 3 months old that could drop the ride height by anything from 0.9" to 2" on the front and 0.75" to 1.7" on the rear (and cost the previous owner over £1,200). As it sat it had spacers and 19" CSL replicas rubbing on the arches because it was slammed, and it grounded on the first speed-bump I encountered. :headbang:

Spacers off, coil-overs wound to maximum height, back on 18" OE wheels and a 4-wheel alignment and it is a different car. But still firm because any spring short enough to allow up to a 2" drop is way shorter so has to be stiffer to keep off the bump stops.

And those coil-overs only allowed for changing the ride height, they had no adjustment for compression or rebound but on a road car why would you need that? You probably only need to adjust those on a track car, and then you are looking at KW or Ohlins that cost thousands.

If you are looking for ride comfort I'd forget about coil-overs!
 
Mr Tidy said:
mrlightyear said:
Definitely, not much tread left on them anyway had always m intended on getting the suspension and wheel alignment done first before sticking on new tires.

Somehow think suspension still need a refresh bit will see what the specialist comes back with.

What’s annoying I was told it was not on run flats!

I guess I’m still curious about coil overs vs standard suspension. Difficult to get a back to back comparison on new standard vs new coilovers, as imagine most people experience would be old suspension vs new coilovers…?
Click to expand...

This is purely my experience and I'm sure plenty of people on here are far more knowledgeable. But I did spend quite a while reading up on suspension because my MC also came with 8 old OE dampers, 4 Eibach lowering springs and 4 H & R lowering springs.

Anyway it was fitted with H & R coil-overs about 3 months old that could drop the ride height by anything from 0.9" to 2" on the front and 0.75" to 1.7" on the rear (and cost the previous owner over £1,200). As it sat it had spacers and 19" CSL replicas rubbing on the arches because it was slammed, and it grounded on the first speed-bump I encountered. :headbang:

Spacers off, coil-overs wound to maximum height, back on 18" OE wheels and a 4-wheel alignment and it is a different car. But still firm because any spring short enough to allow up to a 2" drop is way shorter so has to be stiffer to keep off the bump stops.

And those coil-overs only allowed for changing the ride height, they had no adjustment for compression or rebound but on a road car why would you need that? You probably only need to adjust those on a track car, and then you are looking at KW or Ohlins that cost thousands.

If you are looking for ride comfort I'd forget about coil-overs!
Click to expand...
I'd agree with everything, right up to the last line.

Depending on what level of coilover you buy and how you set up them up, I've found coilovers (Bilstein B16 PSS10 in my case) to offer better than standard road manners when on their softer (not softest) setting, and better than standard on track on their harder settings.

But that's because I've also not slammed the car to overly compress the springs in the first place, and have adjusted the ride height with thicker spring perches, so the spring is working in it's optimal range.

However, you're now looking at £2.5k for those (on a Z4M fitting, don't know if they're even available for non-M), compared to £500 for some of the budget options (not tried them, so can't comment on their quality or performance).
 
mmm-five said:
I'd agree with everything, right up to the last line.

Depending on what level of coilover you buy and how you set up them up, I've found coilovers (Bilstein B16 PSS10 in my case) to offer better than standard road manners when on their softer (not softest) setting, and better than standard on track on their harder settings.

But that's because I've also not slammed the car to overly compress the springs in the first place, and have adjusted the ride height with thicker spring perches, so the spring is working in it's optimal range.

However, you're now looking at £2.5k for those (on a Z4M fitting, don't know if they're even available for non-M), compared to £500 for some of the budget options (not tried them, so can't comment on their quality or performance).
Click to expand...

Cheers, that probably highlights the difference between my coil-overs that are only height adjustable and the more sophisticated alternatives!
 
My tuppence worth. Out of all the cars I've owned over 30 years of driving, changing the tyres had the biggest effect on the E86 of any of them. I was really disappointed in the handling and ride until I did this.
 
I have an E86 and I went with bistein b4 and eibach springs with new bolts, mounts, links and bushes etc. I have 18" wheels with non RF tyres and the ride and handling is now very good, its still firm but a massive improvement over the 68k oem sport suspension I had with RFT's.
The ride hight on eibach springs is slightly lower than oem sport but not impractical at all, to me it looks much better. I have absolutely no regrets with the spring/damper choice.
Start with the tyres though and soak up the wealth of info and guidance on this site before spending your hard earned :thumbsup:
 
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