Z4M damping: Is it just me?

G

Great Pretender

Member
 Aberdeen
Afternoon folks,

I'm loving the Zed now I have put almost 2000 miles on it since picking it up last month. However there is one thing that annoys me and seems to upset the car too: the damping, its c**p!

This afternoon I took the car for a blast after it was in for a minor warranty repair and drove it along some of my local race tra... err, roads that I know intimately. The car certainly handles well enough, but over lumps and bumps it's very unsettled; so much so in fact that I need to switch off the TC in order to avoid the car bogging down. It's very frustrating in what is otherwise a well sorted car.

Has anyone else noticed this? What remedies are available to sort out the suspension? Has anyone fitted aftermarket coilovers and what are your impressions?

It almost feels like BMW ran out of money and fitted the cheapest, nastiest suspension they could. With proper damping, the car would be incredible.

Cheers,

Simon
 
The car is certainly less well damped than an e34 M5 - but it also doesn't have £1000/corner dampers.

It's the same set-up as the M3, but it's got a shorter wheelbase and I think it just doesn't suit bumpy B/C roads.

I'm waiting a year or so before I do any mechanical upgrades as I'll then know the car won't owe me anything.
 
mmm-five said:
The car is certainly less well damped than an e34 M5 - but it also doesn't have £1000/corner dampers.

It's the same set-up as the M3, but it's got a shorter wheelbase and I think it just doesn't suit bumpy B/C roads.

I'm waiting a year or so before I do any mechanical upgrades as I'll then know the car won't owe me anything.
Click to expand...

I'm maybe being slightly unfair given my last car but even still, the Zed just never seems to settle. Neither of my M5's incidentally were in perfect fettle so I'm certainly not using them as a benchmark.

I've heard somewhere that KW's can actually improve the ride as well as tying things down. Anyone able to shed any more light on this?
 
It aint just the M. My 3.0 is extremely unsettled at times along bumpy roads - of which Im surrounded :(
 
You'll soon be reaching for sport and TC off every time you get in the car..........its a shame it cant be auto-programmed :driving:
My H&R springs have helped A LOT, also brought the beast a little closer to the ground , which is always nice :thumbsup:
 
Simon, I am glad you bought this up.. For the same reasons - i have been hunting for a good set of replacements for a while. Dont want to rush it as I want to make sure I settle for the best compromise possible...
 
Yeah, your right

Lower tire pressures might help try 29/30 front and rear.

Also the ride is better with Pilot Sport 2's, softer side walls.

Falling that, KW V3 get good reviews
 
Yes the standard suspension is weak in a few areas. You have highlighted the main one.

The solution is simple KW or Nitron.

Not long ago I struggled to keep up with a Focus ST down a lumpy bumpy road. It just so happened to the owner of Nitron was in the car with me. He could not believe how badly the car was let down by the suspension. Rest assured with Nitron fitted the differential between MC and ST would be reversed!

Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
 
Blacklines said:
Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest, do you prefer the throttle with sport on or off ? I agree its bit gimmicky but I do prefer it on
 
ali_b said:
Blacklines said:
Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest, do you prefer the throttle with sport on or off ? I agree its bit gimmicky but I do prefer it on
Click to expand...

I prefer Sport Off - but maybe because I have heavy feet!
 
Blacklines said:
Yes the standard suspension is weak in a few areas. You have highlighted the main one.

The solution is simple KW or Nitron.

Not long ago I struggled to keep up with a Focus ST down a lumpy bumpy road. It just so happened to the owner of Nitron was in the car with me. He could not believe how badly the car was let down by the suspension. Rest assured with Nitron fitted the differential between MC and ST would be reversed!

Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...

Nitron, not thought of them.

Do they do a kit for our cars?
 
Blacklines said:
Yes the standard suspension is weak in a few areas. You have highlighted the main one.

The solution is simple KW or Nitron.

Not long ago I struggled to keep up with a Focus ST down a lumpy bumpy road. It just so happened to the owner of Nitron was in the car with me. He could not believe how badly the car was let down by the suspension. Rest assured with Nitron fitted the differential between MC and ST would be reversed!

Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...

Turn the tcs off and feather the throttle and you will have no problem keeping up with a front wheel drive car like the ST unless ofcourse it had the mountune pack but even still the BMW will always handle way better. I can make brilliant progress in mine.

Nevertheless, I've said this before but my old Rx8 would get away from the BMW if it had the same power on most of the twisty roads around here.
 
daz05 said:
Turn the tcs off and feather the throttle and you will have no problem keeping up with a front wheel drive car like the ST unless ofcourse it had the mountune pack but even still the BMW will always handle way better. I can make brilliant progress in mine.

Nevertheless, I've said this before but my old Rx8 would get away from the BMW if it had the same power on most of the twisty roads around here.
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The ST was hustling but the reason I could not keep up had nothing to do with power or the TCS (always off in my car!) - it was purely down to the fact that the car was bouncing all over the place, not holding the line I wanted, and needing constant large steering corrections to stay on course. Whereas the ST was probably on full throttle I was not able to use more than 50% for more than a second or 2 at a time.
 
Great Pretender said:
Afternoon folks,

I'm loving the Zed now I have put almost 2000 miles on it since picking it up last month. However there is one thing that annoys me and seems to upset the car too: the damping, its c**p!

This afternoon I took the car for a blast after it was in for a minor warranty repair and drove it along some of my local race tra... err, roads that I know intimately. The car certainly handles well enough, but over lumps and bumps it's very unsettled; so much so in fact that I need to switch off the TC in order to avoid the car bogging down. It's very frustrating in what is otherwise a well sorted car.

Has anyone else noticed this? What remedies are available to sort out the suspension? Has anyone fitted aftermarket coilovers and what are your impressions?

It almost feels like BMW ran out of money and fitted the cheapest, nastiest suspension they could. With proper damping, the car would be incredible.

Cheers,

Simon
Click to expand...

I would suggest selling it & buying a French car then :poke:
 
toplad said:
Yeah, your right

Lower tire pressures might help try 29/30 front and rear.

Also the ride is better with Pilot Sport 2's, softer side walls.

Falling that, KW V3 get good reviews
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try and see how I get on.

Blacklines said:
Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...

TC is now turned off as a matter of course. As soon as I find somewhere to stash my phone and wallet, the button gets pressed.

And I agree too; 'Sport' is a total waste of time and serves no purpose as far as I'm concerned other than for Americans to get wet over (no offence to any of you on the other side of the pond :)) I find it far too sharp even when pressing on and of course as soon as the brake pedal travel starts to get longer, heel & toe becomes almost impossible due to the fact that seemingly WOT is available at 1" of pedal travel!

So yes, that gets left off. I'd rather sacrifice a bit of throttle response for more natural throttle progression. Anyway rant over (I've got a wee hangover this morning). It's still a great car.
 
Blacklines said:
Yes the standard suspension is weak in a few areas. You have highlighted the main one.

The solution is simple KW or Nitron.

Not long ago I struggled to keep up with a Focus ST down a lumpy bumpy road. It just so happened to the owner of Nitron was in the car with me. He could not believe how badly the car was let down by the suspension. Rest assured with Nitron fitted the differential between MC and ST would be reversed!

Ali_b is right - you will soon be holding down that TC button as soon as you start the car. Although I disagree about Sport - in my opinion it is a total waste of space gimmick piece of junk.
Click to expand...


Blacklines my good man :D , I plan to contact Nitron to enquire about the Z4M kit, I thought it might help if I knew the name of the chap you mentioned in your post?

It's either KW V3 or Nitron for me soon, free fitting on both at the moment too :)

Regards
 
GP - deja vu on the post from Pistonheads. I recommended KWs in that post (different username from here), i'll be going that route myself in the spring. Hadn't thought of Nitron either, they seem a few pounds cheaper which might be nice!

I agree about the Sport button being useless. Even that knob Clarkson doesn't get why a sports car has a Sport button!

Oh, in case you didn't know - Shittingbull is the same Mike that plagues PH. We love him over here. Sheer entertainment.
 
definitely noticed this too. Was out last week for a blast and the roads I was on were bumpy. 100% attention when full throttle; very lively.

Also got ripped by an evo 5 or 6. Was flat out on a straight (and flat at this point) road and the evo sailed passed. Annoyingly had some fat bird in the passenger seat who proceeded to wave at me as they passed. Looked like a Mika special edition...Not sure, don't care much for scoobys or evos? Must have been choon'd.........Fucker!
 
I may be in the minority of one here but I think that once you get used to the handling characteristics and put on some decent tyres then you can hussle the Z4MC along at a fairly rapid pace, even on uneven surfaces. It's certainly not so much of a compromised set up that tempts me to spend serious cash upgrading it.

The sport button on the E46 M3 was worth having but on the Z4 it is indeed compelety superfluous.
 
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