rkneeshaw
05-01-2016, 06:37 AM
And they pretty much all involve doing nothing at all.
Our cars are aging. My car, which I only drive in the summers, has crested 115,000 miles. At this age, if you haven't tended to a few things, your BMW probably drives quite badly and you may not even have realized it. This happened to me. And I felt compelled to write this because I have spent the last week waking up in the morning with my ZHP and twisty roads as the first thought to cross my mind. I'm in love with my car all over again. I seek out any excuse to get behind the wheel. I purposely take 20 minute detours on my way home from work. And, it all made me realize, that this car is an absolute blast to drive. And I thought, after 7 years of ownership, why is this a new thought to me? Because without knowing it, my car was getting tired. So here is what I feel are the best ways to ruin your ZHP
Poor choice in tires
This is probably the most important component of any vehicle. Nothing effects the driving feel of a vehicle more than the tires you choose. I drove around on a couple sets of Continental ExtemeContact DW's for the last 5 years, and when I finally switched to the Michelin PSS it was as if my car was transformed. The DW's gripped great, really great, and wore well, but it wasn't until I switched to the PSS that I realized how numb the soft sidewalls made my driving experience. I highly recommend the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, but, there are others that members have reported have very crisp handling characteristics as well:
Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Bridgestone S-04 Pole Positions
Hankook Ventus V12
Old bushings
BMW's drive great because of the design of the suspension, which include a lot of rubber bushings. I once thought that, hey, they look good, their rubber, they should be fine. Wrong. That rubber gets soft and malleable much earlier than I thought. Probably somewhat to do with time (my car is 13 years old) as much as mileage. Visually, my bushings looked fine. But the difference felt after replacing them proved otherwise. Here's the list in order of how much effect they will have on your driving enjoyment:
Front Control Arm Bushings (FCAB)
Rear Trailing Arm Bushings (RTAB)
Sway bar bushings
Rear Upper and Lower Outer Control Arm Bushings (the upper can be upgraded to the M3 balljoint style)
And to a lesser extent:
Front and rear differential bushings
Rear subframe bushings
Whether you chose OEM rubber, Meyle HD, Polyurethane such as PowerFlex, or some kind of balljoint style is up to you. Do your research. Use common sense. Chances are solid delrin or metal bushings are only good for racecars. I personally have had great success with PowerFlex, a few others don't like them. The most important thing is you get something fresh in there.
And do an alignment afterwards.
Worn ball joint based suspension components
Ball joints do wear over time, especially the hard hit areas of the suspension. If you want crisp feel in the turns, there needs to be zero slop in these joints. Save yourself some time and alignment costs and do all of these at once, again listed in order of importance:
Front Control Arms
Tie rods (inner and outer as one unit)
Sway bar endlinks
Crappy brakes
By crappy I mean neglected. Keep that fluid fresh and with a good bleed so you have good pedal feel. And then bed your pads properly so they grip well, and so your rotors don't get "warped".
Brake fluid flush
Properly bed pads (if applicable)
Smooth turning rotors
I say "if applicable" for the pad bedding because based on the pad compound, you may or may not need to perform a bedding procedure. Any kind of performance pad (even Stoptech Street Performance pads) need to be bed properly. If you don't, you won't be getting the stopping power you should AND you will "warp" your rotors, which leads to steering wheel shimmy and brake pedal pulsation, and a depressing lousy driving experience. Your car should come to a stop really smoothly and quickly.
So there you have it. I recently refreshed these items over the course of the last 6-12 months and I can't believe how much fun my car is to drive. It drives like its on rails. And my springs and shocks are stock (yes, stock, originals, never changed). Tires made the biggest improvement, or at least helped in revealing the effects of the other changes too. But it all plays a part.
Drive happy.
Our cars are aging. My car, which I only drive in the summers, has crested 115,000 miles. At this age, if you haven't tended to a few things, your BMW probably drives quite badly and you may not even have realized it. This happened to me. And I felt compelled to write this because I have spent the last week waking up in the morning with my ZHP and twisty roads as the first thought to cross my mind. I'm in love with my car all over again. I seek out any excuse to get behind the wheel. I purposely take 20 minute detours on my way home from work. And, it all made me realize, that this car is an absolute blast to drive. And I thought, after 7 years of ownership, why is this a new thought to me? Because without knowing it, my car was getting tired. So here is what I feel are the best ways to ruin your ZHP
Poor choice in tires
This is probably the most important component of any vehicle. Nothing effects the driving feel of a vehicle more than the tires you choose. I drove around on a couple sets of Continental ExtemeContact DW's for the last 5 years, and when I finally switched to the Michelin PSS it was as if my car was transformed. The DW's gripped great, really great, and wore well, but it wasn't until I switched to the PSS that I realized how numb the soft sidewalls made my driving experience. I highly recommend the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, but, there are others that members have reported have very crisp handling characteristics as well:
Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Bridgestone S-04 Pole Positions
Hankook Ventus V12
Old bushings
BMW's drive great because of the design of the suspension, which include a lot of rubber bushings. I once thought that, hey, they look good, their rubber, they should be fine. Wrong. That rubber gets soft and malleable much earlier than I thought. Probably somewhat to do with time (my car is 13 years old) as much as mileage. Visually, my bushings looked fine. But the difference felt after replacing them proved otherwise. Here's the list in order of how much effect they will have on your driving enjoyment:
Front Control Arm Bushings (FCAB)
Rear Trailing Arm Bushings (RTAB)
Sway bar bushings
Rear Upper and Lower Outer Control Arm Bushings (the upper can be upgraded to the M3 balljoint style)
And to a lesser extent:
Front and rear differential bushings
Rear subframe bushings
Whether you chose OEM rubber, Meyle HD, Polyurethane such as PowerFlex, or some kind of balljoint style is up to you. Do your research. Use common sense. Chances are solid delrin or metal bushings are only good for racecars. I personally have had great success with PowerFlex, a few others don't like them. The most important thing is you get something fresh in there.
And do an alignment afterwards.
Worn ball joint based suspension components
Ball joints do wear over time, especially the hard hit areas of the suspension. If you want crisp feel in the turns, there needs to be zero slop in these joints. Save yourself some time and alignment costs and do all of these at once, again listed in order of importance:
Front Control Arms
Tie rods (inner and outer as one unit)
Sway bar endlinks
Crappy brakes
By crappy I mean neglected. Keep that fluid fresh and with a good bleed so you have good pedal feel. And then bed your pads properly so they grip well, and so your rotors don't get "warped".
Brake fluid flush
Properly bed pads (if applicable)
Smooth turning rotors
I say "if applicable" for the pad bedding because based on the pad compound, you may or may not need to perform a bedding procedure. Any kind of performance pad (even Stoptech Street Performance pads) need to be bed properly. If you don't, you won't be getting the stopping power you should AND you will "warp" your rotors, which leads to steering wheel shimmy and brake pedal pulsation, and a depressing lousy driving experience. Your car should come to a stop really smoothly and quickly.
So there you have it. I recently refreshed these items over the course of the last 6-12 months and I can't believe how much fun my car is to drive. It drives like its on rails. And my springs and shocks are stock (yes, stock, originals, never changed). Tires made the biggest improvement, or at least helped in revealing the effects of the other changes too. But it all plays a part.
Drive happy.