E36 M3 Evo

[Tommy]

Ok, so at Stuart's today we had the intention of fitting the full coilover set but since the job was a bit more involved than imagined we ended up just fitting the rear dampers and springs.

Up to this point, I have felt the handling of my M3 to be pretty much dangerous. It will wander all over the road and follow the slightest cambers. It has always pulled to one side as well, which I thought was the geometry, which I've had looked at twice. It just can't be driven with any vigour because it just doesn't feel even slightly planted. I even put down the fact that my car went sideways in the recent snow and ice, when travelling in a straight line down to the condition of the suspension.

Well, after fitting only the rear Bilsteins and driving around 80 miles home I can safely say failed dampers can certainly attribute to all the issues above. It's quite unbelievable that having only fitted the rears that it now feels planted, it wanders much much less, doesn't pull to one side and rarely follows cambers. I expect it to be amazing once the fronts are fitted.

Here's the death traps that were removed


And some images of the new units





And the video of Stuart working out with his 80's Bullworker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGTm1VjXo4I

[Tommy]

both sets of Goodridge hoses have left so be with you any time, alyn

looks very nice

Thanks Alyn. We've both received the hoses. Cheers.

[pablo]

Very nice, I was a little confused at first when i read this thread due to colour of the m3 and your old 328 track car:)

[Tommy]

Very nice, I was a little confused at first when i read this thread due to colour of the m3 and your old 328 track car:)

Cheers Pablo. Imagine how confused you'll be when you see them both ripping around a track at the same time!

[Stuart]

The sight of Chris in the old track car and Tommy in this one, neck and neck around the circuits, will be fantastic. I'm looking forwards to joining them both.

[Tommy]

Everything is finally fitted and the suspension ride height sorted and settled so I took the car for its geo today.

The ride height is 323 mm front and 305 mm rear (measured arch to centre of the wheel). The front should really be at 320 mm for the perfect track set up but I have a number of speed bumps near my house. Luckily the 323 mm works just fine with just a slight drag on the undertray.

So the car was put onto the Hunter machine






And my body weight added to the driver's seat


These shots give you an idea of the camber the car was running pre adjustment



and here's the pre-adjustment geo


We were quite shocked by how well my garage had set the front toe (after fitting new tie rods) without the use of any equipment! Caster was looking good, front camber was more than expected. I've always read swapping the Evo mounts (left to right and vice versa) gives -2.5 degrees but on my car it was much nearer -3. The imbalance would need to be sorted and I had brought along a couple of camber correction bolts supplied by my local BMW dealer. Very strange these camber bolts. We were expecting lobes on them on which to adjust but they are just smaller than standard diameter bolts. It's also weird just what adjustment CAN be done since the two bottom bolts on the dampers don't really provide any pivot for the camber correction bolt to do its work.

Anyway, we fitted the correction bolt to the left wheel to try to reduce the camber. We found the bolt didn't really do much so I have more camber on the front than I wanted. To balance things up we added an extra quarter of a degree negative camber (to what I originally wanted) to the rear.

The final readout


Took the long way home which took in some pretty bumpy B roads. The dampers are set on 7 (9 is softest, 1 hardest) and the car astounded me. The suspension can feel a little harsh over ridges and bumps and 'jiggly' in general. However, when up to speed it just controls the wheels and body so well. The wheels were permanently in contact with the ground which I don't think would have been the case with the old 328.

Cadwell on Thursday will be the real test.

[Stuart]

Ooooooo posh geometry work
Having done the Bullworker on your old rear struts, I had to smile when I was fitting the reinforced rear top mounts you gave me. Simply by pressing down on the damper, I could depress the strut. Oops. If I can squash a damper with the strength of one arm, I suspect that they are fooked!

Oh well. Look forward to seeing you on Thursday and comparing us and them

[Tommy]

Ooooooo posh geometry work
If I can squash a damper with the strength of one arm, I suspect that they are fooked!

Oh well. Look forward to seeing you on Thursday and comparing us and them

Don't fret Stuart. It's only because you don't know your own strength since the Bullworker extreme work out!