[bmw_solid]

Originally Posted by aphael

Ok heres the thing, you have mismatched shocks and 19inch wheels. The b4 soaks up bumps very well for a stock setup and handles good. The sachs I do not hear too many good things about. I am not sure where you are getting that they are crashy. It is likely you are running 19 inch wheels with rubber band sidewalls which do ride terribly over any bump to be honest. They also add a lot of unsprung weight which has a huge difference in ride quality.

Switch them to all b4s or sachs, check your bushings/mounts/tierods/alignment. If you are having a lot of issues just get some ohlins, may or may not fix your issue. Also your ride height issue seems a bit off. Different shocks can have different ride heights even with the same spring due to internal valving forces. Mismatched shocks can also disrupt the balance of the car. Lowering tire pressure doesn't mean you are converting levels of suspension, it just doesn't work like that.

You've done a lot to your car but what are you comparing to? Do you know what a msport suspension feels like? Different tires have different sidewall designs which also do affect ride. What tires are you running? I have seen chinese tires that ride like absolute trash. You could also consider getting a set of burners to check if that is the issue, they are cheap at around 100-200$

There is a lot of information in this forum already. At this point you have to eliminate certain factors to find the issue.

Re. 19" wheels riding bad - surely BMW must have engineered the car to run decent on 19"...I know its a massive size for a 3-Series but they couldn't have approved the E9x to drive like crap with 19" wheels! A car worth maybe £30-£40k back then should not drive like this on any factory wheel spec!

My ride heights have not changed since replacing BMW original shocks to SACHS (at the front) and B4s at the rear. The front has all-new arms, mounts and tie rods (inner and outer)... I used Febi arms and rods and Lemforder mounts...Had a front wheel alignment done about 10 months ago also.

There are mixed opinions about SACHS. Some say SACHS and B4s are marginally different but some say SACHS are terribly bad. Here int he UK SACHS were OEM to BMW for the pre-LCI. Bilstein was OEM for LCI. I really doubt SACHS could be bad... Its not like Monroe or something worse...

I know I have mismatched shocks in terms of brand but as long as they are the correct part for the car and are not sport shocks, this shouldn't be an issue right? From what I understand, the B4 is a direct equivalent to the original BMW shocks... Non-sport B4 for SE and Sport B4 for M-Sport models.

I know 10% lower pressures is not the answer but it is a cheap and quick way out of the firm suspension! Running at stock pressures is too firm - either there is something wrong with my car or the SE model is supposed to drive firm??

Im running budget tyres but are recommended here in the UK. Fronts came with the car and I can't remember the make now but the rears are Rotalla. I might consider you recommendation and go for a set of burners but will have to think about this and the costs of getting the tyres replaced.

[N8N]

Originally Posted by bmw_solid

Re. 19" wheels riding bad - surely BMW must have engineered the car to run decent on 19"...I know its a massive size for a 3-Series but they couldn't have approved the E9x to drive like crap with 19" wheels! A car worth maybe £30-£40k back then should not drive like this on any factory wheel spec!

Mine came with 230s... it rode like garbage, and flatted and bent rims on a regular basis. I swapped to 157s (17") with 245s all around. That package was designed for areas with good roads, not a city with poor ones (I live near Washington, DC) I can't imagine what the original owner was thinking; the 19s were an option, a "base" 335i would have come with 18s here. The 157s were originally my winter wheels but after suffering with the 230s for a few years they became all-season wheels.

[bmw_solid]

Originally Posted by N8N

Mine came with 230s... it rode like garbage, and flatted and bent rims on a regular basis. I swapped to 157s (17") with 245s all around. That package was designed for areas with good roads, not a city with poor ones (I live near Washington, DC) I can't imagine what the original owner was thinking; the 19s were an option, a "base" 335i would have come with 18s here. The 157s were originally my winter wheels but after suffering with the 230s for a few years they became all-season wheels.

So you had your car from new with the 230 wheels? And it still drove bad despite the fact it was a brand new car? I take it your car was an SE?

[N8N]

Originally Posted by bmw_solid

So you had your car from new with the 230 wheels? And it still drove bad despite the fact it was a brand new car? I take it your car was an SE?

So here in the YooEss, the E92 always came with sport suspension. 18" wheels/tires standard, 19" optional. Mine came with the 19s, and I bought the car with about 70K miles on it. It had new Bridgestone RFTs from the dealership mounted on it when I got it. The ride/handling was great on a smooth road, but that's it. The Bridgestones rode horribly on what's typical pavement here and wore out in about 20K miles which is frankly asinine IMHO. I tried two different sets of non-RFT Continental DWS on the 19" wheels - I went up 10mm in width front and rear the first try and 20mm the second, trying to get the absolute most sidewall possible - but kept getting sidewall pinch flats from the potholes, and ride wasn't great anyway. I switched to some BFGs in 245/45R17 and wore those out over the period of about 5 years. So maybe I wasn't getting the ultimate in handling - it still handled pretty well and I wasn't buying replacement tires every couple months. They still had a little tread left but the rubber compound went off, there wasn't any traction left. I just had some Michelins in 245/40R17 installed a month or so ago (they weren't available in 45 profile) but haven't driven but a couple hundred miles on them yet.

[aphael]

Originally Posted by N8N

So here in the YooEss, the E92 always came with sport suspension. 18" wheels/tires standard, 19" optional. Mine came with the 19s, and I bought the car with about 70K miles on it. It had new Bridgestone RFTs from the dealership mounted on it when I got it. The ride/handling was great on a smooth road, but that's it. The Bridgestones rode horribly on what's typical pavement here and wore out in about 20K miles which is frankly asinine IMHO. I tried two different sets of non-RFT Continental DWS on the 19" wheels - I went up 10mm in width front and rear the first try and 20mm the second, trying to get the absolute most sidewall possible - but kept getting sidewall pinch flats from the potholes, and ride wasn't great anyway. I switched to some BFGs in 245/45R17 and wore those out over the period of about 5 years. So maybe I wasn't getting the ultimate in handling - it still handled pretty well and I wasn't buying replacement tires every couple months. They still had a little tread left but the rubber compound went off, there wasn't any traction left. I just had some Michelins in 245/40R17 installed a month or so ago (they weren't available in 45 profile) but haven't driven but a couple hundred miles on them yet.

Most track drivers use 17s and some 18s. The wheels are much lighter and have better handling. The stock oem rfts bridgestone re050a are 140tw which explains the terrible wear. They also grip terribly compared to 300tw summers like the indy500. I always call them a scam tire since they also cost a fortune to replace, 300-400$ a tire.

If you have bad roads, 19s will kill you especially when you hit potholes. It shouldn't be that different on normal roads.

[bmw_solid]

Originally Posted by N8N

So here in the YooEss, the E92 always came with sport suspension. 18" wheels/tires standard, 19" optional. Mine came with the 19s, and I bought the car with about 70K miles on it. It had new Bridgestone RFTs from the dealership mounted on it when I got it. The ride/handling was great on a smooth road, but that's it. The Bridgestones rode horribly on what's typical pavement here and wore out in about 20K miles which is frankly asinine IMHO. I tried two different sets of non-RFT Continental DWS on the 19" wheels - I went up 10mm in width front and rear the first try and 20mm the second, trying to get the absolute most sidewall possible - but kept getting sidewall pinch flats from the potholes, and ride wasn't great anyway. I switched to some BFGs in 245/45R17 and wore those out over the period of about 5 years. So maybe I wasn't getting the ultimate in handling - it still handled pretty well and I wasn't buying replacement tires every couple months. They still had a little tread left but the rubber compound went off, there wasn't any traction left. I just had some Michelins in 245/40R17 installed a month or so ago (they weren't available in 45 profile) but haven't driven but a couple hundred miles on them yet.

Yeah I don't understand why BMW offered E92 with M-Sport suspension as standard in the US.

I am very keen to find out how the E9x drove when new from the factory. I was reading a UK review not long ago between the E90 LCI and Merc W204 C-Class and all they said was that the E90 was obviously firmer but not by a massive margin and they reasoned this due to the E90 having run flats as opposed to the W204 having standard tyres. They did not mention anything about the E90 having a thuddy /crashy ride and hopping over bumps in the city!

Hence this is why I believe that the E9x models are not supposed to have a thuddy/crashy ride like many of the members on here who criticise the E9x suspension, especially the BMW shocks! Going for stuff like konis etc is just beating the object IMO.

I am more inclined to believe that there is a wear factor in the E9x suspension that comes into force after around 60/70k miles and makes the car drive worse than when new. It could be a case of a bolt unable to remain tight when in use! A chap on here had replaced his front end links and after a test drive they were loose again! Another chap on here had to replace his Lemforder end links twice in a year! I am sure there is something simple but hard to find in the E9x suspension that makes them drive worse over time even after changing vital sus[pension components!