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Originally Posted by AriuSen
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Originally Posted by Finnegan
So 275 on all 4 corners?
IMO the car is easier to drive on a staggered set up. That's based off my experience being in two Zs the same day at the track one with 235/265 vs 265 on all corners the later with a really good driver (not me lol). Even with the rear sway bar disconnected, the square set-up car was much more likely to "over rotate" vs. mine. (My friend has a very fast hands as well and is an experienced racer.)
We concluded that without a lot of setting experimentation staggered was easier to drive faster from an oversteer perspective. That's not to say that a square set up can't be optimized and be faster but out of the box what you experienced, but the E46 being less of a handful, is kind of typical I think. I'm sure there's a way to optimize the square set-up and also adopt a driving style to get the most out out it (later being key as well).
Totally agree that a longer wheelbase car like an E46 or E36 M3 is easier to drive on a square set up and seems to benefit from being set up square based on running my E36 M3.
This is a great thread, and I think with the experimentation you're doing, we can learn a lot about optimizing the set up of this car in different configurations.
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I am starting to agree with you....when I had 245 front and 275 rear, it was so much easier to drive....I will have to try more stuff to make a conclusion, but as of today, staggered is better.
I might try removing rear sway bar....never thought of that.
I would love to run 255/275 or 265/275, but due to cost benefit, I go for square set up.
This next saturday is the track I always go to....this is the day that I will have a lot of time to try different stuff. |
Rick F.'s assessment is really spot on.
My thoughts and things to try.
Take some speed off corner entry and you'll make up the time and more mid corner and on corner exit. The Z4M and doesn't like trail braking as much as an M3, so straight line brake as a primary approach. Focus on brake pedal release smoothness. If you're not totally smooth on releasing the brakes, the shorter wheelbase means weight oscillates front to rear and back thereby decreasing the available traction. That means you're completely out of sorts by mid corner.
Try dropping a bit of corner entry speed, turn in 10 feet later or so (at lower speed) and prioritize corner exit not entry speed.
Those things bought me a lot of lap time reduction with this car. It's a different line and approach than driving an M3.
Note: even with the rear sway bar disconnected we found square set up was quite a handful mid corner and exit. It seems like you just can't quite get on the power at the same point mid or just after mid corner and "four wheel drift" tracking out. It's like there's too much bite at the front-end compared to the available traction at the rear, and instead of pushing the car forward in a "four wheel drift", the back and just wants to fly out from under you. Is that how it's feeling to you? I know we can see what we can see in the video but feel isn't available. That looks like the story with power oversteer from behind the lens.
Lastly, I think you're going to need to experiment with both equipment and modifying driving style and mine to get the most out of this car. But doing so carries over to other cars as those approaches--especially release smoothness--maximize traction.