Suspension/Handling ?

[F87LUV]

Ok sooooooo I finally got my summer tires on my M6 reps last week. Now should be the true test if my suspension is still fd up or it was really the winter tires just creating poor handling. The car has felt pretty good these past few days....until last night when I got a flat and had no choice but to drive 15miles on it to get home. It turns out the shop neglected to tighten my valve stems on all my tires so lucky me, I get a flat at 3am. I took it out for test drive after I sorted everything out and now the car feels like crap again.... could it be it feels this way because 1. i messed up my alignment by driving on the flat for a long distance? 2. now i am no longer running a staggered setup with 8.5" all around? I went with toyo t1r's and I hear that the number one complaint is a softer sidewall, could that also be a factor?

Im really getting frustrated here because the car has been looked at a few times and i kept getting "its fine" Honestly, its a brand new car and it drives like total sh*t... as hot as it is, i just wanna get rid of it and move on if this is the way it really feels.... im not confident driving it at all esp hitting twisties which is something i really enjoy... IDK

[sales@ESSTuning]

What size rubber do you have on your new wheels ? When you say feels like crap what feels wrong ?

[MMMazing07]

the car feeling like crap is most likely result of bad alignment or off alignment. Take it to the stealership and have everything checked out.

[dekaliber]

I didn't notice any significant change in handling with my winter tires, so I doubt that was causing the handling issues you had. I don't think the non-staggered setup changes much under normal driving circumstances (the wider rears caters to understeer).

You'll have to explain what you mean by "feels like crap" though. Under what situations do you feel like the handling is off?

[F87LUV]

its tramlining a bit now, bouncing around a little more than usual... i have to hold onto my steering wheel for dear life to keep the car from going into the next lane when i brake... im running 225 40 18 & 255 35 18

[Dammmittt]

I personnally think it's still screwed up from the accident. But you should have the alignment checked.

[sales@ESSTuning]

Originally Posted by ZGirl4U

its tramlining a bit now, bouncing around a little more than usual... i have to hold onto my steering wheel for dear life to keep the car from going into the next lane when i brake... im running 225 40 18 & 255 35 18

Sounds like alignment issues. Bad alignment can make people

[inTgr8r]

alignment is VERY sensitive on this car.
I went through three shops before I found someone that knows what he is doing.
the car went from squirmy/twitchy, to feeling like it's glued to the road

[Rick Hunter]

ALIGNMENT is your friend. That should solve the problem, unless the repair shop truly did a crap job after your accident.

[Hawkeye]

Quit your bitchin and get an M already

...That is what you wanted to hear right?

[F87LUV]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Quit your bitchin and get an M already

...That is what you wanted to hear right?

nah... M is out of the question now... but im not getting into that....

[F87LUV]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

alignment is VERY sensitive on this car.
I went through three shops before I found someone that knows what he is doing.
the car went from squirmy/twitchy, to feeling like it's glued to the road

maybe ill look into a performance shop rather than bmw

[pbdm4k]

Originally Posted by ZGirl4U

its tramlining a bit now, bouncing around a little more than usual... i have to hold onto my steering wheel for dear life to keep the car from going into the next lane when i brake... im running 225 40 18 & 255 35 18

Your setup is similar to mine, I'm running 235/40/18 and 255/35/18, the car occasionally tramlines according to bad road conditions, but to me that was always expected.

The car should be a demon through the turns and twitchiness should not be there.

For alignment, you really need to find someone who knows what they're doing. Look into race car prep shops as they can be very meticulous with alignment. My Jetta is fully adjustable with toe, camber, and caster, and needs to be very carefully setup. Any mess up results in unpredictable steering through the turns.

I can only imagine how much more important a proper alignment is on a car like the Z4 (RWD) as opposed to my FWD Jetta.

According to BMW, the settings should be (for non sport models):


And for the sport models:


And one more thing, you may want the car corner balanced and weighted for the alignment. Having a driver and an empty car will affect the camber settings.

F**k the stealership, bring your car to a race shop to get the alignment done, let them know how much you weigh so they can sandbag the car and get it properly aligned with the weight of the driver factored in.

[rc'Z]

The handling is also sensetive to air pressure. Are you running at least 35psi and 0 psi difference between the tires?

[GP20]

Originally Posted by pbdm4k

And one more thing, you may want the car corner balanced and weighted for the alignment. Having a driver and an empty car will affect the camber settings.

F**k the stealership, bring your car to a race shop to get the alignment done, let them know how much you weigh so they can sandbag the car and get it properly aligned with the weight of the driver factored in.

She can't do corner balancing without ride height adjustable suspensions/coilovers.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by pbdm4k

And one more thing, you may want the car corner balanced and weighted for the alignment. Having a driver and an empty car will affect the camber settings.

F**k the stealership, bring your car to a race shop to get the alignment done, let them know how much you weigh so they can sandbag the car and get it properly aligned with the weight of the driver factored in.

There are BMW specs for weighting the car.

[F87LUV]

the psi might be off anywhere from .5- 1.0... but i tested it out again today and its pretty scary... im gonna try to find a reputable performance shop and take it there... im also going to get that wheel rebalanced- def not the tire shop i took it to... im never going back there again!

[pbdm4k]

Originally Posted by GP20

She can't do corner balancing without ride height adjustable suspensions/coilovers.

Duely noted, guess I was thinking about my Jetta when I stated this.

Originally Posted by ZGirl4U

the psi might be off anywhere from .5- 1.0... but i tested it out again today and its pretty scary... im gonna try to find a reputable performance shop and take it there... im also going to get that wheel rebalanced- def not the tire shop i took it to... im never going back there again!

Hopefully you know of a proper alignment shop in NY, Good luck and let us know how it goes.