E24 handling

Hiabboy wrote: .....I must say Horsetan out of all the wheels that one could choose to replace your metrics, type 31s are not something that would be on many peoples wish list . .....

Tough. They're my choice for winter. Matter closed.

Hiabboy wrote: ....Horsetan you are very off form these days....

It must have something to do with being unable to get a certain 1985 635CSi to start up. And it's NOT the DME relay.

GraemeH wrote: Hi, New to E24 ownership, having owned E34 & E38, I'm wondering if those more expert than I can confirm: I'm thrilled with the car (635csi, '85), but worried about family members ending up in a ditch!! It's a manual (M535 gearbox, LUK clutch, LSD, 265/17 M-Series deep dish on rear), and seems very lively indeed in the tail. Exciting and terrific but wondering if it's simply the E24 in general or possibly the nature of the 265/17s or gearbox or . . . Well, basically, humbled by those with far more E24 expertise me: I'd value any tips on how they generally perform -- mostly, I'm thinking, to prevent my early demise. ;-) best wishes, Graeme.

Having good rubber on the rears are very important and if those big fat rears are worn then they won't grip much. Our E39 has only 235's on the rear and when we were down to 3mm of tread the car was all over the place in the wet.

As for getting the car to handle there are lots of things to do. Bilstein dampers are a must and are one of the best things you can do. There are plenty of spring options, but i would go with either M635 springs or get hold of what i have which is Eibach US Spec springs. Stiffening the anti roll bars also makes a big difference, but obviously with this set up the car will grip longer, but when it goes it will go faster. You can still buy the E28 M5 25mm front anti roll bars, but the rear is no longer available. However from www.balancemotorsport.co.uk you can buy both an uprated front and rear anti roll bar for the six.

With regards to tyres and wheels. Personally i think the six handles better with slightly thinner tyres. Certainly the highline 245 metrics are over tyred. Having used 17" wheels with 235/45/17 tyres all round and the 16" Alpina's with 225/50/zr16 i think the 16's seem better in terms of both grip and ride.

My current set up is Bilstein Sport Dampers, Eibach US Spec springs lowering car by about 25mm, Racing dynamic aluminium and stiffer than steel anti roll bars with 22mm fronts and 18mm rears. Alpina 16" original wheels with Toyo Proxie tyres of a 225/50/ZR16 tyres.  

The car grips very well indeed and requires fairly libral amounts of  the right foot to get the rear end out of shape. The car has the 5 speed overdrive manual box and a 25% LSD.

I hope this helps and gets the topic back to the original question.

James

Have a strut brace too. They stiffen up the front a little bit and i rechon you get about a 10-15% increase in turn in and a significant reduction in understeer on the long sweeper. Also rechon with them tyre wear is more even as the edges are not wearing out like they used to. Forgot to mention it on the post above.

Sorry

James

First of all, it's good that you have swapped trxs for 17 " wheels...

My opinions, as I recently met a lot of italian 635 owners with every combinations of setup(you will find the word better about 100 times in this post!!!tried 6 635s and 3 M635s, from 14 up to 18" wheels...):

Then, First thing You have to do is get a LSD or rebuild your one , as ZF LSD won't last forever, especially with old oil in it.They really make the dfference.I transformed my non lsd car into a LSD one, but locked up to 40% ...wow.

FOr the tyres: 265 are too much, 235 or 255 with 17" are very good, over You will get only troubles...

Other: after 5/82 , every 635 got sticky rear antirollbars,after 9/83  got decent ones: 15,5 mm diameters made(if i remember correctly).I tried my car with Mtech suspensions, 12mm rear antiroll bar, 84 635 with LSD, no M suspensions and 205/70 14(really the best compromise...),and later cars with trx or 16 or again 17" wheels... My friends and me tried to put old 12(or 14) millimeters antirollbars on late car, instead of 15,5 mm bars.(

The rear became more flat to the ground ,and my friends really can bet that it's better , now.

sometimes You have to do one step "in reverse" , to improve things...

With TRX: i tried my car(I can use only those round things-I don't waste the word tyres for that michelin stuff- bacause I live in italy and we have , here, stupid laws) with stiffer antirollbars at rear...very undriveable, the car slipped everywhere.I come back to original slim stuff.With trx You can only do one thng: remve them, if you want to save your life instead the car originality.

with 14": I used to drive a 635 , 1984 with 205/70 14 (fulda Assuro)in the wet( I'm talking of a 100-120 mph run, not 30mph )...the car has a very good performancein the dry ....In the end the best for performance, comfort, tyres prices.even more with good 205/65 vr 15(before you think that is a old tyre size, try a 635 with that tyres setup).

16":You won't go over for the best, tough You have to go for Bilsteins or Mtech suspensione to get the best....

With M suspensions: You improve dramatically the drive, also on the wet.... but don't think for a moment that now your 635 will be like a new 5 series E60 ....it's far better than previously , but not so far...

With strut brace: the body has now enough strenght to give them a chance also on trackdays...and on normal road You will notice the improvement.

springs: walk away from cheap spring set, or your car will drop about 3 inches at the front(ask me How I know!), and the ride is a disaster. Eibach or Schnitzer(if you can find them) are good, the other are not so good , in the end(well i forgot Alpina...one other great brand for fast BMW riders).

hope this helps.

Francesco from North italy