E24 handling

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.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Much appreciated. Yes, I'm talking about simple cornering. It could be aquaplaning, I guess, as the 265s are quite a chunk of tyre, and it has been damp down this way. But it seems to be that the gear ratios are such that even a touch on the accelerator in a corner in 4th has some key grip, and she's ready to fly. Also, what's interesting (well, to me who has only owned E34 & E38!) is that I can't get out of 4th into 5th in built up areas with the M535 gearbox; it simply has more legs than that. The car was set up, they tell me, by Capel Engineering, who do 635 work I believe (In case anyone knows more??)

I've only driven my 6 with the standard TRXs (220/55/390) and it only gets lively in the damp. I put that down to the LS diff though, in the dry I've never had an issue with tail-happiness (accidental tail-happiness that is!!)

I've just bought some 16" rims with decent kumho tyres (sport 104 or something) which are 225/50/16 at the rear and 205/55/16 at the front but they're not fitted as yet so I can't comment but I hope to get a better, more secure, feeling in the wet than the TRXs give.

My daily driver is a mk2 gti which is so much better planted on high speed corners. I suppose it helps to be about half the weight though

UKDaveJ wrote: Horsetan (Ivan) is over the moon now he's running his 635 on 16's, having finally seen the light & ditched the metrics. He can't praise the quality of ride difference enough now.....

Thats odd Dave, Ivan IS over the moon, but it was 15" wheels he got from you wasn't it?

My 6 obviously has a completely different rear end, but I'm happy with how it handles, but am still looking forward to getting the 14" wheels changed to 16"s

Graeme, spokey seemed reasonably happy with his 18s (see above) whilst other members prefer the comfort/handling balance of smaller wheels. Once Mr Sohlman sees this thread, he'll probably chip in his (always valuable!) opinion. If I remember rightly, he's tried a number of different sizes, ending up with Alpina 16" wheels.

I personally wont go bigger than 16" puerly from a looks point of view - as other series 1 cars I've seen with big wheels look odd.

Having said that, I really like the look of 17" wheels on the newer cars, especially on Shadowline and Highline car.

GraemeH wrote: I'm a little unconvinced by the appearance of the standard shoeing that I've seen on some 6s - but it's probably sacrilege to say that. Apologies. I'll wash my mouth out. ;-)

No sacrilege to my mind, "standard" wheels on early 6s was 14" - much too small (as the pic in my profile shows), and most later cars were fitted with the 390 metrics, also pretty small (about 15 and bit inches?). Post some pics of yours as soon as poss!