Ohlins R&T Spring/Sway Choice

[bavarian3]

Nope bc my car has been broken since March. It felt and handled fine before the collision, and my opinion on the setup hasn’t changed. I can take a photo of the adjuster next week. Running the 3DM strut spacer btw.

Curious about something else. I recently installed my vorshlag plates. I kinda feel like the steering now is a bit.. numb? Almost floaty feeling. Curious if you had similar sentiment vs OE strut mounts.

One of the reasons I installed camber plates was in search for more steering feel. I'm an e36 m3 guy so I've been missing this aspect.

[AWE46M3]

Tbonem3 documented the same thing in his build journal about the vorschalg camber plates ruining the steering feel of the car bavarian3 - see below:

Did a canyon run a few days after the suspension changes, and really disliked the lifeless steering feel I was getting. It reminded me of when I tried the TMS monoball FCABs. I figured it was the spherical camber plates. I was very happy with the previous TMS plates (poly bush), so I bought another set ("street") and sold the Vorshlags to a friend.

You can see the much larger footprint of the TMS. Despite the disparity in size, the TMS are no heavier than the vorshlags, luckily. Gonna miss the vorshlags, they really really nice and well made.



The TMS plates are quite a bit more expensive than other options. Worse still, they don't come with the necessary upper thrust bearing. Turner gives you the option of buying them, but they word it as "perches." Well, I didn't think I needed it because I didn't want stock perches - I'm using 60mm springs. Turns out the BMW part is a combo, it's the black metal spring perch WITH the yellow/black bearing.

So I ordered a new set of perches/bearing for $40



I hadn't gotten an alignment yet, so no biggie dropping the other plates and putting the TMS in



Not quite as pretty as the gold and red of the vorshalgs And the plates' studs are unnecessarily long.



All done. Hopefully, this is the only change I need to make to be all set and then get an alignment.



Happy to report, the car feels great again. I've got the spherical RSMs and bottom shock attachment, but they don't ruin any perception in "feel." I'm all about the feel and the sound aka the "experience"

[SQ13]

Curious about something else. I recently installed my vorshlag plates. I kinda feel like the steering now is a bit.. numb? Almost floaty feeling. Curious if you had similar sentiment vs OE strut mounts.

One of the reasons I installed camber plates was in search for more steering feel. I'm an e36 m3 guy so I've been missing this aspect.

Nope, no change in numbness for me. What did make the steering feel floaty was going from TMS spherical to OE rubber, so I’ll prob end up switching back to TMS at some point.

[bavarian3]

Tbonem3 documented the same thing in his build journal about the vorschalg camber plates ruining the steering feel of the car bavarian3 - see below:

Thanks for relaying this. Curious to hear any updated thoughts Tbonem3

Nope, no change in numbness for me. What did make the steering feel floaty was going from TMS spherical to OE rubber, so I’ll prob end up switching back to TMS at some point.

Lol so the opposite of Tbone and I! Interesting...

[SQ13]

Lol so the opposite of Tbone and I! Interesting...

Yah it’s odd, but there could be other setup differences like alignment. I like to run 0.0° toe up front.
PSS10 + TMS street plates + TMS FCABs - fine, a little less road feedback vs Vorshlag
MCS 2WNR + Vorshlag plates + TMS FCABs - fine
Ohlins R&T + Vorshlag plates + TMS FCABs - fine
Ohlins R&T + Vorshlag plates + OE FCABs - immediately noticed spongy steering feel.

My other M3 had PSS10s with TMS street plates and OE FCABs, and there was less direct feedback/more spongy feeling.

This is my feedback after driving both cars on both the street and track. Take that as you will. I don’t really have anything else to add.

[Tbonem3]

No update as it was a one time thing plus it's been several years now, but I hated the feeling going to spherical. It didn't feel like a BMW.

Looks like SQ13 is referring to going back to oe fcabs not the camber plates/ strut mounts I was, earlier.

That said, who knows what variable(s) is responsible or how each person describes a feeling. Imo, oe fcabs are the greatest thing on God's green earth. His feeling is valid, but his baseline was not stock, so ofc stock parts will be softer feeling.

We've had a problem forever where most discuss chassis, for example, but don't qualify their opinion with the intended use, driving style, but also who they are - a petrolhead? Racer? Nerd? Just want bmw for status/cache/cool factor? Care about old school or new school tech or n/a vs. turbo? Everybody's different, and their goals for the car slightly different even though we all like csl boot, coils, airbox, headers tune

I always speak from the heart, but what I care about might not matter to someone else, so it's only one perspective.

[SQ13]

Fair points. I've set my car up to be driven at the track, and having good precision and feedback for track use are important to me. This car isn't my daily anymore, so I don't mind the slightly firmer ride vs the PSS10 + TMS plate + OE FCAB setup.

I will say that all of the setups with the OE FCABs were totally fine. But when comparing with TMS FCABs they're just softer/more compliant/less precise. And you could probably expect that when comparing rubber with spherical parts. The biggest downside for me was how slow the steering seemed to respond to minor steering inputs when driving at highway speeds---could be an alignment issue even though I asked for 0.0* toe.

No opinions on TMS vs Vorshlag plates. I think they're both good and could go with either one.