HanSooloo's 2004 Mystic Blue M3

[HanSooloo]

Ride Height, part 2

After driving for a few weeks with the original setup, decided to take the car back to RRT to raise the ride height by 10 mm's.

Even after that, it felt a bit too low / negative rake-y for me. At that point the Rears were at around 12.3 (ish) inches and the Fronts were at around 13.3 (ish) inches. I would be curious to hear people's comments around this setup.

However, with that, I lost the nice and fun behavior of the car. It felt a bit softer and lost its aggressiveness when turning. It leans more in cornering. James mentioned that he did not change the firmness setting on the car, just the ride height.


A learning question here:

Assuming I would like to keep the immediacy of the original feeling of the car on the default Öhlins setup, is it possible to raise the car up to the Rear 13 / Front 13.5 level and still keep the same drive characteristics?

If the car still has that wishy washy feeling to it, would increasing the firmness setting alone help? Maybe go from a 15 to a 12 or a 10 click setting?


[ Place holder for pictures of current setup ]

[HanSooloo]

Placeholder for Virginia Emissions Inspection Saga :-)

[Slideways]

Ride Height, part 2

After driving for a few weeks with the original setup, decided to take the car back to RRT to raise the ride height by 10 mm's.

Even after that, it felt a bit too low / negative rake-y for me. At that point the Rears were at around 12.3 (ish) inches and the Fronts were at around 13.3 (ish) inches. I would be curious to hear people's comments around this setup.

However, with that, I lost the nice and fun behavior of the car. It felt a bit softer and lost its aggressiveness when turning. It leans more in cornering. James mentioned that he did not change the firmness setting on the car, just the ride height.


A learning question here:

Assuming I would like to keep the immediacy of the original feeling of the car on the default Öhlins setup, is it possible to raise the car up to the Rear 13 / Front 13.5 level and still keep the same drive characteristics?

If the car still has that wishy washy feeling to it, would increasing the firmness setting alone help? Maybe go from a 15 to a 12 or a 10 click setting?


[ Place holder for pictures of current setup ]

The more ride height, the better the handling for street use. The factory has about .5" height difference front to rear, so 13.5" front and 13" rear would perform much better than 13.3" and 12.3". At 12.3", it'll be bouncing on the bump stops on any large dip.

[maupineda]

More aggressive cams always result in lazier low down due to the increased overlap, not enough gas velocity to overcome the overlap influences of both, intake and exhaust valves, being opened at the same time. due to the overlap it makes sense you need a larger offset spread.

Stock Cam duration: 260/260
CSL: 268/264
Schrick: 280/272

I am not sure where the recommended settings are, offset degrees? but it seems BMW was aiming to maintain the overlap as unaffected as possible while still banking on the more aggressive duration. That said, it makes sense the 280/270 cams need different values.

As for ride height, I'd go with 14 and 13.5, and use the CSL front sway if you want more front grip and turn in feel, you can also do 0 toe front and rear to dial in the "immediacy" feel. I personally don't like it, the car becomes too nervous, but you may like it.

[SQ13]

Ride Height, part 2

After driving for a few weeks with the original setup, decided to take the car back to RRT to raise the ride height by 10 mm's.

Even after that, it felt a bit too low / negative rake-y for me. At that point the Rears were at around 12.3 (ish) inches and the Fronts were at around 13.3 (ish) inches. I would be curious to hear people's comments around this setup.

However, with that, I lost the nice and fun behavior of the car. It felt a bit softer and lost its aggressiveness when turning. It leans more in cornering. James mentioned that he did not change the firmness setting on the car, just the ride height.


A learning question here:

Assuming I would like to keep the immediacy of the original feeling of the car on the default Öhlins setup, is it possible to raise the car up to the Rear 13 / Front 13.5 level and still keep the same drive characteristics?

If the car still has that wishy washy feeling to it, would increasing the firmness setting alone help? Maybe go from a 15 to a 12 or a 10 click setting?


[ Place holder for pictures of current setup ]

My car felt better going from 13.25/12.75 (IIRC) to 13.5/13.0, with regards to comfort and handling.