Has anyone switched from E85 M-Sport suspension to standard?

B

Bob123

Regular Member
British Zeds
Joined
Jan 23, 2022
Points
19
Location
South Cheshire
Model of Z
E85 Z4 3.0 roadster pre facelift
I bought an E85 Z4 3.0SE (badged 3.0i on an 04 plate) manual pre facelift last year and I feel that the ride of my car is a bit 'crashy' at times, lacking some finesse.

As I understand it all 3 litre cars sold in the UK were equiped with M-Sport suspension as standard.

Mine's fitted with standard 'daisy' 17" wheels with Bilstein shock absorbers and I've replaced all four tyres with Good Year Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 none runflat tyres and I've been inflating them to the BMW recommended tyre pressures.

I'm wondering if anyone on here has replaced their M-Sport suspension with the standard suspension and if so, what was their experience of the difference? From what I can make out the only difference is the length of the springs used, is this correct?

TIA
 
Been down this road before (pun intended), but went from M-Sport to Eibach pro springs and that makes a world of difference. They do lower the car 15mm over M-Sport, but then you'll be going the other way with standard.

Every chance the car has had rear springs break before (very common on the E85) and they've been replaced with non-OE springs. If you're going this route make sure you buy genuine springs.
 
Thanks for the info @GazHyde. From looking at the service history printout from BMW it has had both rear springs replaced.
 
And, most likely the dealer used non genuine springs because that's where the profit is. I also put Eibach spring on my old E85 too after good info from Gary.
I fitted the old springs on a 2.0 E85.

Tony.
 
Bob123 said:
I bought an E85 Z4 3.0SE (badged 3.0i on an 04 plate) manual pre facelift last year and I feel that the ride of my car is a bit 'crashy' at times, lacking some finesse.

As I understand it all 3 litre cars sold in the UK were equiped with M-Sport suspension as standard.

Mine's fitted with standard 'daisy' 17" wheels with Bilstein shock absorbers and I've replaced all four tyres with Good Year Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 none runflat tyres and I've been inflating them to the BMW recommended tyre pressures.

I'm wondering if anyone on here has replaced their M-Sport suspension with the standard suspension and if so, what was their experience of the difference? From what I can make out the only difference is the length of the springs used, is this correct?

TIA
Click to expand...
hi i have a 2006 z4 sport got fed up scraping the undercarriage being so low & hard knocking my teeth out as i use this car a lot changed springs for standard suspension lot nicer ride & higher only kept sway bar as a little stronger ...also the mcpherson struts from a e46 will fit but will require 2 x 9mm cup washers
 
lucky jim said:
hi i have a 2006 z4 sport got fed up scraping the undercarriage being so low & hard knocking my teeth out as i use this car a lot changed springs for standard suspension lot nicer ride & higher only kept sway bar as a little stronger ...also the mcpherson struts from a e46 will fit but will require 2 x 9mm cup washers
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. That sounds like a result and what I'm looking for! I don't have a complete understanding of suspension geometry, does this change affect the settings for wheel alignment e.g. toe, camber and caster?
 
When you have suspension apart to this degree it is always best to have alignment checked/adjusted afterwards and if doing front and rear a 4 wheel alignment is best.

Tony.
 
t-tony said:
When you have suspension apart to this degree it is always best to have alignment checked/adjusted afterwards and if doing front and rear a 4 wheel alignment is best.

Tony.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I don't think that I was clear enough, what I meant was do the correct alignment settings for the suspension change?
 
No, they don’t.

Tony.
 
Hi all. If i put new coilovers on the Z4 M sport would it be affected say when i use sport + if the oem were not used.
 
As far as I'm aware Sport+ just turns off traction control. So no it wouldn't.

Tony.
 
Thanks t-tony i thought the suspension was stiffened on sport and sport plus.
 
If it has standard shocks on I can't see how it could. What model is it? Check the Vin. Decoder and see what it had new?

Tony.
 
I think standard suspension then, so switches traction control off in sport mode.

Tony.
 
Many thanks for your help.. So the next question should be what are the best ones to use which are not stiff. Bilstein B12 look ok.
 
@Nodzed , what did you use please?

Tony.
 
Thanks Niall.

Tony.
 
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