Real Fiero Tech

Seeing all the BMW love on here, I thought it'd be a good place to ask a few questions for a not so car savvy friend.

a buddy of mine recently bought a 94 BMW 325i ($800!) the car is a four door 5 speed, and supposedly has coilovers. unfortunately, that's everything I know about it.

I drove it recently, and the steering was SUPER touchy, especially noticeable about about 45 MPH, if you're touching the wheel, the car is moving in the lane. Are all these cars like that or does this one need an alignment?

it also felt like the rear suspension was kinda floaty, eg: the back of the car seems to overshoot and correct after a lane change, blown rear shocks maybe? doesn't really bounce around like blown shocks though.

5th gear is sometimes tricky to get into, just doesn't want to go, no grinding, but you have to force the shifter over harder then the 2-3 shift. I haven't pulled up the center console yet, so it could just be something under there, any ideas?

Thanks-

Eric

BTW, it's a fun car, I see why they're as popular as they are.

Steering could be alignment. The only adjustment on the front end is toe.
Check for wear in both inner and outer ball joints.

Rear does sound like shocks, maybe bushings as well.

BMW's are definitely fun! The car in question already has the 24V engine. That's my main gripe about my e30. There are people who love the M20, but I'm not one of them.

The Dark Side of Will wrote:Steering could be alignment. The only adjustment on the front end is toe.
Check for wear in both inner and outer ball joints.

Rear does sound like shocks, maybe bushings as well.

BMW's are definitely fun! The car in question already has the 24V engine. That's my main gripe about my e30. There are people who love the M20, but I'm not one of them.

Thanks, I'll help him get the car on a lift so we can check the ball joints. doesn't feel like a toe alignment issue to me.

have you seen these yet?

http://wot-tech.com/shop/bmw/bmw-24v-us ... d_405.html

I have seen those, actually...

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=305953

Lusting just a bit.

The Dark Side of Will wrote: Lusting just a bit.

me too, I wish I could just buy something like that for my car... but alas, being a 60V6, nobody cares...

I let go of my steering wheel at 120mph last week and my E39 was straight as an arrow. But its my understanding that like Porsche, BMW came a long way in the late 90's.

3 series cars through the E46 use L-arm struts in the front suspension. 5 series through the E60 use "virtual kingpin" struts... slightly different suspension setup.

I was talking about BMW as a manufacturer is known for building cars that are very planted in all conditions, not comparing the two cars.

A little bird told me that you were testing an E46 at "a buck thirty" after posting on the 30th, Will.

Word gets around, eh?

Yeah, we had a private high speed test track reserved...

I kept hearing about the near-race brake pads installed, so I had to check them out.

S54 pulls nice on the top end.

ericjon262 wrote: 5th gear is sometimes tricky to get into, just doesn't want to go, no grinding, but you have to force the shifter over harder then the 2-3 shift.

Thanks-

Eric

I'm speaking from experience with the Getrag 260 & 265, while the car in question has the ZF 310/320 transmission.

Basically, some version of that is normal.

There are 4 gates: R, 1-2, 3-4 & 5. The shifter normally sits in N in the 3-4 gate. A light spring preload opposes moving the shifter into the 1-2 gate. A heavier spring preload opposes moving the shifter from 3-4 to 5. The heaviest of the three preloads opposed moving the shifter through the 1-2 gate and into the R gate.

If you push the shifter from 3-4 gate into 1-2 gate and it returns smartly, that's normal. It's only abnormal if you have to manually return the shifter.