RE: BMW 130i: PH Carpool

[nickfrog]

s m said:

nickfrog said:

By ditching the run-flats you save 1kg of unsprung per side, which, located further away from the hub than the discs, should actually over-compensate by reducing inertia / secondary moment of inertia by a little more than was added with the bigger discs.. LOL, as if any of this would make any difference on such a lardy lazy road car !!!!!!!!!

What does make a little difference though is that the 1kg of weight is saved despite going up to 225 width (as opposed to 215 oe) which slightly neutralises the car, particularly on Michelin SuperSports (which are very cheap in those sizes btw). It still understeers for England though, but nowhere near as a S3, which isn't difficult.

Have you tried yours on the 205/50x17s Nick. I like the coupe more than the hatch - have you done the engine mods to yours?

Sorry late reply. No never used the small tyres but they would probably add fun!

Yes I chose Evolve for the engine remap, which came out at exactly 250hp (with an old and dusty air filter and the AC on, lol). Their dyno is for development and is supposed to be particularly pessimistic/realistic, unlike some. They normally see 250hp out of an unmodified 130i and 200hp out of an unmodified 125i.
The other supplier is P-Torque who claim 270hp out of a 125i. Evolve do not think that's possible (on their rig anyway) as their 130i product does go to 270hp but that's thanks to the 130i std exhaust, which is apparently different to the 125i.

Still either way the car is very much improved in performance terms of course but also in drivability, smoothness and (incredible) throttle response : it picks up very cleanly at 1200rpm in third and starts working hard from 1500rpm all the way to 7000rpm with no flat spots, it's spectacular actually and you rarely need to change gear on a twisty road.

[nickfrog]

bbd1 said:

You say that tyres make or break the car so what tyres do people recommend, Pilot Sports?

You can even have the Supersports, that many see as the best road tyre currently available, what with being dual compound.

I fitted mine when I had the wheels refurbed and it cost me £568 fitted from Camskill(in 225 F and 245 R, M135i tyres actually, with the BMW *), which is a ridiculous price for such performance. I would have gone for the ubiquitous Goodyear F1 but they were only a few pound less...

[lewisf182]

Brilliant cars. I think the lack of room is over played tbh. They can happily fit 4 adults in and the boot can fit two suitcases easily.

I'm on the lookout for a decent one up to £8k if anybody knows of any or is thinking of selling their's

[nickfrog]

scherzkeks said:

Go over the limit and you have to correct for under or oversteer, which means you made a mistake as a driver. Oversteer is particularly difficult to correct for. That understeer and tire scrub you seem to encounter so often is the car telling you you have it its tractive limits, either through driving error (most likely in the case of an amateur) or purposely. The benefit of AWD, again, is that tractive limits are higher and slip angles smaller. If you are encountering heavy understeer on a vehicle, you need to work on learning to drive that particular chassis. It really is that simple.

You should give this guy some driving lessons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUW47Uio6Y_pC_0N...

[danp]

What size and style are the OZ wheels on the featured car please? (and what size tyres?)

Thx, Dan

[ATM]

danp said:

What size and style are the OZ wheels on the featured car please? (and what size tyres?)

Thx, Dan

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141203094655