E36 BMW Handling help reqd.

[norteenick]

Hi all,

In need of some assistance, a few months back i bought an E36 325i for use as a track day car(mainly ring toy). I have stripped out the interior apart from the dash, front door cards and carpet. Since doing this the back end has become very light and it oversteers at every opportunity! Great fun i have to admit but a tad on the dangerous side for the ring. What can i do to counter this oversteer?

Chassis wise i have done the following things - lowered it 40mm on Jamex full suspension kit (V.stiff), fitted a front strut brace, E36 M3 alloys on with Falken Ziex tyres.

Many thanks,
Nick

[ChristianZS]

Might be worth trying the BMW specific forums..

This one is for posting up pictures of your car..

[dan101smith]

Done anything with the front/rear ARBs? You might find that you need to soften up the rear to compensate for the change in weight distribution. Failing that, stick the spare wheel back in for a little ballast.

As an aside, don't forget about the E36 convertible x-brace - makes more difference than a strut brace, and only £40ish from a breaker.

Edited by dan101smith on Friday 22 August 17:25

[CarbonM5]

Probably too low coupled with stiff sidewall tyres and worn bushes will make it skitish-the Jamex kit will have limited rebound at the back compared to standard.

You will need the geo altering for that ride height aswell,my preference woud be the 328i sport suspension with an arb kit-new bushes ect

[gizlaroc]

Definitely do the bushes first.

Then try it with no rear arb and see how you get on with that.

Cheapest way to go about it.

[Mroad]

Increase the front tyre pressures and/or reduce the rears to reduce oversteer, you might need to experiment and obviously don't go made with it.
Now that really is the cheapest way of sorting understeer/oversteer.
If that doesn't work then try the things that cost money, as quite rightly mentioned check the bushes anyway and a geometry set-up would be advisable given the drop in height.
A stiffer front ARB or softer rear ARB will reduce oversteer.

[sniff diesel]

ChristianZS said:

Might be worth trying the BMW specific forums.

A good bunch of very helpfull guys and several of the Khumo racers on here:

http://www.zonemotorsport.co.uk/forum/

[taffyracer]

without knowing the car or the Jamex kit I would say the set up is the problem, have you had the car corner weighted, are the shocks adjustable? if not then there's the problem, when you start ripping things out you alter the balance and that balance needs to be restored somehow, this is mostly done by corner weighting and if the shocks aren't adjustable then you're not going to get very far

[norteenick]

Many thanks for all the sound advice guys, i'll get on it straight away as it's going in for spray and cage soon so want the handling squared first for its virginal ring trip in late sept.

Off to tinker now.
Cheers again.
Nick