M135i LSD

[bennyboysvuk]

I've planted the seed in the wife's mind that an M135i would be the perfect car to replace the 330i. So whilst that seed grows I thought I'd ask on here how many people have fitted an LSD to their M135i?

There's no getting away from it, I can be a hooligan in a car and love the odd powerslide. My only experience of the M135i spinning up the inside wheel so far was on a drive in my father-in-law's car when going around an opening radius corner the inside wheel started to spin up a little and it ended up doing that horrid wheelspin-with-uncomfortable-jolt as it hooked up again as the corner opened out. In the same corner, my old Z4MR would have hooked up perfectly or steered from the rear.

Also, does anyone know of a way to disable the hazard warning lights coming on when braking hard? I can see that becoming frustrating too.

Thanks in advance.

[gizard]

I would be interested to know what the results would be too - I have driven a auto 235i without and a Manual 235i with LSD and then an Auto 135i without and cost aside I would have an LSD fitted all day long. I have a 135i coming September.

I guess you will get more money back by removing the LSD (an swapping back to standard open) before selling the car and selling the diff separately. As 2.5k fitted is a lot....

[sootyvrs]

There is the Quaife ATB from Birds for around £2k fitted which is an exchange item so no possibility to put old one back on and there is the official BMW M Perormance item (clutch type) which will be oround £2.8k fitted but you do get your old diff back and there's the advantage of keeping BMW warranty!

I think only a few have had them fitted due to the cost but there was some good write ups on the Quaife in the EVO if i recall and Chris harris has done a write up on the M235i (fundamentally same car) with the BMW M Performance LSD in Pistonheads

[gizard]

sootyvrs said:

There is the Quaife ATB from Birds for around £2k fitted which is an exchange item so no possibility to put old one back on and there is the official BMW M Perormance item (clutch type) which will be oround £2.8k fitted but you do get your old diff back and there's the advantage of keeping BMW warranty!

I think only a few have had them fitted due to the cost but there was some good write ups on the Quaife in the EVO if i recall and Chris harris has done a write up on the M235i (fundamentally same car) with the BMW M Performance LSD in Pistonheads

I have had a quote from a Main BMW dealer at 2450 inc VAT and fitting and you get to keep the old diff which can be put back on the car afterwards and then sell on the LSD. To me keeping the warranty on a new car is paramount and it is not that much more cost upfront and come resale I recon you will not get back any money on either LSD still fitted to the car whereas you will if you sell the BMW one separately - obviously you need to factor in the removal cost as well - it's horses for courses....

[ecain63]

You do get to keep the original diff. Ive got a Birds quaife in my C63. Excellent upgrade.

Its cheaper to get a good indy to order direct from birds and fit it for you. Mine was circa £1800 all in.

[ALXJ]

I would need to drive one with the LSD fitted to see if its worth it, if BMW wants to sell these M Performance parts they could do with some dealers who have cars fitted with the items so they can be seen and tested, or have some open days somewhere in the UK. Would that not be logical ?

[gaz1234]

Try general.

[stef1808]

Hey

I drove a standard m135 (bbk/tires only) on track and loved the car. LSD or not: in the rain and with its short wheel base, the car was very tail happy and a lot less twitchy/snappy then I thought it would be - it just loved to do massive power-oversteer slides

Without going into to much details, the simple answer is this. The m135 is effectively a 1 wheel drive 300 bhp+ car that simply needs a LSD to unleash its full potential

I have used Quaife ATB on my 335 and 135 - it transforms the car completely. Having done an extensive lists of mods (power, chassis, brakes etcetc) a LSD would be the no.1 and first one I do in the future without even thinking about it.

Edited by stef1808 on Monday 25th August 16:09

[EricE]

ecain63 said:

You do get to keep the original diff. Ive got a Birds quaife in my C63. Excellent upgrade.

Its cheaper to get a good indy to order direct from birds and fit it for you. Mine was circa £1800 all in.

Without knowing any details, I read that the M135i’s differential parts are welded together rather than screwed, so Birds has to irreversibly modify some parts. I don’t think its possible to revert to the original diff unless you buy an extra final drive unit?

birds said:

In 2007, BMW began to change the internal construction of many of their final drives. In the past the crownwheel was always BOLTED to the differential, which therefore allowed the original crownwheel to be unbolted and installed onto a Quaife differential.

The welded construction means that specialist machining and set-up is required to part the crownwheel from the diff. This can only be done at our facility in the UK, or by one of our master distributors. The entire process takes 3-5 working days.



There are 2 solutions:

1) Quaife BMW LSD Conversion. You leave your car with us for 3-5 working days while we convert your existing final drive to a Quaife LSD (£1575.60+VAT). Customers abroad are able to ship their final drives to us for conversion (£1290+VAT).

2) Exchange Quaife BMW Final Drive. For your convenience, we have created an exchange program where we prepare complete Quaife-converted final drives in exchange for your existing ones, so that your car is not "off-road" for the conversion downtime. We can swap over the drives in 3-5 hours. The exchange part is £1395 + labour (£280) and VAT. Customers abroad will need to pay a deposit surcharge of £750+VAT until we receive the standard drive back in exchange, before refunding.