Discussion
I've just brought a 2001 330i saloon as a daily driver. It's a nice car with 75000miles and seems in very good conditon but i'm not very impressed with the handling. It's a little bit soft and floaty for my tastes but I can live with that seeing as it's a four door saloon, and the steering seems a bit light and vague, but the main thing is the bad tramlining.
Now i've checked the tyre pressures, the tyres seem to be wearing even and i'm going to get the tracking checked but I don't think that's going to do the trick so has anyone got anything else to check or are they all like this?
Now i've checked the tyre pressures, the tyres seem to be wearing even and i'm going to get the tracking checked but I don't think that's going to do the trick so has anyone got anything else to check or are they all like this?
My 2002 (it was actually built in 2001 but was the full facelift with the new squinty headlights) 330i sport saloon tramlined plenty. That had 18's on it nad they were 225 in the front and 255 at the back.
The facelift models had a different steering set-up I believe. Certainly mine was not light at all and was heavier than the pre-facelift models
s for the tramlining: I had the alignment done at a very good place in Swindon-a proper 4 wheel alignment jig, they even strap the car down to simulate the weight of a passenger. Took about an hour. The car drove perfectly straight but still tramlined allot compared to my Honda Prelude which only had 205/16in inch tyres on it.
The suspension was never wallowy as mine was the 'sport' spec with the stiifer springs. Is yours a sport? By the sounds of it, it is a SE model.
To sort out the 'wallowing'I would suggest a set of Eibach or similair high performance aftermarket spring/dampoers that will be better than the BMW OEM 'sport' stuff.
I found that whilst the OEM 'sport' springs gave nice flat cornering, the caused the car to feel unstable at very high speeds has the car tended to 'bounce' over bumps rather than absorb them. There was not enough bump absorbtion going on, especially given that the car was not a very low for 'sport' suspension model. The car always felt better when it was loaded with some weight in the boot though.
The facelift models had a different steering set-up I believe. Certainly mine was not light at all and was heavier than the pre-facelift models
s for the tramlining: I had the alignment done at a very good place in Swindon-a proper 4 wheel alignment jig, they even strap the car down to simulate the weight of a passenger. Took about an hour. The car drove perfectly straight but still tramlined allot compared to my Honda Prelude which only had 205/16in inch tyres on it.
The suspension was never wallowy as mine was the 'sport' spec with the stiifer springs. Is yours a sport? By the sounds of it, it is a SE model.
To sort out the 'wallowing'I would suggest a set of Eibach or similair high performance aftermarket spring/dampoers that will be better than the BMW OEM 'sport' stuff.
I found that whilst the OEM 'sport' springs gave nice flat cornering, the caused the car to feel unstable at very high speeds has the car tended to 'bounce' over bumps rather than absorb them. There was not enough bump absorbtion going on, especially given that the car was not a very low for 'sport' suspension model. The car always felt better when it was loaded with some weight in the boot though.
redgriff500 said:
So it either the tyres, tyre wear, alignment...
I decided to swap the tyres front to rear today, it's made big improvement. The fronts had worn more on the edges than the centre, but only an extra 2mm or so (4mm of tread on the edges 6mm in the centre) but this obviously upsets it quite a lot.
Had the alignment checked it's all spot on.
I had a 2001 330Ci Sport and thought it handled beautifully. I drove some pre-2001 models and also found the steering to be over assisted. Apparently in 2001 they fitted the steering rack from the 325ti compact which had considerably more feel. Tyre pressures do certainly make a difference but the biggest improvement to tram lining I ever had was when I replaced the front tyres for Dunlops. I think it is a characteristic of the 18's though - I specced my next 3 series with 17's and it's much better.
dumbfunk
dumbfunk
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