E91 Straight Six Bearding

E91 Straight Six Bearding

Author
Discussion

6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
phil_cardiff said:
The standard suspension isn't the best on these anyway (thank you run flats) or would be tired at this age so I'd see it as an opportunity to improve the car.

Standard wheels are cheap enough.

I'd consider that one but only at £3k or so. His BIN price is silly.
Its still a manual 3.0 n52 e91 sport. At 3k there will be a queue of people wanting it...which means that is too cheap. Its worth 5k plus at the moment. Supply and demand.





croissant

1,262 posts

137 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall

6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
Im on SE with 19’s too. Its fine.

ferrisbueller

29,252 posts

226 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.

6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
ferrisbueller said:
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe

ferrisbueller

29,252 posts

226 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
And two different sets of springs and dampers can't possibly have similar settings and characteristics.


6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
ferrisbueller said:
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
And two different sets of springs and dampers can't possibly have similar settings and characteristics.
Two can play this game.

Yea so Alpina specified their own springs and dampers which turned out to be standard SE suspension, who’d have thought it. Mad crazy.

ferrisbueller

29,252 posts

226 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
And two different sets of springs and dampers can't possibly have similar settings and characteristics.
Two can play this game.

Yea so Alpina specified their own springs and dampers which turned out to be standard SE suspension, who’d have thought it. Mad crazy.
Jesus wept.



6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
ferrisbueller said:
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
6cylGolf said:
ferrisbueller said:
croissant said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
Mine is 330i SE but it's running 30 profile tyres on 19" Alpina wheels. It came like that when I purchased it and rides really nicely with the softer suspension and limited tyre wall
That's probably not far off factory Alpina setup.
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
And two different sets of springs and dampers can't possibly have similar settings and characteristics.
Two can play this game.

Yea so Alpina specified their own springs and dampers which turned out to be standard SE suspension, who’d have thought it. Mad crazy.
Jesus wept.
Im trying to make a point. An SE on 19’s rides nothing like an Alpina.

The Alpina is more compliant than an SE and more focused than an M Sport. Entirely by a better quality more expensive spring and damper set up.



JakeT

5,400 posts

119 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
6cylGolf said:
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
ALPINA didn't use this combination on the E90 models they created. They use a standard BMW damper and their own spring on the B3 models, and a standard BMW spring and damper on the D3.

6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
JakeT said:
6cylGolf said:
its pretty far off - as alpina use bilstein shocks and eibach springs that are not used on any other e9x hehe
ALPINA didn't use this combination on the E90 models they created. They use a standard BMW damper and their own spring on the B3 models, and a standard BMW spring and damper on the D3.
Ok, I had a alpina suspension on my old e91 320d and assumed the kit is what was fitted to the syntner imported e9x alpinas.

Sytner said the the bmw dampers were re valved by alpina but there is lots of contradicting information on the internet.

What is clear is that it wasnt bog standard se suspension on either the d3 or b3.

A drive in my SE on 19’s will show you how rolly polly this set up is.



phil_cardiff

7,029 posts

207 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
My old E91 was an SE with 17s and non-RFTs and it was ok but not great. Fairly fresh suspension too.

It rode worse than my current Octavia vRS on 19s

I think BMW did something odd with the spring and damper rates to compensate for the RFTs.

Mine always felt harshly sprung and under damped to me.

phil_cardiff

7,029 posts

207 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
6cylGolf said:
phil_cardiff said:
The standard suspension isn't the best on these anyway (thank you run flats) or would be tired at this age so I'd see it as an opportunity to improve the car.

Standard wheels are cheap enough.

I'd consider that one but only at £3k or so. His BIN price is silly.
Its still a manual 3.0 n52 e91 sport. At 3k there will be a queue of people wanting it...which means that is too cheap. Its worth 5k plus at the moment. Supply and demand.
Not worth 5k to me, as I said.

PS - I have a degree in economics so didn't really need the lesson but thanks anyway...laugh

JakeT

5,400 posts

119 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
On a less bhy note...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010144...

N53 manual touring. Wheels and colour combo don't do it any justice.

6cylGolf

700 posts

189 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
JakeT said:
On a less bhy note...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010144...

N53 manual touring. Wheels and colour combo don't do it any justice.
Thats tempting. Those wheels look like something someone stuck on for a part ex.

pmorg4

705 posts

115 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
JakeT said:
On a less bhy note...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010144...

N53 manual touring. Wheels and colour combo don't do it any justice.
That's a very good price for a manual 330i touring. I agree on the wheels - Momo Arrows if I'm not mistaken, which were a popular boy racer wheel in the early 2000s but I haven't seen many around since. Presumably they were kicking around in someone's garage/shed for the last 15 years or so and have been thrown on for a part-ex as stated above.

That said, it surely wouldn't cost much to pick up a set of original SE wheels.

phil_cardiff

7,029 posts

207 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
Some silver 17s and black leather sports seats and that suddenly looks a lot better.

beambeam1

1,002 posts

42 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
I only opened that link because you said Momo Arrows... wow, that's a name I haven't heard and a style I haven't seen in a long time. I'll fall off my bloody chair if someone rocks up with TSW Venoms next!

ferrisbueller

29,252 posts

226 months

Friday 16th October 2020
quotequote all
phil_cardiff said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'd actually be tempted to run one on SE suspension on non rft. I think that would be a decent setup on today's roads.
My old E91 was an SE with 17s and non-RFTs and it was ok but not great. Fairly fresh suspension too.

It rode worse than my current Octavia vRS on 19s

I think BMW did something odd with the spring and damper rates to compensate for the RFTs.

Mine always felt harshly sprung and under damped to me.
I fking hate RFTs. I've swapped them off every car I've bought with them fitted asap. I'd rather just carry a spare. I think they do indeed compromise setups due to their different characteristics. Just swapping them off is an improvement but you are left with the compromise elsewhere. Their wheel cracking prowess is also a massive pain in the arse.

My summers are 18s and on the original saggy 100k old suspension it's decent, certainly compared to overly stiff newer stuff I drive with needlessly big wheel/tyre combos and nasty underpinnings and B12 kitted BMWs I've had previously. It's definitely better on the 17s I use in winter. I ponder SE specs as I think the step change back to new OE sport would be quite abrupt, whereas I probably haven't noticed the gradual degradation over the last 70k+ miles. I've been around the houses on it a few times and just decided I'd wait until they have to be swapped because I'll be forced to make a swift decision. I'll happily trade back road compliance for a bit of roll.

croissant

1,262 posts

137 months

Friday 16th October 2020
quotequote all
beambeam1 said:
I'll fall off my bloody chair if someone rocks up with TSW Venoms next!
Classic! They've probably come full circle and would look retro cool on the right car