Steering/Suspension Modifications.

There seems to be quite a few discussions on changing suspension springs and dampers, but how many owners have gone that little extra distance and fitted camber plates, anti-roll bars and adjustable roll bar drop links and are there any experiences to share?
I have just installed a set of camberplates on an E31 and the handling and steering has been totally transformed, probably more so than fitting an uprated suspension kit to a car with good original suspension.

8Tech.

The camber plates are a fixed geometry type so once fitted and set-up, you can forget them unlike the adjustable K-Mac ones which require the front suspension geometry reset every time they are adjusted. These adjustable ones are more for the race car that has its suspension set-up for a particular circuit rather than for the street.
The increase in both camber and caster to optimum improves steering response and speed, and reduces understeer to neutral when pushing the car to its limits. The car feels much lighter and more nimble with far more positive and accurate steering.

They were designed in the US by MWrench and are available from here

http://www.phoenixmotorsport.c…rts_folder/alloyProds.php

Price is £65.00 plus vat and post for the whole kit.

If anyone would like them fitted, I can do this, fit them and then carry out a full KDS alignment or a normal 4 wheel alignment (for about half the cost of a KDS.) You would have to leave the car with me for the day though and I cannot do weekends, (KDS closed). Please personal message me to discuss costs as this is a forum and I do not wish to cause offense by advertising my services.

8Tech.

Zitat von ukzero

My question is: If there are such marked add-on improvements available, how did BMW, given the enormous development costs of this car, get the set up so wrong in the first place?

I think perhaps it is more a question of what you are trying to achieve.
I'm guessing BMW went for a GT set up in keeping with the grand touring philosophy of the E31's concept and development.

Keeping on guessing, am I right in thinking that there is nothing inherently wrong with the original, it's just that if you want to turn your GT coupe into a hardcore Sports coupe, changes will need to be made?

Compromises had to be made as the car was designed as a Grand Tourer and not as a sports car. However, here we are, 10 years on with owner/drivers who possibly could not have afforded an £80000 GT car but now can afford an 8 and wish to make it more sports orientated rather than Golf Clubs and dinner jacket.
BMW did not set it up incorrectly in the first place, it was just not expected to be enthusiastically driven in the handling dept, but when BMW realised this was happening, they modified the suspension and there came the CSi
I wonder how many original owners went back to the dealership and mentioned the ploughing straight ahead due to excessive understeer on the handling limits!.............Point taken?
Or how many rear strut mounts collapsed into the boot due to the shell failure around the top mount. (See other thread)

8Tech..

Zitat von rcrad6653;78762

It's on Ed Raether's site, Mwrench.com. It's right on the front page, and now here as well. Good luck.

Since this is a resurrection of a very old post. I'd like to address Gerry's original question. As we know the static camber plates have been around for some time now and have made many owners quite happy. On my car I've gone quite a bit further with Mtech springs/shockers, tower plates, and Kmac 19mm adjust. sway in the rear..... and adjust. Coilover Eibach/Koni, adjust. camber plates, Dinan 27mm adjust. sway, and Gerry's 15mm roll center spacers in front, with a StrongStrut tower bar. I will be adding the OEM X-brace frame reinforcement that was introduced with the '93 cars (mine's a '92) for the final element to stiffen things up even further. All of these mods have produced a very well balanced car that handles extremely well while providing a comfortable ride, and I don't think anyone could ask for much more from an E31. My question to you Gerry, is if there is any advantage to using adjustable sway links? I already have the sways dialed in with the rear neutral (middle of 3 holes) and the front loose (foremost of 4 holes). TIA

Hi,

Adjustable sway bar links do not alter the roll stiffness but allow neutral loading of the sway bar. Assume that when you are out of the car, the distance between the bar mount and strut end of each link is the same. Now when you get in the car, the suspension sinks on the drivers side and the roll bar twists because as far as it knows, you are cornering so it sees 1 side of the car lower than the other and transmits force to the other side to resist it. So, with a stationary car and driver, the bar is twisting and trying to pull the other side of the car to match....it is preloaded.
Now when you go round a corner, the bar is already loading the suspension equivelent to the weight of the driver so you will get a transition mid-bend where this is overcome and the bar starts to push the other way.
With adjustable links, you get into the car with one end disconnected. You then adjust it in length until it fits easily, with no force on the bar.
You now have a correctly pre-loaded sway bar.
Pre-loaded with noone in the car but completely neutral when the driver gets back in.
Benefit is only slight and probably only noticeable to an experienced driver but every little helps!

Hope that explains it. Clear as mud probably.

8Tech.