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#1. Sumitomos - from Mark Zenz
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 19:04:28 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Zenz <mtzenz@excite.com> Subject: Sumitomos I have the Sumi HTRZ's on my car and have to say that I have had not problems. There were 225/40/17's on the car when I bought it and they were all sipped. This is very weird for a sports tire, but the car handled well in the rain, great in the dry and they wore very well. In fact, I still have this set on the front, and put 245/35's on the back (not sipped - to try the difference) and ran in a damp track last month and they did great. I have stock suspension. Just a data point. Mark Zenz On Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:07:47 -0600, Anthony Le wrote: I have the same problem, on all 4 tires. They were deep enough to blow the tires. I didn't know what could have caused it. Interesting. I have Sumi HTRZ's on my M and I dislike them simply because of the poor feel and handling (they were shod with unfortunately quite new Sumis when I bought the car used). Now I have another reason. - John _______________________________________________________ Tired of slow Internet? Get @Home Broadband Internet http://www.home.com/xinbox/signup.html
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#2. Re: [E36M3] Adding Negative Camber - from Mdriver13@aol.com
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:10:24 EST From: Mdriver13@aol.com Subject: Re: [E36M3] Adding Negative Camber I'm no longer sure who started this original thread, but I added more negative camber to the front by adding the shims(SAE washers). This increased negative camber by 0.5, so I'm running -1.1degrees in front. Toe is set at -0.1degrees (almost zero). I have rear toe set to zero and camber left alone at -0.6 degrees because my rear tires have always worn evenly. Funny, this number is out of spec according to the dealer's Hunter spec sheet. My suspension is stock and I run standard wheel/tire sizes, except I'm running MXX3 255/40/17 on the rear. Understeer had been reduced for autoxing. "Streetability" is great, car is stable and predictable at highway speeds up to 80. To soon to comment on tire wear. Just another data point. Bob Gill 97 ///M3 coupe Philly Region SCCA AS Champion 1997 & 2000 mov'in to ESP in '01
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#3. Radio Harness - from Chris Gant
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 22:14:20 -0600 From: "Chris Gant" <cgant@home.com> Subject: Radio Harness How do I disconnect the wiring harnes from the radio? I popped the clip up with a screwdriver like it shows in the diagram on the clip, but nothing seems to happen. I have pulled on the harness in every direction until I though I was going to break something but it is not wanting to budge. Chris 95 M3
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#4. Re: H&R Race Springs Question - from dahermann@alum.mit.edu
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:19:43 -0500 (EST) From: dahermann@alum.mit.edu Subject: Re: H&R Race Springs Question I have H&R race springs, Bilstein sports, and 18" 40-series tires on my 96 M3 and I think it definitely affects the streetability of the car. I've only had the car to one track event and one autocross so far and I bought it after it was modified so I can't tell how much "better" than stock it is for the track. I definitely avoid the jungle that is supposed to be the streets of downtown Austin. Most of the roads I drive, though, are pretty good, so as a daily driver, it's not too bad. I am still considering getting a second car, though. I have ridden in a friend's 98 M3 with the same setup and it did not feel as harsh. The spring rates (how soon the car settles after a bump) in both our cars felt about the same, but his seemed to transmit less of the jolt of the bump to the passengers. He's running 17" 45-series tires, but my 17" 45-series track tires still feel harsher than his. Perhaps it was because I was sitting in the passenger seat in his car rather than the driver's seat. As far as the drop on the car, I have no complaints about that. I get lots of compliments on how the car looks with the 18" BBS RX wheels and the 2.2" drop. Except on really ridiculous (greater than 45o) drives, I have no trouble with scraping. Since you have the springs already, why don't you install them, drive on them a little, and see what you think? That's probably the best way to do it. And if anyone has any ideas why the ride in my car feels rougher than other similarly-equipped cars, I wouldn't mind hearing them. dan 96 M3
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#5. Re: [E36M3] Re: Going to Munich - from Mdriver13@aol.com
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:24:28 EST From: Mdriver13@aol.com Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Going to Munich In a message dated 11/28/00 4:58:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, dahermann@alum.mit.edu writes: << BTW, the castles along the river on the autobahn near Cologne are supposed to be quite amazing. >> They are! Also, if you hit the BMW museum, stop in at the BMW dealership next to the factory, always a new model surprise or two. They sell all the accessories, but know your German. I tried to buy a set of wheels and couldn't cut through the language barrier. Left the place just shaking my head, but got a great tour of their parts basement filled with goodies! Reminded me of a Star Trek episode where Kirk tries to communicate with an alien captain through grunts, gestures, and lots of pointing. ;-)) Bob Gill 97 ///M3 coupe Philly Region SCCA AS Champion 1997 & 2000 mov'in to ESP in '01
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Re: H&R Race Springs Question - from Matt Henson
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:32:46 -0800 (PST) From: Matt Henson <hensonator@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: H&R Race Springs Question Did you cut the Strut bump stop? Did your friend? I initially installed the H&R Sport + Bilts w/o cutting thje stops and found the ride to be just bad. I cut the stops and it helped a lot. Eventually I went to Eibach springs and the ride is pretty decent. IMO the tradeoffs for having the stiff setup outweigh the benefits unless you really track it a lot. -Matt --- dahermann@alum.mit.edu wrote: > Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:19:43 -0500 (EST) > From: dahermann@alum.mit.edu > Subject: Re: H&R Race Springs Question > > I have H&R race springs, Bilstein sports, and > 18" 40-series tires on my 96 M3 and I think it > definitely affects the streetability of the car. > I've only had the car to one track event and one > autocross so far and I bought it after it was > modified so I can't tell how much "better" than > stock it is for the track. > > I definitely avoid the jungle that is supposed > to be the streets of downtown Austin. Most of > the roads I drive, though, are pretty good, so > as a daily driver, it's not too bad. I am > still considering getting a second car, though. > > I have ridden in a friend's 98 M3 with the same > setup and it did not feel as harsh. The spring > rates (how soon the car settles after a bump) in > both our cars felt about the same, but his > seemed to transmit less of the jolt of the > bump to the passengers. He's running 17" > 45-series tires, but my 17" 45-series track > tires still feel harsher than his. Perhaps it > was because I was sitting in the passenger > seat in his car rather than the driver's seat. > > As far as the drop on the car, I have no > complaints about that. I get lots of compliments > on how the car looks with the 18" BBS RX wheels > and the 2.2" drop. Except on really ridiculous > (greater than 45o) drives, I have no trouble with > scraping. > > Since you have the springs already, why don't you > install them, drive on them a little, and see > what you think? That's probably the best way > to do it. > > And if anyone has any ideas why the ride in my > car feels rougher than other similarly-equipped > cars, I wouldn't mind hearing them. > > dan > 96 M3 > > > ************************************************************* > List Commands > UNSUBSCRIBE - (in subject line) unsubscribes you > from the mailing list. > ************************************************************* > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
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#7. New Z8 and M5's for sale - from Chris Gant
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 22:34:09 -0600 From: "Chris Gant" <cgant@home.com> Subject: New Z8 and M5's for sale My local dealer had a nice "Z8 Showing" tonight...food, wine, suits, ties...the whole nine yards. It was the first one they recieved and was (pre)sold to a local guy for $200K. What a beautiful car. They also have 3 M5's that have anywhere between 200 - 1500 miles on them for sale. I think they are willing to deal somewhat on the price since they are almost a year old now. They have had them for several months, and started out asking $90K for them. Slowly over the last few months the prices have come back down. (and the milage has crept up) I think that serves them right for asking so much and even refusing some very reasonable offers. Anyways, just thought I'd mention it if anyone was still looking for an M5. E-mail me if interested. Chris 95 M3
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#8. Re: [E36M3] Re: H&R Race Springs Question - from Chris Teague
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:45:47 -0800 From: "Chris Teague" <cteague@home.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: H&R Race Springs Question Dan, What shocks do you and your friend have? The ride quality can be changed dramatically with different shocks and shock settings. That may be the difference. Chris Teague 97 M3/4 > And if anyone has any ideas why the ride in my > car feels rougher than other similarly-equipped > cars, I wouldn't mind hearing them. > > dan > 96 M3 > >
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#9. Re: [E36M3] Gear Ratios - 5 speed VS 6 speed - from LoweSeaton@aol.com
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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:57:38 EST From: LoweSeaton@aol.com Subject: Re: [E36M3] Gear Ratios - 5 speed VS 6 speed Wayne, It sounds like you are getting ready to put a Euro 6-speed transmission in your U.S. M3? This is something I have long toyed with. I'd love to have an overdrive 6th gear for easy cruising on the Interstate. I drove over 1,500 miles to Iowa and back for Thanksgiving. Others may disagree with me but after 12 straight hours (750 miles), I get real tired of listening to the engine hammering away at 3,500 rpm (80 mph). And that ECIS/K&N filter does not help. Argh!! It improves power but I can't stand the noise more than a couple of thousand miles. Looks like I'll take it out again this weekend and put the Euro airbox back in. I don't know why BMW never offered the 6-speed transmission in the U.S. Yes, I do. :( I used to work for the EPA. I think it cost something like $2 million for a car maker to certify a different transmission/engine combination for the EPA fuel mileage ratings. I suspect BMW did not want to spend the money. Anyway, to answer your question. I posted this information several months ago. I gathered the info from a UK M3 brochure and the U.S. literature. The transmission ratios are virtually identical for 1st thru 5th gears. 6th gear is a 0.83 overdrive. Different rear end ratios are used in the U.S. M3. '95 manual - 3.15 '95 automatic - 3.23 '95 LTW - 3.23 '96-'99 manual - 3.23 '97-'98 automatic - 3.38 [there was no automatic in '96 and I think the last year for the auto was '98] Transmissions: Euro U.S. manual U.S. auto 1st - 4.23 4.20 3.67 2nd - 2.51 2.49 2.00 3rd - 1.67 1.66 1.41 4th - 1.23 1.24 1.00 5th - 1.00 1.00 0.74 6th - 0.83 Note that if you really wanted to gear for top speed, the U.S. automatic has the highest gear!! I've long argued that the fastest M3 is a U.S. '95 automatic. I calculated the potential top speed at 230 mph with 255/40 tires at 7,200 rpm. You just need to figure out how to get 900 hp out of the engine. <vbg> Good luck. Let us know how the transmission swap goes. Lowell Seaton '95 M3/2 - slightly batty after driving 1,500 miles in 3 days Dallas, Texas
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#10. Re: [E36M3] Re: mild vibs at 65-75 mph - from LoweSeaton@aol.com
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Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 02:46:51 EST From: LoweSeaton@aol.com Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: mild vibs at 65-75 mph John and Jason, Sorry about the deafening silence. Usually when you post a question to this list you get 3 responses within the hour. There is some guy named J'A'P' out in California that even e-mails me at 2 in the morning! That guy needs to get a life :) I had a similar vibration with my '95 M3 after I put on 4 new tires. I've come to the conclusion that E36 M3's are extremely sensitive to unbalanced wheels. The place where I had my tires balanced had the finest Hunter computerized balancing machine available. It was brand new, less than a week old. They balanced the wheels a second time, no improvement. I figured I needed an alignment so I went to an independent BMW mechanic in Dallas. First thing he said was the tires are out of balance. I told him I had just had them balanced - twice. He said he did not trust those tire chain discount stores. He was going to rebalance them first. Sure enough!! That was it. The tire store had misbalanced the tires - twice!! Why? What went wrong? They had the best machine money could buy. My mechanic used a simple 10 year old balancer without aid of a computer. Remember I said the computerized Hunter machine at the tire store was brand new? Guess what? It had not been properly installed and calibrated. Every tire they balanced for the first month was wrong. They had hundreds of pissed off customers - including me. All I got was a coupon for a free rotate and balance. I learned a lesson on what to look for and ask next time I balance my wheels. Don't just assume that because the tire store or dealer has the latest greatest Hunter machine the tires will be correctly balanced. Tire balancing machines are sensitive machines and then need to be properly calibrated. Ask when was the last time it was calibrated? If they don't know or it was more than 1 day ago, go somewhere else. And if you see 16 year old tire jockeys slamming wheels onto the machine, go somewhere else. The tire balancer should be well maintained and well treated or the results may be off and you end up with misbalanced tires. So.......long winded answer to your question. But I would check the tire balance again. Go to another facility. I think you will find the second guy will balance them differently. I'll bet your tires are misbalanced. Find a good mechanic that knows what he is doing. It won't be a high school kid working part time. Nobody under 20 is ever going to balance my tires in the future. If you lived in Dallas, I recommend Nine Eleven Enterprises. Good luck! Lowell Seaton '95 M3/2 BMW CCA #131505