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#1. Re: [E36M3] '95 5-Spoke Rear Wheels - from Rich Beebe
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 10:21:23 -0400 From: Rich Beebe <rich@beebecomm.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] '95 5-Spoke Rear Wheels i guess you didn't find it on bimmerforums, huh? LTW 8.5" p/n: 36.11.2.227.360 rich From: Greg Gantt <ggantt@gantt-consulting.com> > Anyone have the part number for 1995 silver painted 5-spoke 8.5" rear forged > wheels? Also, anyone with a pair of these interested in selling, please > contact me via e-mail. Thanks. > > Greg
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#2. Re: Klunk Found and Weeping Seals - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:32:59 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Klunk Found and Weeping Seals on 9/11/02 12:03 AM, LoweSeaton@aol.com wrote: > neil.maller@gte.net writes: > >> Hmm, that's interesting. What shocks/springs? I'm trying to remember whether >> I trimmed my rear bump stops or not when I put the H&R/Konis on, but it was >> so long ago I forget. Think I'll go and look... > Bottom line: The rear shocks don't come close to bottoming out regardless > who makes the shock. The rear bumpstops are just there to hold up the dust > boots. Lowell, I wasn't worrying about having omitted to trim the rear stops. More that I might have trimmed them unnecessarily, and therefore not be benefiting from the extra stiffness that John talked about. I think the bump stops might actually serve a purpose for me, since my car with H&R Sports sits very noticeably lower than other cars I see around with the same springs. No idea why this is. Yes, they've been on the car a few years now so may have settled a bit, but even so they're very low. The stance of the car is more what you'd expect from racing springs. My garage at home has rather a steep ramp, and I tend to scrape going over the sill transition. In fact I've just attached chassis plastic rub strips from Pegasus Racing to give the bottom of the car some relief. Neil 96 M3 - hangin' low
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#3. Re: Bad BMW mods - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:35:53 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Bad BMW mods on 9/10/02 6:33 PM, "Ron Buchalski" <rbuchals@hotmail.com> wrote: > Check this out... > Tons of great pics of molested BMWs. > > http://www.jimmy540i.com/bmwnightmare.htm > > Unbelievable! Mind you, the best part may be that if you follow the link to Xenon Lights, which the site owner sells, you'll find the following priceless statement: ********** EVERY XENON BULB COMES WITH AN AUTHENTIC WARRANTY VOID PATCH ********* This CANNOT be imitate by others. Neil 96 M3 - at 71K miles my warranty's void too, but no patch to prove it
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#4. Re: '95 5-Spoke Rear Wheels - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:43:24 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: '95 5-Spoke Rear Wheels on 9/11/02 9:23 AM, Greg Gantt <ggantt@gantt-consulting.com> wrote: > Anyone have the part number for 1995 silver painted 5-spoke 8.5" rear forged > wheels? M double-spoke forged, 8 1/2Jx17, ET:41 with Motorsport lettering P/N 36 11 2 227 360 > Also, anyone with a pair of these interested in selling, please > contact me via e-mail. I would expect these to be somewhat rare, since they were only offered on the 95 model year in the US. (96+ forged wheels are cosmetically different.) Neil 96 M3 - Forged wheel option
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#5. Re: Cross drilled rotors? - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 10:02:13 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Cross drilled rotors? on 9/11/02 9:23 AM, Mo Karamat <karamatm@optonline.net> wrote: > I will be going to the glen at the end of the month for a 2 days school, so > I ordered some PF97's pads. Well I also wanted to buy a set of rotors for > the track as well. I was going to purchase stock type Balo rotors, when a > friend suggested Zimmerman cross drilled rotors. Does anyone have any > experience with crossed drilled rotors? Will they help with braking at all? > I have heard stories about them cracking, and eating up pads?? I'm very skeptical about cross-drilled rotors *except* in the case of a brake system has been engineered to work with these parts (e.g. Porsche). In the simplest analysis, holes reduce the friction surface area available to your pads. Personal experience long ago showed that PF track pads really don't like slotted rotors (wouldn't bed properly), and I wonder whether you could face similar problems with holes? Others have mentioned that drilled rotors (again, not Porsche since their holes are cast) are subject to cracking around the holes. The Euro E46 M3 has hole-y rotors, but I don't suppose there's enough experience with those yet to formulate an opinion. If your budget is more forgiving you might consider buying the E36 M3 floating (aka 2-piece) rotors, around $110-115 each, which my experience says are more warp resistant. Otherwise you can buy Balo rotors and consider them consumable items. In either case there's no need for extra rears. Your PF97 pads are a fine choice. Bed them in first with some street driving. Neil 96 M3
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#6. USAA Insurance - from Burgess, Kim L
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:02:10 -0700 From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> Subject: USAA Insurance Dan wrote - "Any claim haunts you like a plague (just like speeding tickets), so there's no economic incentive to have a deductible below $1k." ....unless the finance company whose rate was the lowest mandates a deductible of $500. Kim always-contests-speeding-violations Burgess 99M3 and has had his share of East-Coast insurance hassles as previous Philly resident.
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#7. Strong Strut - from DiVincenti, A.J.
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 10:20:07 -0500 From: "DiVincenti, A.J." <ADiVin@lsuhsc.edu> Subject: Strong Strut Are any of you familiar with the Strong Strut braces http://home1.gte.net/azz3man/? I'd like to get a little feedback on these if I could. Bimmer Haus recommended them. AJ
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#8. un subscribe please - from M3240hp@aol.com
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 11:23:13 EDT From: M3240hp@aol.com Subject: un subscribe please
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#9. Roomate for the Glen 26, 27, 28 Sept - from Ahmad Lutfeali
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 15:54:36 +0000 From: "Ahmad Lutfeali" <m3_racer99@hotmail.com> Subject: Roomate for the Glen 26, 27, 28 Sept Any has reservations and want a roomate or need to reserve and looking for a roomate for the 26, 27, 28 at the Glen(all three or two nights)?. Thanks, Ahmad _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
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#10. Re: Negatives to E30M3 Control Arms? [Long] - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 11:20:03 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Negatives to E30M3 Control Arms? [Long] on 9/10/02 5:03 PM, "twisty M3" <twistym3@hotmail.com> wrote: > My control arm bushings needed replacement and I ended up finding a nice > surprise when my mechanic told me to look under the car. Pretty, shiney > aluminum! He put the aluminum E30 M3 control arms on. OK, you're not going to like this: First, I opine there's no way that for equal geometry you can tell the difference in driving between steel and aluminum control arms. The combined unsprung mass of your stock kingpin, strut (I used 75% of the shock to represent the unsprung portion), brake caliper, brake pads, rotor, lug bolts, wheel and tire are in excess of 40 Kg. (I just added up the obvious stuff and didn't try to account for all the fasteners, miscellaneous parts, etc., and I don't even have a weight for the spring.) The E36 M3 stock steel control arm weighs 3.705 Kg, and the E30 M3 aluminum part weighs 1.945 Kg, for a savings of 1.76 Kg. The part of each control arm that runs back from the inner ball joint to the bushing basically isn't unsprung and has very low inertia, so I'm going to approximate that it's 50% of the total and deduct all of that, reducing our unsprung weight savings to 0.88 Kg per corner. But wait, there's more! Or actually, less. The portion of the control arm extending from the inner ball joint to the kingpin isn't all unsprung mass. If it consisted of a simple beam of constant section and pivoted at the inner end, the moment of inertia would be (Mass/3)*Length^2, but in reality the tapered shape concentrates much of the mass toward the pivot point, where it has a reduced effect. We don't have the data to calculate this, so I'm going to say it's 50%. So now our effective savings of unsprung mass is around 0.44 Kg per front corner. Now we're down to only about 1% savings in effective unsprung weight (0.44 vs. 40+ Kg). Yes, I realize this is a somewhat back-of-the-envelope calculation, and I invite commentary/correction/alternate views. But I think that the basic conclusion is sound. > Anyway... now that I've got this unexpected "upgrade" that I didn't have > time to research beforehand, can someone let me know if there are any > negatives that I should be on the lookout for? (aside from aluminum parts > possibly wearing out more quickly) Second, and more important than my opinion, here's what BMW CCA Club Racing says about E30 aluminum control arms: ---------- BMWCCA CLUB RACING TECH BULLETIN 02-97 E30 BALL JOINT FAILURE Issue date: 9/97 ISSUED BY: MICHAEL YASKIN, NATIONAL CHIEF SCRUTINEER PHONE: ******** FAX: ******** E-MAIL: ******** Investigation into several Club Racing/Drivers School incidents during the 1997 season have revealed total failure of the Ball Joint Stud on the Lower Control Arm resulting in immediate loss of steering. We recommend the following preventive measures (until otherwise noted): 1. When preparing an E30 for club racing, start with new control arms. 2. Replace all steel control arms after 2 seasons of use or 20 events. 3. Replace all aluminum control arms after 2 seasons 4. Replace control arm if a ball joint has any amount of "up and down" play when squeezed with a large "water pump" pliers. 5. Replace control arm if a ball joint has any "side to side" play in it when grasping the outside of tire and shaking from side to side or up and down. 6. Do not re-use poly lock nuts 7. Torque ball joint stud nuts to spec!! 8. Re-torque nut several times during season. It shouldnąt turn--if it does, investigate why. 9. If an "incident" involving enough force to bend a road wheel occurs--replace control arm. 10. When trailering a car, do not tie car down around or thru control arms. 11. Use quality replacement parts. BMW original or Lemforder brand are the only ones we recommend. There are inferior quality control arms being sold by large, well known suppliers. 12. It is important to understand that the type of failure we have seen may be undetectable by in car physical inspection. Change the arms at the time and usage specifications listed above, not just with normal ball joint wear inspection. Inspect the subframe tapered socket and area around the socket for cracks and elongation--use a mirror to see the upper portion (especially on the right side of car--we have seen many cars that crack in this area). This may cause ball joint failure. ----------- Lastly, here's what I said in a post to this Digest on 8/8/02: > The aluminum control arms are known to be fragile on tracked E30 M3s, and > regular preventative replacement is recommended. The 6 cylinder E36 carries > significantly more load on the front. You do the math...is the slightly > reduced weight of the aluminum arm worth it? Postscript: the E46 M3 aluminum control arm weighs 2.99 Kg, or 54% more than the E30 M3 equivalent. And no, I don't whether it would fit the E36, or how the geometry compares. Neil 96 M3