Having now had 18 months of faultless and very enjoyable driving out of my ageing 318IS (16valve M42 engine) I have decided, rather than swapping up to a six-cylinder model with asscoiated fuel, insurance and labour costs, to keep it and spend a bit of cash on it. I have just bought a set of 17inch Kahn RSR wheels (I'm 22 come on!) which I love and will fit them in a couple of weeks - Question is do I have to adjust any of the suspension set up/geometry for these larger wheels? What handling/braking/cornering advantages and disadvantages can I expect etc?
I am also thinking of a stainless exhaust. Not a huge fat one but a tasteful and elegant size. Any ideas on these as the car is relatively rare (318i exhaust doesn't fit) and I cannot find a ready made one available so may have to order a custom made one - thoughts?
The car still (for over a year now) has a rattling noise a bit like a tiny chainsaw when between 3000 and 4000 revs and only when warm. It has had it's cam chain (M42 engine) changed not too long ago - any help/advice much appreciated as I can't afford BMW servicing!
Can anybody recommend any simple brake upgrades that do not involve a ludicrous expense?
Finally, just as a point of interest, I cannot recommend this car too highly (apart from on wet roundabouts!) and I just look forward to being able to afford it's big brother the 325IS which sounds so much more fun!
Thanks for any help
|
I dont have any specific E30 experience but i may be able to point you in the right directions.
For the brakes i would look at www.hispecmotorsport.co.uk who can provide a kit to go up to 285mm and larger discs, but its expensize prices start at 441 plus vat. If the 325 brakes are any different to yours you could put them on , or you could buy a decent pair of grooved discs (brembo/ap racing etc) use them with some fast road pads, and replaced the brake hoses for braided items.
I think 17" wheels are too big for an E30, you run the risk of hitting the arches. You could get them rolled but i would not wish to mess with the body kit like that. What offset are they? Oh and your speedo will be out. If you have not tried to lower the car you should not need to change any settings, but it may be adviseable to get them checked. If you are fitting wider tyres be prepared for less steering feel. The ride will be worse, and probably the handling after fitting the 17" wheels. All you will gain will be looks and increased tyre bills! Sorry to sound so negetive, but if it was my car i would start by buying the best quality set of dampers i could, check and replacing all suspension bushes and having a full geometry set up done.
If you get a new exhaust dont expect any more power unless you are willing to put up with a lot more noise, www.haywardandscott.co.uk should be able to help- they will make whatever you ask them. Depending how far you go with the exhaust it may be adviseable to check and replace engine mounts where neccessary- stainless exhausts may not rust but they do crack.
|
Thanks for you help - the alloys came off exactly the same car - I checked this out, so there should be no fit problems - the rest of what you say is interesting though - why do car manufacturers fit such large alloys as standard nowadays if they are detrimental to the handling etc of a car? Is it simply a cosmetic enhancement?
The brakes are the same as the 325 so may look at some grooved discs and uprated pads.
Many thanks for your reply!
|
Big wheels and low profile tyres can offer advantages- on cars that are designed for them. Old suspension system will not track camber castor etc as well. Low profile tyres are less forgiving, the difference between grip on a good road and a poorly surfaced road will get bigger. Cars are designed for a variety of markets, many other countries have better roads than we do. I am not against such wheels and tyres but as with many things they are a compromise. The e30 just wasnt designed to have 17" wheels. I would be very surprised if there was not a possibility for smacking the wheel on the arch. Turn the car on full lock and see how much travel the suspension has left, it will be during cornering it will happen. If you corner hard the outside front will be heavily loaded and if you hit a pot hole you need to be sure that the tyre will not hit the arch before the suspension bottoms. It may be worth fitting uprated bump stops.
How many years/miles do the dampers fitted to your car have?
Just because they came off the same car does not mean there will be no problems. Have a look at the wheels to find out what the offsett is, it should read ET?? , perhaps ET25 on an E30.
The width of tyres is very much related to the wieght of the vehicle. Fitting wider tyres makes the contact patch shorter and wider, hence less feedback through the steering. To increase contact patch area you can run lower pressure, indeed touring cars run very low tyre pressure, but this can create other problems for you to deal with. The manufacturer has already found the best compromise. If you want to move the compromise toward road holding and handling there are a load of things you will need to consider. I would not lower your car. E30 suffer severe camber problems at the back which will be expensive to correct. If you put the wheels and tyres on i would suggest a set of Bilstein Sport dampers from Euro Car Parts if you want to draw out the best in them. What tyres have you got?
With the brakes have a look around and see if you can get a braket that will allow you to use the original caliper and some "standard" spec 285mm discs. I would strongly reccomend changing the hoses if you do anything to the brakes. If you find anywhere that can make the brackets for you let me know, i havent found anywhere yet, but i havent looked much. Whatever you do dont change to calipers with a different piston diameter without changing the master cylinder too.
|
Once again many thanks for your very pertinent reply. Here is the link to the actual wheels I bought:
tinyurl.com/2wlq4
Looks like a ridiculous link but it works - have taken all your points on board and will let you know the effect these wheels have over the 15inch ones I have at the moment - don\'t forget however that Hartge and Alpina special sporting editions of this exact car had 16 and 17inch rims respectively as standard.
I will update you when I get back home (working in Paris now)and get behind the spiderweb covered wheel!
{Link amended. No longer \"looks ridiculous\", and still works. DD}
|
Like i said i dont know much about the E30, i didnt know Alpina and Hartage fitted 17" wheels to the E30, i thought they were only fitted to the E30 M3 cars which have different suspension.
I had a look at your wheels- wow, expensive. Eagle F1 are very good tyres, i had a set before, have driven slightly better in the dry but the wet grip is excellent, so ideal for those slow tight roundabouts in the rain!
Unfortunately the ad does not mention what ofset the wheels are! The guy is selling some plates which are used to correct (or increase depending what you want) the ofset. Better to wait untill you have looked at the wheels and see what they are. They may be unsuitable. I think from memory bmw e30 wheels are about et25 so a fair amount of offset, look silly if you fit them to a mk.2 golf. It will depend on the offset of the wheels whether it will be advantageous to use those spacers you have bought with the wheels- try it both ways and see what you think.
A cheaper alternative for dampers can be found here: sslrelay.com/buypartsby.co.uk/shock_absorbers_deta...9
£35 plus vat each is cheap in my opinion for good quality E30 sport spec dampers. I have not used KYB before, but Aprillia has recommended them in the past.
From previous discussion on this board, it might be a good idea to consider fitting a strut brace.
|
|
One fairly simple but very effective E30 upgrade is to fit E30 M3 bushes from the front lower suspension arms to the body. These are available separately from the lower arms. I'm fairly sure, but not 100%, that they will fit on your standard suspension arms. These bushes reduce the over light floaty front end which afficts non M3 E30s at high speed by changing the front steering geometry.(Check the tracking after fitting them) Two more points to check on your car are the condition of the rear subframe bushes (two cylindrical bushes at either end of the rear axle) and the condition of the rear damper top mounts. 16 inch alloys work best on standard E30s, 17s on M3s.
|
Just as a follow-up to this post I would like to say that I did a good testing of these new wheels last weekend (perfect weather, 2 mile long tarmac farm track at home!) and found that coupled with the fantastic Eagle F1 tyres they came with, the braking was noticably better, cornering grippier but the ride a little more jittery with slight floatiness. The car looks fantastic and with the whole family on board I had no clearance probs. Thanks to all the contibutors - I always like to leave the outcome for future reference.
Matt
|
|
|
|
quote:
"The car still (for over a year now) has a rattling noise a bit like a tiny chainsaw when between 3000 and 4000 revs and only when warm. It has had it's cam chain (M42 engine) changed not too long ago - any help/advice much appreciated as I can't afford BMW servicing!"
Have you found out what this prob is?
I have one myself & i think i have the same problem.
mine:
webs.hogent.be/~056660bv/MaxDish_318is/
Max Dish
|
I had a similar noise on my e30 325i.
It turned out that the cover that protects the distributor cap was loose (in my case a missing bolt) and the cover just touched the fan at certain engine speeds.
Mind your fingers if you are checking this!!
|
|
|
|
