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      03-21-2012, 02:35 PM   #1
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Adaptive suspension with H&R Springs

Hi!
I`m new to the E89 forum, but have used the E85 forum much

I will soon buy me a Z4 35i and want to lower it with H&R sprngs as they give the car a perfect look.

My question is: Can I buy a car with adaptive suspension and still use H&R springs?
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      03-21-2012, 05:19 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwZ
Hi!
I`m new to the E89 forum, but have used the E85 forum much

I will soon buy me a Z4 35i and want to lower it with H&R sprngs as they give the car a perfect look.

My question is: Can I buy a car with adaptive suspension and still use H&R springs?
Yes..
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      03-22-2012, 12:56 AM   #3
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This is the same setup I have, works great, looks pretty good, check the garage. The only thing to be added are 5mm spacers on the front and 10mm spacers on the rear to bring the wheels out almost even with the body. Going a bit wider at the back also reduces some of the understeer when pushed hard.
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      03-22-2012, 06:56 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckB View Post
This is the same setup I have, works great, looks pretty good, check the garage. The only thing to be added are 5mm spacers on the front and 10mm spacers on the rear to bring the wheels out almost even with the body. Going a bit wider at the back also reduces some of the understeer when pushed hard.
Chuck, that looks great but two questions:
1. Which H&R springs did you use (Sport, Race, OE...) and why?
2. I do push my Zed hard on the track 3 - 4 times a year and debating on order of mods, it has the understeer but also a little loose in the corners was considering sway bars then springs but the spacers are a cheap way to help with understeer, now my question, did the springs help with the “looseness” ?
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      03-22-2012, 12:59 PM   #5
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Baldguyj, we don't get a choice for road cars (German T.U.V.), so I could only get H&R part # 28987-1, which probably equate to the Sport version available everywhere else.

I found the springs lowered the car perfectly as far as the optics go. I have the Adaptive suspension, which, having driven both versions, does help a lot, but still had issues with the rear of the car hopping on every irregularity when cornering hard, the springs did not remove all of it, but did improve it noticeably. It did help a bit with the oversteer, but not as much as I would have hoped, but you can feel it coming on much better. I also changed the rear camber from -2.5 to -1.5, which also helped with the understeer a bit, but at the expense of high speed stability, but again not enough to keep me from hitting the limiter when traffic allows. So I am hoping the spacers take just a little more understeer out, then I think I will be happy.

So to specifically address your questions;
Sport Springs

Yes, it did reduce, but not eliminate the looseness. But I find everything so far does allow a lot more confidence when pushing hard. Will let you know how the spacers weigh in after next week.
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      03-22-2012, 08:39 PM   #6
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Chuck, great explanation! So there are advantages and disadvantages to everything! We can get several parts here and mod our cars ‘easier’ but you can drive your car the way it was designed on a daily commute and I have to pay $300 - $600 a weekend to track my car. Oh well! Interesting you changed the rear canter I was going to change my front since the last track tore up the outside edge, hence need more negative cantor to compensate. I worry that dropping the car much and added spacers will cause some problems. Look at pictures and you can see at Sebring I already have a lot of compression and yes I have adaptive suspension as well. My thought was to start with sway bars to correct a bit of the roll, add a bit of negative cantor to the front but with any good experiment we cannot change too many variables or you don’t know what made the difference.
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      03-22-2012, 08:41 PM   #7
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Don't mind the bugs, we have a little problem called love bugs down here in Florida
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      03-23-2012, 01:09 AM   #8
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The biggest issue with the adaptive suspension (and I love it and wouldn't pull it off) is that a lot of the changes are compensated for by the computer, in particular the "fight" between the sway bars and the "yaw control" built into the adaptive suspension. While you do get an improvement, it is not as much as the non-adaptive suspension, according to Dieter of the "Z-Racing team", but he still recommends the sway bars, and setting the rear soft.

There are a few rumors floating around over here about a possible "Cup" version of the Z4 to be announced this summer, but no authoritative source yet! So we are hoping and waiting to see if this turns out to be true, and if so what parts they will bring out. Appears to be a spin off of BMWs return to racing now that they have factory racing support for the 1 series, the Z4 GT3 and the 3 series and they are back into DTM this year. So I know what I want for Christmas this year...

Appologies to the OP for highjacking this thread...
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      03-23-2012, 09:15 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwZ View Post
Hi!
I`m new to the E89 forum, but have used the E85 forum much

I will soon buy me a Z4 35i and want to lower it with H&R sprngs as they give the car a perfect look.

My question is: Can I buy a car with adaptive suspension and still use H&R springs?
From H&R web site, they even have specifics for With and Without Sport Suspension
http://www.hrsprings.com/scripts/app...Find3&MakeID=4
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      03-23-2012, 11:15 AM   #10
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What they call the Sport suspension is the Adaptive Suspension.
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      03-23-2012, 04:23 PM   #11
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Thanks a lot for good answers. Have KW V3 on my E85 Z4 now, but do not want to change the adaptive suspension when moving to an Z4 35i.

Looks like the H&R springs lower it perfect
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Last edited by bmwZ; 03-24-2012 at 12:14 PM..
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      03-24-2012, 07:17 AM   #12
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Th drop is nice, it has never bottomed out, or touched the wheel well even when pushed really hard, and it corners unbelievably flat
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