Whoa, sorry if anyone thought I was bashing the semi-trailing arms. I do believe it was cost/space cutting feature, and that BMW is capable of being cheap. I was just calling the suspension antiquated.. well because it is, and I called it "inferior", being sarcastic since that's what every M3 owner is obligated to say so they can feel better about their "REAL" M car which has the not-real M motor. Plus a REAL M car has dual climate control and faux wood panelling so it's waaaay better.
Good info dahamler, it seems to me all the people that really had a problem with the trailing arm suspension had 6's or LS1 swaps, large tires and exiting turns under power. E30 owners don't seem to be bothered.. or maybe they just living in the past
dahamler: what suspension mods do you have? Just curious after reading your track experience. (I've no track experience so I'm just bench modding I suppose.. )
The trailing arms must flex noticeably or BMW wouldn't have gone through the trouble of re-inforcing them, even though the reinforcements aren't that beefy..perhaps the trailing arms are at a bad angle if moderately lowered? (you can change static alignment, but unless you move the subframe up, the angle of the rear arms will be different in regards to the anti-squat or whatever) Powering out of a corner, the rear corner is compressed near max and if the wheel center goes from below the trailing arm bolts to being above the trailing arm bolts, idk if that would cause a flip-flop in anti-squat to squat.. knowwhaddamean? naah.. I'm overthinking it..
cooljess: I have to disagree, if the regular e36 suspension (z-axle is it?) could fit, then why did BMW NOT use it? The TI was their cheap model.. it must b cheaper or they did want the extra space or something. Unless you are telling me it was made to be sportier.. the lopsided steering wheel bmw put in tells me otherwise.. i also don't mind that it is "inferior" because I haven't yet pushed it that far, but I do mind that the alignment is off and I can't get traction and my tires wear out twice as fast and it does seem to twitch at speed.. Also the original poster had drift in their name so I am guessing they aren't doing it for looks, although watching video of a Mcoupe, looks like it drifts just fine.
Good info bluebimma and bimmerbum! I agree, nothing's ultimately better or worse (except leaf springs becaue they suck so bad) but it's all compromises. Unfortunately the BMW crowd seems to have more snobs (not here, but I been visitng bimmerforums) and it's funny when a bunch of grown men (presumably) are bashing some kid for cutting his muffler off as a test. Oh yes the resale will be RUINED now.. .Let that be a lesson to you guys with the LS1 swaps... you're car won't be 100% original anymore and if it wasn't engineered by bmw, then it is an inferior part. Because BMW would have made it right... right? my old lopsided steering wheel tells me NO