At 8 years and 21k, the ride is starting to go; wtd?

[Freiheit]

Car is 2011 E92 ZCP, Dinan coils and ride kit, no other obvious suspension changes.

My car spent the first 6 years of life in Cali, then Texas, before coming to Florida late last year. When I got it, the car had exceptional handling and control. I think the switch from and arid climate to a humid one has affected the rubber bits in the suspension, along with spending most days parked in my hot garage. The handling and stability have degraded to the point where I think it is time to start replacing things. Oddly, I detect more of the slop coming from the back not the front.

My car most likely will never see a track during my ownership. I know thats sacrilege, but I simply don't have time for it. I'm not saying I'll definitely never track it but I want this to be a comfortable, streetable car, not a half-cage riding on track radials.

I've decided to start with the tension arms, and of course deal with the "bushings vs spherical" topic, but that's not the point of this post.

While I have the car on the lift (which I'll go buy when I decide between QuickJack and Twin Busch) I think I should replace the motor mounts at the same time as the arms, but what other pieces should I take a look at replacing?

[randrews15]

You should look at all suspension components to include shocks and struts. When looking at bushing try to see if their cracking and splitting as this is a sign that their starting to go. I'm planning to do shocks and struts when mine hits the ten year old mark since it's probable that they are fading with age. Motor mounts isn't a bad thing to check but I have a feeling they'll be alright.

[SAMM3Y]

Might just be your tires if they're old?

Skip the quickjacks if you have space for a twin busch. I have both and the more I use the qj's the more I realize what a pain in the ass they are. They're good for smaller jobs and they're portable which is nice but they're no substitute for a hoist.

[Helmsman]

Chassies started to go after 21k calm miles...? I'd find that very hard to swallow. As Sammy says check out the tires, did you double check the wheel alignment?

[roastbeef]

i'm with the others in starting with an alignment and take a look at the tires.

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by randrews15

You should look at all suspension components to include shocks and struts. When looking at bushing try to see if their cracking and splitting as this is a sign that their starting to go. I'm planning to do shocks and struts when mine hits the ten year old mark since it's probable that they are fading with age. Motor mounts isn't a bad thing to check but I have a feeling they'll be alright.

I doubt this is from the damps - the slop I'm experiencing is lateral squirm, not rough seas. Like when I change lanes the rear slips a bit going over the lane transitions, reflectors, etc. If this were shocks I'd get some roll to it but its more yaw than anything. Put another way, I'm not experiencing oscillation or over bounce, its more like tramlining but in the rear instead of the front. I doubt its any kind of toe adjustment in the IRS because I'm not seeing any odd wear pattern and its not following road grooves or cracks like toe tramlining happens up front. It just has a side-to-side slop when I'm going over the bigger irregularities like lane markers, thermoplastic lane stripes, and differences in height between lanes. When I'm going down the road in a single lane, the car holds true with minimal management. When I'm in a turn, there's no dramatic weight transfer or anything like if I had bad damps.

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Might just be your tires if they're old?

Skip the quickjacks if you have space for a twin busch. I have both and the more I use the qj's the more I realize what a pain in the ass they are. They're good for smaller jobs and they're portable which is nice but they're no substitute for a hoist.

Thank you for the advice. Though the Quicks are extremely convenient, cheap, and I can pick them up today, I like the Twin Busch a lot. The way Obsessed Matt did his garage floor with the rigid, self-draining tiles and incorporated the TB lift in them really appeals to me. Its twice the cost but if the Quicks are not as versatile and they piss you off that seals the deal for me.

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Chassies started to go after 21k calm miles...? I'd find that very hard to swallow. As Sammy says check out the tires, did you double check the wheel alignment?

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i'm with the others in starting with an alignment and take a look at the tires.

Stock ContiSport3 tires. Fronts look perfect, date code 0311, rears were installed new by the selling dealer in October, date code 2714. I'm pretty sure the PO put his aftermarket wheels and tires on shortly after he got the car, which is why the fronts look new. Why the rears needed to be replaced I'll probably never know. The dealer decided to put them on when the car was put through their "rigorous inspection" prior to shipping it out to me. The car was aligned to Dinan numbers in January.

FTR: I bought the car with a little over 19k miles on it, late last year. I don't know what kind of experience the PO had with it, though I have to wonder why he installed the Dinan suspension on a ZCP car. Thats a lot of expense to get less than 3mm knocked off the ZCP ride height. He probably did it just to be different. Or else he got the parts for free

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Freiheit

I doubt this is from the damps - the slop I'm experiencing is lateral squirm, not rough seas. Like when I change lanes the rear slips a bit going over the lane transitions, reflectors, etc. If this were shocks I'd get some roll to it but its more yaw than anything. Put another way, I'm not experiencing oscillation or over bounce, its more like tramlining but in the rear instead of the front. I doubt its any kind of toe adjustment in the IRS because I'm not seeing any odd wear pattern and its not following road grooves or cracks like toe tramlining happens up front. It just has a side-to-side slop when I'm going over the bigger irregularities like lane markers, thermoplastic lane stripes, and differences in height between lanes. When I'm going down the road in a single lane, the car holds true with minimal management. When I'm in a turn, there's no dramatic weight transfer or anything like if I had bad damps.



Thank you for the advice. Though the Quicks are extremely convenient, cheap, and I can pick them up today, I like the Twin Busch a lot. The way Obsessed Matt did his garage floor with the rigid, self-draining tiles and incorporated the TB lift in them really appeals to me. Its twice the cost but if the Quicks are not as versatile and they piss you off that seals the deal for me.






Stock ContiSport3 tires. Fronts look perfect, date code 0311, rears were installed new by the selling dealer in October, date code 2714. I'm pretty sure the PO put his aftermarket wheels and tires on shortly after he got the car, which is why the fronts look new. Why the rears needed to be replaced I'll probably never know. The dealer decided to put them on when the car was put through their "rigorous inspection" prior to shipping it out to me. The car was aligned to Dinan numbers in January.

FTR: I bought the car with a little over 19k miles on it, late last year. I don't know what kind of experience the PO had with it, though I have to wonder why he installed the Dinan suspension on a ZCP car. Thats a lot of expense to get less than 3mm knocked off the ZCP ride height. He probably did it just to be different. Or else he got the parts for free

Would be interesting to get some more details on the issues you have, mainly from the rear, and how you will address it. Looking forward to your updates OP.

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Would be interesting to get some more details on the issues you have, mainly from the rear, and how you will address it. Looking forward to your updates OP.

As soon as I have a plan I'll post updates, brother. Until then I'm still looking for which way I should go with this.

[randrews15]

I had a similar problem with my X5 but it was the front end. I found that the tension strut was severely worn with cracks in the bushing. Since you're having a back end issue that's yaw related it's different. My son's Audi had a similar issue and a refresh of the sway bar links and bushing cleared most of it up. Good luck with trying to find the issue.

[roastbeef]

you're able to articulate the problem well which conveys that you're pretty in-tune with the car and how it should feel.
springs do settle a bit, and tires get hard over time. i'm not convinced its the suspension bushings. maybe consider the engine mounts as well, they can go bad pretty early and do influence the feel of the car.

[anerbe]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

you're able to articulate the problem well which conveys that you're pretty in-tune with the car and how it should feel.
springs do settle a bit, and tires get hard over time. i'm not convinced its the suspension bushings. maybe consider the engine mounts as well, they can go bad pretty early and do influence the feel of the car.

Yeah, fronts are 8.5 years old, rears are over 5 years old. New tires and fresh alignment should be done first before replacing suspension components. Tires start to change their characteristics dramatically as they age, often recommend to change by the 6th year.