Strut Brace (what do they add?)

t-tony said:
Yes I know there are already the two strut back to bulkhead bars as most, if not all, BMW's have, but that doesn't fully answer my question. Ok, you don't have one and don't see the need for one, but many do and I just wonder if they make any noticeable difference. It could of course just be under bonnet dressing and mine is bigger and shinier than yours. I'm just curious.;)

Tony.
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To be honest Tony unless i fitted one i could not tell you. But i have never felt the need to try one as the Z4 is a lot more planted on the road than the Z3.
 
Does the E89 not feel tight to the road then ?
 
To be honest I would definitely agree Bill. I find mine very good but compared to my Z3 on the lowered K&W suspension not quite as good. Maybe some lowering springs like Gaz And Lee's would be an idea even though mine is already on sport suspension.

Tony.
 
RFT dont help - the E89 is an GT car - a cruiser.

I have only really felt the limitations of the car during track days - its more refined drive than a E85 - but as standard its not a sports car.

The coilovers have dramatically transformed its characteristics and turns in much quicker - not able yet to get understear
 
I used to feel when i had the Z3 that it was always ready to throw you in a hedge if you did not respect it at speed. But i feel with the Z4 that it will never do that which can make you toooooo confident going into corners at speed
 
The thing I feel most is under steer in the 4, maybe I'm still just getting used to it mate.

Tony.
 
I have really just got used to ours and now its time to upgrade lol
 
To be honest Tony i never really bonded with the E85 i do miss the Z3 as you did have to give it respect when driving and you also knew where its limits were and could drive it as hard and fast as IT would allow you. The Z4 seems as though you can just go faster and harder and does not seem to give you as much warning when on the limit
 
The E85 is a better handling car than the E89,

The latter as standard is quite vague - it has no rack and pin - but fly by wire.

Its was build for comfort and the USA market - its more of an SLK than Boxter - your welcome to a ride any time
 
Might have to put my missus off getting one then. Keep this one and purchase another Z3 :thumbsup:
 
billz said:
To be honest Tony i never really bonded with the E85 i do miss the Z3 as you did have to give it respect when driving and you also knew where its limits were and could drive it as hard and fast as IT would allow you. The Z4 seems as though you can just go faster and harder and does not seem to give you as much warning when on the limit
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Maybe that's why there's a plentiful supply of Z4's for breaking. As I've said before, if my Z3 had been a 3.0 or a 2.8, I probably wouldn't be I driving a Z4 now. That's not to say I could have used a Z3 as a daily car, and there's my problem, I can with a Z4.

Tony.
 
I would love to have an second car - and have an daily driver. - but dont have the space - even been thinking about buying a new house that we can have three cars on the drive. And I would love an Z3 3 ltr nice and raw driving experience. But since I need my car for work - it was about compromising. Now I have an economical 250+ BHP roadster - that handles fantastically.

As I said the coil-overs have really transformed my car - and next car I would consider another E89 but only an 35IS
 

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Having driven rear wheel drive most of my life, I have become quite use to all the shortcomings of that configuration. In the early days the cars had coil springs on the front and cart springs on the back, the dampers were always on the limit when the cars were driven fast. It was not until I bought our first Z3 that I could honestly say, here is a car that has been properly designed. Both of the Zed 3s I was fortunate to own had different handling characteristics. I am very lucky in that I have always had the ability to drive any car and adapt quickly to its individual characteristics. Both Zed 3s were what I would call proper drivers cars. When I bought the Zed 4 I felt here again was a step forward in its ability to be driven hard round a corner and feel safe at all time. You know, you get a sixth sense about a car and you know instinctively when it's reached the end of its chassis ability. As some may know I have had some misgivings about the E89. As TT says it's more an SLK than a true sports car. However as hard as I've driven mine, I have never yet reached the limitation of it's Chassis.
I can see the advantage of a strut brace on a track when under heavy braking and then powering through a corner you feel how unsettled the car is, you want the car to corner flatly and you feel every millimetre of role as you exit the corner. Intuitively You want harder springs and lower suspension. But on the road those things are not so important, our roads are too uneven for hard suspension to be comfortable on long journeys.
You need a compromise, and that's what a stock Zed gives you. So summing up I would say you pays your money and takes your choice. The Zed, whatever Zed will serve you very well as it came from the factory, If you take it on the track, now thats a whole new environment, and the zed will need a few tweeks.

Mike
PS sorry for War and Peace.
 
I think with any convertible, you have to embrace a certain level of body flex. It's just never going to drive or feel like a coupe or anything else with a roof for that matter. What I would say in the Z's favour (or at least mine) is that compared to other vehicles I've owned it rattles and squeaks a hell of a lot less at 90k miles even considering the amount of flex it has. So I have to assume the car has been designed with this tolerance in mind which makes me think I would leave mine alone.
 
You make a very point there Mike about the old leaf backs compared to the Z3, even though I seen moans about scraping the parts bin it was good enough for the old E30 M3 which was considered to have excellent handelling. Back to the question I feel it's made a difference in mine but I'm sure when I take the brace off for a full suspension and bushes change over I'm going to be pushed to feel the difference. At the moment I know the rear subframe bushes need changing as it feels like I have rear wheel uncooperative steering prior to fitting the rear butt brace that has lessened it to some degree but as its been mention shocks and full bushes change will make the light and day difference same as tyres having a impact. I let my fronts get low still within legal but had the front wash out from me like a front wheel drive car which got changed with new rubber. There are vids of Tiff throwing around a ///M quite convincingly above most of the talent of this forum I'm for sure.
 
billz said:
I used to feel when i had the Z3 that it was always ready to throw you in a hedge if you did not respect it at speed. But i feel with the Z4 that it will never do that which can make you toooooo confident going into corners at speed
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I hear you there, getting used to rear wheel drive again ( I think the last one I had was a Granada o_O not exactly a drivers car) after 23 years of fronties, is a steep learning curve especially an ///M without traction etc. its interesting during acceleration on sharp corners and as I have found out demands some respect, I have nearly run out of talent a few times in the last week while trying to find where the limit is in the wet. so gently does it :whistle:
 
Thanks all for the input, some interesting points of view and differences of opinion, but I think I'll try it, after all if it doesn't add anything except weight then its easily removed.
 
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