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[Kracken]

I've read that certain bushings and control arms are purposely soft to make driving the on the RFT more compliant.
Now that I have softer tires (Stock size PSS), what bit & pieces should I change out to balance things out? Hopefully they are things I can easily DIY.
Thanks in advanve guys

[doublevanosrc]

Originally Posted by Kracken

I've read that certain bushings and control arms are purposely soft to make driving the on the RFT more compliant.
Now that I have softer tires (Stock size PSS), what bit & pieces should I change out to balance things out? Hopefully they are things I can easily DIY.
Thanks in advanve guys

Some members swap them out for bushings from the M3. That should help however I don't know if it will help the diminished steering turn in.

[128Convertibleguy]

Originally Posted by Kracken

I've read that certain bushings and control arms are purposely soft to make driving the on the RFT more compliant.
Now that I have softer tires (Stock size PSS), what bit & pieces should I change out to balance things out? Hopefully they are things I can easily DIY.
Thanks in advanve guys

Just about everything imaginable on the suspension has been changed by someone or other. There is no particular agreement about what to do first. Look through the forum, you'll get the picture.

You will get suggestions from various people about what to do in what order. Some questions are: how knowledgeable are they, what do they want the car to do (nice daily driver, track use, please their particular psyche, impress people, etc. etc.), how do they drive. It all counts. Maybe how much money do they have.

You can flail away, you can do something or other, you can have someone else make the decisions for you. If that's what you want, BMW has various performance suspension packages, and the M series cars don't come with run flats.

Or you can put in a fair amount of work doing research here, and decide for yourself.

[RoundelM3]

Or, you can just leave things as they are. I swapped out the RFTs on my wife's 128i M-Sport for Conti Extreme DW non-runflats and it improved the handling and ride. However, I updated from 205/225 tire widths on 17" wheels to 225/255 widths on wider 18" wheels, which is probably responsible for most of the improvement in handling.

BTW - it's the sway bars (not control arms) that control body roll. If you have M-Sport, you have sport suspension, which is not as toned-down for ride quality as the non-sport. The difference in sidewall compliance can be compensated for with aftermarket springs and shocks, but tire design and diameter/width also have a lot to do with handling. I had a different brand of non-RFTs on the 128i before switching to Contis, and there was a noticeable improvement in ride with no discernible difference in handling.

[HeyMoe53]

I'd drive it a for a bit, and use the feedback you get from that, along with the above posts, to help you make the best decision.

I switched the run-flats for the Conti DW on my '09 128, and I intend to do the same when my '13 comes out of hibernation in a month. That change alone made me happy enough. There does appear to be some options for you if you want to tweak things some more.

[Kracken]

Thanks for the thoughts....all good points. I do have M sport so i'll see how it goes for now and research stuff at the same time. First thing should really be a mobility kit of some sort. Already have a portable compressor so getting the can of stop leak as well would be a good start. Tires arrived today & go on monday...cant wait!!

For the PSS tires just use stock PSI listed on the door jamb?

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by Kracken

Thanks for the thoughts....all good points. I do have M sport so i'll see how it goes for now and research stuff at the same time. First thing should really be a mobility kit of some sort. Already have a portable compressor so getting the can of stop leak as well would be a good start. Tires arrived today & go on monday...cant wait!!

For the PSS tires just use stock PSI listed on the door jamb?

The "M" mobility kit is available from getbmwparts.com for a fairly reasonable price. Yes to the question about the tire pressure - I follow what's on the door jamb for the 17" tires I removed. You may want to add/delete a couple pounds once you've driven on them, such as when the warmer weather comes in.

[cvandenhaute]

Same as most here, I replaced my runflat (the infamous Goodyear NCT5 summer) for a set of Conti ExtremeContact DW, same size as original, on the sport suspension. Kept the pressure equal to recommendations (32 front and 35 rear) and did not notice differences except for the quality of the ride (not the RFT harshness but not too soft neither, just a good compromise) and the fabulous grip of these tires.

I wouldn't mind trying the M3 bushings but I am not enough DIY for doing it myself...

[KNTDRV]

Ditched the runflats...now what??

Best to sign up for road side assistance unless you're prepared to fix it yourself if/when you get a flat.

[gregthegr8]

Originally Posted by KNTDRV

Ditched the runflats...now what??

Best to sign up for road side assistance unless you're prepared to fix it yourself if/when you get a flat.

The good news is that with the purchase of the new michelins, they will tow you for free up to 150 miles, plus BMW likely will as well, though they may try to weasel their way out of that since you don't have runflats.

Here's more info on the michelin plan. You can apparently even return the tires and get your money back within 30 days if not satisfied which is crazy, but ok! You'll love the PSS though as the ride quality is so much better after getting rid of the runflats.

http://www.michelinman.com/automotiv.../warranty.page

[Randeree]

I ditched my runflats and fitted the normal tires. My initial impression is that the car, at speed, doesn't handle the same on a bend as the runflats. However, the ride became much softer. I suppose if you have sport suspension there wouldn't be a huge difference.

Some people may say that i'm wrong but i'm just typing my review of the car after the swap

[Solo_M_Tech]

The benefits outweigh the costs. Anyone who understands why you would ditch runflat tires, for the pupose of better grip/performance/ less noise, should understand that the stock non-sport suspension is soft and needs to be upgraded. Most will upgrade their suspension and bushings if they care about better handling anyway. Otherwise there is no reason to ditch the stock run-flats. IMO.

[128Convertibleguy]

Originally Posted by Randeree

I ditched my runflats and fitted the normal tires. My initial impression is that the car, at speed, doesn't handle the same on a bend as the runflats. However, the ride became much softer. I suppose if you have sport suspension there wouldn't be a huge difference.

Some people may say that i'm wrong but i'm just typing my review of the car after the swap

Is it possible that what you're feeling is simply diminished steering response, due to the much weaker sidewall? That is a drawback, but one that's outweighed for many people by better "handling" overall.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by Randeree

I ditched my runflats and fitted the normal tires. My initial impression is that the car, at speed, doesn't handle the same on a bend as the runflats. However, the ride became much softer. I suppose if you have sport suspension there wouldn't be a huge difference.

Some people may say that i'm wrong but i'm just typing my review of the car after the swap

What psi are you running? Try upping the tire pressures to +2/+3 psi over recommended.