Body Roll

[Patrick-Irish]

I've had two BMW's so far. A 1995 E34 and my current 2001 E53.

I thought both of them suffered terribly from body roll. In between the E34 and the E53 I had a Lexus GS300 for a few years and I think it was far better able to take corners without throwing you against the door.

Are BMW's like this in general ? Do they all suffer from a lot of body roll ?

Is there anything can be done for it ? Shocks ? Springs ? Bushings ? Anti-roll bars ? All proven suggestions welcome.

Ta.

[Z3inSC]

Ta,
From what I have read and other BMW owners I have talked to, the springs, struts and bushings start to wear out around 80k miles if not a little sooner. The reason really relates to how good and tight the suspension setup is that BMW engineered from the factory.

My suggestion would be to look into either replacing with new OEM struts, springs and bushings if you want to retain the factory feel or do what a lot of folks have done with their cars and upgrade your suspension set up to H&R springs, Koni or Bilstein struts...there are a slew of different aftermarket setups out there.

Personally, I've changed my Z3's suspension to the H&R/Bilstein setup and love it. I'm looking to upgrade the anti-roll bars and the bushings on that car soon as well.

The X5 is due for the same change, but haven't decided if I'll go back to OEM or go aftermarket...it's going to be a little more time before I can get to it.

Hope this helps some....

[X5Sport]

I have an E53 and it has never suffered from body roll. It goes around corners as fast as a car. It will throw you against a door, but that's 'G'-force or a loose seatbelt, not the car rolling under cornering loads. The E53 suspension is supposed to be stiff precisely to stop roll so that it does handle like a car. If yours is 'rolling' then something is wrong.

If you want to experience proper body roll, try a Landrover Discovery, or a Range Rover!! They both lean horribly around corners.

[motordavid]

Our '01 E53 w/sport susp., has been a marvelous performer in handling, but at nearly 10 yrs old/81k miles, it has softened. If I keep it, (which I probably will until it 'drops'), I am considering strut/susp parts replacement, but there seems to be a dearth of actual bolt-on 'oe' style replacement parts.

Dunno...maybe I will just keep driving it in its slightly softer condition, and skip the few grand job for awhile. With 2 of my 3 cars being oldish, there is always 'next year'.
GL, mD

[jst2878]

Get all new suspension and eibach swaybars. Get at least 19s for a better handling sav

[Isambard]

Body roll on an X5??? Is yours not a SPORT, with the M-Tec suspension? Mine is, and goes round corners Xtremely (see what I did there? ) well, so well the edges of my tyres are going-again.

You could also look at this thread if you're interested...

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...53-bmw-x5.html

[Nik]

Is there alot of differane between sport vs. non-sport? mine is NON-Sport with 19". Does pretty well though. But I've sat on sport on 20" rims and does better no doubt. Just can't wait for 4.8IS. That should be Monster, with all 4 way air bags.

[Patrick-Irish]

Originally Posted by Isambard

Is yours not a SPORT, with the M-Tec suspension?

To be honest I've no idea. It's not got the air suspension up front so I'm not sure if that means it must be M-Tec. All I know is that is goes around corners like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.

[MINIz guy]

Originally Posted by Patrick-Irish

All I know is that is goes around corners like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.

So true. I've driven a '92 Volva 940GL that felt better than the X5 on corners. That is with 20 year old suspension and steering components too!