Advice please.

[Bonzo]

Hi All. As you may have read elsewhere I have fitted ASC front and Strong strut rear strut braces and a set of Strong strut body braces. These have made a definite improvement in ride and handling in spirited driving, but I would still like to improve it a bit further. (SKI)

I don't want to lower the suspension ( rear strut brace ) and I don't want a hard ride. The springs and shocks I guess are standard
from new, although the rear shocks are Boge units so may have been replaced. Zelda has covered 76K miles and does not tramline, on 17x8 wheels. Would just fitting new standard Sachs shocks all round provide a noticeable improvement, or would fitting new standard spring all round as well improve things further after only 76k miles? (or different springs?) If I had new springs fitted would I need any ancilliary bits for them, mounts, pads or something like that? How about ARB's, would a thicker rear be beneficial, or the front as well. In upgrading I would still want neutral handling (with if anything, eventual oversteer). Advice on all this please, and any further suggestions and advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in anticipation,

Cheers,

Bonzo.

[Brian H]

A H&R ARB kit is a bolt on option that will certainly help, maybe also think about replacing the bushes around the car @76k they are bound to be getting tired. You have a choice when updating bushes to either stay OEM or Powerflex etc. just renewing to new OEM bushes will make a difference.

[Del]

Most people also report a huge difference just renewing old shock absorbers. Although 76K isn't a huge mileage and something a new car might do in a couple of years on motorways, combining it with the typical age of Z3s seems to be an issue. For example, my front shocks (1998 car) were in a terrible state at 72K (2012) with one having a serious leak, I changed the rears shortly after at around 76K the old ones were very soft and did not rebound back at all when pressed in by hand. The car's handling and cornering felt so much better afterwards - I used Sachs Super Touring from ECP.

In my view, if the coil springs look in decent condition i.e. not broken and still covered in most of their black paint, I would leave them.

As Brian says, a lot of the bushes will also be degrading (age as much as anything else) i.e. the rear drop-link bushes and front lower control arm bushes in particular - in my experience.