What lurks beneath?
What lurks beneath?
As my 2.8 as it's nearly 19 years old and clocked up 130k, I have replaced more or less everything up front to try to get it back, as near as damn it, to when it was a youth. The final job was to replace all four shocks and top mounts. When I got the old fronts off I discovered, not surprisingly, that the top mounts had play in them, the shocks were very lazy and the rubber/foam bump stops were horrid and were breaking apart as you can see from the photo. A short test drive actually revealed a slight improvement, which did surprise me considering the state they in. Off with the rears, which is a much easier job, revealed that both shocks had died completely...again see photo. New shocks and new top mounts again fitted, this time I noticed a big difference! The car feels much more positive and underneath the seat (which is virtually where the rear shock is) feels a lot more supportive in handling. All in all, it didn't cost me an arm and a leg to sort the four wheels out, however I did wait until the various Bank Holiday discounts came along which helped, and it's reassuring to know I'm riding on new equipment below decks!
1997 Z3 2.8 (M52) Roadster Montreal blue
2013 330d (F31) M Sport Alpine White
Re: What lurks beneath?
I agree, so many people jump in and drive an old Z3 and then complain that the handling feels poor - little wonder with so many aging components some of which never get changed. The original front bearing/top mounts in most cars (even those with MOTs) will feel rough and have play - these are well worth changing if you strip-down the strut anyway to replace aged shock absorbers which only seem to last around 70K miles or 10-years. I bought Lemforder front mounts/bearings from GSF which were around £30 each from memory. On the rear, the simple top mounts are as cheap as chips as are the rear droplinks.
On the front there are 6 ball joints (2 on each control arm and one on the top of the droplink) if these are in decent condition the two rubber bushes (one on the control arm and the bottom of the droplink) can be swamped with powerflex ones which are beautifully made and add a slight upgrade.
To those pondering such maintenance, all I can say is that when you replace all these things the handling is transformed and the whole driving experience is much more enjoyable.
On the front there are 6 ball joints (2 on each control arm and one on the top of the droplink) if these are in decent condition the two rubber bushes (one on the control arm and the bottom of the droplink) can be swamped with powerflex ones which are beautifully made and add a slight upgrade.
To those pondering such maintenance, all I can say is that when you replace all these things the handling is transformed and the whole driving experience is much more enjoyable.
