jet190rs

On Saturday 5/27/06 I attended the NY Metro Region BMWCCA Autocross. I ran with the OEM Dunlop RFTs with 8k miles on them, and my CIP has not been updated since the car was built on 6/05 (not sure which version). After my 1st run, DTC and DSC were off.

The 545 extremely tough to control in tight autox-style corners. Besides the obvious weight and size disadvantage of the 5 Series, my 2 major problems were with the Run Flat Tires and Active Steering. Besides the start, the rest of the course was driven in 2nd gear.

1) RFT's - felt very slippery and big lack of grip. On initial turn-in, they would squeal at only moderate speed/angle and I could feel the car about to drift, so I had to back off. Granted, the AutoX took place on a dusty lot, but the week beforehand I did another AutoX at an even dustier lot with my Porsche Boxster on Michelin Pilot MXM (also with 8k miles) and my Pcar gripped so much better. The 8k miles on my RFT's has been all highway and city driving, and the tires look like there's plenty of tread left, but perhaps they are reaching the end. I had never heard any tires squeal so easily during only moderate cornering before. I will definately switch to non-RFT's next.

2) Active Steering - was very useful during intial turn-in since I don't have to turn the wheel as much. However, I had lots of problems at the end of corners. After the apex, when I start to unwind the steering wheel and begin to apply throttle, the steering wheel is still not center and I am accelerating. At this point, AS just went totally crazy and the car just swerved in unpredictable directions. No matter how smoothly or slowly I unwind the steering wheel and add throttle, AS kept changing the steering ratio as I came out of the corner. Even if I waited until the car and steering wheel were perfectly straight after a corner to accelerate, AS needed another moment before I could accelerate without going nuts. Its almost as if the computer was lagging. I think AS is great on the street, but for AutoX or the track, it is very hard to predict how it behaves. I've read here that newer CIPs might improve AS, I certainly hope so.

Because of these issues, I didn't feel like I was really in control of the car. The car was just slipping and swerving out of corners like no car I've ever driven before. It definately made me practice recovering skids, but that means that my car was not very competitive with the rest of the field. Since all the other cars were smaller and lighter, and this was my first AutoX session in the E60, I'm not that upset. I just know that I won't be replacing my tires with RFTs, and I don't want AS on my next car. Even if I only drive the car on the street, I'm now a bit concerned how AS will react during emergency maneuvers, such as swerving to avoid another car on the highway...

The one thing I do like is ARS/DD. The active anti-roll bars were good at keeping the car flat in corners. Now if only the car had active anti-pitch/squat for accelerating and braking...

Has anyone else here taken their E60 onto the track or Autocross? What has your experiences been like?

I already posted a few pics here. (sorry no shots of my car in action) -
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?s=&showtop...ndpost&p=290979.

Results from the event is here -
http://www.nybmwcca.org/autocross/2006-05-27.php
(There's a typo for the year of my car . There were no other cars in my class, so they threw me in C class which is basically stock BMWs on street tires. Other classes were for modded cars, non-BMWs, and R classes were for cars with slick tires)

There's another BMWCCA AutoX this weekend, and I'll report back if I attend. All I know is, the E60 (especially AS) seems to require different driving techniques than what I'm used to in my old 3 Series, Boxster, and Skip Barber School cars. I think its gonna take me a while to predict what AS is gonna do when coming out of corners. Also, it seems like the larger E60 requires you to be even smoother, whereas I remember I could just flick my old 3 Series or the mid-engined cars into a corner and they would be fine...not so a 5 Series.

EBMCS03

Wow you almost came last! hehehe the MINI did well.

doug_999

I was just mentioning to a friend today about how I would love to have a 330 (sometimes). He could not believe his ears. I pointed out that the smaller car (without AS even) makes you feel like you are one with it and is oh so tossible. The 5-series is a bigger car and feels that way (even if it is not that much heavier).

Alas, I LOVE Active Steering, but I can see it getting in the way during track events - especially when you have to unwind the steering as you slow down through a turn.

rodneyremington

AS is really designed for real-world use. On top of that, the E60 is not a track car. Not very many people track a heavy 5 passenger sedan. Of course your porsche felt lighter in the corners. You could fit it in the trunk of your E60.

rodybmw

I have not autocrossed with my 545i sport, but I have with a 330i WITH Active Steering and did not experience any of the problems that you are mentioning. As a matter of fact in that autocross we also drove an Audi A4 and an Infiniti G35 back to back with the E90 and one of the most noticeable areas where the BMW was far superior to the others WAS the actve steering. Compared to the others the steering felt fast, tight and definately very controlled.

I think you should definately get a CIP upgrade as I think one of the versions after your car's manufacture date did address some AS issues. I would be curious to see if that would make any difference.

I love AS so much I will never buy a BMW without it.

Rudy

I wonder how tight the autocross course was? Some of them use cones in a parking lot and, depending on the size of the lot, they tend to make the course very tight which would obviously favor a smaller wheelbase car.

I'm sure AS can "throw you off" at first but there have been people here who have tracked their E60 and I don't remember them complaining too much. I drove an E60 on the Performance Center track (before I had any experience with AS) and it wasn't a big deal to me although we weren't really competing too hard against the clock.

jet190rs, a software upgrade may help you out but as rodney said, you can't expect the 5-series to keep up with a Porsche in an autocross...

jet190rs

Yes I participated in that event as well last fall, it was called the Ultimate Driving Experience, IIRC. The E90's AS and RFT felt SO MUCH better than the AS and RFT in my 545! I remember the E90's AS and RFT felt more like good old regular BMW steering and regular tires....very different than my 545. The E90's AS did not exhibit any of the 'swerving' that my 545 does when accelerating out of corners.

Obviously, I'm not expecting the 545 to handle anything like a Porsche. But I would like the 545 to handle like a heavier 3 Series....but it doesn't

speedracerF4i

I am really not that disappointed that 545i did not track well. I would not trade more comfort for track prowless. That's why there's an M5 for the track work.

Don Juan

I know exactly what you are referring. I had to put the RFTs back when i bended my rims (worst 1 1/2 months) The car felt HORRIBLE!, while pushing the car a bit in nrmal turns, the car was loosing grip, the car showed no confidence and felt it was riding in very thin hard as rock tires. I even had another car pull in front of me when traveling about 40mphs , the car screeched all the way with no grip, thank god for ABS as i was able to swerve around him, Bottom line, RFTs i did not felt as confident as non RFTs, are harsher, grip is inferior and heavy. Finally got my new rims and tires and the car feels completely different. Rides smoother adn hold s the road a LOT better

The RFts work well with the E90 as I experienced it in theUltimate Driving experience against the A4 and G35. For some reason it does not work well with the E60.

I tossed my car in a few turns, car grips very nice, solid and its very predictable.ummm I wonder if non RFTs and a set of H&R springs will do??

cobradav

Not being that experienced in autox I thought my 6er with AS, RFTs and STEP performed quite well. I do not have experience in smaller cars so have to defer to those that can do a direct compare. Had everything up to 160 degree turns and I thought AS handled it well. BUT my only experience is with this AS equipped car. If I switched to another 6er without AS and or RFT I might better add to this discussion.