titanic

Does the E60 come with limited slip differentials?

BetterMakeWay

Sadly...no. Only the M cars have LSDs.

Rudy

(I hope realtyman doesn't see this thread -- it may cause him to go into "foglight" mode...)

znod

I have never quite understood the distinction--LSD's versus what the M cars have--which I have seen characterized as BMW's version of LSD. Do you understand the difference? And, for that reason Rudy, I have never understood realtyman's objection to BMW's M-car differential.

realtyman

Ok.... Here I Go!!!!!!!!!!!

AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Only the "M" cars have an LSD at this point.
What's the big deal? Well... for most people it "don't mean jack".
But for the few that really like to... ehem, drive our cars "Spiritedly" it's an issue.

Perfect case in point.
Today, I left my office in order to fetch some toner for my wonderful multi-function machine.
(For those of you who never thought of it, if you only have ONE MF'er, when it's down - you can't do crap! ) It was an hour away (each way).
Anyhooo, I'm just a little irritated. I mash the go pedal when I enter the highway. I always have Sport mode on and 90% of the time I have the electronic aids gone (DTC/DSC are off). Needless to say with an SMG this combination along with a stab to the go pedal will activate Accelleration Assist (whether you want it or not).

I left the guy behind me in a cloud of smoke. Cool huh? Well after the 1st 15 feet the car finally "banged" 2nd gear and after another cloud of smoke (and another 50 feet) it finally hooked up.

If these cars had an LSD, the probability of hooking up with BOTH tires would be greatly increased... and I would have looke like much less of an asshole today!

BTW, speaking of "foglight mode" is Iceman still around? I haven't been hitting E60.net (let alone "family.net") much lately - Too busy with the new venture - but I haven't noticed him around. Has EBCMS03 past him in post count yet?

realtyman

Hey Znod,

///M Cars have a limited slip diff.
Non ///M cars have a lot of electronic goodies that are supposed to "mimic" (if I may dare say so) LSD, however I can't seem to drive my 5 in the same way as I did my M3.

I think I spent more time looking out the side windows than the windshield in my M3 (which had an LSD - and I'm not talking about those "Mickey Mouse" stickers, either).

Rudy

Hey realtyman, the secret is to order new toner the same day you install your last cartridge...

realtyman

Hey Rudy,

I'll tell you, a 2 hour drive actually saved me today (or at least my staff)!
When I got back, they asked me to now go on a 3-hour tour. Is that good or bad?
http://www.gilligansisle.com/stairway.html

titanic

I thought LSD helps tires hook up with the road when cornering. Why does it matter when you are driving in a straight line? Pardon my ignorance if the question sounds stupid.

BetterMakeWay

Because even in perfect straight line, beacuse the inperfections in the road the tires still tend to spin at different speeds, but if the angle of the steering wheel is slightly turned then one could find very easily one tire smoking to oblivion while the other is too hooked up with grip. So an LSD is so much needed to compensate for that and to shift the power to the wheel with the most grip (the outside wheel) because the power sent to the wheel with less grip becomes a waste. A more feelable aproach is to drive very fast in rain and wet conditions with dsc/dtc fully off, when 90% of the time you can hear the inner tire squealing of pain because of the even less grip. So unless you have proper drag tires, and the surface is perfectly smooth (drag strip) and there is no steering angle what so ever, then the LSD is a must even in a straight line (especially for torque monsters) otherwise you just sit there in a cloud of smoke, and sometimes that's indeed a bit embarassing, when you don't want that you just probably want to GO really fast. Otherwise i like tire smoke. Also in a drift at low speeds and powerslides you can see only 1 tire mark on the pavement wich is another hint of the lack of lsd.