fraseman999

I posted something last night with regards to suspension and runflats. I am posting again due to the great info i have just had from bmw uk customer service.
The e60 is according to them made for runflats. The computer systems and i drive ect are all designed to take the extra jarring caused by the runflats.
This next one was a bit of a surprise. The standard suspension and the sports suspension are both made softer than standard to take account of the firmness of the tyres.
He advised me not to move from runflats to standard tyres because the ride would become too soft on standard suspension.
My car has sports suspension so he said it maybe ok to try it.
He said that the correct thing to do would be to put standard suspension in place of the sports. Too expensive so wont be doing that.
The other option is to take the 18 inch wheels off and go to 17 inch.

I wonder if most of the guys who have got rid off the runflats have sports suspension.

Do any of you that have standard suspension notice it too soft with non runflats?

550isport

I have a 550 w/US sport package. I took off the 18s with runflats and put on M5 19" wheels with 35f/30r series Michelin PS2 non-run flat tires. The ride quality is fine, but the suspension is too soft. The rear end squirms under full acceleration and the car really moves around when changing lanes on the highway.

But here's the weenie shrinker...I just yesterday had the OEM 18s put back on with snows 225/45 f and 245/40 r non run flats. The car rides like a proper BMW again! Its still just a hair soft, but it has all but eliminated the squirming! Now what am I to do? I like my car's suspension better with the snow tires/wheels. I'm guessing that a nice set of non-run flat summer tires in the OEM size on the OEM wheel would be the best warm weather solution for this suspension. But I'm not doing that. I love the look of the 19s - not to mention my inve$tment. The refreshed sport package due out in a few months will use 19" wheels with non-run flats and stiffer suspension tuned for that set-up. I'm guessing that BMW will use a higher profile side wall with that package like 35/40 than my 35/30 I have now. I hope that does the trick. I just want my road razor back...

Good luck
DRP

Ricracing

No sport suspension in my E60. RF's suck.

Read this:

Quote Raighne:
"Just read the E90 forums and you'll quickly see that 3 series drivers are screaming about the tramlining, noise, wear, ride harshness. Don't believe the hype about the E90 having been designed around RFT: it's crap. 3 series drivers don't have much of a choice in the matter (unless they can live with carrying tyre-weld and a compressor!). Many are getting rid of their E90s prematurely because of it (like me), some are leaving the brand altogether."

KAF

Standard Suspension, took runflats off and got a great improvement.

It is not just the ride, in my case the RFT's were too slippery on bends, they skipped off the road on bad surfaces.

BMW are giving you BS.

I doubt runflats were even considered when they designed the suspension for the E60 around 2000/1

gwf545

I have PS2's now after two sets of runflats and I will never go back to them. It's like driving on wooden wheels. I recall one magazine review reporting that the e60's with sport suspension seemed to ride softer in straight ahead driving than e60s with standard suspenson which do not have active roll stabilization. They guessed that the e60s with ARS had softer springs simply because they didn't need stiffer ones to corner well. My e60 with sport and PS2's rides great and still handles like it is on rails.

550isport: Have you tried different / higher air pressure in your PS2's? Perhaps the squirminess you report is due to underinflation? I don't find my PS2s to be squirmy at all, although the turn-in / sterring response is somewhat less than I had with the runflats, which I though were actually a bit twitchy anyway.

colejl

Mine is sports suspension with non-Runflats - a pleasure to drive compared with the dunflaps.

I'm not 100% convinced the E60 was fully designed with RFs in mind, unlike the E90 where reports are better... I think they were a PR afterthought that didn't go through a full development cycle.

However, as already noted, the RFs have other issues such as very bad tramlining, short life, cost and skittish handling...

Raighne

Not too sure about that...
When the E90 was launched the initial feeling was that they were a bit better but I think everyone got pulled in by the marketing talk. The tide has turned for the E90 too and now people realise it might have been nothing more than a case of wishful thinking.

Well, to be fair, the E90 is ok(ish) with 16" RFs and if you have great, great roads the 17" might be sort of ok (sometimes)

When I went for my test drive, the E90 was in very short supply and they only had cars with 16" RFs available... it seemed all right on the test drive I suppose. I ordered the car with 17" because I wanted more a bit rubber and the wheels looked more substantial in those BMW gaping arches. It took me a while with my car to realize what a horrible mistake I had made and by then it was too late. Others are the same... it just took a while for the 'reality distortion field' of BMW marketing to dissipate.

colejl

Ok, not surprised! I also heard that the Pirelli Eufori@s contributed to the better ride?

red-max

Last year I replaced the runflats on my E60 530d SE, and the ride improved enormously - much smoother and quieter. It was a bit soft on corners though, but grip was much improved, especially in the wet.

In November I traded the 530d in for a 335d, complete with runflats, and I'm not impressed. They're very noisy on certain road surfaces, and I just don't feel confident in the wet; admittedly the 335 is quite a powerful car, but it's so easy to lose the back end with no warning. I also suffer from tramlining. I would love to replace the runflats with decent tyres just to see how much better the car handled, but as someone already mentioned, BMW have made this more difficult on the E9x because there's no space for a spare.

marklp

My 2005 120d Sport had 142 rims fitted with 17" Pirelli Euforia runflats. The ride was [in comparison with the 530d] terrible. Sure it stuck to the road like glue (well the rear end was a little lively), but you felt every imperfection.

I cannot get over how good the ride is in this 530d with 123 rims and Dunlop 18" runflats. It is exceptionally quiet, it soaks up almost any road imperfection.... and it sticks to the road better than the 1-er.