stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I have bought an e60 530d and the handling is shocking, i feel more confident at 150mph on a bend in the Impreza as compared to say 80mph in the BMW. Is there anything I can do to get the BMW handling better as asking on a proper BMW forum is a waste of time as I think they are more worried about swirl flaps or what ever

I have a set of 19's waiting to go on the car when the winter is over with 275 on the rear and 255 on the fronts so hopefully that should help with a little grip

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

Set of arbs and geom, tbh I find the bmws decent on handling as they are rear wheel drive (for a family bus anyway) the only other big family car I found really good on handling was a Octavia vrs surprisingly.

Matteeboy

It'll be on run flats which are appalling; get shot of them pronto!

zip106

Had the 19's with non-RFT on ours - no problems with handling even after 70k miles.

(and no cracked wheels either *cough* Mattee *cough* )

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

as above get good tyres , i had good tyres on my 535 and it was ok for a bm

500

Ours was excellent in the handling department. It had active ride though.

Get the bushes checked and an alignment done.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I have Goodyear asym 2's for the 19's but as said I'm on 17" run flats. The weird thing about buying tyres for the BMW is people say buy the best as if you don't it will KILL you The last thing I think about when buying tyres for the Impreza is they will kill me as worst scenario is I slide a little so I change them

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

the goodyears are good Steve, Its the runflats awfull tyres ,

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

They suffer with bush problems, so may be worth a look on the BM forums for which to start with.

Littleted

I think all Battleships are scary. I drive an E350 Merc since I sold my scoob, and its a wallowing heavy beast.

Trust the car,

unfortunately for me I have to get rid as I don't find it fun anymore, its LUX but fun factors gone. Nice car you have though look great

Graz

I must admit I do find that mine can be "interesting" at times. I've kind of reigned in my expectation though as it's a tourer, big, heavy, and a luxury/executive car and for what it is designed for, long trips on mostly motorways, it is very good. Can't expect it to be anywhere near Impreza levels for A/B road blasts but it's not bad and has plenty of power to safely overtake the Sunday drivers

I don't doubt that changing from run flats will make things better though the LCI version (which mine is) supposedly had some suspension tweaks to improve handling on run flats.

I do like the limp home ability that you do get with runflats though, if you get a puncture and it's pissing down, dark, cold, etc. you can carry on your journey albeit slowly.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I have just ordered the eibach roll bars from AS Performance so hopefully that will get rid of the bad body roll.

zip106

Could also try the SuperPro bushes.

Henrik

iTrader: (5)

I've got a 530 petrol automatic, and I think the handling is actually pretty good for such a massive car.

As above, I'd have the bushes checked, as they can apparently go on these, with bad effects on handling.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I don't think its bushes, I just think its due to me driving 4x4 turbo cars for 17 years and now I'm suddenly in a rear wheel drive car, I have came out of bends at under 30mph and the back end has twitched where as in the impreza I wouldn't even notice the bend

I may just use the impreza more

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

I think that's exactly what it is.

After my scooby, I drive a BMW 3 series touring although not quick by any means but drives different, but can't make it twitch (2.0 petrol)
However driving the mx5 track car I used put my foot down mid corner and it went round beautifully and now with the Clio 172 I'm just so used to driving the other cars mentioned and keep driving it wrong at times making it under steer constantly, haven't had a fwd for a while so need to get out of the old driving style habits.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Just picked the car up after AS performance had fitted and supplied some roll bars for me and the car handles far better even on the runflats, I have no idea what the the bodyroll is like at speed as I haven't had the time to check it out.