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      11-11-2014, 09:19 AM   #1
C_Treadwell
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F80 Adaptive Suspension vs. Stock Suspension

I'm a noob here, so feel free to correct me, or haze me for sounding a little naive.

I recently traded in my 2013 535i for the 2015 DCT M3 Sedan. I have never been more in love with a car than I am right now. This thing is an 8 year old boys dream come true. Life goal achieve: check.

My question is in regards to the adaptive suspension which my 5-series had, and my M3 does not have. It's the only option my model didn't have (other than the insanely expensive ceramic breaks).

The car grips the road great and rides a lot stiffer than my 535. Can someone help me understand if that's just the feel of the M3 suspension, or if it's because I didn't opt for the adaptive suspension. Can you tell me a little bit about the suspension that came with my car, and what I might be missing out on?

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      11-11-2014, 10:30 PM   #2
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The car's ride is "stiffer" mainly because the chassis for the F8X is much more rigid. This is unique to most of the M cars.

Even in Comfort setting my F80 feels stiffer than my F30 328i with M sport suspension.
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      11-12-2014, 06:36 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrakBch View Post
The car's ride is "stiffer" mainly because the chassis for the F8X is much more rigid. This is unique to most of the M cars.

Even in Comfort setting my F80 feels stiffer than my F30 328i with M sport suspension.
Thanks TrakBch.
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      01-02-2015, 08:01 AM   #4
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      01-02-2015, 10:12 AM   #5
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i don't have much time to look it up, but there is a video where they explain the chassis in detail. They are under the car and it gives a lot of insight.

One thing for sure is the rear end has no rubber bushings! Real cool stuff
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      01-09-2015, 08:24 PM   #6
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On my E92 M3, I had adaptive suspension. I noticed a difference in stiffness between the Comfort, Normal and Sport settings, but between my 550i Msport on Sport+ setting and M3 on Comfort, the M3 was still stiffer (and the 550i had a really nice rigidity to it on Sport+).
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      01-11-2015, 11:10 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C_Treadwell View Post
[...]
The car grips the road great and rides a lot stiffer than my 535. Can someone help me understand if that's just the feel of the M3 suspension, or if it's because I didn't opt for the adaptive suspension. Can you tell me a little bit about the suspension that came with my car, and what I might be missing out on?
You are missing out on an ability to adjust shock stiffness between 3 levels: Comfort, Sport, Sport+. You can, in fact, appreciate the difference between those three settings.

Based on other threads and reviews, the stock non-adjustable M3 shocks' stiffness falls somewhere between Sport and Sport+ for those with adjustable suspension.

Even then, Comfort setting on an M3 will be significantly stiffer than anything available on 535 or 335 cars. As well as it should be!

a
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      01-12-2015, 09:37 AM   #8
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Like you as well I came from and 535 with adaptive suspension. I think in 3 years of ownership I used or "adjusted" the suspension only a handful of times. Most of the times were in the winter when the roads were trashed here in NY. Other than that I left it alone. I find the m4 passive suspension to be more than capable of absorbing the road imperfections while still giving the needed feedback to make driving the car enjoyable for a daily driver. Hope this helps.
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      01-12-2015, 10:02 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by afadeev View Post
You are missing out on an ability to adjust shock stiffness between 3 levels: Comfort, Sport, Sport+. You can, in fact, appreciate the difference between those three settings.

Based on other threads and reviews, the stock non-adjustable M3 shocks' stiffness falls somewhere between Sport and Sport+ for those with adjustable suspension.

Even then, Comfort setting on an M3 will be significantly stiffer than anything available on 535 or 335 cars. As well as it should be!

a
Quote:
Originally Posted by SMOKE EM IF U GOT EM!! View Post
Like you as well I came from and 535 with adaptive suspension. I think in 3 years of ownership I used or "adjusted" the suspension only a handful of times. Most of the times were in the winter when the roads were trashed here in NY. Other than that I left it alone. I find the m4 passive suspension to be more than capable of absorbing the road imperfections while still giving the needed feedback to make driving the car enjoyable for a daily driver. Hope this helps.

As has been discussed at length in other threads, the adaptive suspension is much more than the 3 user selectable settings. The adaptive suspension is constantly adapting (changing the damping) to the driving conditions in real time.
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