Poll>> Dropped Bmw E30 M3

After Mike's Random Snap I started thinking about the fact how the drop would affect the performance of the car. Especially with a car like the iconic E30 M3 that has been build with performance in mind.

We all know that lowering a car to a certain extent improves handling but would you lower it to this extent?

-Jeroen


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1

yes, ONLY if i had all the items needed to correct the roll center with it that low

2

Beautiful car, beautiful picture.

3

technically the lower the center of gravity the car has, the better the handling is going to be. the only problem with going extremely low is clearance that can only be used on an actualy racetrack and not safe on the street.

4

From a performance standpoint: No. For a cosmetic standpoint: No. From any other standpoint I can think of: No. Conclusion: No.

5

I think I would. When it's done with tasteful wheels like this one, it improves the look of the car very much.

6

I doubt the poll's fairness lol. You can just reload and vote again. And we all know haters gotta hate.

7

Yes. Looks the beans, but I would probably use it as a daily driver.

8

for sure, that current stance looks beyond awesome. although this is coming from someone who would track the car for fun, not for competition. not too worried about suspension geometry.

9

Lol. I'm not a hater. I just think the only reason to do something like this is pure aesthetics. Not something I'm into. If I do something to a car, it hast to make the car faster (or safer).

10

O NOES FAN BOYS WILL RIOT!! not only is is LOW it also has a .... wait for it.... SR20DET.. .OMG EXPLOSION

11

That's the lowest it will go, or more so I would not go any lower. (Pictured)



If it was stock then yes I will lower it.

12

The car looks amazing, I would sell a kidney for those wheels

13

Would I lower it if I could retain good suspension travel and geometry? yes. Would I do this garbage? No. I don't want to ride around in a toilet bowl.

14

No. It looks good, but I doubt it would be worth it unless it was a very serious bit of kit. While lowering the center of gravity helps, some controlled body also helps. Transfering some of the weight onto the outside wheels actually helps reduce lateral load on the tyres and ensures the car doesn't walk off the line under load. This is of course unless it is a fully built race car with suspension and tyres to match. Which it doubt from the picture.

So would I lower it that much? Only for pics like these and I'd wind the coilovers back up again to drive home :P

15

As as few have mentioned, you have to consider roll centre and suspension travel, especially for a car with macphersion strut type suspension.



Lowering the roll centre makes for far worse handling as the roll centre drop at 3x the rate of the centre of gravity. Without appropriate modifications to correct the suspension geometery, the same car a little higher is faster.

16

Yes, just to piss off the haters.

17

yes, and on the front of the car is a plate that reads fpurists. perfectly suited for this car.

18

Guaranteed anyone that voted yes in this poll is one if not both of these things:



1. Hard parker that has never been on a track and loves stretched tires

b. Owns a set of Rota's



19

It's fine,come on,don't push too hard or you'll break this great image.

20

car look great as it is.. no need to go any lower.. have a good think about the why's and wherefore's about lowering and take a good look at the car.. whats the need...

21

I agree with s14zenki, the lower the center of gravity the better. With the way that the wheels are set up it would scrape the entire race, but at least it would look good doing it haha

22

@s14zenki: that isn't the only problem... When lowering a car to such extremes, if you don't correct the geometry by relocating pickup points, the roll center height and camber curves can be way off. And you can end up with a car that handles far worse than stock.

23

I would also venture to guess that the above stated car would be pretty useless on the track, given the ride height and wheel fitment/offset.

24

You know, shockingly, there is such thing as too low.

25

Eric, your a dick! That e30 looks mental decked with those wheels! Maybe http://forum.difflock.com/ would be a better site for your poor opinion!

26

HELL YEAH! KEEP IT HELLA FLUSH!

27

DO NOT WANT

28

Its a street car. So why not?

29

Probably not unless, like 240zac says, you change all the associated components to correct the roll centre. Too low will ruin the handling of "The Yardstick"

30

Lowering the car to improve the center of gravity is only good to a certain point. Lower it too much and it will cause you to ride the bump stops, increase body roll, and reduce the amount of tread in contact with the road.

31

I'd go that low only with coilovers

32

Depends on what your trying to achieve. Purely for aesthetics then absolutely but I doubt its improving the handling being that low.

33

The car looks great! But if it has air bags underneath the man should be punched in the face for doing that to such an iconic car. As for driving this thing on the street I know the streets in Rapid City are pretty rough in most places...... (just take a look around!)

34

I said yes simply because I just like the fun of driving anything fast. Shaving tenths of a second doesn't gain that much enjoyment unless it's shifter karts for me at least. Plus it looks so damn good!!

35

No. An E30 M3 looks great with a moderate drop (I've lowered mine), but this is stupid, not to mention useless on anything other than the smoothest of smooth roads.

36

Car looks awesome, but I need my car to drive as well as it looks

37

I would!! :D

38

Yes, but only if I had another one that I could use for actually driving quickly.

39

This is ridiculous to me. MOST track cars ARE that low. However, they change the suspension geometry to however they want it suited for the particular track they are at. The one thing track cars have that road cars DON'T have are extremely large wheels arches or even tubbed. That's why they never look THAT low per say. So this form vs. function thing is foolishness cause you hardly see track oriented road cars that aren't extremely low.



Road cars just don't change up their geometry to suit, or body panels or even flooring like race cars do. That's all.

40

Haters gonn hate... so f+++ you haters..



This car is a dope... Awesome wheels, super stance, Insane amount of power.. And its red..

41

I voted yes, because I would love to have this car as my daily/show/meet car,



It would then give me the luxury to have my evo cater to "hella functional" duties, like track days and such.

42

No. The E30 M3 is one of the most long lived performance coupes ever. It should be driven hard at a slightly lowered center of gravity with performance in mind.



This car appeals to all fanboys of hellaflush

43

no

e30 m3 is true performance icon

only thing should be that low are 240sx, etc

44

This car looks stupidly gorgeous with the rear spoiler and the deep dish rims by the way. Pray tell if u know if it is working with the original M3 engine or a more modern variant?

45

To remove fender gap but not to that extent. Looks pretty good though...Love to see those slammed cars but I wouldnt actually do it.

46

it's not lower than any of the Jap platforms on here that get respect for stance that are supposed to be track monsters. and it's no lower than the race versions from the era either. with the right correction in suspension geometry, short stroke shocks and matched springs, i can't see any reason why it won't handle just fine.



only time you're really going to push it to the point that handling is compromised is on a track, not the street, and a track is flat. so i don't see the prob so long as he's happy to suffer a compromised ride quality on the street.



besides the twin turbo M5 motored E30 is MUCH lower. that thing tucks rim, and it is supposed to be a caged up track monster.

47

It sits pretty low already so its not a good idea to lower it anymore cause of roads plus you can use spacers to make a wider wheel stance the only thing it wont have that great of affect as if you lowered it but still would change it some amount of degree.

48

i think its enough as it is :)

49

fucking Mexicans stole the soul of the great M3!!!!!!!!!!!

50

My rule would be to not go lower than the historic DTM racers ride height. FULL STOP

51

i believe that we need to define the difference between performance and result. While it may perform better in one area, does that performance contribute to the desired result? if the result is appearance of capability or reflection of current trends, then it seems that it performed well.

52

it all depends on personal preference and circumstances. aesthetically? most would say a hellaflush stance is pretty appealing. and if its his daily or his drift machine, optimizing suspension geometry doesn't necessarily improve things a whole lot (especially at the amateur level). but even if it is strictly grip, slamming the car won't make a lot of difference unless he tracks it or he just REALLY needs that bit of difference in maximum performance and suspension feel. if dumped and flush is how he likes his ride to look, he isn't sacrificing a great deal of performance either. so it really comes down to personal taste and whether or not youre desperate to shave off a split second. so its a definite YES for me

http://www.youtube.com/user/DRFTmonkeh

53

Can I just say... DESKTOP PLEASE!

54

That car is too nice to have the bottom end sheared off by driving around town. If the suspension on that car truly improves the handling at it's ride height, keep it on the track.

55

Even though the e30 M3 is a classic, it looks great in this form, and the funny thing is the factory widebody actually works with the low offset wheels, and he didnt have to do rediculous fender rolling, so the car appear like it could be returned back to stock if needed.. regardless cars are meant to be driven, not sit in some collectors garage gathering dust......



tastefully done!!!!!!!

56

If it's a track car NO. (or not very very low).

If it's a daily driver, YES.



Can't go fast on the roads anyway, so style is a plus.

57

Would I lower the car this low? Depends, on how and what it is used for. Towed Coilover track car with footing corrections: Yes, Coilovers Street Car: Mabey but not this low, Air Bags Track: No, Air Bags street: yes. I think that is fair.

58

Yes, I would lower it. How much though is the question. As long as everything underneath can be tucked away nicely leaving room to get over speedbumps, it's all good.

59

dtm m3s were lower haha...pretty much the best car ever

60

negative. don't like the wheels sticking that much into the wheelwell, and the camber is way overkill for a street car.

so, no.

61

to s14zenki there is a certain point when lowering that suspension parts such as control arms, axles, etc are at an awkward angle and thus making handling of the car worse. for example, lowering the car pass the point where there is no room for suspension travel.



yes the center of gravity is a proven theory, but you have to think about what race cars do to center the mass of the car, such as moving the engine lower or further back into the fire wall.

62

Haters gonna hate. Playa'z gonna roll. :P



Girls gonna bend over for this car fo sho! :P

63

I would drop it that low, but not on that wheel/tire combo.

64

some people get too worked up in the idea of maintaining the purity of a car. the owner of this M3 wanted to lower it, that's his prerogative, quit whining.

65

no. not with our roads

66

No. I wouldn't want my car to look like a douche-mobile.

67

form over function baby!as long as its not all overdone like many "vip" CARS NOW A DAYS

68

SMOKEY VIP is on the right track - if you can lower the outer balljoint (or raise the inner pick up points, or both) to keep the roll centre where it should be, it'll handle fine.



As several people mentioned, the roll centre drops much quicker than the CofG, so the lower you go the bigger the distance between RC and CofG, which gives more leverage leading to MORE roll, not less.



The works M3 racecars were lower than this anyway.



@Braydon: I like it, don't do hard parking, I race (not just track days), don't have stretched tires and Work's not rota's.

Theory = flawed.

69

i would probably do that to a regular 3 series e30, if its an m3 i would keep it performance, looks great but so does a car kicking ass around the track

70

desktop PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

71

why should you lower it more? i don´t get it

72

a normal e30 yes m3 no

73

This car isn't even dropped that much for an M3. All M cars from BMW have a pretty good stance straight from the factory. This car also had tiny 15" wheels on it originally. Add the 17s or 18s that this car has with some ridiculous offset and you get a pretty awesome stance without having to lower the car all that much. I'd say this car still feels awesome on track... if you can keep from rubbing the fenders.

74

Slam it. ULTRA WIN.

75

Desktop Please!

76

the drop isn't the problem. look at where the rockers sit in relation to the ground, it's not terrible.



the problem is the tire/wheel fitment and excessive negative camber. fix that and it'll look and perform worlds better.

77

@ Trev: Since when was this forum strictly about making a car look good? Is my opinion poor, simply because I like t go fast? I thought that was what "speed"hunters is about? How about you get your head out of your ass and be more open. That car looks sick, but it's not something I would do. Got a problem with that?

78

Who can say, I don´t love this M3??? ...that´s the one of most beautiful cars on the world... and this picture is really amazing :)))) E30 or M3 E30... both version is a very popular... and drive in one of them, is unforget thing... DRIVE IT, YOU BELIVE!!!!!! ...and picture is really great ;-) ...that rials, WTCC spoiler and shasi is the greeeeaaaat!!! ...who was klick in the VOTE for NO, never sit in this car... it is really good drive...



I LOVE THIS CAR!!!

79

Old m3's aren't exactly fast, a modern 320d would keep up with it. I voted YES, and I'm totally right. It'd be a different matter if you wanted to slam an Ariel Atom or the like though.

80

no suspension travel? wrong wheels? no disrespect and i do understand your thoughts....but to be truthful...the stance is almost dead one with the dtm cars of the late 80's and 90's except the wheels have a lower offset. yet again as usual mis education about one special car....thinking its your average car or average bmw. all this car is the love child of homologation rules.

81

Great looking car, and nowadays with adjustable coilovers such a common reality, you can have the best of both worlds with a bit of work each time you want to play around with it. The suspension geometry probably wouldn't be that good but it depends on how it has been done. If you can lift the whole assemblies up into the chassis a bit more (i.e. not changing springs but still lowering the car) then you keep the same roll centres which is generally the go. But regardless of all that, this car obviously has next to no suspension travel so unless it was raced on a really smooth surface it wouldn't handle very well, adjust it when you actually wanna drive it properly? No problemo. I love looking at it, but probably wouldn't do it myself, especially not with the amount of speed-humps in Melbourne.

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