Jim Galbally

ok, one thing i've noticed about the M3 is that when the arse comes out (provoked power-oversteer) the steering kinda sorts itself out. basically you can just let the wheel slide thru your hands and it wont bite you.

in the sierra, this did not happen, the front wheels only ever went where YOU pointed the steering, making pulling out of junctions on full chat somewhat more interesting, you had th FIGHT the car to get it to do what you wanted it to do.


also, when th sierra broke traction to the rear wheels it was like "right, thats it, ive got no frip, you aint going nowhere) and youd have to regain grip before acceleraing again. the M3 however breaks traction but still hurls you forward in a violent manner kinda "grip? grip? who needs that, im still fucking off!"


now, obviously this is all to do with the diff, and suspension sets ups etc. etc. i'm just interested to know exactly what it is that caused this kind of behaviour.

MAD EVO 4

Dazza@TeamFord

Sweet your BMW and Sierra can talk!

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

its all about the castor in the sierras.

our drift sierra didnt self correct, it the rear end went, that was it lol

since then i have fitted an extra washer behind the TCA on the ARB to push the wheel forward, and also fitted eccentric top mounts that are fully adjuted to the rear for maximum castor

this has helped a bit but its still no where near as good as my sx was.

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

Wondered why Im gonna be using an M3 rear diff in mine...

foreigneRS

the grip thing is the diff

the steering is better geometry through multi link design, not just cheap arb, tca mcpherson strut rubbish

Stavros

Fudgey is right, and he had the EXACT same problem in his Sierra, but soon as he described it to me it was easy to sort it and it did help a good bit.

Its castor that helps self centering, and sierras dont seem to have much/any of it as standard.

When i started drifting i was used to the cossie and therefore was countersteering myself (and therefore shit and spinning all time ), but with SX's and any other decent car (without wanting to sound harsh ) it has enough countersteer to just let go of
the wheel as youd rarely ever countersteer faster than the car does itself.
In most instances its- let go of the wheel, and grab it at the right moment, happy days.

The grip thing is its got a diff that works ok, not brilliant, but ok. Wheras Sierra ones are utter dogshit so you dont go anywhere without full traction.

M3 diffs are owt special mate, just 25% locking plated diff, so not even as good as an aftermarket cossie one etc.
Perfectly good though, but nothing special.

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

didnt mean it like that .. I meant its better than the bog standard Sierra cossie one...

Rhys

Erm better designed car

xr2i-carl

i think the m3 feels rather slow

richard_syko

As said above, self alinging torque created by castor. Mercs are even more so renound for this. Check one out parking at full lock.

Rhys

what compared to? wouldnt call them slow

Plus whats that related to question?

Stavros

what the fuck has that got to do with this thread

Jim Galbally

mine's not slow, it's 400bhp

GARETH T

anyone who thinks a 300+bhp car is slow is a complete dick and lost reality

smudgerz

Smudge

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

compared to your xr2i, i expect it is mate

RichardPON

Jim - you're quite right.

I took my brother's MCoupe out for a little drift fun yesterday, and the steering is just in a different league.

Remember this though - it can still bite you if you snap off the throttle or don't get the lock off quick enough.....

That little MCoupe is such ridiculous fun though - so unbelievably controllable!

bud-weis

i kinda wish i'd bought one back when i was looking, looks such a fun car on paper....and obviously still nice to live with

alanfordtw-15

jim: i wouldnt be suprised if the sierra was only spinning one wheel, they're that bad!

Adam_BlackRS

Oh the fun i've had with my BMW

Wait till it snow's Jim.... Go find yourself a empty carpark

I was once driving down a empty road sideways, so controllable in BMW's

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

The Sierra rear beam is the biggest pile of wank out, and has fully adjustable geometry - unfortunately, it is constantly changing with suspension movement .

Arfur

Quote of the day so far!

Mike1

The M3 runs about 7 degrees ( I think ) of caster as standard - that's about double what a Sierra does so it will have much more self-centreing effect. A normal E36 doesn't run as much caster as that ....( unless you modify it )
One of the things they did when setting up the Sapphire over the 3-door settings was to give it an extra degree of caster - gives a bit better straight-line stability as well.

On the BMW geo the extra caster helps maintain the -ve camber on the front wheels as you turn into a corner - as the car rolls, this will help keep the tyre flat to the ground and aid front end grip

AlexF

Try it in a Z4 M

AlexD

iTrader: (3)

Nice and straight to the point there mike..

Is it not also to do with linear torque rather than lots of boost !

big_wig_074

well, no, as jims car had a v6 in it,no boost there!

Stavros

lol, can tell when someone is used to cossies when they think oversteer is just about mashing the shit out the throttle

RichardPON

Okay - get me one to borrow please!