I don't like electric assist stearing.

I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.

I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
responsive.

I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe adding
tower braces will help.

"grinder" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>
> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
> responsive.
>
> I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe
> adding tower braces will help.
>
Did you try increasing the front tire pressures as I suggested to you last
week?
For the 3.0 stock cold pressures are 33F, 36R and for the 2.5 they are 30F,
33R.
IIRC, there haven't been any understeer complaints on the Roadfly Z4 board.

Tom K.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:45:27 -0400, "Tom K."
> wrote:
>>
>Did you try increasing the front tire pressures as I suggested to you last
>week?
>For the 3.0 stock cold pressures are 33F, 36R and for the 2.5 they are 30F,
>33R.
>IIRC, there haven't been any understeer complaints on the Roadfly Z4 board.
>
That was my fix as well. I've also heard of people increasing the
negative camber or adding a strut brace.
epbrown
--
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill

grinder wrote:
> I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
> everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>
> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
> responsive.
>
> I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe adding
> tower braces will help.
>
>

I don't see how adding braces would change anything. Sell the car and
buy one you like to drive. Oh, and test drive the next one.

--
-Fred W

"Fred W" > wrote in message
. ..
> grinder wrote:
>> I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>> everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>>
>> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
>> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
>> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
>> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
>> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
>> responsive.
>>
>> I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe
>> adding tower braces will help.
>
> I don't see how adding braces would change anything. Sell the car and buy
> one you like to drive. Oh, and test drive the next one.
>
> --
> -Fred W

Thanks for the help homer.

Oh, I did. But it is difficult to get a real good feel for a car in just a
15 minute ride and other features were comparable to the competition.

"Tom K." > wrote in message
. ..
>
> "grinder" > wrote in message
> ink.net...
>>I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>>everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>>
>> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
>> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
>> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
>> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
>> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
>> responsive.
>>
>> I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe
>> adding tower braces will help.
>>
> Did you try increasing the front tire pressures as I suggested to you last
> week?
> For the 3.0 stock cold pressures are 33F, 36R and for the 2.5 they are
> 30F, 33R.
> IIRC, there haven't been any understeer complaints on the Roadfly Z4
> board.
>
> Tom K.
>

I did and it helped a little. I am thinking the tower brace as well getting
rid of the ride flat tires may help. But I am not going to swap tires just
yet.

And I would not expect too many complaints on this board.

"Fred W" > wrote in message
. ..
> grinder wrote:
>> I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>> everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>>
>> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
>> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
>> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
>> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
>> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
>> responsive.
>>
>> I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe
>> adding tower braces will help.
>
> I don't see how adding braces would change anything. Sell the car and buy
> one you like to drive. Oh, and test drive the next one.
>
> --
> -Fred W

Braces will reduce flex on hard corners thereby keeping more tire on the
road and improving cornering performance.

On Mar 11, 5:45 pm, "grinder" > wrote:
> I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
> everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>
> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
> responsive.
>

Do you mean that the car actually understeers or that the steering
doesn't turn as much as you would expect??
if the former then I don't understand what the electric assist has to
do with it. On my old 3 new decent tyres and then some eibachs solved
any (unreasonable) understeer.

"adder1969" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> On Mar 11, 5:45 pm, "grinder" > wrote:
>> I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>> everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>>
>> I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
>> understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
>> think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
>> into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
>> compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
>> responsive.
>>
>
> Do you mean that the car actually understeers or that the steering
> doesn't turn as much as you would expect??
> if the former then I don't understand what the electric assist has to
> do with it. On my old 3 new decent tyres and then some eibachs solved
> any (unreasonable) understeer.
>
>

It's the later.

grinder wrote:
> "Fred W" > wrote in message
> . ..
>
>>grinder wrote:
>>
>>>I have had my Z4 since November and normally drive it on weekends. My
>>>everyday vehicle is a 4Runner.
>>>
>>>I can see where if one drove the Z every day one could get used to the
>>>understeer of the electrical assist. But it feels sluggish to me and I
>>>think could contribute to accidents. That almost happened to me. I came
>>>into a corner a little hot, I turned the wheel and then had to quickly
>>>compensate for the understeer. I hate to say it but the 4Runner is more
>>>responsive.
>>>
>>>I don't know why they had to mess with something that worked. Maybe
>>>adding tower braces will help.
>>
>>I don't see how adding braces would change anything. Sell the car and buy
>>one you like to drive. Oh, and test drive the next one.
>>
>>--
>>-Fred W
>
>
> Braces will reduce flex on hard corners thereby keeping more tire on the
> road and improving cornering performance.
>
>

Undoubtedly true. But that was not your initial complaint. You said
you did not care for the feel of the electric assist. Reducing or
eliminating chassis flex will help reduce understeer, but not really
change the feeling of the electric assist.

--
-Fred W