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      03-28-2022, 02:17 PM   #1
JamesWilson
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New Guy - 228i MSport for autox, track, street

Howdy! Picked up a 228i the other day for light autocross and track duty in addition to daily driving. Debating what tires to run as an "all-in-one" tire for most things, as I don't want to buy a second set.

Here's the plan--

Adjustable FSB
Bilstein B6 or B8
Possibly an M235i or M Performance muffler
Alignment
Fluids
Brake pads, possible upgrade to blue calipers if the price is right

Cannot for the life of me decide on tires. Stock size Michelin PS4S, Conti ExtremeContact, Goodyear Eagle SuperCar3 (245 square with front spacers?)

Tracks are hot here, it occasionally rains a lot. I tend to drive a lot of miles but mostly in my work truck, so this is more of a fun car. We'd like to do some longer road trips and such as well on fun twisty roads.

Background - I am accomplished, but in general and in reality don't know what I'm doing.

Thoughts? Thanks!
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      03-30-2022, 05:10 PM   #2
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Congrats on the car, you’re going to have a lot of fun with it, I’m sure. A few thoughts:

I love the Billys I have on my old BMW but I’ve heard conflicting things regarding their performance and ride quality on our chassis. I would take your time and read through some threads here as a lot of it has been discussed at length.

If it’s a daily and occasional track machine, the M Performance Suspension by BMW (33-50-2-320-928) for $725, lowers the car about 20mm with stiffer spring rates and slightly more aggressive valving, good rebound, and is a significant improvement over the base suspension. It should handle occasional track days and backroads well when paired with a good performance tire.

However, you’ll want some negative camber adjustment up front as there is basically none on our cars stock. You could get a set of coilovers with built-in camber plates or get a set of street camber plates that can be used with any suspension. I opted for Millway street plates with about -2.5 degrees adjustability with the OEM M-adaptive suspension. You can get close to -2 in the rear without any aftermarket mods. I love it. Rides great on street and saves tires at the track.

If you forgo camber adjustability, I wouldn’t recommend doing many track days without dedicated rubber with a good deal of durable sidewall like an RT660, RS4 or other 200tw tire..

You might want to consider skipping sway bars at first as they are a PITA$$ to swap out on the 2-series and there’s tons of performance to extract from the stock ones.

For wheels/tires, a few of us here opted for the TR Motorsport wheels from TireRack in 17x8 ET40 size and run square setup 245/40/17 200tw tires for track days without rubbing the fenders. You can setup a package like this for about $1,500 all-in with TPMS installed. The blue M sport brakes will fit with this setup as well.


I don’t know your budget but if you’re somewhat conservative like me, this is what I would do:

1. M Sport Blue calipers / good pads
2. Wheels / tires - a good summer performance tire, something with a stiff sidewall that can take some punishment without falling apart. If you’re planning a lot of track/ autox days, spring for something like the RT660, RS4 — something that won’t kill you if it rains on your commute and will hold up on track.
3. Alignment
4. Go have some fun. Assess how it feels
5. Maybe Coilovers or BMW M suspension with camber plates then fresh alignment.
6. Now really have some fun

Hope this helps
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Last edited by PeanuKeeyes; 03-30-2022 at 05:50 PM..
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      03-31-2022, 08:07 AM   #3
JamesWilson
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Thank you! I autox with SCCA and will start doing BMWCCA if there is a local chapter, the rules for Stock are quite different and I'd like to keep it in the most basic category to prevent the Spending Wars.

After talking with one of the Michelin execs who happens to be a personal friend (no discounts asked, just info!), I ended up ordering the 235/40-18 and 255/35-18 Michelin PS4S, they are the same percentage in height difference from the OE sizes, hopefully they will fit without spacers but I can always order something up quickly.

Usually a FSB assists with camber-challenged cars by not allowing excessive weight transfer, but I'll continue research as I take care of the maintenance. I did order some maintenance kits from FCP Euro for coilpacks, plugs, transmission fluid and pan, oil and filter, air filter, cabin filter, etc to get it caught up on the 40-50k mile usual stuff. The brakes are DONE and I ordered street pads and rotors, and have a few bottles of Castrol racing brake fluid left over from another car. I usually buy G-LOC brakes to support small business, I'll have to see what pad compound I'm comfortable with.

Thanks y'all!
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      03-31-2022, 10:24 AM   #4
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Good call with the 235/40 up front. I run 235/40 18 square with Michelin’s as my daily setup and love it. Did a track day with them only once but it performed well. It sounds like you know what you’re going for with the car / build and I’m anxious to hear where it goes. Keep us posted!
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      03-31-2022, 05:04 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesWilson View Post
I autox with SCCA and will start doing BMWCCA if there is a local chapter
Austin has the BMWCCA chapter closest to you: https://www.tejaschapter.org/.
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TC Kline Coilovers; H&R Front Bar; Wavetrac; Al Subframe Bushings; 18X9/9½ ARC-8s; 255/35-18 PS4S (4); Dinan Elite V2 & CAI; MPerf Orange BBK; Schroth Quick Fit Pro;
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      04-02-2022, 11:29 AM   #6
JamesWilson
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Installed, 235/40-18 and 255/35-18 fit just fine on the M Sport wheels.

I don't think it will let me post pics with a low post count, but I have them saved. Drive great.
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      04-05-2022, 09:19 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PeanuKeeyes View Post
Congrats on the car, you’re going to have a lot of fun with it, I’m sure. A few thoughts:

If it’s a daily and occasional track machine, the M Performance Suspension by BMW (33-50-2-320-928) for $725, lowers the car about 20mm with stiffer spring rates and slightly more aggressive valving, good rebound, and is a significant improvement over the base suspension. It should handle occasional track days and backroads well when paired with a good performance tire.

Hope this helps
Is this materially different than the optional MSport suspension that I have on the car? Since I'm planning shocks and struts anyway, I'd prefer to not duplicate efforts. Keeping MSport springs on there.
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      04-05-2022, 09:20 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesWilson View Post
Installed, 235/40-18 and 255/35-18 fit just fine on the M Sport wheels.

I don't think it will let me post pics with a low post count, but I have them saved. Drive great.
Pics of the Michelin PS4S installed on factory MSport option wheels. I believe they are 8" and 8.5" front and rear.
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      04-05-2022, 03:30 PM   #9
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I'm running 255/35/18 MPS4S all around
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      04-05-2022, 03:50 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesWilson View Post
Pics of the Michelin PS4S installed on factory MSport option wheels. I believe they are 8" and 8.5" front and rear.
Factory MSport 18" wheels (Type 416M, 719M, 436M) are all 7.5" wide for the front and 8" wide for the rear. The tyre manufacturers recommended maximum tyre width is 225 on the 7.5" front (225/40-18) and 245 on the 8" rear (245/35-18).
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      04-06-2022, 06:23 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MVBUILT View Post
I'm running 255/35/18 MPS4S all around
For those interested, more of the same here: https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show...0&postcount=11.
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TC Kline Coilovers; H&R Front Bar; Wavetrac; Al Subframe Bushings; 18X9/9½ ARC-8s; 255/35-18 PS4S (4); Dinan Elite V2 & CAI; MPerf Orange BBK; Schroth Quick Fit Pro;
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      04-18-2022, 07:41 AM   #12
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I'd also suggest a set of Schroth quickfit belts; drastic improvement over 3-point stock. Certainly more bang for the buck than exhaust/sway bars and likely cheaper too.

I liked the Bridgestone Potenza s007 even better than the Conti/MP4S, but I think they stopped making them (better track-derived carcass= less heat gain and better wear, despite lower traction #).

For brakes, there may be more blue sets for sale used, but when I was setting up my 228 it was cheaper to buy the MP BBK; only issue is that you have to run 18" wheels if you do that. Stock blues are more than adequate if available, and if you can rebuild them yourself they will be cheaper.
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      04-18-2022, 03:34 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maynard View Post
I'd also suggest a set of Schroth quickfit belts; drastic improvement over 3-point stock. Certainly more bang for the buck than exhaust/sway bars and likely cheaper too.
^^ This, definitely.

The car is so much easier to drive at speed when you're locked into the chair.
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TC Kline Coilovers; H&R Front Bar; Wavetrac; Al Subframe Bushings; 18X9/9½ ARC-8s; 255/35-18 PS4S (4); Dinan Elite V2 & CAI; MPerf Orange BBK; Schroth Quick Fit Pro;
GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra Ceramic; Suntek PPF
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      04-21-2022, 09:17 AM   #14
JamesWilson
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Thanks everyone! Ordered the rear Bilstein shocks today after watching the prices rise, and some sketchy railroad track crossings with the stock Sachs shocks, even at only 42k miles.

Question- it looks like there are no bump stops on my rear shocks as it sits. Are these the correct ones that are supposed to be there? https://www.turnermotorsport.com/BMW...stops-hardware . MSport suspension, not active.

I'll order up the fronts when I can schedule my mechanic to assist. Still waiting on changing all the fluids out and brakes before any autocross or track time, skipping the SCCA Time Trials National Tour here in Texas this weekend with some scheduling conflicts and car(s) not ready.

Last edited by JamesWilson; 04-21-2022 at 09:23 AM..
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      04-25-2022, 12:27 PM   #15
JamesWilson
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Turns out the bump stops were there, just destroyed. Rear shocks were toast and had very little internal resistance and would not rebound back when pushed in. I'll order up some new ones for the rear, the font Bilstein inverted monotubes should have an internal bumper.

Last edited by JamesWilson; 04-25-2022 at 12:33 PM..
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      04-26-2022, 03:20 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maynard View Post
I'd also suggest a set of Schroth quickfit belts; drastic improvement over 3-point stock. Certainly more bang for the buck than exhaust/sway bars and likely cheaper too.

I liked the Bridgestone Potenza s007 even better than the Conti/MP4S, but I think they stopped making them (better track-derived carcass= less heat gain and better wear, despite lower traction #).

For brakes, there may be more blue sets for sale used, but when I was setting up my 228 it was cheaper to buy the MP BBK; only issue is that you have to run 18" wheels if you do that. Stock blues are more than adequate if available, and if you can rebuild them yourself they will be cheaper.
I got the Schroth QuickFit 2" belts from HMS Motorsports..certainly keep you planted in your seat during auto-x & track events. Very easy initial installation; snap in & out for events using o.e. mounting points. Very informative video on their website here: https://www.hmsmotorsport.com/item/s...ning-Harnesses. Highly recommend them.
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      04-28-2022, 08:40 AM   #17
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Bilstein B8's and new brakes are installed, getting closer to getting it ready for autox! Fluids changed as well (engine oil, transmission fluid and pan/filter, rear diff). Car feels good and wife wants to start autocrossing as well
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      06-09-2022, 05:30 PM   #18
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Hotchkiss 32mm FSB installed, it's the older part number 22840F that is stiffer than stock.

"Front:
Ø32mm hollow
355 lbs/in (145% Stiffer than OE 228i)
385 lbs/in (165% Stiffer than OE 228i)
430 lbs/in (195% Stiffer than OE 228i)"

First autocross is this Sunday but it's supposed to be 106*F that day, we'll see how it goes! Car already drives a lot nicer and more planted, even in the "softest" position to see how it goes.
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      06-10-2022, 09:06 AM   #19
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Considering one of these, we like to keep it quiet and it does have the stock muffler with the vacuum flapper dealy...thoughts?

Rev9 cat-back muffler
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      07-22-2022, 10:47 AM   #20
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First autocross was great, car feels really balanced with the big front sway bar (on full soft) and the Michelin tires. I think I'd only replace tires and brakes with something with a little better bite, and keep it in this config.

Will likely try 245/40-18 front and 265/35-18 rear Falken RT660 if they can fit the fronts without rubbing.

Was about a second off the top D Street cars including former National Champion. Not bad for first time out.
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      09-14-2022, 01:15 PM   #21
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Next autox is this weekend, no changes, still using the PS4S tires. They did not like the abuse on the fronts, so focusing on not overdriving will be critical. I have not had an alignment yet so I don't know what it's sitting at. I think I'll make the switch to the Falkens for the 2023 local season, and find another stock set of wheels/TPMS. Likely only changes for next year will be a muffler, G-LOC brake pads, and Falken RT660 tires. May have to dyno it for NASA TT stuff (they require it), so I'll post what it comes out to, as well as "official weight".
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      09-15-2022, 08:55 AM   #22
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Have you considered trying a square setup to see if you prefer the handling characteristics?

A couple guys swear that square setup is the way to go, apparently at the limit the staggered setups have a tiny bit of understeer.

Source:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tobz_au View Post
Staggered just has a huge amount of understeer at the limit, this helps get the car more neutral

Edit: Im aware he says "huge" amount of understeer. but other have simply said there is a presense of understeer. maybe not "huge"


from:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...7#post29317907

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