Re: My New M3

[Jefrem Iwaniw <jiwaniw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 18 Dec 1998, Peter Mueller wrote:
	<snip>
> 
> Third, My only question to the "Wait a while" state is this:  Why would
> I want to learn to drive a car, then totally alter the car, and have to
> re-learn to drive it?  If i was to replace the
> engine/brakes/suspension/etc I would think that it would totally alter
> the feel/ride of the car and anything I'd learn before would be
> pointless.

An interesting perspective, and one that underscores why you need to wait.
Your definition of "learning the car" seems to be more oriented to knowing
how far forward your spoiler sits so you don't hit it in a parking lot, or
how far your doors swing open.  Let me try and explain what Duane and
others are saying by "learn the car", which is fundamentally different (I
think) from what you're expecting.

An E36 M3 is a sweet car out of the box.  It does almost everything well.
It can make a very mediocre driver very fast -- sometimes faster than a
good driver in a different car.  You need to discover the compromises that
have been made in order to have the car appeal to a relatively wide
consumer audience.  This discovery process takes some time.  Why would you
want to change somethiing in the car unless you found a shortcoming?

Consider the inherent understeer of the E36 (and dare I say all other
"stock" vehicles, save the 911) -- do you know what understeer is?  Do you
wish to reduce the understeer?  Why? Would you know what to do with a car
that might oversteer in a corner?  Let's just say that you answer "Yes" to
all of the above, and that your reason is "I like my cars like I like my
wimmen -- loose" -- there are many different ways to accomplish this goal,
mostly related to suspension mods, although you could shift your static
corner weighting around to do some of it.  You need to "learn" your car in
order to make valid decisions regarding these alternatives -- i.e. do you 
get a thicker, adjustable rear swaybar, stiffer springs, firmer shocks,
or some combination of these?

I could go on, but I hope you're getting the point.  By learning your
car, you are discovering those aspects of it that you'd like to
change/improve.  By just taking somebody's word for it that H&R springs
and Koni Adjustables will somehow magically make your car better, you are
cheating yourself of the opportunity to come to your own conclusion.  The
compromises that this change will introduce into the dynamics of the car
may not be acceptable to you (or maybe they might be).  Same goes for
other mods.

Hope this helps.

- ------------------------------------
- -Jefrem Iwaniw, jiwaniw@domain.elided, '72 2002, '94 525i
 Keller, TX

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