Ride Quality

[Ben Dendrickson]

Hi, advice needed, I have a 55 plate E53 3.0d and the ride quality is awful, it has springs on the front and bags on the rear and driving on normal roads, or as normal as we have in the UK, the ride quality is awful, at times it feels like i'm "offroad" and feel every bump in the road, if the ride quality was better I would keep the vehicle as its in really good condition, any advice please

[Greydog]

Morning Ben

Welcome to the Forum

One mans hard ride is another mans sporty ride BMW think we all like sport? So having owned both 4.4 and 4.6 E53 X5's I have developed a view on ride quality based on my aching back. We have a road locally that is like driving on a tarmac ploughed field which I avoid as much as possible

Things that have an effect on ride are:

(1) Tyres from the picture it looks like you are running 19" Staggered wheels which should have 255x55x19 Front and 285x45x19 Rear Tyres can have a big influence on comfort due to side wall stiffness as will the pressure they are run at. Plus they should be Non Runflat type, runflats are renowned for their hard ride due to side walls being stiff enough to carry the cars weight. 

(2) Shock absorber type will make a huge difference your car may be running sport suspension from the factory. If they have stiffened up with age (we all do) then they will jar over lumps and bumps. 

(3) Springs I would think there are options for sport or comfort but I have never checked. You could look at www.realoem.com to see what is available.

(4) Last but not least the seats, two types Sport or Comfort

So first thing I would do is put the Vin number into BMW Vin Decoder it should bring up the original build spec, this will allow you to see if you have the "Sport" or "Comfort" suspension

Wheels 18" will have tyres with a taller side wall so be a softer ride (my 4.6is runs 20" wheels as standard the winter wheels are 18" so I know the difference) Shock Absorbers the difference just replacing with new makes can be amazing, I did this on the 4.4. Replacing shocks with softer bump and rebound should be a possibility.

Bit of a ramble but I hope it helps

Dave

[Ben Dendrickson]

Thanks Greydog, very much appreciated and very knowledgeable think I will start by looking at the shocks before I go down the route of changing wheels but also try the BMW Vin Decoder