Re: New List Member with question about E36 (325IS)

[Carl Scholz <scholz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 3:10 PM -0500 8/6/02, alex.fadeev@domain.elided wrote:
>Carl Scholz <scholz@domain.elided> wrote:
>>
>>  I just resolved this exact problem in my '93 325is (great car). The
>>  short answer is I needed to replace the rear shocks.  When I
>>  accelerated and turned to the right hard (like pulling out from one
>>  street on to another), the right rear tire would get light. If there
>>  was any kind of bump in the road, the tire wouldn't stay planted and
>>  would bounce due to the worn shock.  It didn't happen on the other
>>  side as the shock wasn't as worn there.
>
>Carl,
>This is pretty weird. A dead shock will indeed fail to dampen wheel
>isolation induced by a bump. But that should not be related to turning. Nor
>should a blown shock result in what Chris is describing as 'violent shudder
>though the frame'.
>The last time I replaced dying rear shocks (once on E30, twice on E36), the
>car would bounce too much. On one car only one of the rear shocks was dead
>(POS OEM E36 Boges) and the car would isolate sideways rebounding from the
>dips. Very disconcerting.

The problem is related to turning only in that a hard acceleration 
through a short, sharp turn will shift the weight a lot to the 
outside.  If the inside rear shock is dead and then travels over some 
bumps during this process, it gets launched or bounced a bit.  Since 
it's still trying to get traction, it will slip slightly while 
bouncing up (unloaded) and then bounce back down and gain traction. 
That grab and release cycle causes the "shudder" as it lurches slight 
with each bounce.  Very disconcerting to say the least.  Combine all 
that with a marginal shock mount and you've got some pretty prominent 
clanking or shuddering that feels like it's going through the whole 
frame.

Carl

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