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      08-19-2018, 08:52 AM   #1
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Is Dynamic Suspension Rare?

The insurance company has decided not to repair my F30 after some guy made a left in front of me at an intersection. I'm looking for a replacement F30 335 but I'm rather confused about what I'm seeing on the used market.
My 2012 RWD Sportline has most all the options. I have enjoyed the Sport Automatic Transmission, Adaptive Suspension, and Variable Sport Steering but doing VIN searches on many used models, it seems to be very rare, which doesn't make sense to me.

I'm looking to get a used F30 x-drive M-Sport this time with:
SAT (S2TBA)
Adaptive M-Suspension (S2VFA)
Variable Sport Steering (2VLA)
But I'm finding this combo to be like hen's teeth. Are these options possibly not listed because the are standard in M-Sport package?
Out of 20 models i've done a VIN lookup for (2013-2015, M-Sport, x-Drive), only 2 have had adaptive suspension listed, 5 with SAT, and 2 with VSS. Only 1 car has had the combination of all 3 options.

Am I missing something? I would have expected this option to be very common.
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      08-19-2018, 09:04 AM   #2
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It’s probably rare because it was a single check-box when ordering pre-LCI. If you weren’t specifically looking for it as an enthusiast, it probably got skipped over. I would also bet 95% of sportline and m-sport xDrive customers probably also thought, “oh I have sportline/m-sport, I already have a sport suspension and don’t need DHP” with the cruel irony that xDrive didn’t have a static sport suspension and they were actually getting the extra-soft xDrive-specific base suspension.
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      08-19-2018, 11:13 AM   #3
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Expect most are ordered so they will be lease returns on a dealers lot.
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      08-19-2018, 11:58 AM   #4
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I got a 2013 335i xdrive with every option except adaptive cruise control. I test drove a lot of cars with and without adaptive suspension. In my opinion it was a necessity. Took me about 8 months of checking Bmw USA to find her with all the options. I think the main problem is the car starts off at a 30k something base msrp and my car was 70k msrp with all the options. Most people would rather a base M3 for that price.
Good luck with your search.
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      08-19-2018, 12:08 PM   #5
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I've only test driven 435 and 440 that had the adaptive suspension (I was only looking for cars that had the M Performance package I and II). I wonder what I'm missing in the non-adaptive ones.

Canada/US might be different too in the package department.
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      08-19-2018, 05:52 PM   #6
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When I bought my 2016, the dealer tended to stock 4 ways:
1) no-adaptive LED, no-dynamic suspension (most common)
2) adaptive LED, no-dynamic suspension
3) no-adaptive LED, dynamic suspension
4) both (least common)
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      08-19-2018, 06:18 PM   #7
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Adding KW Street Comfort coilovers will transform the suspension behavior. You will not miss adaptive suspension.
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      08-19-2018, 09:23 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfm56d7b View Post
Adding KW Street Comfort coilovers will transform the suspension behavior. You will not miss adaptive suspension.
Not the same thing. They have fixed setting choices for rebound you manually configure & are not continuously adjustable. Once set you are locked into that setting till you reset them to a different choice.

You can play around with the adjustment and maybe do a better job then the BMW engineers did or maybe not.

Might be a good choice to go from a base suspension to a sport, there are a lot of products available, but I don't believe for a street driven car you can do better then the adaptive package.

Adaptive has a number of program choice available on the fly & constantly adjust to changing road & driving conditions under computer control. Drive my wife someplace in comfort. Drop her off, push a button & go to sport & tighten the suspension. Pick her up hit comfort & loosen the suspension.

Had it on my last two coupes. 135is has the fixed performance package & its a rougher ride then adaptive in Comfort mode & not a flexible as adaptive in Sport.

Have double adjustable (rebound/compression) coilovers on my COBRA & they can't do what the BMW package does. Only thing better is the GM magnetorheological system
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Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 08-19-2018 at 09:48 PM..
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      08-19-2018, 09:38 PM   #9
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KW Comfort Street coilovers and adaptive suspension are not analogous. Agreed.

If OP has difficulties finding a vehicle with adaptive suspension, perhaps another alternate could be considered to improve suspension behavior.
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      08-19-2018, 09:46 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfm56d7b View Post
KW Comfort Street coilovers and adaptive suspension are not analogous. Agreed.

If OP has difficulties finding a vehicle with adaptive suspension, perhaps another alternate could be considered to improve suspension behavior.
Agree
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      08-19-2018, 11:03 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brett530 View Post
The insurance company has decided not to repair my F30 after some guy made a left in front of me at an intersection. I'm looking for a replacement F30 335 but I'm rather confused about what I'm seeing on the used market.
My 2012 RWD Sportline has most all the options. I have enjoyed the Sport Automatic Transmission, Adaptive Suspension, and Variable Sport Steering but doing VIN searches on many used models, it seems to be very rare, which doesn't make sense to me.

I'm looking to get a used F30 x-drive M-Sport this time with:
SAT (S2TBA)
Adaptive M-Suspension (S2VFA)
Variable Sport Steering (2VLA)
But I'm finding this combo to be like hen's teeth. Are these options possibly not listed because the are standard in M-Sport package?
Out of 20 models i've done a VIN lookup for (2013-2015, M-Sport, x-Drive), only 2 have had adaptive suspension listed, 5 with SAT, and 2 with VSS. Only 1 car has had the combination of all 3 options.

Am I missing something? I would have expected this option to be very common.


What about adding in the Bilstein B16 49-255935 or did they never release them after announcing them 2 years ago?

Or the B6 Upgrade Adaptives?

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1296041

Furthermore, couldn’t the OEM Adaptive Suspension be retrofitted?

Quote:
Originally Posted by chiefneil View Post
It’s probably rare because it was a single check-box when ordering pre-LCI. If you weren’t specifically looking for it as an enthusiast, it probably got skipped over. I would also bet 95% of sportline and m-sport xDrive customers probably also thought, “oh I have sportline/m-sport, I already have a sport suspension and don’t need DHP” with the cruel irony that xDrive didn’t have a static sport suspension and they were actually getting the extra-soft xDrive-specific base suspension.
If they were one click for everything, why is OP finding so many variations in Post 1?

Last edited by IK6SPEED; 08-19-2018 at 11:22 PM..
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      08-19-2018, 11:51 PM   #12
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You'll have to remove on option, probably the VSS. Although, I rarely see M adaptive X-drive cars even on the forums. There's a reason the X-Drive cars have more suspension travel and softer dampers than base RWD cars. Most people who live in colder climates get the X-Drive because they think they need it for snow and they couldn't care less about the performance of the car.

I personally lived in snowy climates with a RWD Infiniti coupe just using a good set of snow tires every winter. I felt more sure-footed in that car than I did in my family's old GMC Yukon 4x4 with all season tires on it. Of course, the Infiniti had an LSD so that might have improved the overall traction in the winter.

Does Utah get a lot of snow in the winter?

Quote:
Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory View Post
Not the same thing. They have fixed setting choices for rebound you manually configure & are not continuously adjustable. Once set you are locked into that setting till you reset them to a different choice.

You can play around with the adjustment and maybe do a better job then the BMW engineers did or maybe not.

Might be a good choice to go from a base suspension to a sport, there are a lot of products available, but I don't believe for a street driven car you can do better then the adaptive package.

Adaptive has a number of program choice available on the fly & constantly adjust to changing road & driving conditions under computer control. Drive my wife someplace in comfort. Drop her off, push a button & go to sport & tighten the suspension. Pick her up hit comfort & loosen the suspension.

Had it on my last two coupes. 135is has the fixed performance package & its a rougher ride then adaptive in Comfort mode & not a flexible as adaptive in Sport.

Have double adjustable (rebound/compression) coilovers on my COBRA & they can't do what the BMW package does. Only thing better is the GM magnetorheological system
I don't think the F30's EDC is good enough to react to road conditions. I have a Chevy SS with MagneRide and that system can react pretty quickly but it still has its limitations. BMW's EDC in comparison feels more like a one setting system that simply allows you to switch from soft and sport damping. The EDC dampers simply use an electronically controlled valve, a very basic system. It is acceptable for setting a comfort setting, but not so good at reacting to road imperfections or cancelling out body roll. Even compared to other similar adaptive suspensions, the F30 is not that great. And it's not even close to something like MagneRide. MagneRide can easily decrease body roll and deal with sudden bumps and road imperfections.

The problem is that BMW still wants to sell these cars to non-enthusiasts who expect a soft comfortable ride with a "luxury car". So the spring rates are chosen to be mediocre at everything but not perfect for anything. So you don't get a really great handling car, nor do you get one that's very comfortable. You just kind of get a mish-mash of both. I'd much rather have a fixed properly tuned suspension over the M Adaptive. Either M Performance or a good set of comfort street coilovers is really the best option for people looking for a well handling car.

Last edited by upsidedownfunnel; 08-19-2018 at 11:58 PM..
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      08-20-2018, 07:12 AM   #13
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[/QUOTE]
Furthermore, couldn’t the OEM Adaptive Suspension be retrofitted?


I would like to know this as well.
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      08-20-2018, 07:18 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vgore View Post
Furthermore, couldn't the OEM Adaptive Suspension be retrofitted?


I would like to know this as well.
As OP had RWD and is looking for AWD this time, he might end up being very disappointed as the Adaptive Suspension in XDrive is different (and inferior) according to the posts above. I also verified via realoem.com the parts are different on the XDrive.

I was thinking he could talk with Insurance Company (or not) and remove the Adaptive from his totaled car but the parts are clearly different.
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      08-20-2018, 07:20 AM   #15
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I, like most people on here, have no hard data. But I also have noticed that most cars on dealer lots option things like navigation and driver assist features before upgraded headlights and suspension/brakes. I think very few people care about those sorts of things outside of enthusiasts. The main thing is the brand and interior comfort/functionality.

Also, people like me who are enthusiasts and know they are going to upgrade their suspension anyway, spec their cars without adaptive deliberately. On top of that, the enthusiasts that do want it may tend to keep their cars for longer vs swapping every 3 years.
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      08-20-2018, 08:12 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vgore View Post
Furthermore, couldn’t the OEM Adaptive Suspension be retrofitted?


I would like to know this as well.
Yes it can be it requires a LOT of wiring to installed. There are about 14 signal wires going to the sensors and shocks from the unit in the trunk. Coding it in is a piece of cake in comparison

See here :
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...ntrol/FpXGg5gv
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      08-20-2018, 08:14 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory View Post
Adaptive has a number of program choice available on the fly & constantly adjust to changing road & driving conditions under computer control.
I have read something rather ambiguous about it from BMW, but I have not been able to get it confirmed myself. The difference between the comfort and sport setting is more than obvious, but I have not been able to feel a "self-adjusting" suspension irrespective of the road and speed parameters.
Have you?

E.g. I was recently forced to drive several km on a gravel road due to construction work. While the ride was not neccessarily uncomfortable, I did not notice it becoming more comfortable or in any way different as I drove on.
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      08-20-2018, 08:34 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyhigh View Post
I have read something rather ambiguous about it from BMW, but I have not been able to get it confirmed myself. The difference between the comfort and sport setting is more than obvious, but I have not been able to feel a "self-adjusting" suspension irrespective of the road and speed parameters.
Have you?

E.g. I was recently forced to drive several km on a gravel road due to construction work. While the ride was not necessarily uncomfortable, I did not notice it becoming more comfortable or in any way different as I drove on.
Each setting has a damper characteristic map, is a range of adjustment, according to sensor feedback, rather than a specific value for each mode.

Quote:
BMW's Electronic Damper Control with continuous action is a fully automatic system adjusting the dampers to every situation on the road. Sensors determine road conditions and the driver's style of motoring, micro-processors evaluate the data and choose the appropriate damper setting between "soft" and "hard". In addition, the driver can manually preselect either a comfortable or a sporting control mode.
EDC-K as used in cars like the E92 M3 is different. Has an uncontrolled, fixed setting in the Sport mode.

Quote:
The driver can choose between three settings, the controlled programs "Comfort" and "Normal", or the uncontrolled fixed setting "Sport".
As to noticing 'on the fly' adaption. Example in my car, go over a cross ridge with the front axle, can be a good old thump. Before the rear axle goes over the same ridge, the damping has adapted to soften the impact.

Do the same in a fixed passive damped car and the rear axle thumps as well.
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      08-20-2018, 08:45 AM   #19
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I shall try to pay attention to your example but front and rear suspension are never the same, so it is hard to tell what is a native proprty and what could be the result of an automatic suspension adjustment.

I have as I said not noticed any "on the fly" adjustment so far, could be just me, but would be very curious to find examples of the opposite. Often going over speed bumps - major difference between the 2 manual suspension settings, but not really any between front and back axle (at least none that feels unnatural anyway)

P.s. Should there be a further difference in the suspension between Sport and Sport+ modes in the 4-Series?
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Last edited by Skyhigh; 08-20-2018 at 08:55 AM..
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      08-20-2018, 10:07 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IK6SPEED View Post
What about adding in the Bilstein B16 49-255935 or did they never release them after announcing them 2 years ago?

Or the B6 Upgrade Adaptives?

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1296041

Furthermore, couldn’t the OEM Adaptive Suspension be retrofitted?



If they were one click for everything, why is OP finding so many variations in Post 1?
Pre-LCI it wasn’t “one click for everything”, it was one checkbox for DHP which was hiding over on whatever the “additional options” screen was on BMW’s build-your-own page. It was easy to miss since there was a separate “packages” screen which was more of the “one click for everything” page where most people would probably think they were done with everything important and move on.

Regardless, I wouldn’t get too worked up about buying a used car without adjustable shocks. If it’s important just get some decent aftermarket static shocks which will likely be a huge upgrade from stock anyway. The differences in DHP modes are subtle enough that I wouldn’t stress about it.
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      08-20-2018, 04:17 PM   #21
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I have an xdrive car and S2VFA. Is the code different for rwd cars?
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      08-20-2018, 04:41 PM   #22
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Adaptive M Suspension is actually 2VF
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