[Nick325xiT 5spd]

It seems i was a little over-enthusiastic yesterday.:bawling:

First of all, this modification disables cruise control. I believe that the new switch began with march production (when they made cruise control standard), so I don't think that anyone without cruise is helped by this at all.

Second, I was WRONG. This DOES cause rev hang. For some reason, it doesn't cause as much hang as stick a huge magnet on the switch, but...

Ah, well. At least Rob has found us a workable solution.

 

[Guest]

It seems i was a little over-enthusiastic yesterday.:bawling:

First of all, this modification disables cruise control. I believe that the new switch began with march production (when they made cruise control standard), so I don't think that anyone without cruise is helped by this at all.

Second, I was WRONG. This DOES cause rev hang. For some reason, it doesn't cause as much hang as stick a huge magnet on the switch, but...

Ah, well. At least Rob has found us a workable solution.

Only one thing to add/correct. This "new" switch goes back as far as ~ Oct 2000 production.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Which of course brings us back to the question: Why the hell did BMW see fit to do this?

 

[blackdawg]

if you buy a ron stygar clutchstop...

....and still don't like it, then i will buy it from you for whatever it costs these days.

i think it's $25

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

blackdawg, my UUC stop works just fine even with the switch enabled. The whole point was that I wanted to extend the stop past the switch. On MY car, the UUC stop works with BOTH nuts, BOTH washers and a little bit of space in between the two nuts. I can't imagine preferring the Ron Stygar stop, it looks awfully darned wimpy. More to the point, it wouldn't benefit me in the slightest.

 

[eugeneDC/TX]

Ah, well. At least Rob has found us a workable solution.

rob as in UUC rob? is there any indication when they will make the fix public? i need to call and ask the status of their dead pedal... if it's too much longer, i may just get the m3 dead pedal

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: OK, after further testing, do NOT use my method to defeat the clutch switch...

rob as in UUC rob? is there any indication when they will make the fix public? i need to call and ask the status of their dead pedal... if it's too much longer, i may just get the m3 dead pedal

Yeah, a post from him at E46Fanatics.com was linked in another thread here. Basically, they determined that the "old style" switch can be wired in to cars equipped with the "new style" switch and then you can just modify the "old style" switch in any one of the well-documented ways.

 

[eugeneDC/TX]

Re: Re: Re: OK, after further testing, do NOT use my method to defeat the clutch switch...

Yeah, a post from him at E46Fanatics.com was linked in another thread here. Basically, they determined that the "old style" switch can be wired in to cars equipped with the "new style" switch and then you can just modify the "old style" switch in any one of the well-documented ways.

thanks tom, hmm, putting in the old switch in place of the new switch then modding it? that will wait awhile, not something i'd want to do now. i'm not too far from being out of warranty, at that point i'll start doing stuff (sways, ssk, etc.) i really want to upgrade brakes too, but damn like the very serious brakes from uuc are so much. i may go the HACK route and try and find brake parts at a local junkyard for a 330i.... whatevs, thanks for the reply tom

 

[blackdawg]

'kay nick.

sounds like this is really bothering you.

maybe i don't drive the wagon enough to know why you would want the stop that far up?

just taking out 2 inches or so of travel make the car much better to me. sounds like you're going to get rid of everything to clutch engagement point.

i tried that out and left the clutchstop right at the engagement point. but i found with it's still too funky with a squishy clutch engagement. things just take too long to happen.

somehow in my all direct connected car, i don't have any of this driveline mushiness.

 

[Guest]

Re: 'kay nick.

sounds like this is really bothering you.

maybe i don't drive the wagon enough to know why you would want the stop that far up?

just taking out 2 inches or so of travel make the car much better to me. sounds like you're going to get rid of everything to clutch engagement point.

i tried that out and left the clutchstop right at the engagement point. but i found with it's still too funky with a squishy clutch engagement. things just take too long to happen.

somehow in my all direct connected car, i don't have any of this driveline mushiness.

Maybe this is related to an actual physical difference between the two cars. But when I had my E46, I modded my "old style" starter switch so that I could install the UUC stop at the highest possible position as well.

Since the E46 clutch is SO numb that you cannot determine it's engagement point by feel, you need a stop set to just past the engagement point so that you can actually shift smoothly by simply slamming the clutch all the way to the stop everytime you go to shift.

After many months with the car, it jsut was not possible to determine the clutch engagement point without a physical reference. For me and my 330i, the UUC stop felt like a gift from BMW heaven.

And it also illustrated just how much unnecessary clutch arm travel is built into these cars.

The stop did migrate to my M3, but is set very low. It merely serves as a stable, sturdy stop, unlike the plastic stock stop. But on the E46 it was almost a necessity to have it jacked WAY up.

Perhaps (hopefully) your comments are based on your M Coupe experiences. But do not discount what Nick, myself and others HATE about the E46 clutch.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Actually, I want to pull the stop out maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. That happens to be just the right spot for me. There are days, though, when the clutch and throttle feel so awful that I almost want an automatic. This NEVER, EVER happened in my E36, and it never happens when I'm driving the WRX. I'm looking VERY forward to when I wear out the clutch... It'll finally give me the oportunity to put something I'll enjoy in.

I HOPE that my suspicions about the e-throttle are correct -- that it was put in to accommodate the new 318i, which, obviously would need an e-throttle. The introduction of valvetronic in the six cylinder engines should be interesting.

 

[Guest]

Actually, I want to pull the stop out maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. That happens to be just the right spot for me. There are days, though, when the clutch and throttle feel so awful that I almost want an automatic. This NEVER, EVER happened in my E36, and it never happens when I'm driving the WRX. I'm looking VERY forward to when I wear out the clutch... It'll finally give me the oportunity to put something I'll enjoy in.

I HOPE that my suspicions about the e-throttle are correct -- that it was put in to accommodate the new 318i, which, obviously would need an e-throttle. The introduction of valvetronic in the six cylinder engines should be interesting.

Nick, I hope you take this the right way, but you're sounding jsut like I did during the 14-15 months I had my E46. I tried to mod away all of my complaints, but it was still never right. I had the UUC stop w/ modded switch. I had the Rob Knob. I had the UUC sways. I had the M3 steering wheel. I ran all kinds of different combinations of tire pressure. Oh, and I got the steering retrofit. But things were still not as they should have been. So I dumped it for a nice used E36 M3 sedan.

Search the archives at Roadfly. Search on "TD" plus any one of the topics listed. Clutch, throttle, clutch stop, etc. Hell, the HACK and I even had an exchange with someone from Sachs NA about the clutch trying to figure out why it sucked so bad (this was while we still thought the culprit was a CDV).

I worked hard to try to make that car feel like a BMW. I finally gave up and bought a car that felt perfect without a single mod. Of course, I still feel like modding it to make it even "more perfect". But I have absolutely ZERO complaints with it. And the financial bath I took unloading the 330i is now, in my mind, money well spent.

From the tone and content of your posts, I see what I was feeling a year ago. I mean, almost exactly what I was feeling. And, back then, I was still confident that with one or two more well selected mods, all would be fine. It didn't happen, even after the mods.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Well, in all honesty, I don't think I dislike the car quite as much as you did. What really gets to me with this car is the way the driving experience cn change from day to day. There are so many stupid, annoying, over-engineered systems built into this car, and frankly, I don't think they interact all that well. There are days when this car just puts a HUGE grin on my face, but... There are other days when I'm miserable driving it. Generally, I love it when it's cold and hate it when it's too hot. Hopefully the new pedal will help.

Unfortunately, there just aren't any other cars out there that I would like as my sole driver. Not that are available in this country, anyhow. I eagerly await the new S4 Avant. I'm definitely not keeping this car past the warranty, so it won't be that long before I'm in the market again.

BMW have GOT to realize that while it's OK to go after M-B's market, they cannot afford to piss off the driving enthusiasts. They REALLY need to offer an "enthusiast's" package with serious suspension upgrades (even for the xis), an upgraded clutch and a throttle set up for performance, rather than cruising. Done right, I know I would have tolerated a 5K pricetag on the package. It would be WELL worth it.

 

[Guest]

Well, in all honesty, I don't think I dislike the car quite as much as you did. What really gets to me with this car is the way the driving experience cn change from day to day. There are so many stupid, annoying, over-engineered systems built into this car, and frankly, I don't think they interact all that well. There are days when this car just puts a HUGE grin on my face, but... There are other days when I'm miserable driving it. Generally, I love it when it's cold and hate it when it's too hot. Hopefully the new pedal will help.

Unfortunately, there just aren't any other cars out there that I would like as my sole driver. Not that are available in this country, anyhow. I eagerly await the new S4 Avant. I'm definitely not keeping this car past the warranty, so it won't be that long before I'm in the market again.

BMW have GOT to realize that while it's OK to go after M-B's market, they cannot afford to piss off the driving enthusiasts. They REALLY need to offer an "enthusiast's" package with serious suspension upgrades (even for the xis), an upgraded clutch and a throttle set up for performance, rather than cruising. Done right, I know I would have tolerated a 5K pricetag on the package. It would be WELL worth it.

Ask Alan F, ask JST, Ask a number of other guys. The post you just made (right here ^^) I made a dozen times on the Org. Almost verbatim. I didn't hate it that much when I had it. And on certain days, I loved it. I questioned my decision to dump it right up to the very last second.

I'll try to find some of these posts. I mean, you're sounding EXACTLY like I was a year ago.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

That said, I still need a wagon and there just isn't anything I'm going to trade for right now. I expect I'll live with my car at least until the new S4 has had all the quirks worked out (provided, of course, that it drives as well as it looks on paper).

We'll see.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

*lol* Been reading through the old posts on bimmer.org... Remember when you guys all thought I was insane because I couldn't find the clutch switch plungers?

 

[ride365]

Nick, I hope you take this the right way, but you're sounding jsut like I did during the 14-15 months I had my E46. I tried to mod away all of my complaints, but it was still never right. I had the UUC stop w/ modded switch. I had the Rob Knob. I had the UUC sways. I had the M3 steering wheel. I ran all kinds of different combinations of tire pressure. Oh, and I got the steering retrofit. But things were still not as they should have been. So I dumped it for a nice used E36 M3 sedan.

what really surprises me is that i don't hear many people complaining. i feel the same way, and in the few posts i've made on various boards i've complained about the DBW throttle, sticky pedal and clutch. to me these are fundamental aspects of driving that BMW messed up. also add steering to that list [although i can't personally complain about that... i think i have the revised-revised steering, and it seems fine to me].

anyway for a community filled with "enthusiasts" i haven't heard a lot of people voicing the same concerns i do. yes people complain about the steering, some people complain about the throttle delay, less people complain about the clutch and even less about the sticky pedal. i know not everyone has all these problems, but based on production dates i can only assume many, many more people encounter these same problems but never notice them. until i read your post, i really assumed i was largely alone in my predicament/opinion.

i don't really have a point except to say thanks for letting me know i'm not crazy.

as for the solution... the problems aren't enough for me to get rid of the car. i still love it, and eventually it will be my wife's main transport. but i am on the lookout for an '89/'90 325is for myself.

kurt

btw i saw a '91 318is for sale the other day, but it's west coast and you're not.

 

[paul330ci]

Most of us have done all the complaining. We are waiting for some answers.

The lousy throttle response, the long clutch throw, etc, etc.

:dunno:

 

[blackdawg]

lack of complaints....

well, my guess as to why there aren't as many complaints?

it's because there are a large number of people, this is their first nice car. since they might not know any better, they might be lulled into thinking this is what BMWs drive like. the magazine reviews can't be wrong, right? the ultimate driving machine.......

but the people who have been immersed int he marque for a couple of cars or more than a few years or have driven a sporty car before, the new cars are SLIGHTLY intolerable.

sorry about the troubles, nick.

since my wife is coming from a rolly-polly-dive-and-squat pig, i.e. a 5 speed 9-5 wagon light pressure turbo, this car is a revelation. i'm happy that she's happy.

that said, i don't drive it every day. i drive something WORSE, a GM sport-brute which is so awful that getting into any car is nice.