The F80-generation BMW M3 and F82-generation BMW M4 are both capable sportscars. In terms of chassis dynamics they are identical with great weight distribution, long wheelbases and a motorsport inspired rear subframe with 5-link multi-link suspension design.
The F80 M3 and F82 M4 are not perfect however. Both suffer from less-than-ideal suspension geometry and suspension hardware that is not as capable as an M-car deserves. The first dynamic weakness of the F80 / F82 is the poorly matched spring and damper rates. Put simply, the springs are too soft and the dampers are too stiff, which leads to a feeling of crashiness over bumpy tarmac. This is due to the dampers controlling the compression and extension of the suspension springs too aggressively.
The second dynamic issue is the unoptimised suspension geometry. Both the M3 and M4 are set up from the factory to understeer before they oversteer. This understeer works as a safety net for inexperienced drivers, but it also makes both cars frustrating to drive quickly.
Fortunately, both of these dynamic weaknesses can be overcome and improved upon. With a few tweaks the handling of the F80 / F82 can be transformed. With some more significant hardware changes, the true character and brilliance of the F80 / F82 chassis is revealed with both capable of scorchingly fast lap times with the right chassis hardware and setup.
Whether you use your M3 / M4 exclusively on the road, exclusively on the track or somewhere in-between, we’ve created our Suspension Tuning Guide to help you understand what handling upgrades are available for the F80 / F82 and how they can improve how your BMW drives.
Before we get started…
A full geometry alignment is absolutely essential after installing suspension or chassis upgrades. A good geometry alignment improves a car’s handling dramatically and will ensure any installed upgrades are used to their maximum potential whilst also improving cornering grip and traction, and helping to reduce understeer and tyre wear.
Initial Upgrades
In this section we’ll explore some of the initial upgrades you can make to your M3 / M4 when looking to improve cornering performance. These upgrades can be carried out individually or in combination with some of the other upgrades mentioned in this article. This does depend on budget and what you want to achieve with your BMW, but fortunately the F80 M3 and F82 M4 are fairly modular cars. This means you can keep adding upgrades to the car without having to remove any previous upgrades except in regards to the springs and dampers.
There are a lot of upgrades out there, so we’ll go into each category in order to explain in a little more detail.
Lowering Springs
Good-quality lowering springs are a great first upgrade to make when looking to improve the handling of your BMW.
A reduced ride height helps to lower your BMW’s centre of gravity, resulting in a more responsive chassis, improved directional stability and reduced inertia during high-speed driving. By reducing how much the body of the car rolls and pitches when driving, all aspects of a car’s driving dynamics are improved.
A lower, stiffer spring helps to reduce nosediving during heavy braking, whilst also improving directional stability and helping to improve traction by eliminating excessive suspension squat.
Lowering springs are generally slightly stiffer than OEM springs, but their high-quality construction improves ride refinement as they eliminate the ‘crashiness’ that the F80 M3 and F82 M4 both suffer from as standard.
A good set of lowering springs will also create positive rake. The rake angle is the difference between the front and rear ride heights. Positive rake is where the front ride height is set lower compared to the rear ride height. This improves braking stability as nosediving is reduced. Positive rake also helps turn-in due to reduced inertia when turning-in.
The front camber is not adjustable on the F80 / F82 but the lower ride height offered by lowering springs increases the front negative camber slightly, resulting in improved cornering grip and reduced understeer.
Camber Plates
The front camber is not adjustable as standard on the F80 M3 or F82 M4 so aftermarket camber plates are required when looking to increase the front camber.
Camber plates replace the F80 / F82’s OEM top mounts with fully-adjustable camber plates. These camber plates allow you to increase the negative camber at the front axle of your BMW to whatever you need. Whether you need a slight increase in camber to nail your fast road setup, or as much camber as possible to make use of grippy track day tyres, camber plates allow you to do just that.
Increasing negative camber results in greatly increased front axle grip, particularly in medium and high speed corners. Negative camber helps to greatly reduce understeer too, resulting in a much more enjoyable and capable drive.
Adjustable Drop Links
Lowering your F80 M3 / F82 M4 can cause suspension components to collide with one another as their arc patterns have been changed due to the lower ride height. To prevent this, adjustable drop links are required.
Adjustable drop links allow you to reset the position of the anti-roll bars and suspension components to their original positions.
Adjustable drop links are also especially useful when corner weighting. Corner weighting involves altering the ride height of your BMW to balance the cross weight of the car as evenly as possible for improved dynamics. As a result, the ride heights of the car vary slightly left-to-right and front-to-rear and adjustable drop links allow you to account for this difference in ride heights. This ensures your car will have consistent handling side to side.
BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 Ultimate Road Handling Pack (Handling Pack 1)
Our first handling package for the F80 M3 / F82 M4 is the Ultimate Road Pack. This package includes all the dynamic upgrades that will transform the cornering performance of your BMW without making it any less usable on the road.
The Ultimate Road Pack contains:
- Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs
- Suspension Secrets Camber Plates
- Suspension Secrets Front and Rear Drop Links
- Suspension Secrets Rear Toe Arms
- Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes
- Eibach Anti-Roll Bars
Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes
The OEM control arm bushes on the F80 M3 / F82 M4 feature large rubber bushes. These bushes flex during high-speed driving which causes the front toe settings to change dynamically, resulting in vague steering and instability when braking. The Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes replace these bushes with billet aluminium solid bushes.
Solid bushes do not flex, which ensures the steering of your BMW remains accurate at the limit. The lack of flex also improves braking stability as the solid bushes prevent the front toe angle from changing during heavy braking.
Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes are fitted with sealed high-quality OEM-supplied bearings for consistent performance and reliability.
Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Toe Arms
The OEM rear toe arms on the F80 M3 / F82 M4 feature rubber bushes which flex during acceleration and cornering. This flex causes the rear toe angle to change dynamically during driving, which leads to instability when cornering and accelerating.
The other issue the F80 M3 / F82 M4 suffers from is the limited range of adjustment afforded by the OEM toe adjustment bolts. This limited range of adjustment means you must compromise between achieving good rear camber settings or the optimum rear toe settings. The limited rear toe adjustment means you must compromise your rear geometry.
The Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Toe Arms feature a much wider range of adjustment compared to the OEM toe bolts. This allows you to enjoy more rear camber whilst also being able to achieve the optimum rear toe settings.
Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Toe Arms also feature spherical rod end bearings which do not flex like the OEM bushes. This ensures your rear toe settings will remain fixed when cornering which adds stability and traction.
Eibach Anti-Roll Kit
Thicker anti-roll bars help to prevent excessive body roll during high speed cornering. Thicker roll bars also help to generate more cornering grip, particularly in long corners.
Thicker anti-roll bars control body roll more effectively, which allows the suspension to generate more cornering grip as opposed to managing body roll. This allows for your tyres and geometry to work more efficiently.
Despite this, anti-roll bars do not compromise ride comfort as they only begin to function when cornering, making them an ideal fast road upgrade.
BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 Clubsport Handling Pack (Handling Pack 2)
Handling Pack 2 is for those drivers looking for a capable track car that is still usable on the road, or a ‘clubsport’ spec build. The Clubsport Handling Pack includes:
- Suspension Secrets Camber Plates
- Suspension Secrets Front and Rear Drop Links
- Suspension Secrets Rear Toe Arms
- Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes
- Eibach Anti-Roll Bars
- Choice of 1.5/2-way adjustable coilovers
COILOVERS
The standard BMW dampers and Eibach lowering springs are not suitable for intensive track driving, so coilovers are required. Aftermarket coilovers are far more sophisticated in terms of technology and material quality compared to the M3 / M4’s OEM suspension. This improved technology gives coilovers much more performance when cornering and allows them to generate more grip in all situations.
Coilovers also offer damping adjustment which allows you to fine-tune the handling of your F80 M3 / F82 M4 suit different circuits or to help improve certain handling characteristics. For example, if you are experiencing understeer you can stiffen the rear damper rebound setting to help rectify this.
Coilovers are also ride-height adjustable, giving you complete control over the ride height of your BMW. Ride-height adjustability also means corner-weighting setups to be applied.
For a Clubsport-spec car we recommend the following coilovers:
ÖHLINS ROAD AND TRACK
Öhlins Road and Track coilovers are 1.5-way adjustable (compression and rebound characteristics controlled via a single adjuster) and are compatible with the Suspension Secrets BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 camber plates.
The combined compression and rebound adjustment of the Öhlins makes them a good choice for making quick adjustments or changing from ‘road’ settings to ‘track’ settings upon arriving at a track day, as the damper adjusters can be made stiffer easily.
KW V3
KW V3 coilovers are 2-way adjustable (compression and rebound characteristics controlled via two individual adjusters) and are compatible with the Suspension Secrets BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 camber plates.
Independently adjustable compression and rebound damping allows you to fine-tune the damping and cornering of your BMW with more accuracy versus a 1-way or 1.5-way adjustable coilover. With compression and rebound being independently adjustable you can also achieve a good fast road setup that provides compliance over bumps but not at the expense of body control in the corners.
NITRON ROAD SPORT
Nitron Road Sport coilovers are 2-way adjustable (compression and rebound damping characteristics controlled via two individual adjusters) and are compatible the Suspension Secrets BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 Camber Plates
Independently adjustable compression and rebound damping allows you to fine-tune the damping and cornering of your BMW with more accuracy versus a 1-way or 1.5-way adjustable coilover. With compression and rebound being independently adjustable you can also achieve a good fast road setup that provides compliance over bumps but not at the expense of body control in the corners.
BMW F80 M3 / F82 M4 Full Track Handling Pack (Handling Pack 3)
Handling Pack 3 is a complete package that will turn your F80 M3 / F82 M4 into a fully-built track car that is designed to use very grippy semi-slick track day tyres.
The Full Track Pack includes:
- Suspension Secrets Front and Rear Drop Links
- Suspension Secrets Rear Toe Arms
- Suspension Secrets Off Centre Caster Control Arm Bushes
- Eibach Anti-Roll Bars
- Choice of 3-way adjustable coilovers
- Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Camber Arms
- Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Traction Arms
- Suspension Secrets Solid Rear Control Arm Bushes
Set of 3-Way Adjustable Coilovers
We are often asked if 3-way adjustable coilovers are too sophisticated for amateur drivers but in reality amateur drivers will benefit from them more than a professional will. What makes 3-way adjustable coilovers special is the independent high speed and low speed compression settings. Drivers can use the low speed compression settings to influence how their F80 M3 / F82 M4 will handle in the corners, and then use the high speed compression settings to control how the car responds to bumps and kerbstrikes. This means you can set the low speed compression to stiff for improved cornering grip, and then set the high speed compression to very soft to ensure your M3 / M4 remains planted and stable over rough tarmac and kerbs.
We offer the following coilovers for Handling Pack 3
- Nitron R3 (3-way independent adjustment, supplied with Nitron camber/caster top mounts, custom spring rates available, fully ride-height adjustable)
- KW Clubsport V4 (3-way independent adjustment, supplied with KW camber top mounts, custom spring rates available, fully ride-height adjustable)
- MOTON 3-Way (3-way independent adjustment, supplied with MOTON camber top mounts, custom spring rates available, fully ride-height adjustable)
Suspension Secrets Off-Centre Caster Bushes
Handling Pack 3 replaces the Suspension Secrets Solid Front Control Arm Bushes with upgraded Solid Off-Centre Caster Bushes. These bushes increase positive caster at the front axle which improves high-speed stability, steering feel and cornering grip due to increased dynamic camber gain.
Dynamic camber gain is where the front negative camber increases as the front wheels turn, meaning as you turn the steering wheel further, the more grip you gain.
The Suspension Secrets Solid Off-Centre Caster Bushes still provide improved steering feel and braking stability like our standard solid front control arm bushes do.
Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Traction Arms
The Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Traction Arms replace the M3 / M4’s original trailing arms. Adjustable Traction Arms can be made longer than the OEM trailing arms for improved traction. When lengthened, the Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Traction Arms cause the rear axle to rotate forwards during heavy acceleration. This forward rotation physically pushes the rear tyres into the tarmac, resulting in much more traction – particularly at corner exit.
This improves stability on track and allows you to chase the throttle out of corners with more confidence, leading to faster lap times.
Suspension Secrets Adjustable Rear Camber Arms
There is not enough rear camber adjustment available on the F80 M3 / F82 M4 to make the most out of grippy track day tyres. This limits the amount of rear camber that can be set which leads to instability as the rear tyres lose grip sooner than the front tyres do, leading to oversteer.
In order to increase rear camber and to regain good handling balance, adjustable rear camber arms are required. These allow you to increase rear camber which allows you to gain a good front-to-rear camber balance in the chassis. This results in greatly improved cornering grip through long sweeping corners as both axles are extracting as much grip as possible from the tyres.
Solid Rear Control Arm Bushes
Solid rear bushes replace the OEM rear lower control arm bushes which are made from rubber. Installing a solid bush in this position helps to ensure there is no flex at the rear of the chassis. Removing this unwanted flex ensures the rear suspension geometry remains fixed when cornering, which results in increased stability and an improved sense of connection to the rear axle on track.
How to get your Handling Pack
If you would like to get in touch about any of our upgrade options, services or handling packages you can contact us via the Contact Page.