BMW adaptive dampers

MarcusP12

Hi guys...after much deliberation as to what to do for a car, I eventually reigned in my budget and jumped at a pretty high spec BTW 520d F10....one of the main attraction was that it has adaptive dampers which I know is pretty rare to come across. However, in the very limited use since I picked it up the other day, i'm not noticing much difference in how soft or firm the car feel in comfort or sport mode. I even went so far as to make sure the car had it by doing a vin spec check and confirming that the chassis option comes up in the sport settings in addition to drive train. I had an m sport 3 series followed by a 5 series se and kind of assumed the adaptive would basically make the car feel like either. Now to be fair all I've done is drive on the motorway and a little bit around the suburbs so haven't really thrown it about the place. But I'm just wondering how people nave found it or if I'm missing something. In what circumstances should I really notice a difference when I switch from comfort to sport?? Just curious on other people's experience before getting too underwhelmed....

Wailin

That's odd as I have it on my car and it's most definitely noticeable going from comfort to sport. The stiffening of the dampers is especially obvious on the more twisty roads and going over rougher surfaces and speed bumps in particular.

I find the car a lot more barge like and wallowy in comfort and especially comfort +.

Now on a motorway it's not really going to be that obvious in fairness but even then I do get a sense of more "tightness" about the car.

Have you ever changed to sport while going over speedbumps? The car will be a lot more bouncy in comfort whereas it will feel much stiffer and rigid coming off the ramp in sport. You definitely have it 100%?

drunkmonkey

It definitely tigtents it up but as Wallin said it's really the twistys you'll notice it. It's not going to have 3 series chuckability though...haven't driven a 520 with it but the 530 comes alive.

Leonard Hofstadter

Worth noting as well if you go for adaptive suspension you get the same settings (and ride height) regardless of whether it's an SE or M Sport.

MarcusP12

Wailin wrote: »

That's odd as I have it on my car and it's most definitely noticeable going from comfort to sport. The stiffening of the dampers is especially obvious on the more twisty roads and going over rougher surfaces and speed bumps in particular.

I find the car a lot more barge like and wallowy in comfort and especially comfort +.

Now on a motorway it's not really going to be that obvious in fairness but even then I do get a sense of more "tightness" about the car.

Have you ever changed to sport while going over speedbumps? The car will be a lot more bouncy in comfort whereas it will feel much stiffer and rigid coming off the ramp in sport. You definitely have it 100%?

yes I'm 100% sure i have it in so far as is reasonably possible for me to check. For example, when i go to the sport mode settings i have options for the chassis or drive train. From what i read up on, if you don't have adaptive dampers, you won't get anything to do with chassis. Also, i put in the vin into a spec check website and it shows up as a factory spec item.

I drove over some speed bumps earlier and i "thought" i could feel some difference but it wasn't massive and i'm not sure if i was looking for it rather than feeling it. It doesn't crash around in firm suspension mode and doesn't feel barge like in comfort mode which has me a bit bemused. But then again, i have really driven it on roads where the handling differences would be obvious. All i really want to know is that there is nothing wrong with it and that it is functioning correctly. If it is not in accordance with my expectations then that's a different thing....

I've called a couple of Beemer servicing garages to try to get to talk to someone about it. It was serviced right before i got it by the dealer in a BMW garage (it comes with a service pack) so i'm assuming that if there was an issue with it, it would have been flagged by the service diagnostic check.....

Just feels a little underwhelming relative to the rave reviews i read about it which has planted a seed that maybe there's something not quite right with it....

Wailin

Hmm, is it a G30 or F10? Mine is a 2014 535d F10. The G30 would have a different set up and might not be as noticeable but I'd be surprised, it is very noticeable on the F10.

I'm sure you've checked but make sure in the settings it's not set to drivetrain only as this would leave the dampers in comfort mode all the time.

MarcusP12

Wailin wrote: »

Hmm, is it a G30 or F10? Mine is a 2014 535d F10. The G30 would have a different set up and might not be as noticeable but I'd be surprised, it is very noticeable on the F10.

I'm sure you've checked but make sure in the settings it's not set to drivetrain only as this would leave the dampers in comfort mode all the time.

mines a 2016 520d msport so f10.....i must put it into the drive train only for a while to see if that makes any difference when i put it back to chassis. What also concerns me is that i'm reading on a couple of forums about how people have noticed a big change in their set up after getting a software update whereby before it there was a big difference and after not so much....just hope i havent spent big on a dud....i didnt need to buy now but did on the basis that it had the adaptive dampers!!

Wailin

I just checked the option code for adaptive dampers on my car and it's S223A. Is this what's showing up on your options list?

Adaptive dampers (or VDC) was a €1500 option on the F10, adaptive drive , on the other hand, was a €3700 option.

Is it possible you have adaptive drive instead? This has the VDC but also has anti roll bars to stop car from rolling while cornering. Maybe this reduces the effect of the dampers?

MarcusP12

Wailin wrote: »

I just checked the option code for adaptive dampers on my car and it's S223A. Is this what's showing up on your options list?

Adaptive dampers (or VDC) was a €1500 option on the F10, adaptive drive , on the other hand, was a €3700 option.

Is it possible you have adaptive drive instead? This has the VDC but also has anti roll bars to stop car from rolling while cornering. Maybe this reduces the effect of the dampers?

Yeah no I checked mine and it's the same code alright....curiously mine has headlamp washer system and I'm pretty sure I dont physically have that! Maybe I should give it a bit more time with more variety of driving, e.g. windy roads etc spoke to a garage and they said it would come up as a warning if there was a problem with it......

bazz26

Your car should have a headlight washer system if it has xenon headlights. Xenon headlights were standard on the LCI F10 from 2013 onwards which require a headlight washer system by law. The only way you wouldn't have xenons on a 2016 F10 was if it was fitted with the optional adaptive LED headlights.

MarcusP12

bazz26 wrote: »

Your car should have a headlight washer system if it has xenon headlights. Xenon headlights were standard on the LCI F10 from 2013 onwards which require a headlight washer system by law. The only way you wouldn't have xenons on a 2016 F10 was if it was fitted with the optional adaptive LED headlights.

Right ok, so do the jets pop up so because There's no jets where u would expect them, just what looks like a small cover panel.....

bazz26

The jets in are inside the bumper under those panels. They pop up and wash the headlights when you use the windscreen squirter on with the headlights on.

MarcusP12

bazz26 wrote: »

Your car should have a headlight washer system if it has xenon headlights. Xenon headlights were standard on the LCI F10 from 2013 onwards which require a headlight washer system by law. The only way you wouldn't have xenons on a 2016 F10 was if it was fitted with the optional adaptive LED headlights.

Question on the pop up jets for the headlights...what I'm seeing is they don't work all the time and only seem to work when the lights are fully on....i got them to work (when parked up obviously) when i went fro m auto lights onto dipped main beams and then when I tried again they didn't work so gave up after a few goes.....does that sound right?

In other news, took her for a run today on the back roads around step aside down bray direction and definitely handles better in sport mode but as I suppose you'd expect from a Beemer, it doesn't handle too bad in comfy mode....just feel more solid and sharp in sport mode.....so that's more encouraging!

bazz26

The headlight washer jets only work a certain number of times when the dipped headlights are on. I think it's after every 3rd or 4th squirt of the windscreen washer, they are designed that way.