Goodwood Festival of Speed

2299 Views 16 Replies 9 Participants Last post by johnny73, Jun 28, 2005

johnny73

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2005

4

Saw the Beast for the first time in the flesh yesterday only a few pics I'm afraid.

First Impressions when viewing the car stationary:

Love the interior you feel IMO much more cosseted than in the M5 and the Piano Black trim looks great.

Car look fabulous from front and rear, understated but agressive.

Indy red not my cup of tea at all although liked the red interior.

Shame this amazing engine is topped with cheap looking plastic, makes it look a bit ordinary.

Real issue I had was one I have been concerned about ever since I saw the first pictures. The wheels are ok, but the main problem is the huge gap between the tyres and the wheel arches which is a lot greater than in an ordinary 6er with 19" wheels. Just doesn't look right to me. Personally I think that they should produce 20" inch wheels with a lower ride height to get the right look. Anyone else agree?

Not quite sure what to do now. I am even considering aftermarket wheels and lowering set but would really prefer not to do this as I think it may affect re-sale value, warranty and with all the complicated electronics involved I would be worried about changing the factory set up. Your thought appreciated.

On a positive note when the car was going up the hill and round one particular corner it seemed incredibly "planted", lower to the ground(is this because ride height is lowered on a sport setting perhaps?)and seemed to go through the corner flatter and quicker than most of the supercars including the Maclaren SLR.Sound was like muted F1 car, amazing!

Other highlight including 3 SLR's were Morgan Aeromax, new AmV8(sounded awesome) and F430.

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1 - 17 of 17 Posts

Ronan

· #2 · Jun 25, 2005

I'm with you on aftermarket wheels.. I always stay within the manufacturer's range. I had notnoiced the increased gap, ( I have my regular 645 with the 19" teardrops until I get the M6 next years.) One way to handle might be to hang on to the original wheels and buy an aftermarket set, and imply refit the originals when you are ready to sell the car.
I also dislike unfilled wheel arches, but am inclined to wait and see if BMW comes out with something to fill the gap. If the M6 19" wheels are not filling the gap it can only be because of much lower profile tires, since by definition the wheels are the same size as the regular sixer 19s. You might want to consider tire options.

CobraJet

· #3 · Jun 25, 2005 (Edited)

Johnny,

I see what you mean about the color. It looks like a rust shading.

Do you think it's the same color as the press releases shows below with different lighting? Do you think the color below could be an Imola Red?

Thanks for the report from the Festival.

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johnny73

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 25, 2005

I had thought of this, but some of these sets, for instance larger 21" Hartge's involve alterations to the wheel arches and bumpers, something to avoid in my mind.

I hope BMW do come up with something larger as I really am unsure about fitting aftermarket wheels and suspension. Although I remeber Gustav saying that in a interview with one of the top guys from BMW M-Division he said larger wheel options were not being considered.

It is a shame because I love the car and am only unhappy with this aspect of it.I don't think that by getting higher profile tyres this would solve the problem for me as the wheels already look too small and this would only be exacerbated by "taller" tyres.

Do you happen to know if ride height is adjusted with the different damper settings? Could this be why the problem didn't seem to be half as bad when the car was rolling?

johnny73

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 25, 2005 (Edited)

CobraJet said:
Johnny,

I see what you mean about the color. It looks like a rust shading.

Do you think it's the same color as the press releases shows below with different lighting? Do you think the color below could be an Imola Red?

Thanks for the report from the Festival.

Hi Cobrajet

No it is definitely Indianapolis Red in both, it is just the light that makes them different.

Wolverine

· #6 · Jun 25, 2005

Personally, I think you are absolutely nuts to consider altering the suspension charachteristics of one of the most highly developed and tuned suspensions in the world. The engineers have worked years to give this car the proper balance and handling with the OEM wheels, tires and springs. You will simply trash this by just 'lowering' the car.

You could probably get away with 20" rims and tires without changing anything significant in the suspension setup though. I'd be careful to keep the same rolling diameter and weight, then theoretically the car suspension shouldn't see much difference. The lower sidewalls will make the ride a bit stiffer though, so you will be changing things slightly. I may do this on my M5 depending on the look I get with my 19" BBS wheels.

Making a major alteration to the suspension by owering a car this sophisticated is just nuts IMO though.

MEnthusiast

· #7 · Jun 25, 2005

Thanks for sharing the pics and comments. I agree with Wolverine on the suspension. I don't know if the system adjusts ride height, but I would be very cautions when making changes.

One other thing to consider is BMW in their press materials tout the light weight attribute of these wheels. Unsprung weight is something like 3.5x as meaningful as sprung weight. I think BMW says the M6 wheels weigh 4lbs less than an E60 M5 wheel. So thats 16lbs x 3.5= 56lbs. Thats a fairly substantial weight reduction. So just swapping to the M5 wheels would be a penalty. My advice is if you like the car but are not 100% sure on the wheels- get the car and live with it for a while. As time wears on there will be those making aftermarket parts and you will know more about the car.

bernhtp

· #8 · Jun 25, 2005

My guess is that the OEM wheels are extremely expensive and functional. I would not dream of changing them.

Tom

johnny73

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 25, 2005

Thanks all, just confirming my gut reaction that changing them is the wrong thing to do.

Will stick with originals and see if bmw come out with anything new

johnny73

Gustav

· #10 · Jun 26, 2005 (Edited)

Thanks for the report! Put it under updates on m6board.com.

Smore mroe pics:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=55717

M6 Forever

· #11 · Jun 26, 2005

Agree. As much as I am tempted to change those wheels for largely aesthetic reasons, I think the rational decision is to keep them, given this is a relatively complicated car.

johnny73,
Did you take note of what tyres were used? Did they use the Pirelli-Zero Corsa?

johnny73

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 27, 2005

M6 Forever said:
Agree. As much as I am tempted to change those wheels for largely aesthetic reasons, I think the rational decision is to keep them, given this is a relatively complicated car.

johnny73,
Did you take note of what tyres were used? Did they use the Pirelli-Zero Corsa?

Sorry I'm not sure which tyres they were running that day. But I think most people think the cars that are delivered will have either Michelin Pilot Sports or Continental tyres. If you want to upgrade you will have to do so yourself.

A bit misleading if this is the case as all the tests that have been done have been done with these very sticky tyres that have a great effect on acceleration, braking and cornering. Perhaps buyers should demand the same tyres as the ones fitted to press cars?

Ronan

· #13 · Jun 27, 2005

Perhaps buyers should demand the same tyres as the ones fitted to press cars?[/QUOTE]

Johnny : This has been bothering me for a while, because many of the recently published tests (there are lots from the Ascari ciscuit from the motoring press), refer to the P-zeros.

I would normally want to see the test with the car being to the same specification as delivered to customers. It will be quite disappointing if there is a material difference to the performance based on the tires actually delivered. I think BMW should be very clear in its performance claims, including when they talk about performance on the Nordschleife.

I have not seen this difference in tests of Ferraris or Porsches or even other BMWs, but I may not have noticed it.

johnny73

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 27, 2005

Ronan said:
Perhaps buyers should demand the same tyres as the ones fitted to press cars?

Johnny : This has been bothering me for a while, because many of the recently published tests (there are lots from the Ascari ciscuit from the motoring press), refer to the P-zeros.

I would normally want to see the test with the car being to the same specification as delivered to customers. It will be quite disappointing if there is a material difference to the performance based on the tires actually delivered. I think BMW should be very clear in its performance claims, including when they talk about performance on the Nordschleife.

I have not seen this difference in tests of Ferraris or Porsches or even other BMWs, but I may not have noticed it.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely, if the BMW performance claims are based on a Pirelli shod car and we get a "lesser" tyre fitted then we certainly have a right to insist that they change them, otherwise they are delivering a materially different product to that which we have all ordered.

May sound cynical but I suspect they were so keen to justify the £20K price difference that they used these tyres for press cars to ensure the figures were visibly superior!

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markf

· #15 · Jun 27, 2005

interesting you say that johhny,the way the wheels sit on the 5 series is what really turned me off along with the whole shape.I thought the 6 series didn't suffer from that.
I concur you shouldn't change the size of them.

M6 Forever

· #16 · Jun 27, 2005 (Edited)

I think it's plain misleading to use one set for tests/advertising and give out another set. I've also read several times (if I'm not mistaken) that the Pirelli tyres were "specifically designed" for the M6.

None of us paying the premium price could care less if BMW has an "internal contract" with another tyre company.

johnny73

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 28, 2005

markf said:
interesting you say that johhny,the way the wheels sit on the 5 series is what really turned me off along with the whole shape.I thought the 6 series didn't suffer from that.
I concur you shouldn't change the size of them.

Hi Mark

As I said above the "gap" appears much larger on the M6 than say a 645i, look at this picture from member Gordon on M5 board from Goodwood it shows the gap and I would estimate it is about 4-5cm which just looks very high when the car is stationary. As I say it looks better on the move, which may be down to the ride height lowering in sport mode but no one seems to know if this is the case?

I have also e-mailed M-division to ask them about this and if there are any 20" inch wheels in the pipeline and what tyres our cars will be delivered with, I'll let you all know if I get a response.

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