e30 convertible

Post Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:31 am

hi does anyone have any idea why there is a heavy weight in the right hand side well of my boot of my e30 1988 convertible it has the bmw stamp on it ??

Post Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:24 am

Vibration / resonance damper - because of the loss of stiffness from removing the roof...

Been meaning to remove mine & see how it drives, so why don't you try it & let me know?!

Post Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:32 am

hmm never saw anything like that before. I have a battery in the right side well in the boot

Post Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:43 am

Hyperion wrote:hmm never saw anything like that before. I have a battery in the right side well in the boot

You do drive a convertible?

Weird...

I've never seen a convertible with the battery in the boot. Maybe someone thought it was just a counterbalance weight, & moving the battery there would have the same effect & save weight?

Post Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:23 pm

thanks for your speedy reply i might try it one day should be getting the car back soon from the spray shop getting her all done a new soft top and the hard top sprayed to match

Post Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:08 am

My cab (93 318i) has the same weight in the boot in place of the battery.Daft thing to have as it may as well be a set of golf clubs.
I recon it was to improve the front/rear balance.I have noticed other posts
who have binned it and upgraded the suspension by lowering without any affect.
It may be up for the prize of the most useless piece of kit ever put in an E30??

Post Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:28 pm

E30cabalan wrote:My cab (93 318i) has the same weight in the boot in place of the battery.Daft thing to have as it may as well be a set of golf clubs.
I recon it was to improve the front/rear balance.I have noticed other posts
who have binned it and upgraded the suspension by lowering without any affect.
It may be up for the prize of the most useless piece of kit ever put in an E30??

So why didn't they just keep the battery in the boot then like on tin-tops?! Adding that weight back to the front's hardly gonna help if that's what they were out to achieve...
It's not just a weight sitting there, it's on li'l rubber suspension feet & I have absolutely no doubt that it's there because of resonance / vibration caused by the loss of stiffness. Maybe it's overkill ('tis a BMW after all...), so maybe it'll be fine without, but it's there for a good reason...