Compact doesn't stop properly on gravel.

[Spac]

Had the maiden voyage in the '98 318Ti on the weekend. Great fun, lots of potential, expected new-car niggles.

One unexpected issue is that it doesn't pull up very well - no matter how much traction there is, it feels like half the traction disappears when you are braking. Feels like an issue with geometry or suspension, rather than a brake problem, but could be a brake bias problem.

Standard brake hardware with Ferodo DS2500 pads. Fresh fluid, ABS disabled by removing sensors. Pedal is lovely and firm.
Suspension is a set of rally valved Bilsteins that work beautifully everywhere except for wash board roads. Stock springs F&R. Camber tops.

Any ideas?

TIA!

[petsracing]

E36 has anti dive geometry
Have you raised the ride height in front for gravel use
If you lower the the rear mount on tca it will reduce anti dive but be very careful how you achieve this needs to be strong and safe
We use a pedal box and had to put 4 pots calipers on front to help slow car down when we eventually got car going fast
Enjoy!

[Spac]

That makes sense, thanks.

Any suggestions on how far to lower it?

[petsracing]

Ours is only about 20mm have not experimented with different amounts yet
our front spring is a bit stiff waiting to change to a better shock to try a softer set up to transfer more weight to front ,under braking

[keithr]

E36 has anti dive geometry
Have you raised the ride height in front for gravel use
If you lower the the rear mount on tca it will reduce anti dive but be very careful how you achieve this needs to be strong and safe
We use a pedal box and had to put 4 pots calipers on front to help slow car down when we eventually got car going fast
Enjoy!

Am now looking at an upgrade for gravel from the std 328i sliding calipers. Which 4 pot calipers did you use? One option I am looking at is the Porsche 986 Boxster Brembo caliper which I think should be an improvement on the std caliper. Any advice appreciated on calipers, discs etc.

[slidewaysbmw]

Bmw,s are heavy cars and take a bit of stopping .be careful you don’t go to powerful on front brakes as all you will do is lock the front end .i revert from Mazda 4 pots used on tar to standard callipers with ds2500 pads for gravel .try to change down locking the diff to help set it up for the corner as well .

[Spac]

Belated update on this...

Lowering the rear of the front control arm is a huge improvement for both braking and steering. My car has a 15mm spacer made up, that fits under the chassis rail, above the lollipop.
It worked so well that I did the same on the race car (also an E36 Compact) and it transformed it too. On the race car, I simply used a cut down lollipop as the spacer.

I intend to experiment with more spacer in both cars (as per pets’ reply), but this is already a big step in the right direction.