Problem with friend's 95 M3(suspension) ...

[Armo95]

My buddy called me last night and was complaining that his car was acting up and something is wrong with his suspension.

So he came to my work today during his lunch so I could drive the car and see what was wrong.

Wow, that car was SCARY. It was incredibly unstable, would shake terribly from the rear, and the through turns, would feel as if it's about to tip over like a cow.

During hard acceleration, the car was fine and would stay planted to the ground. However, over bumps, there was hard thumping coming from the strut area, the rear wheels felt like they were gonna fall off as they gave off a very wobbly type of feel, side to side, etc. This was most apparent on the beltway, the rear wheels literally felt like the lugs were loose and the tires were gonna fall off (the lugs are tight, however).

Bad control arms?

All in all, a very unstable feel.

Thoughts?

[Serious]

wheres the noise coming from front or rear?

im guessiing the rear and saying either a shock tower mount or sway bar mount broke or cracked.

[JClark]

Shock, shock mounts? Control arms? Really really destroyed Rtabs? Could be a number of things.

[Armo95]

wheres the noise coming from front or rear?

im guessiing the rear and saying either a shock tower mount or sway bar mount broke or cracked.

The clunking noise is definitely from the strut area(I'm guessing strut mounts are bad).

The feel, however, is coming from both. On the freeway above 65mph, the wheels feel like the lugs are loose. The front is VERY unstable over bumps, as in the car pulls to the one side real hard, then jolts back to normal position.

I think you may be right about the sway bar mount.

EDIT:
JClark,
Shocks, RTAB's, shock mounts were all recently replaced.

[Serious]

pull the int trunk carpet out and check the rear shock mounts points for cracks. thats a known failure point in the early m3 and e36's.

[///Arman]

It could be a number of things. He should take it to someone who specializes in M suspension so the car is checked throughly.

[Armo95]

It could be a number of things. He should take it to someone who specializes in M suspension so the car is checked throughly.

Pretty much what I told him after giving my .02 ...