Performance upgrade to a '97 5-speed

[jpilk99]

I'm about to bring home my mom's '97 Z3 with 2.8 5-speed; hunter green with beige interior & new roof (mom stopped driving earlier this year). The car is close to mint and been babied her whole life. I'll probably just leave everything the way it is, but, curious if there's any 'easy' bolt on upgrade, especially to the exhaust, that might give this car a "throatier" sound. Don't want any raspy growl.

Might also consider some fatter sneakers for the round spoke styling (styl.18) 17" wheels...

Thanks for any thoughts.

Jay

[KBH22102]

I had the exact year / model car. First ensure all maintenance is up to date. Regarding exhaust, I loved my Supersprint. Impeccable Italian craftsmanship and a direct bolt on replacement. A cold air intake is controversial from a performance standpoint, but it does make the car sound better when you are accelerating hard. A 3.46 diff swap made the car noticeably quicker off the line. It sounds like you have the staggered Style 18’s. They are a good match for the car. The 225/245 size is more than enough for the car under just about all situations. Going much wider in the rear will just worsen the understeer. Get some fresh new tires to improve the handling. I would also consider replacing the subframe carrier bushings to urethane units such as Ireland Engineering, AKG, or Powerflex.

[jpilk99]

I had the exact year / model car. First ensure all maintenance is up to date. Regarding exhaust, I loved my Supersprint. Impeccable Italian craftsmanship and a direct bolt on replacement. A cold air intake is controversial from a performance standpoint, but it does make the car sound better when you are accelerating hard. A 3.46 diff swap made the car noticeably quicker off the line. It sounds like you have the staggered Style 18’s. They are a good match for the car. The 225/245 size is more than enough for the car under just about all situations. Going much wider in the rear will just worsen the understeer. Get some fresh new tires to improve the handling. I would also consider replacing the subframe carrier bushings to urethane units such as Ireland Engineering, AKG, or Powerflex.

Thank you!

[Schreier]

It's nice to uncork the exhaust a bit, but really the most satisfying upgrades I've done to my car is replacing rubber suspension bushings all around with new factory rubber. Also, replacing the subframe bushings with polyurethane was a great improvement!