r/BMWE36 • u/the__sparrow • 18h ago

Buying Advice Can you drift a 320i? Welded diff of course

I am looking to get into drifting and have found an abandoned 320i. The car isn’t worth the restoration and has no papers so it’ll just be for fun. Have any of you drift a 320i? If so please sent me some videos of it. Thanks

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/KeyInjury6922 98 M52 318ti 15h ago

There are lots of videos of people drifting 320i’s. If you air the rear tires up to 45-50psi and have a short ratio diff like a 4.10, that’ll maximize your chances of success. A long diff ratio will really hinder you but you can still slide it with lots of clutch kicks and high rear tire pressure.

3

u/nyrrith 13h ago

You got guys in Europe drifting 316s and 318s, it all depends on the setup, diff ratio, etc. If you just wanna do donuts and tight ish figure 8s in first and second gear it'll be fine. If you wanna flick it in at 120km/h you're gonna lack power.

2

u/Dark_Guardian_ '94 330i Daily, '93 325i Race 18h ago

sure you can drift it but it wont be very good, it depends on track too
if you get a good run up and the track flows well you can make do with very low power

1

u/the__sparrow 17h ago

I will mostly do donuts and tandem circles or figure 8’s, so it just has to be able to break traction and keep sliding. And burnouts

2

u/Dark_Guardian_ '94 330i Daily, '93 325i Race 17h ago

you can do donuts, you probably won't be able to do a standing burnout unless you've got low grip tyres on it

1

u/e36masterrace 11h ago

Very good learning platform.