by "theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
Published 04/15/2017 at 08:52
by "theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
Published 04/15/2017 at 08:52
No Tags
STARS: 6
True happiness. The winter depression is finally over. God I missed this car.
It also reinforces how overrated the Mk7 GTI (my daily) is.. Power, driven wheels, and price difference aside, the way the E92 makes me grin ear to ear and the amazing steering make the capable but numb electric steering GTI unbelievably dull.
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
04/15/2017 at 08:53, STARS: 0
the obvious answer is move to a warmer climate so you don’t have to put it away
;)
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 08:54, STARS: 1
Don’t get me started, why the automotive industry grew in Detroit is the bane of my existence. Granted if I was moving anywhere they’d still have winter, but they’d have amazing mountain roads and no speed limits, Deutschland!
"KnowsAboutCars" (knowsaboutcars)
04/15/2017 at 09:04, STARS: 0
Why don’t you drive it all year round?
"Matt Nichelson" (whoismatt)
04/15/2017 at 09:13, STARS: 0
Really dig the wheels.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 09:18, STARS: 0
Having had the horrible salt eat away at prior cars I loved despite my best efforts it’s a fairly easy decision.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
04/15/2017 at 09:42, STARS: 0
I cant quite make out the badge but is that an X drive? If so why not get RWD if its a summer only car? Just wondering no hate
"E90M3" (e90m3)
04/15/2017 at 10:10, STARS: 0
I really like the E9X BMWs, hence why I have two. I would have loved a manual 335is.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
04/15/2017 at 10:13, STARS: 2
Looks like a 335is badge, making it RWD
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 11:29, STARS: 1
It’s a 335is, RWD only. Though I can understand the confusion since it’s the only RWD model that came with a badge in that same spot and wasn’t exactly common either.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 1
Bingo.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 11:51, STARS: 1
I saw your post about it the other day. Honestly, for a daily, the N52 is a gem. The N54 is a phenomenal engine for its power band and capability, but it’s got a bunch of items that don’t like commuting (at least not when run hot at autobahn speeds) and it’s a bit fincky. The later cars (i.e. The 335is, Z4 35is) came around after all the HPFP issues were resolved, but the injectors are still a sour point but they are warrantied by BMW to 10 yrs or 120K miles. We’ll see what happens though, a lot of the issues were on 07-08 first year engine cars where they hadn’t fixed the issues and those got to high mileage quickly so everyone is spooked. It might be that the later N54's end up free of most gremlins but they’re not yet to high mileage.
I still go back and forth on whether I should have gotten an M3, but at the time as a second car at my age the 335is was perfect since it only had 15K miles, 2 years of factory warranty left, and perfectly in my price range. I got a very good deal for the time (May 2013) and comparable LCI M3's were 20K more (I got mine for 40K, at the time the limited 335is’ available with mileage as low as mine were listed at $45-$48K and M3's were $60K). I always wanted a 335i since I saw them when they first came out fall 2006. At this point I’ve done a Quaife, Turner rear subframe bushings, and other odds and ends. I figure I’ll keep tinkering with it and never sell it then hopefully add a naturally aspirated screamer alongside it at some point.
"Rico" (ricorich)
04/15/2017 at 12:35, STARS: 0
That thing looks so damn sleek, love the wheels.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
04/15/2017 at 12:50, STARS: 0
Basically the reason I got it, didn’t want to deal with all those potential problems. I drove 75 miles a day and figured that it would be the better long term decision.
I got my M3 with 15k on it and a year left on the warranty. I had always wanted an M3, so since I had the money I went for it. Honestly, if I was still in oil, I’d probably gotten a 335is or something like that as my second car, I had gotten bored of the 128i I had.
"JeepJeremy" (jeepjeremy)
04/15/2017 at 12:57, STARS: 0
Your car is awesome
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/15/2017 at 13:15, STARS: 0
I also got thrown by the 335is badge for a sec since it’s the same spot as the xDrive badge on my E92 335xi. The steering on my 335xi leaves me conflicted. The ratio is way too slow, something like 16:1 or 18:1 instead of 14:1 on the rwd M sport models. But...it still has lots of feel and with all my suspension mods the car handles great, just a lot of cranking the wheel. I miss the steering in my 135is I had before this but I got the 335xi to consolidate that 135is and a Grand Cherokee into one car.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
04/15/2017 at 13:50, STARS: 0
ahh yeah thats exactly what confused me. Well in that case even better, sick car.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
04/15/2017 at 13:50, STARS: 1
ahh yeah im dumb just assumed only the xi had the badge there
"E90M3" (e90m3)
04/15/2017 at 14:05, STARS: 0
Only the xi and the 335is’s have badges there, so you weren’t far off.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 16:30, STARS: 0
Your car is gorgeous. I love LMB and you’ve got a number of the suspension mods I want to do as well. I admit we’re on financial lockdown until the wedding is over in May, I’m trying to spend only out of checking instead of savings. My plan is to finally do the suspension work this winter (BMW PS springs / koni yellow / M3 suspension arms / Dinan rear upper shock mounts / Dinan non adjustable front camber plates / Z3M and E36 M3 bump stops, the upper mounts being the only Dinan items I’d actually consider reasonable). I’ve heard that about the X-drive steering but as you said for a year round all weather daily it’s impossible to beat for fun I bet and gorgeous. I admit even I think at times I wish I had the M3 rack, but it’s funny after enough time on business trips on the autobahn I 100% understand why the M-sport rack is the way it is for decently quick without being twitchy.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 16:30, STARS: 1
Danke schon my friend.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 16:31, STARS: 1
Not at all, they only made about 3500 coupe 335is’ so I’d assume that as well.
"theloudmouth" (theloudmouth)
04/15/2017 at 16:31, STARS: 0
Thank you!
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/15/2017 at 17:56, STARS: 0
Thanks, I’m definitely happy with it as a year-round DD.
I’m used to all the extra cranking of the wheel but I often laugh at how when I get in a random econobox rental car it’ll have a noticeably quicker rack. I have no idea why BMW used such a slow steering rack in a sporty car like this. It would make some degree of sense if the part were shared with the X5 or something, but it’s not, it’s unique to the E9x xDrive and E84 X1.
Couple notes on your plans:
You can get super cheap Monroe rear upper shock mounts that are harder rubber like the Dinan pieces. They’re just shy of $16 for 2 at RockAuto . I have them on my car.
Bump stops that most people use on lowered E9x are E36 M3 front (31332225377) & Z4M rear (33507836826). That’s what I went with on my car at first but the xDrive front suspension doesn’t like the E36 M3 front stops. The xDrive front suspension has less travel which is why its stock ride height is so high. And I...well I just had to get rid of that wheel gap and try to make it work. My front suspension has not a ton of travel left so sharp bumps hit the stops, and the E36 M3 stops are too soft in this situation. I had to switch to Speedthane polyurethane bump stops. A more moderate lowering on a rwd probably wouldn’t have this issue.
The xDrive rear suspension is the same as rwd and I do still have the Z4M rear stops. At one point I thought I might’ve needed to swap them out as well because I had some tire rub back there, but that’s more because of my 19x9.5" +32 wheels with 275/30-19 tires. Once I had the fenders rolled that stopped the rub and otherwise the rear suspension behaves as it should.
Since you have the Quaife diff and upgraded subframe bushings you could easily go with a thicker rear sway bar. You also have options for front sways. I stuck with the stock front sway and E93 M3 23.6mm hollow rear sway. UUC is the only xDrive front sway and they were fucking around with me saying “oh there’s just a delay in the bushings getting shipped out” when really they weren’t making them at all. Eventually one of the vendors on E90post put together a group buy and got UUC to actually make some, but that was long after I had already done all my suspension work and I don’t want to re-do it, or give money to stupid-ass UUC for their nonsense they fed me.
But for your car you could do any number of sway bars and then adjustable end links. Hotchkis, Turner or HPA make adjustable end links with sealed rod ends for the front, and Hotchkis makes rear ones with one sealed end and one open heim joint which I have and covered with Seals-It rod end boots.
I have stupid Ground Control front sway bar end links, they and HPA are the only ones for the front on the xDrive. I should’ve gotten the HPA ones, but didn’t realize they had the sealed rod ends. Ground Control are open heim joints and the boots don’t work with them so I have to periodically re-grease them with WD-40 Specialist silicone when they start making evil death noises that sound like the front end is falling apart when I crank the wheel in parking lots.