"AM3R" (AM3R)
01/01/2014 at 22:25 • Filed to: None
2
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"AM3R" (AM3R)
01/01/2014 at 22:25 • Filed to: None | 2
| 33 |
Here's my car the day I brought it home. The dealer thought the bow matched the sparkling graphite paint and threw it (along with free car washes for life) in for free.
What do you guys have planned for your cars this year? I've kept my E90 stock all of 2013 (even impressed myself!) Even though I bought it at the end of the summer. I have some big plans ahead!
It's a 328i, so no big power gains easily available. I held off on doing any mods because I wanna get it done exactly how I want it the first time.
First things first, a nice dark tint to keep me cool in that hell known as a black leather interior. After that I want to wrap the interior trim. I'm not decided yet, but it's down to either some type of carbon fiber vinyl or some type of brushed metal. The wood trim just doesn't do it for me anymore, and it's showing a few cracks. My next interior mod is likely installing an M3/M5 DCT illuminated shift knob (yes my car is an automatic, I settled but I don't regret it) After that I'll try to find some new carpets, they could use replacing. That should be it on the interior. I'll condition the leather and just keep everything clean. Nothing else except updating the navi is needed.
On to the exterior. Ahh this has taken a lot of thought. My first plan is upgrading to OEM style 189 18" wheels or OEM 18" M3 wheels. OEM Style 162's are in the mix, but I'm still not decided. I've chosen to stay with 18"s because I drive on some pretty bad roads, and chosen to stay OEM because these are three good looking wheels that I can easily find for sale and it's different than every other E90 driver who puts some CSL style wheels on as soon as they buy their car. To compliment the wheels I want to buy some KW Street comfort coilovers. The springs/shocks are in decent condition, but the ride height and quality would really improve with these coilovers. They are MAGIC, I recommend them. After this I want to buy some LCI halogen headlights, which basically means I'll have angel eyes on my car. I'll upgrade the bulbs so the angel eyes are nice and white (but not blinding anyone). These are just the headlights that came on facelifted E90's for those that aren't familiar. After this I'll look for an M3 style rear lip and get some new exhaust tips. Some splitters are already in process of being purchased for the front bumper. The kidneys will be painted gloss black or maybe even wrapped in carbon fiber. This will get me to a point where I'll really love my exterior and it'll stand out from the tons of other sparkling graphite E90's in northern Virginia.
Here comes the fun part. Performance. The NA inline 6 doesn't have too much performance potential, so I plan on just upgrading the handling on my car. It's plenty fast for how I drive. It's a nice motor, the N52 sounds amazing too. I plan on swapping in M3 suspension bits starting with control arms and moving on until the car is a go kart. I want to make the 328i as great to drive as the track prepped E36 I once drove on an autocross course. I know it won't actually drive as good as the E36, but I want to make it as fun and the E90 is definitely capable of that. I might go for an exhaust, maybe a BMW performance exhaust but I'm still undecided and open to all suggestions.
This would pretty much complete all my plans for the year. It'll look how I want it to, drive how I want it to, and and if I go for an exhaust it'll sound how I want it to :).
I wanna hear what you guys all plan on doing for your cars! Thanks for bearing with me and reading this long, boring post!
daender
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:28 |
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That's a pretty well-rounded upgrade plan!
My plan....uhhhh....get money/job first!
Brian Silvestro
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:32 |
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I also currently drive an E90 328i auto. I approve of all planned modifications. I also agree that the straight six is intoxicating, and the power delivery is very smooth.
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AM3R
> daender
01/01/2014 at 22:33 |
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Thanks! This is all going to be accomplished once I save a little money. I'm lucky, most of the mods I've chosen are decently priced haha.
Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:36 |
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Brace yourself if you get the angel eyes.
The internet hates them.
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AM3R
> Brian Silvestro
01/01/2014 at 22:37 |
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Nice! And the power delivery is oh so smooth. By far one of my favorite traits of the car.
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Brian Silvestro
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:40 |
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Oh, and for the pre-facelift models such as yours I prefer the blacked out grille rather then the stock chrome one. I think it looks weird.
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AM3R
> Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
01/01/2014 at 22:40 |
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Not sure why they get so much hate. They look nice and unless you put stupidly bright bulbs in them they don't harm anyone.
V8 Rustler
> Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
01/01/2014 at 22:41 |
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E90 with xenon come with angel eyes, so no problem with internet trolling.
PatBateman
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:43 |
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I will wash my truck. Should get another 100hp from it.
Also, I'd like to trade it in for a CTS-Vsport. I'll need some big business to hit for that to happen, though.
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Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:44 |
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Milky
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:45 |
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"wrap the interior trim ... carbon fiber vinyl"
This makes no sense to me.
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AM3R
> Brian Silvestro
01/01/2014 at 22:46 |
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Yeah I'd prefer anything over the chrome. I plasti dipped it black the day after I took that picture, but peeled it back off after a week or two. Once I get it tinted (next week or the week after) I plan on installing some gloss black kidneys.
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Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
> V8 Rustler
01/01/2014 at 22:46 |
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AM3R
> Milky
01/01/2014 at 22:47 |
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Let me pull up a thread about it for you..
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AM3R
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:48 |
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http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthr…
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AM3R
> PatBateman
01/01/2014 at 22:51 |
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Good luck with that. Are you going for a sedan, coupe, or wagon?
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Milky
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 22:52 |
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Ohh I understand it, just don't get why adding weight to something to make it look like it weighs less is a thing.
IMO go with silver and brighten up that dark interior.
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AM3R
> Milky
01/01/2014 at 22:56 |
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I just like the texture the carbon fiber gives. 3M makes it and it's actually quality stuff. And you have a good point, going with something like brushed aluminum would really lighten it up.
DollaMoneyAve
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 23:06 |
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Work from the ground up. Splurge on some nice grippy tires, it will totally transform the way the car performs more than you'd think. If you don't want to go for a complete brake kit (you should) at least get braided steel brake lines. Very cheap and effective. Swapping OEM rims for OEM rims doesn't make sense to me, they're expensive and add no performance benefit. KW's coilovers really are great, but aren't they expensive too? Also, that I6 can take a turbo, and I believe it already has forged connectin rods and pistons — the older 328's did at least. Good luck, drive safe
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PatBateman
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 23:13 |
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Sedan. I have 3 kids, so no coupe. I also despise the idea of having a wagon, so no wagon.
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AM3R
> DollaMoneyAve
01/01/2014 at 23:15 |
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New KW' SC with a lifetime warrenty will put me out around $1200 brand new, $750 used if I buy them from a forum member. The sticky tires are coming soon now that my run flats are finally almost out of tread. And the all the oem wheels I'm looking at can be picked up for less than $500 for a nice set, and are all better than the 16"s that came on the car haha. The M3 wheels are much lighter too. Already added stainless steel break lines, forget to mention that in the post.
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AM3R
> PatBateman
01/01/2014 at 23:19 |
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Cool. The only CTS-V's near me are sedans. I think the coupes are.. Different looking. Not sure if I hate it or love it haha haven't seen any in person. The only wagons I've seen were tastefully modified, so I liked them. The sedans are nice though, probably what I'd pick.
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PatBateman
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 23:37 |
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Oh, sorry. I want the 2015 CTS-Vsport, with the 3.6 twin turbo V6. The new style.
I test drive a CTS-V coupe a few years ago. That car is NASTY (in a good way).
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DollaMoneyAve
> AM3R
01/01/2014 at 23:45 |
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Don't forget the install on the suspension, i dunno if you can set that up yourself at home. cheap work ain't good and good work ain't cheap. Thought you had 17's, so yeah, upgrading to the M3 wheels would probably be the classiest way to reduce your unsprung weight.
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AM3R
> DollaMoneyAve
01/02/2014 at 00:11 |
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Yeah install is gonna be around $300. I can add all the m3 suspension bits in myself but I'm just gonna let a pro do the coilovers and adjust them to a good ride height
BKRM3
> AM3R
01/02/2014 at 08:11 |
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Lol good mod list - I can tell you've spent some time on E90post
Do the LCI headlights fit without changing the hood (and bumper?)? I didn't think so but I could be wrong. You should give that some careful research if you haven't already.
Similar caveat for the style 219M wheels you're talking about. The M offsets are a lot different than the E9X non-M. I've seen those wheels on an E92 335i but I don't know what it takes to make them fit properly. Especially with KW coils, you have a lot going on there that I'd want to be absolutely certain it all worked together before sinking money into the parts. Those wheels do look great though, and they're made by BBS. I use them for my winters!
Kugelblitz
> AM3R
01/02/2014 at 10:31 |
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Forgo the M3 swyas. Get some UUC ones. I had an M3 and my UUC sways were huge compared to the factory ones. Car did not lean, period. Buy some extra rubber bushings because they last about a year and then become little bits of chopped rubber. I have seen solid bushings but they are noisy, noisy, NOISY. The sways were my favorite mod (the tires ere just fine as they were).
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AM3R
> BKRM3
01/02/2014 at 12:06 |
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The headlights are completely plug and play, a little bit of coding is required after the swap I believe. And the 219M's should fit, I've seen many E90's with them and some of them were lowered pretty aggressively. I'm going for a pretty conservative drop, nothing too aggressive.
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AM3R
> Kugelblitz
01/02/2014 at 12:09 |
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Yeah I've read about the UUC sways. I'll probably end up with those, I think they even cost less than M3 sway bars. And how much louder would it be if I got solid bushings? Annoyingly loud for a DD?
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Kugelblitz
> AM3R
01/02/2014 at 12:29 |
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I used the ummm, yellow ones. They were quiet. Replacing them wasn't a big deal but it wasn't something I could do on my own.
When the bushings started to go the car made clunks under certain kinds of movement. Having better subframe bushings really helped how the car handled under acceleration and cornering, the factory ones are way less beefy. If I had to say what the most noticeable difference was, it would be less wheel hop (no DCS) and the car doesn't torque around under heavy acceleration since the rear end just stays planted and square onto the road. The sways came with two adjustment holes and I used the gentler setting which worked just fine for me. The solid bushings sound very creaky and make the car jar when you drive over something uneven, like a pothole, speed bump, broomstick and so on.
FWIW, my $$ are spent on me (track schools) then suspension bits to keep the car straight. Not so much on modding the motor.
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AM3R
> Kugelblitz
01/02/2014 at 13:09 |
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Thanks for the help. I don't go to the track or autocross as much as I'd like to, but whatever. I regularly drive on nice twisty backroads so as long as I can enjoy myself on these drives I'll be happy with the car
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Kugelblitz
> AM3R
01/02/2014 at 13:38 |
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Probably in the same boat. I like track schools though, the lessons have proved to be quite valuable for me.
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AM3R
> Kugelblitz
01/02/2014 at 13:46 |
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I'm most likely attending a defensive driving school at BSR this summer. Should be fun