New Shoes for MMisfit

"EmbraceTheRasp" (embracetherasp) 03/09/2016 at 01:11 • Filed to: None

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I now have shipping notifications on all the various items that comprise my new set of wheels and tires. They should all should be at the shop over the course of this week. I’m stoked enough to write the rambling dissertation to follow, which is at least not my typical “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” or “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” missive.

The wheels are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (18x9 fronts & 18x10 rears) and the tires are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s (in 245/40ZR18 and 275/35ZR18) from the nice folks at TireRack.

I spent an inordinate amount of time researching everything (if you have an E46M or are interested in them, you owe it to yourself to join the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and if you want to know everything there is to know about tire sizing for them, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .) I actually got the wheels via a group-buy on the forum.

I’m nervous about the anthracite color (and the move to 18s) but also really looking forward to seeing it all come together.

MMisfit is so named because she’s a hodgepodge of an E46M.

The SMG transmission has been removed and replaced by the PO with a short-shift 6 speed gearbox from a cracked-up sibling. (So far so good.)

The OEM springs were replaced with harsh-riding Dinan lowering coils, (I’ve since replaced with the originals, to protect my teeth)

The trunk-lid is a carbon fiber CSL-replica (I have the original, but that swoop is hard to let go).

The headlamps were replaced with aftermarket xenon and halos (the latter of which don’t currently work).

All the grills were replaced with blackouts.

The soft top internal batwing covers are ripped. (This is only a problem when the windows are down and the top is up, which is rare)

The rear mirror has succumbed to the half-black-hole-half-mirror issue that so many of these cars get.

There is a very poorly installed hands-free cell mic dangling from the mirror that works every other call and a ill-concealed wire to the subwoofer which has replaced the ski-pocket (I’m not really a big bass head, but I’ve not had the energy to tackle the after-market stereo system installed by the PO)

Finally, the stock exhaust was swapped for a hilariously loud !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which contrary to their website, enhances the rasp by about 850% (embrace it, rasp is good) and drones (like your mother-in-law after the Downtown Abby finale) at highway speeds.

She’s the Shakey Graves’ guitar of Oxford Green M3 Convertibles. A bit more raw than her compatriots, some fraying at the edges; more than her fair share of scuffs and tears; but still oddly charming...and Lord, when she really gets to wailing ..... !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

MMisfit will never show well at Pebble Beach—and it’s just as well, I couldn’t afford a pristine version— but I can’t wait to raise wigs around the county again this spring.

Here’s someone else’s (much better sorted non-vert) M on the same wheels. They look really dark in this pic. I’m hoping for ia little lighter in person.

Edited. Broken YouTube link. Also YouTube links when working over-rode cars, which is bad form. Sorry, Shakey, but if they don't know about you already, they can wait a couple paragraphs.

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > EmbraceTheRasp 03/09/2016 at 02:23

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HNNG I love Apex wheels. They’re so reasonably priced yet so damn beautiful. Nice choice on the anthracite. They don’t look as dark as the pictures in person.