I often wonder things like that though. For some reasonably cheap after market parts and the alleged or actual performance increases they provide, have the manufacturers really cheaped out that much?
Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...
- Thread starter mrk
- Start date
I often wonder things like that though. For some reasonably cheap after market parts and the alleged or actual performance increases they provide, have the manufacturers really cheaped out that much?
The e46 came out nearly 20 years ago and at the time it wasn't being bought by the same people who are buying them now. Priorities were slightly different to the current ownership tastes.
That's the thing BMW had other targets to hit, noise, cost, emissions not wanting to effect other models in there range ect... where as the after market lot have none of that. (If I remember correctly I read some where that the lack of sound deadening in the Z4m was so that it didn't effect the sales of the M3 as it was much less refined, no idea if thatstrue or not).
It is a shame as in the Z4m the exhaust is not really noticeable with the roof up, all the hear is the inner workings of the engine tapping away. This give the car a real noise while you have the roof up now. If it brightens up today I might take it out with the roof down to see how it sounds.
And you are right foot down above 2k or so you now get that noise sound, but normal cruising and light acceleration it sounds the same as before.
Edit: Roof down = amazing, if bloody cold. mrk you are going to love it. Tried to record it but came out terrible. Will try again with roof up if I can.
It is a shame as in the Z4m the exhaust is not really noticeable with the roof up, all the hear is the inner workings of the engine tapping away. This give the car a real noise while you have the roof up now. If it brightens up today I might take it out with the roof down to see how it sounds.
And you are right foot down above 2k or so you now get that noise sound, but normal cruising and light acceleration it sounds the same as before.
Edit: Roof down = amazing, if bloody cold. mrk you are going to love it. Tried to record it but came out terrible. Will try again with roof up if I can.
Last edited:
Final 2 items now in hand. Bonnet badge and lipped diffuser. I really like the lipped diffuser over the standard flat one, feel it completes the valance nicely. I'm going to have it body coloured on Monday, don't want the visible carbon bit.
Car won't be finished until Monday although a few more days needed for the ceramic sealant stages to be applied and cured over night.
Exciting week ahead.
Last edited:
Haha this is the other reason the week ahead is going to be exciting
Thing is when the e46 m3 came out it was the 2nd highest power output next to the mclaren f1 wasn't it. It was ahead of its time for sure. 0-60 in 4.6 to 4.8s in 2001 from an n/a 6 cylinder coupe? Pretty bonkers for then. Now you get that performance from a force fed hot hatch 4 cylinder
An aftermarket wasn't needed back then. It still isn't really, but the choice is available at least.
Last edited:
Associate
- Joined
- 30 Jun 2011
- Posts
- 380
- Location
- Yorkshire, England
I'm looking forward to seeing how that diffuser looks painted and on the car. Not a fan of carbon weave bits legit or not but it definitely is calling out for a something to finish it off down there.
Did you rescue your special exhaust tips?
Did you rescue your special exhaust tips?
They're not special, just double walled as per the standard SuperSprint exhaust, but on the stock backbox
But yes, they have been rescued. I was contemplating selling the old backbox but TBH it's worth bunging in the shed as spare given how hard it was to find this replacement one.
As for an update, a couple of delays as it wasn't ready for Friday and I've been away since Friday night anyway. Bumper fitted, boot lid fitted but it needs an LED high level brake light strip replacement as the one off the old lid is cracked which wasn't clear until it was taken off during transplant today. That should arrive ~tomorrow.
I went to check on progress today but got back as they were closing for the day and the car was wrapped up in some 3M anti dust film so couldn't get any new pics. Will be back later in the week though.
The ceramic sealant guy will spend 2 days on the car doing his thing later in the week too. That I'm looking forward to especially. The Glasscoat Cosmic ordered is the single colour type for my paint code and should ship from Germany any day now. It goes through 3 stages and will protect the paint for up to 2 years with self healing properties scratches going by the youtube videos.
But yes, they have been rescued. I was contemplating selling the old backbox but TBH it's worth bunging in the shed as spare given how hard it was to find this replacement one.
As for an update, a couple of delays as it wasn't ready for Friday and I've been away since Friday night anyway. Bumper fitted, boot lid fitted but it needs an LED high level brake light strip replacement as the one off the old lid is cracked which wasn't clear until it was taken off during transplant today. That should arrive ~tomorrow.
I went to check on progress today but got back as they were closing for the day and the car was wrapped up in some 3M anti dust film so couldn't get any new pics. Will be back later in the week though.
The ceramic sealant guy will spend 2 days on the car doing his thing later in the week too. That I'm looking forward to especially. The Glasscoat Cosmic ordered is the single colour type for my paint code and should ship from Germany any day now. It goes through 3 stages and will protect the paint for up to 2 years with self healing properties scratches going by the youtube videos.
It's Steel Grey, bought off another M3 owner several weeks ago but only just got round to collecting (thanks to Voxination for keeping it safe!).
The seller said it was CF, but there's no standard weave on the underside although it's much much lighter than the stock diffuser which leads me to believe it's fibreglass instead of CF with the lip bit layered in CF only which makes more sense.
It was £130 though and was always going to be fully body coloured, so wasn't too concerned for the price. I couldn't find any non "CF" ones on etailers, the ones that were available had dodgy non flush fits going by comments on forums. The guy who sold me this posted pics of it fitted on his and it was as flush a fit as the standard diffuser.
I will of course update you on how it fits. if it looks naff I'll put it on Cutters and have the stock one put back on. At £130 for a nice fitting one it will almost certainly sell to another Hampshire owner, and Carbon Black seems to be a popular colour down here
The seller said it was CF, but there's no standard weave on the underside although it's much much lighter than the stock diffuser which leads me to believe it's fibreglass instead of CF with the lip bit layered in CF only which makes more sense.
It was £130 though and was always going to be fully body coloured, so wasn't too concerned for the price. I couldn't find any non "CF" ones on etailers, the ones that were available had dodgy non flush fits going by comments on forums. The guy who sold me this posted pics of it fitted on his and it was as flush a fit as the standard diffuser.
I will of course update you on how it fits. if it looks naff I'll put it on Cutters and have the stock one put back on. At £130 for a nice fitting one it will almost certainly sell to another Hampshire owner, and Carbon Black seems to be a popular colour down here
^Personally I’m not too much of a fan of visible CF bits, an entire panel like the roof on the CSL is nice but smaller items just looks a bit stick on for my liking. It's an individual tastes thing though!
I found out why there have been a few days’ worth of delays at the bodyshop. It’s a family run place and 2 people have been in the hospital the past week. Best wishes to them for a speedy recovery.
Went to see the car yesterday and was asked to pop back tonight as well to see most of it painted up! The garage next door doing the exhaust work spent 4 hours getting the stainless steel flange bracket clamps on. BMW don’t do these clamps and want £700 to replace the entire mid pipe with fixed clamps attached (the iron clamps that corrode on all E46 M3s). It’s all fitted snug with my exhaust tips installed now.
The rear bumper/diffuser has been primed and ready to begin the paint coats with the front bumper being prepped last night along with the rest of the car and trims. The entire rear end repair is fully completed.
So only thing left now is the full car respray and fit everything back on. The factory paint had been removed as of last night. Final bit once painted is the detailer guy to apply the ceramic sealant over the clearcoat and give the interior a valet from all the dust and stuff collected since December 4th.
Bodyshop said they will clean and re-seal the arches too as part of the job. My arches are rust free and clean anyway, but having them re-sealed could be another 10yrs of rust protection there
I found out why there have been a few days’ worth of delays at the bodyshop. It’s a family run place and 2 people have been in the hospital the past week. Best wishes to them for a speedy recovery.
Went to see the car yesterday and was asked to pop back tonight as well to see most of it painted up! The garage next door doing the exhaust work spent 4 hours getting the stainless steel flange bracket clamps on. BMW don’t do these clamps and want £700 to replace the entire mid pipe with fixed clamps attached (the iron clamps that corrode on all E46 M3s). It’s all fitted snug with my exhaust tips installed now.
The rear bumper/diffuser has been primed and ready to begin the paint coats with the front bumper being prepped last night along with the rest of the car and trims. The entire rear end repair is fully completed.
So only thing left now is the full car respray and fit everything back on. The factory paint had been removed as of last night. Final bit once painted is the detailer guy to apply the ceramic sealant over the clearcoat and give the interior a valet from all the dust and stuff collected since December 4th.
Bodyshop said they will clean and re-seal the arches too as part of the job. My arches are rust free and clean anyway, but having them re-sealed could be another 10yrs of rust protection there
Glad to hear it's all going well 
Can't wait to see some pics when it's all finished, just really hope that you enjoy the car as much as you did before, and it doesn't feel "dirty" after if that makes sense? Given the damage and work done, or there aren't any things you get in to your head that feel different because you're looking for them
Will it be ready in time for the meet?
Can't wait to see some pics when it's all finished, just really hope that you enjoy the car as much as you did before, and it doesn't feel "dirty" after if that makes sense? Given the damage and work done, or there aren't any things you get in to your head that feel different because you're looking for them
Will it be ready in time for the meet?
I really doubt anything will feel any different since no moving parts attached to the wheels or transmission were in need of replacement or repair (well, alloy refurb doesn't exactly count ). Mechanically nothing has changed, it's all panel repair, which doesn't affect how the car feels on the road. I should feel better in more ways than none as it will be like a new car on the outside!
Will certainly be finished before the meet.
). Mechanically nothing has changed, it's all panel repair, which doesn't affect how the car feels on the road. I should feel better in more ways than none as it will be like a new car on the outside!Will certainly be finished before the meet.
I hope so! They said the last thing they want is for any car to come back and bite them months/years down the line from poor workmanship, so that was re-assuring. Plus a few other local folks (including the Enterprise bloke when I went to return the JEEP!) passed positive comments about them. I've used them in the past of course. It just increased confidence levels as I've never had work of this magnitude done to any car of my own. Seeing it through the various stages being worked on also helped a lot and being shown how they do the repairs.
The paint job stages are as follows: Primer > 2x base layers > 4x Carbon Black layers > 3x clearcoat layers. I believe the E46 factory paint is 3x layers of paint itself (or maybe 2x depending on what online sources are read) and 1 or 2x layers of clearcoat. BMW used to apply 5 layers of paint years before. Sadly modern new BMWs all have orange peel if you look up close. I read somewhere BMW Individual paint colours are layered more heavily though (anyone know if this is true?). Car should look better than a new E46 with Carbon Black paint
The clearcoat used is PPG's Deltron High Solid. I can't remember the exact variant, might be D880 or D800, either way I did some research on this and people say it is a good quality product.
I've spoken to the detailer guy now and he's going to look at the driver's bolster and let me know if it's something that he can sort. I know I can re-colour it again using the kit I bought last year but if it can be professionally restored rather than re-coloured then I'd be happy to pay some cash for that just so everything is nice and properly sorted.
The last few days will be an anxious wait
The paint job stages are as follows: Primer > 2x base layers > 4x Carbon Black layers > 3x clearcoat layers. I believe the E46 factory paint is 3x layers of paint itself (or maybe 2x depending on what online sources are read) and 1 or 2x layers of clearcoat. BMW used to apply 5 layers of paint years before. Sadly modern new BMWs all have orange peel if you look up close. I read somewhere BMW Individual paint colours are layered more heavily though (anyone know if this is true?). Car should look better than a new E46 with Carbon Black paint
The clearcoat used is PPG's Deltron High Solid. I can't remember the exact variant, might be D880 or D800, either way I did some research on this and people say it is a good quality product.
I've spoken to the detailer guy now and he's going to look at the driver's bolster and let me know if it's something that he can sort. I know I can re-colour it again using the kit I bought last year but if it can be professionally restored rather than re-coloured then I'd be happy to pay some cash for that just so everything is nice and properly sorted.
The last few days will be an anxious wait