Yes the knock is speed / rotation related under gentle acceleration, gonna jack rear up and put it in drive and hope can hear it with wheels turning, but am thinking CV joint / axle shaft dried up.
Just dropped a deposit on some M Power - Trackday Project Car
- Thread starter Gibbo
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Yes the knock is speed / rotation related under gentle acceleration, gonna jack rear up and put it in drive and hope can hear it with wheels turning, but am thinking CV joint / axle shaft dried up.
Soldato
Could not help myself, sun came out, so I went and parked in sun and grabbed some pictures, excuse the dust and bodyshop white gunk everywhere:
You say it's orange peel free but that looks pretty bad
You say it's orange peel free but that looks pretty bad
I guess one persons bad is another persons OK, I've seen far worse on new cars. Next weekend its going for polishing treatment so which will of course reduce peel in the clearcoat.
Just got back from garage, confirmed my suspicion and it is the outer CV joint on rear drivers side is dry, they are seeing if repair kits are available otherwise its a new half shaft.
Soldato
Yeah I figured you’d get it corrected after going to all this trouble. You gonna PPF the front as well?
Would be a very good idea and something I had not considered, you know anyone who does it and does not charge thousands?
The M3 gets them most on front bumper and around the front bonnet grills.
Though saying that even after all track days was not so bad, it was the NC500 trips with all the Mustangs which destroyed front end as they showered the car in stones, my own fault for pushing some of them so hard on those roads.
You say it's orange peel free but that looks pretty bad
Fine for a track car really and also not that bad considering the price!
I wouldn't even bother painting a track car unless it was really bad.
Unfortunately the car was very rashed on the front and lower sides from 15 years of driving, track days so it was looking tatty.
Also the paint went a bit funky along the sides, it became spotty and no amount of polishing or cleaning could remove what look like some kind of water spotting though it was not water spotting, maybe just an age thing as the car is 15 years old.
So it was very much needed and for a grand an absolute bargain as though its not a perfectionist job it has also not cost that kind of money and the only areas it needs to perfect it is a good polishing, good glossy wax and a couple of areas where orange peel is a little more evident on rear quarters. This gets done next weekend by a friend who has all the equipment to do it.
Still saying that I had it parked up at OcUK yesterday and I was outside talking with a guy from DELL who has a Lotus and a customer, both of them were saying they'd not seen a cleaner or better looking E46 M3 and to them that the paint job looked incredible, the E46 M3 is a cult car that is becoming a classic so it really does no harm to keep it perfect. If I stone chip and it starts looking tatty again in 5 years time, well it can just go have another respray. I want to enjoy it, I also want it to look good whilst doing so as well.
It makes sense to not only enjoy it, but also too look after it because its only appreciating in value as though I say it myself its one of the better M3's out there. Trust me I drove loads with a mate searching for a car for him recently, in the end we had to buy two, one at 10k and one at 13k to make one good one and then were still spending to put them both right. Most of these cars for sale now are absolutely poor examples, even some of the more higher priced ones.
Caporegime
Should have put an OcUK variation of the BMW racing livery on it instead.
Paintwork looks fine to me but then I'm not a paintwork perfectionist. Will look much better after some correction. Might even go as far as to wet sand it.
Paintwork looks fine to me but then I'm not a paintwork perfectionist. Will look much better after some correction. Might even go as far as to wet sand it.
Soldato
Would be a very good idea and something I had not considered, you know anyone who does it and does not charge thousands?
The M3 gets them most on front bumper and around the front bonnet grills.
Though saying that even after all track days was not so bad, it was the NC500 trips with all the Mustangs which destroyed front end as they showered the car in stones, my own fault for pushing some of them so hard on those roads.
No idea I'm afraid. I've just seen the YouTube lot do it to their supercars as soon as they take delivery so it's clearly a great idea.
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Soldato
There's a company in Bicester that I'm likely using for paint correction & protection on mine and they do a front bra using the Xpel Ultimate film for ~£500 I believe (that's the self healing stuff). The bra covers front bumper, lights, and front half of wings/bonnet. You can have a full front for around £750 I think (so covers whole bonnet and wings).Would be a very good idea and something I had not considered, you know anyone who does it and does not charge thousands?
The M3 gets them most on front bumper and around the front bonnet grills.
Though saying that even after all track days was not so bad, it was the NC500 trips with all the Mustangs which destroyed front end as they showered the car in stones, my own fault for pushing some of them so hard on those roads.
Gave it a good clean over the weekend, got rid of most of the white dust/compound in the panel edges and put a coat of sealant on it, then stupidly forgot to take photos.
So grabbed a photo this morning as it just looked so damn good, real nice deep gloss which the camera does not portray so well in the shade, excuse the fact its frozen and some snow flakes over it:
Just had a price from BMW for a new half shaft, £487+VAT, oh my days, M ownership, it does not come cheap.
So grabbed a photo this morning as it just looked so damn good, real nice deep gloss which the camera does not portray so well in the shade, excuse the fact its frozen and some snow flakes over it:
Just had a price from BMW for a new half shaft, £487+VAT, oh my days, M ownership, it does not come cheap.
Oh no, I started with a carbon bit, then got a whole lot more, thankfully your roof is at least carbon to begin with.
For whatever reason BMW's work so well with both full and side splitters, really makes the front-end look finished.
Caporegime
Mmmmmm perdy.
Soldato
Outstanding.
Glad you've lost the KW sticker as well
Glad you've lost the KW sticker as well
Nicewould be interesting to see the side-by-side comparison of the orange peel pre and post-detail.
The peel was quite bad under his lights on the rear quarters and above windows. He has got rid of 80% of it and I’d say it’s no worse than a new BMW for peel maybe slightly better.
He said he would be happy with it and he spent about 16 hours polishing using various compounds and pads to remove the peel and swirls.
Th biggest issue was swirls and holograms from the body shop using a rotary to quickly for go over it, he says he sees it all time on fresh respray cars as body shops will do a great paint job but then fly over it too quick with a rotary causing more damage which was reason for lack of gloss.
He said to completely remove peel and he said all cars have it to an extent and mine is now at good level and not to worry but a wet sanding and about 3-4 days work can remove peel 100% and give you perfect glass look but we both agreed it’s not needed as you can see from the bonnet reflection it is now very clear and mirror like.
Scared to drive it now.