My 3 series sucks, help.

I guess it depends on what you want the car for Clarkey as to what kit I'd buy.

Personally, if I was you, and this was my daily car, I'd be getting better quality than an eBay special, and I'd risk saying the Spax RSX kit is a shade harsh for day to day (This is what Nick had with the 328 Sport 17's on PS2's, it was ok, but it wasn't great over rougher roads, superb on track though).

Will your funds extend to KW's (V3's would be nice, but V1's will be enough if you aren't looking to dial every inch of performance from it), or maybe Eibach Pro Street or if you have the cash, Bilsteins (do they still make PSS9's?)

I'd personally in your situation go for ....

KWv3s/Bilstein PSS9s
M3 Evo Top Mounts (if you fancy it, we put cheaper ones Nicks at first and they broke, at least then its in there ready for any future tweaks)
Z3M Reinforcement Plates (Sometimes harder suspension can cause damage to the back of the car)
Eibach ARB's
Replace any duff bushes with standard items, poly bushes will destroy the ride
Fit standard BMW wheels on, or some decent quality Aftermarket (unsure what would look good)
Some decent tyres. Pilot Sports/Sport Contacts/Something... !
A proper alignment. Doesn't have to be a hunter, has to be someone competent though.

The beauty is that the e36, especially in 328 trim, seems to command hilarious prices. You wouldn't lose too much come re-sale, as you could say 'IDEAL FOR TRACK !!!!111oneoneone' and get a bite.
 
Conanius said:
The beauty is that the e36, especially in 328 trim, seems to command hilarious prices. You wouldn't lose too much come re-sale, as you could say 'IDEAL FOR TRACK !!!!111oneoneone' and get a bite.
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Are you sure about that?

Despite already being worth sod all E36 value are likely to still have a fair way to drop. The majority of people wanting a cheap, sub £2,000 BMW are going to straight past the E36 with E46 values as they are, and E36s aren't anywhere close to attaining 'Classic' status leaving them in a no mans land where values are likely to keep falling and falling until if/when they get to 'cult' status and become a little bit more than an old BMW.

I think suggesting he could spend thousands of pounds on a cheap, old BMW and expect to get most of it back on resale is madness quite frankly.
 
Spax RSX will be good for road/track use. I've got solid front top mounts though and polybushing which makes my car quite harsh. My brother uses it as a daily driver though still, and is happy with it.

I would go for Spax over the cheapy eBays - mine are still doing a great job 2.5 years after we fittted them. The set cost £400.
 
Joshy said:
Are you sure about that?

Despite already being worth sod all E36 value are likely to still have a fair way to drop. The majority of people wanting a cheap, sub £2,000 BMW are going to straight past the E36 with E46 values as they are, and E36s aren't anywhere close to attaining 'Classic' status leaving them in a no mans land where values are likely to keep falling and falling until if/when they get to 'cult' status and become a little bit more than an old BMW.

I think suggesting he could spend thousands of pounds on a cheap, old BMW and expect to get most of it back on resale is madness quite frankly.
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The E36 is absolutely ancient. Prices have therefore reached a flaw. The later ones are almost 15 years old and have been 'about £2k' for years. Thats it, nice ones will always be £2k, scabby ones will sink below £1k. Thats pretty much how it works when a car gets to a certain age.

Many of the people who buy them buy them because they specifically want one not because they can't afford an E46. Sure some people will be in that bracket, but to say that they'll eventually be worthless is daft, as the E30 quite clearly shows - given a decent one of those, given how rare they are, costs as much as an E46 these days.

Besides, how is it even possible to lose a load of money on a car as cheap as £2k anyway?
 
Joshy said:
Are you sure about that?

Despite already being worth sod all E36 value are likely to still have a fair way to drop. The majority of people wanting a cheap, sub £2,000 BMW are going to straight past the E36 with E46 values as they are, and E36s aren't anywhere close to attaining 'Classic' status leaving them in a no mans land where values are likely to keep falling and falling until if/when they get to 'cult' status and become a little bit more than an old BMW.

I think suggesting he could spend thousands of pounds on a cheap, old BMW and expect to get most of it back on resale is madness quite frankly.
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Doing the work himself, beer tokens for whomever assists, and having a good scrounge on the forums (e36 coupe seems to constantly have cracking bargains) I'd be gobsmacked if he spent much over a grand all in, excluding the wheels and tyres which in the former the price will vary massively on what he wants, and on the latter is just a consumable.

Good e36's are as cheap as they will get I think, track prepped ones go for silly money, so assuming clarkeys is a 2k middle of the road car, sorting out the handling as I suggested and keeping on top of rust, maintenance etc won't suddenly leave him with a 600 quid car.
 
[TW]Fox;21350553 said:
The E36 is absolutely ancient. Prices have therefore reached a flaw. The later ones are almost 15 years old and have been 'about £2k' for years. Thats it, nice ones will always be £2k, scabby ones will sink below £1k. Thats pretty much how it works when a car gets to a certain age.

Many of the people who buy them buy them because they specifically want one not because they can't afford an E46. Sure some people will be in that bracket, but to say that they'll eventually be worthless is daft, as the E30 quite clearly shows - given a decent one of those, given how rare they are, costs as much as an E46 these days.

Besides, how is it even possible to lose a load of money on a car as cheap as £2k anyway?
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I feel that E36s still have a little bit more to drop. Albeit it we are talking about a few hundred pounds but a drop is a drop none the less.

The market for sub £2k 6 cylinder E46s isn't as dire as it was just ~6 months ago alone, it'll be very interesting to see what that those to values as the E46s continue to fall and better cars become available for the money, but I do think E36 prices will suffer.

If the history of E30s is to be repeated with E36s the newer model availability will push values even lower, a good majority of examples will be neglected and eventually scrapped and then eventually they will begin to rise. E30s are worth more than they were just a couple of years ago, and they are still rising. Not by massive amounts but a grand no longer buys you a nice, tidy, solid 325i 2 door where it did just a couple of years ago.

E36s haven't really had the pressure of half presentable E46s being in its price range until about now so I think it is too soon to say for sure that you aren't going to lose money on one. Again, whilst it is never going to be loads a lost is a lost to me :).
 
I think you have missed fox's point. People buying an e36 now already are people who WANT an e36. Those that want a cheap BMW have already moved to the e46.... As such the market is already flat.
 
Conanius said:
...so assuming clarkeys is a 2k middle of the road car, sorting out the handling as I suggested and keeping on top of rust, maintenance etc won't suddenly leave him with a 600 quid car.
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Of course it won't, but spending £1000 on the suspension of a £2,000 E36 isn't going to make it worth £3,000. You're going to add a few hundred pounds onto the value at the most, and that isn't taking into account what having decent E46s in a similar price range might do the values.

I think suggesting that he'll get most of the money back is a bit off of the mark.
 
Joshy said:
I feel that E36s still have a little bit more to drop. Albeit it we are talking about a few hundred pounds but a drop is a drop none the less.
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A few hundred pounds is simply irrelevent when it comes to depreciation - it's just not even worth thinking about. It could easily be caused by bad advertisements or quiet times of the year for sales, for example.

If a 1997 328i is £2k now, it'll be £1950 in 6 months time, like for like. Thats it for them really. I doubt we'll see them appreciate any time soon either, but I doubt we'll ever see mint £999 328i Sport's either.

Of course it won't, but spending £1000 on the suspension of a £2,000 E36 isn't going to make it worth £3,000
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Depreciation is where a car is worth less than you paid for it, not where a car isn't worth what you paid for it + what you spent on it :confused:

Buy £2k E36. Spend £1k on suspension. Sell for £2k. Zero depreciation.
 
[TW]Fox;21350824 said:
A few hundred pounds is simply irrelevent when it comes to depreciation - it's just not even worth thinking about. It could easily be caused by bad advertisements or quiet times of the year for sales, for example.

If a 1997 328i is £2k now, it'll be £1950 in 6 months time, like for like. Thats it for them really. I doubt we'll see them appreciate any time soon either, but I doubt we'll ever see mint £999 328i Sport's either.



Depreciation is where a car is worth less than you paid for it, not where a car isn't worth what you paid for it + what you spent on it :confused:

Buy £2k E36. Spend £1k on suspension. Sell for £2k. Zero depreciation.
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I'm not doing 'This' with you Fox. I genuinely can't be arsed.

I'll just summarize point just once more and leave it at that:

I interpreted Conanius's post to say that he could spend £1000+ on the suspension of a £2k E36 and 'Not lose much when it comes to resale'. I disagree as firstly More attractive E46s are creeping into this price bracket with each passing month, which I suspect is going to affect E36 values negatively and secondly because fairly basic mods just aren't going to add much more to the value of the car. Almost certainly not enough to offset the cost of the work in the first place.
 
....and I disagree that a decent one is worth anywhere near 2k unless its a genuine sport. Have seen plenty of them and about 1200 quid buys a good one. That just makes spending about 1k (which is also excessive if you can find used bargains) on a car he might simply not like a bit daft. Sort the geo and bushes first and take it from there
 
Can we forget about the value of the cars please, it's not helpful at all. I got the car for a cheap price considering it's the most desirable LSD model, depreciation is the least of my worries.
 
Clarkey said:
Can we forget about the value of the cars please, it's not helpful at all. I got the car for a cheap price considering it's the most desirable LSD model, depreciation is the least of my worries.
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Worth checking that the LSD still works, a lot are now worn out and need servicing (they will still act as a normal diff when worn - they will not lock though).
 
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