My new E46 M3
- Thread starter Gaygle
- Start date
Man of Honour
Undercarriage is the subframe. All E46s are affected in general, but the M3 sees the problem far sooner than any other model because of the forces at work from the more powerful motor. BMW has a 10 year warranty on it so if you bought a 2005 model then you could get it inspected and sorted under warranty. Anything older and you would be costing this up yourself unless the sale price factors the need for this in, assuming it has not been done that is.
Look for an example that has had an Inspection 2 recently at least, this way you will know that all components have been at the very least been checked and given the OK.
The search continues 
A new week, a new project. Finally got around to fitting my shocks and struts! What prompted this was that previously, I had an annoying issue where the steering wheel would shimmy if you hit a bump or rut in the road, especially at higher speeds. I thought this might be a failed strut so I bought a new set all round. I didn't realise just how failed it was, as the video shows! For anyone else, my car is on 93k miles, and the when I took it to the garage to get the guy to check out everything on the car, I asked him to check the strut. He said there was a tiny bit of leakage but so small that he wouldn't even mention it on an MOT. Now, having owned BMW's for quite a few years now, I know that when there is ANY leakage whatsoever, the strut has already failed, and probably was passed it's best 30k miles previous. I'm glad I changed them!
I took the passenger side all to bits, couldn't get the strut out of the pinch collar, so gave up and put everything back together. Posted up on M3Cutters and I got some tips so I decided to try again, with renewed determination, and it turned out all I needed was a cup of man the **** up. For info of anyone else who may be reading this and struggling, you have to pull the collar/disc/hub downwards as well as towards you and it's then and only then you'll get enough clearance. You must also only untighten the nuts on the strut bearing a very small amount and when you get it clear, start undoing them more. Helps massively if you have another pair of hands on standby, especially when you have to get the strut in!
Having never done struts on a car before, it took about an 1 hour to do the passenger side. But then I put everything back together, wheels back on, torqued up etc.... and i discovered I had forgotten to carry over the bottom rubber pad that the spring sits on. I said lots of four letter words, threw a few tools, and set about taking the passenger side again for the 3rd time. This time it only took 25minutes, which was quite impressive!
The driver side took about 40 minutes. Videos below - passenger side strut was literally doing absolutely nothing! The car feels so compliant now, and it absolutely sticks like glue when cornering.
I took the passenger side all to bits, couldn't get the strut out of the pinch collar, so gave up and put everything back together. Posted up on M3Cutters and I got some tips so I decided to try again, with renewed determination, and it turned out all I needed was a cup of man the **** up. For info of anyone else who may be reading this and struggling, you have to pull the collar/disc/hub downwards as well as towards you and it's then and only then you'll get enough clearance. You must also only untighten the nuts on the strut bearing a very small amount and when you get it clear, start undoing them more. Helps massively if you have another pair of hands on standby, especially when you have to get the strut in!
Having never done struts on a car before, it took about an 1 hour to do the passenger side. But then I put everything back together, wheels back on, torqued up etc.... and i discovered I had forgotten to carry over the bottom rubber pad that the spring sits on. I said lots of four letter words, threw a few tools, and set about taking the passenger side again for the 3rd time. This time it only took 25minutes, which was quite impressive!
The driver side took about 40 minutes. Videos below - passenger side strut was literally doing absolutely nothing! The car feels so compliant now, and it absolutely sticks like glue when cornering.
Man of Honour
So any mention of "small" leaks on the struts during MOT/inspection then it's new strut time, got it! 
Although to be fair as you say, any "small" issue on an M car will only lead to a big issue soon enough
Although to be fair as you say, any "small" issue on an M car will only lead to a big issue soon enough
So any mention of "small" leaks on the struts during MOT/inspection then it's new strut time, got it!
Although to be fair as you say, any "small" issue on an M car will only lead to a big issue soon enough
Yeah, I'm surprised really as that shock hadn't leaked much oil at all and yet you can see that it just wasn't doing any dampening at all.
Not at all. The only thing that gave it away was the mild shimmying in the steering wheel when going over bumps at 50mph+.
It didn't roll excessively, didn't lose grip on that corner, didn't feel overly firm (although when getting a new car, you're not sure what is normal or not) and didn't rock at all.
Having some more bits fitted today!
- BMW Performance front calipers with customer CNC aluminium carriers.
- OEM ATE 345mm front discs
- Goodridge braided brake hoses all round
- ATE Typ 2002 (aka Super Blue)
I also attempted to have the car fully KDS aligned last week but one of the trackrod assemblies were completely seized. Also one of the FCAB was factory original and had a small amount of play. So also having the following done (with part numbers should anyone else need them):
- Lemforder track rod assembly x 2 (Lemforder part 27115 and 27116)
- Lemforder FCAB x 2 (Lemforder part 27016 and 27017)
- Meyle HD RTAB x 2 (Meyle part number 300 333 2104/HD)
Hopefully all of this work in combination with the new shocks and struts all round should see the suspension sorted.
Also have a new steering wheel being delivered from Royal Steering Wheels on Monday which will be nice! A few detailing bits are also en route (Aerospace 303 and Gliptone leather conditioner) and I think (hope) that will be it for a while!
- BMW Performance front calipers with customer CNC aluminium carriers.
- OEM ATE 345mm front discs
- Goodridge braided brake hoses all round
- ATE Typ 2002 (aka Super Blue)
I also attempted to have the car fully KDS aligned last week but one of the trackrod assemblies were completely seized. Also one of the FCAB was factory original and had a small amount of play. So also having the following done (with part numbers should anyone else need them):
- Lemforder track rod assembly x 2 (Lemforder part 27115 and 27116)
- Lemforder FCAB x 2 (Lemforder part 27016 and 27017)
- Meyle HD RTAB x 2 (Meyle part number 300 333 2104/HD)
Hopefully all of this work in combination with the new shocks and struts all round should see the suspension sorted.
Also have a new steering wheel being delivered from Royal Steering Wheels on Monday which will be nice! A few detailing bits are also en route (Aerospace 303 and Gliptone leather conditioner) and I think (hope) that will be it for a while!
Associate
Looking good, I will be interested in plenty of pictures of the steering wheel. Hope to do that at some point once mine starts playing nice and I have done the disks/pads.
I should hope not!!
Says it can be used on coated leather interiors. I've just realised that the nappa leather has no coating on it
Right! New stuff fitted. Car has never been better - pictures below.
If you have 56k:
A) you need to upgrade your internet connection
B) you don't deserve to see photographs.
Anyway, as promised, the brake went straight on without any faff. Only thing that needed to be done is the backing plate bent by about a centimetre. The brakes feel utterly wonderful. They feel so powerful, but they haven't lost the lovely feel that BMW brake have. I appreciate that some of this is from braided brake hoses, but certainly not all. Now that they've had a few days to bed in etc, I'll start leaning on them a bit more, but I will be expecting BIG things from them. Even if they suck so bad that a Fiat Multipla could out brake me, I won't care because they just look so beautiful.
The other bits that were done were a std 4 wheel alignment (not KDS though at the moment), new FCABs, new RTABs (which were like new so they have been changed previously) and new track rod assemblies/ball joints.
I have also just today taken delivery of my new steering wheel. I went for a full nappa, with only *slightly* thickened, with ///M stitching and a red band at 12 o'clock for the yobbo in me. Basically I wanted it to look like the E92 M3 steering wheel, which it does. And again, it is wonderful. Popping out the airbag wasn't as easy as I remember it being on the E92, but when I realised that the retaining springs were much stiffer, I knew what i was doing. 16mm steering nut was very tight, but came off instantly with the impact wrench (if you haven't got an impact wrench - GET ONE!). Changing everything over was childs play with just a variety of Torx bits needed and took about 15 minutes. The job took about 30 minutes in total.
Before:
During:
After:
No more mods from now on! Spent way too much already.
If you have 56k:
A) you need to upgrade your internet connection
B) you don't deserve to see photographs.
Anyway, as promised, the brake went straight on without any faff. Only thing that needed to be done is the backing plate bent by about a centimetre. The brakes feel utterly wonderful. They feel so powerful, but they haven't lost the lovely feel that BMW brake have. I appreciate that some of this is from braided brake hoses, but certainly not all. Now that they've had a few days to bed in etc, I'll start leaning on them a bit more, but I will be expecting BIG things from them. Even if they suck so bad that a Fiat Multipla could out brake me, I won't care because they just look so beautiful.
The other bits that were done were a std 4 wheel alignment (not KDS though at the moment), new FCABs, new RTABs (which were like new so they have been changed previously) and new track rod assemblies/ball joints.
I have also just today taken delivery of my new steering wheel. I went for a full nappa, with only *slightly* thickened, with ///M stitching and a red band at 12 o'clock for the yobbo in me. Basically I wanted it to look like the E92 M3 steering wheel, which it does. And again, it is wonderful. Popping out the airbag wasn't as easy as I remember it being on the E92, but when I realised that the retaining springs were much stiffer, I knew what i was doing. 16mm steering nut was very tight, but came off instantly with the impact wrench (if you haven't got an impact wrench - GET ONE!). Changing everything over was childs play with just a variety of Torx bits needed and took about 15 minutes. The job took about 30 minutes in total.
Before:
During:
After:
No more mods from now on! Spent way too much already.
Man of Honour
I'm not so sure about the red centre point marker on the wheel since your leather isn't red so doesn't have a contrast point to go with it!
Are you going to get matching colour for the rear calipers?
Are you going to get matching colour for the rear calipers?
I really like it, and it is small and subtle enough to not need to match anything else on the interior (same with the ///M stitching). I also think it adds a bit of hooligan. I wish I did have red leather though!
I can get a refurbished Porsche rear caliper, painted Phoenix Yellow with the BMW Performance decal on it for £400. Would just need to get the bolt on bracket for £100 more and job's a good 'un. It uses the same disc so that'd be fine. However, that said, i'm not really bothered about the rear. It's not like the standard caliper is silver or anything that stands out, it kinda just bends away behind the wheel.
Caporegime
Like the wheel bar the silly red bit though, seems pointless tbh, what does it achieve? It looks more derp than hooligan to my old eyes!
Loving the look of the brakes though, car looks lovely!
Have you noticed any improvement with the feel of the car after the alignment? - my 530 has started munching the inside of its n/s/r tyre rather badly, just deciding where to get it done and what type of alignment to opt for.
Loving the look of the brakes though, car looks lovely!
Have you noticed any improvement with the feel of the car after the alignment? - my 530 has started munching the inside of its n/s/r tyre rather badly, just deciding where to get it done and what type of alignment to opt for.
Man of Honour
ProTyre if you have a branch near you will do it properly. Cost will depend on what level of adjustments are needed.
Does the new brake set-up now change the 50/50 brake distribution?
Does the new brake set-up now change the 50/50 brake distribution?
I use Justcarclinic for alignment.
Since I used them for the Porsche which took them 2 hours to do and cost a flat fee if £49.99 I've thrown all my cars at them.
If it needs 1 adjustment it will cost you £49.99, if it needs everything adjusting it will cost £49.99. I like it.
Oh and it is certainly Hunter.
Since I used them for the Porsche which took them 2 hours to do and cost a flat fee if £49.99 I've thrown all my cars at them.
If it needs 1 adjustment it will cost you £49.99, if it needs everything adjusting it will cost £49.99. I like it.
Oh and it is certainly Hunter.