What have you done to your car today?

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328 exhaust arrived today from BMW, booked in to be fitted by my body shop tomorrow. Can't decide on if I should ask them to paint the tips in black satin finish or leave as is. The black exhaust tips BMW sell are too small as the 328 pipes are slightly larger than later E46 models (325/330), the angling is different too where later models are flat faced at the tips.

Will look quite a bit nicer and sound nicer too.

Current stock exhaust with enlarged exit (the stock exit is 2 inches only, had it previously enlarged to 2.5 to fill the valance nicer:

328 exhaust:
[will upload tomorrow]

There wasn't that much extra cost in going this route, needed a new exhaust anyway, figured it would be worth making it a bit better in the process :cool:
 
mrk - do you, similar to TWFox, plan to keep the 3 series for good (even once you get a new car)?

I ask because you appear to keep it to a very high standard. Although I suppose you still have relatively better chance of getting decent money back for it when you sell as the E46 facelift values appear to be holding its value reasonably well.
 
Oh I will not be keeping this when I upgrade, I just like to keep it in nice condition and people compliment it regularly or look when driving by (when it's not covered in road muck anyway :o), some even tap their shoes several times before getting in and I'm sat there like "you didn't need to do that!" :p

I want an E46 M3 but I'm more than happy to hang on to this until the right one with the right combination of colour and condition comes up as I don't commute to work and only go for a drive for long journeys or quick drives around the twisty roads here which it is perfectly fine for. When I come to sell it I know at least there's going to be little headroom to haggle the price down.

I did consider selling it to my brother as he will be starting to learn to drive next year but he's a bit of a slob and I know it will be neglected. I cannot stand the thought of seeing something I've spent years maintaining well slip into decay like that :(
 
mrk said:
Can't decide on if I should ask them to paint the tips in black satin finish or leave as is. The black exhaust tips BMW sell are too small as the 328 pipes are slightly larger than later E46 models (325/330), the angling is different too where later models are flat faced at the tips.
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Definitely leave them silver, black just wouldn't look right imo. Mine are black, but that's because there's loads of crud on there I haven't got off :p

Looking forward to the video tomorrow.
 
Not sure is serious^ :p There's a big sewage lorry with its engine running collecting raw sewage from a blocked drain which you can hear just across the road in the background...
 
Couple of bits on the E46 330Ci.

Changed the air con belt and powered steering belts for £20.00;

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Also had quite a bit of water in drivers side front fog lamp. Took it out, dried it out and cleaned it up. The seal looks perfect and the breather isn't blocked, so not sure what happened there. Anyway, drove it home and it looks like there's condensation in it again. I don't want to pay £70 for one from EuroCarParts, is a scrapper a better bet?

What it looked like after I drove it home, in the dry;

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Clean it up again and stick some extra black silicone on first

I found out by sheer chance today (a flyer from Honda actually) that my MOT is up on the 1st of Jan, thought it was March so that was lucky!
 
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Yeah, when you prise it apart just put a little bead on the ridge where it makes contact. Clear might be better than black if you've never done it before, will do the same job
 
Washed the dirt off, Seen the state of my wheels kinda sad. Whats the best way to remove caked up brake dust/road dirt/tar etc from the insides of alloys? My cone brush just gets clogged up and wrecked. I want to remove them and do a proper job on them anyhow and wax them properly after
 
rodenal said:
You'll only get it off with a proper wheel cleaner at quite a concentrated level and brush - or potentially with a steam cleaner and chemicals
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I have brake cleaner i know some are for and some against but it does remove it but then its making sure you jet washed it all off properly.

Any recommended products?
 
I use bilberry and a very high concentrate mix for the insides of the wheels, normal 1:9 / 1:10 for the outsides

Don't expect it to last though, I done all 4 of mine last week as I had the wheels off and this is the state of them already
 
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