BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

Well, it's good to see I got some conversation going!

I guess I can allow this hijack as:

-it's helped a few others out with wheel/tyre experiences
-I've done my fair share in my own time previously!

Cheers!

CSL wheels were super tempting, since a new set of replicas are £500 + tyres on top. I even was offered the genuine CSL wheels on the Velvet Blue Drop top for around £700 + my then Smokes Chrome wheels. I do kick myself for not buying them a little.

I say a little since, as you say, they have become the Minilite of the BMW world. But maybe that shows what a great design they were from the off.

However, given how the stock wheels came out with this different take, they look better then I expected .

The Steelies really work on your E82! Dare I say it, it almost blends in with passing off for a German-owned car! It’s good to see you are liking that car .

I found exactly the same issue as you when:
-Looking for my E46 M3 ; I'm told it's better now but I reckon the curse word just got accepted and more expensive.
-Looking at a 330Ci for a friend.

Do people just not look after cars anymore?

As you know, I reckon you made a great choice on the N52. They can do reasonable MPG, and make a pleasant noise. Your talk of the remap may have put them back onto the radar for me, as the x25is of that time were a car I overlooked.

I wanted for a short while an E91 335i, but it seems most are tired and now expensive, almost M3 money. My dad's 535d, if you can get over the autobox and diesel part, is better value IMHO, at almost half of the price, but with real gusty performance, in a very undiesel like way. Or should I say diesel like, but at every point in the rev-range.

But yes, cars from the late 00s and 10s are becoming more affordable. I for a short while was definitely not looking at E63 6.2s to buy. I was itching over a tastesfully specified E61 M5 Touring, but I looked away, in the fear of my bank balance being destroyed . I know, I know

Nope nothing to see here

PS always agreed with you it’s the wheel for sheeple (people with no imagination)

So, what else has gone on with the the car?

It's being used again! With me working from home, and almost being pinned to a desk, I don't really drive as much as I used to. It does however mean that with the quieter roads, I can enjoy them more. Sure, the Mondeo would make more sense! But fate would enter here.

Enter Exhibit A:







My sister's Saab 9-3. Yup, it had been hit, and being a key worker, it's something she really didn't need.

It's amazing how older technology can hide a multitude of sins regarding camera phone technology. Oh, and Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax ; it's amazing for removing Overspray. It could also be a car dealer's wet dream in terms of shining cars up! It certainly did shine up the Saab!

However, no amount of polish would remove the dent. Since this happened in April, all of the photos were taken of the car before we were told the inevitable. It was written off. With Saabs not being worth alot, and the rear 1/4 being No Longer Available (NLA) from the usual suspects including Neo Brothers and Bond Street in the Leicster, this was not really a surprise.

Fast forward to June and we had this silly notion that the Saab would once live again! However, she would need a car. She goes to the school. Me being me, and knowing that she can drive well, I offered her two cars:

-Mondeo
-M3.

She took the Mondeo. Unfortunately for me, she seems to like the Mondeo a little too much! Sure, it's got some trickery fitted into it during my ownership, but I thought a £1k car would never entice anyone! Clearly, I was wrong! Hopefully I'll get it back as I do wonder what else £1k will buy me which ticks the boxes quite as well as that car.

Not that it matters, I've had the opportunity to enjoy the M3 that bit more. The occasional trip to work was more of a joy than before, especially more so! But other cars too! .

Remember that BMW 330Ci ClubSport I mentioned earlier? Well, this post goes full circle as I'd end up doing a favour for a friend ; the alignment ship he booked in was a stone's throw away from me, so I jumped at the opportunity of helping him out. It's not a bad looking thing either!












The all important kick plates to state what the car is .



What most BMW owners covet. I can't say I'm one of them (read on), but it's OK.







Since he was selling it, he asked me to grab a few shots as well. Naturally, I obliged.

Driving it was an absolute pleasure however!

Sure, I found that 'box annoying! Not that I'm a hater of manuals, but rather the glorification they have for what seems to be dick-length reasons. Sure, there is 'some' increased involvement, but trying to account for when the clutch has released? A sloppy change? Surely the point of a manual is for the 'box and clutch to be fully complain in your demands. This really wasn't that. Until you put your foot down:



Yup, it's not bad when you are making progress .  Hopefully, the video didn't put you to sleep!

The fun didn't stop there however. Remember why I was rebuilding my brakes? This car could give a taster of what to expect. After all, my friend rebuilt the calipers using the Bigg Red seals, pistons and slider bushes, topped off with some braided hoses from HEL. Oh, and new discs and pads. Not something you expect most people to do. Did it brake better than before? You can bet yourself to a barn dance that it did! It was spot on! Even on stock pads, it pulled to a halt really well. More than either of us expected in all honesty!

With this being a 330Ci, it has 100kg less than an E46 M3, and that can be felt! It is a little more sprighlty!

The final thing? The engine? Sure, it does not have the S54 raw than BMW M cars have. But sometimes, that's not what people want? The M54 is more of a creamy smoother operator affair. It never feels or sounds fragile, and it literally just hums along! Sure, coming from an M3 this can seem dull, but there's no denying the engine is less relalctrant and more refined over town over the S54 lump in the E46 M3. But I do love that character! What did someone say about having your cake and eating it?

Yup, while these times have been busy, they've not been bad

While I planned for one massive update, it's best to deliver it in bitesize chunks I suspect. So, let's begin.

A few posts up, you would have seen me mention that my sister's Saab which got hit and written off. Without trying to dwell on the Saab story too much, my sister wanted either this car to be replaced at the time, or another convertible. Chatting to friends in the trade, they told me that £4k would not get a nice drop top, or should I say to the mediocre standards I wanted; most cars being traded in during the lockdown were truly awful and only being traded in as the owners didn't really see themselves having another choice.

This inevitably left us between a rock and a hard place. We made a decision, but the right one? Time would tell. The main plan was to get the now CAT N Saab repaired, and to throw in a few tasty upgrades and repairs along the way, including:

-An Apple CarPlay headunit
-New discs and pads all round to bring some life to the shocking brakes in this car
-Sort the steering out, and give the car an alignment.

Sounds easy doesn't it? I wished it was easier.

Firstly, I came to install the Kenwood DMX-7017DABS CD player. With a Connects 2 lead set, it should have worked well. What did our survey say however?



Yup, there was nothing whatsoever. Despite me connecting the kit up to the letter as follows:

-Headunit patch lead first
-Headunit lead to Connects2 main lead
-Connects 2 Box
-The Saab connections on the Connects2 lead to the Saab

I have nothing. Zero. Nada.

Ringing Connects 2 was also useless. Their guy there basically wasn't interested in helping out, stating only via email could I be assisted, and that really, all non-dealer folk are too thick and that I should go to a dealer (yeah, I'll get to that part later). This was perfect for dropping the car into the garage 4 days later for the repairs to begin, where I was told the car would be ready in 4 days. Perfect, I'll book a holiday for 5 days in 3 weeks time I thought. This would soon unravel however.



Fast forward a bit, and those 3 days would become 4 weeks. Yup, the holiday time I booked and could not really change due to tight work times and issues there really did not help.

However, since the Saab was away in the bodyshop that week, I thought I'd crack on with the M3. I planned that day to get all of the brakes fitted. However, like all best plans, things didn't go that way. There I was changing the calipers on the rear first, until I hit the nearside:






Yup, the spring had snapped big time! I'm surprised the car was still level! However, since ECP somehow were doing the springs for £20 for the pair, I bought them to get me out of trouble. Being an E46, it may pay to keep these as a spare set anyway! Sure, they didn't look right, but they'd get me out of trouble.

While I was there, I picked the best discs out of my spares to compliment the new brake shoes, before finally fitting the rear CSL calipers with Pagid RSL29 pads. Because the previous specialist prior to my ownership did not clean out the brake area for the handbrake, the dirt just got trapped and destroyed the inside of the otherwise perfect discs. Sure, it passed an MOT, but I knew the handbrake was useless in the real world.



Could things really improve with just this? That will have to wait until the next time.



Those grooves made the handbrake useless.





While the inner surface was rusty, it was sound and worn well more importantly, so these were picked.

With the Saab seeming to take an eternity to fix, I was doubting my own ability. How on Earth could a routine job become such a pain and require more tools? Yes, I could have gone cheap and tried normal sockets, but I'm sick of dealing with rounded off bolts, with new bolts then being required, which I can't nip out and get as I work during the the time any fastener places are open. Plus it's a cost. All the Saab needed after this was a mini-clean and a lock replacement. Great, it looked lovely, and I was glad to see the back of the car once it was done. Can I recommend anyone to buy one? I can't say so. The lock that I changed? That's gone bad as well. Annoying, as you can't get a new lock anymore. Where are those Saab guys now saying "You can get everything"? Oh, no answers? I can't say I'm not surprised. Hateful, hateful car! It was also a waste of a week off!









Anyway, with that heap out of the way, it was time for me to crack on with the M3. With the rear calipers done, it was time to hit the fronts. Since I built up the calipers as an assembly it wasn't too bad to fit them in the end!

The brake unions were a little stiff to undo. However, with some PlusGas and a blowtorch, they came undone OK. It's the first time I've used a blowtorch on a brake line, and I was a little uneasy about doing so, given that brake fluid is flammable! However, it came undone surprisingly easy using this method!

At the same time I decided to measure the old discs! Ah, that will be why the braking power wasn't quite what it was! 26.4mm is the minimum thickness of the front discs! These were not that!




Yup, these discs were done! They were not however, done with me. I came to remove one, and possibly down to the Saab being a pain to work on and source bits for, I ended up snapping the Torx bit! Great!




Clearly, I wasn't going to get the car done, and so I went home, pretty annoyed, and retired back in the chair. Were me and cars done? The rears were a walk in the park in comparison. How could these grub screws be so bad! Heat Cycling and rust buildup were the answer.

However, with some renewed vigour, a Ukranian fellow BMW friend took pity on me and so he gave the car his magic touch. By gently 'pulsing' the spanner and breaking yet another Torx bit on the M3, another bit finally did go in, and eventually it came out. With me giving the similar treatment on the other side, it finally looked like I was back in business!







The eagle eyed of you may have spotted a BMW box on the floor in that pic. Surely, I was using refurbished parts bar the pads! Well, that is exactly what I was expecting you folks to think. In all honesty, it's what I was thinking too! However, the front CSL discs I received were near half worn. Sure, I probably would have been OK normally, but with stickier pads going in, I didn't want to take any chances. This may seem hasty, but the non-CSL factory discs in the above shot had only ever seen one set of pads over the 40,000 miles they covered up front. Yup, the genuine pad went from seeing them from full thickness to no thickness. This doesn't bode well for putting in stickier pads eh? Obviously, with this to think about, going new up front was going to be the right call.

So, after much searching, it seems the CSL discs were not going to be any cheaper than £300 for the pair, and at that price, I'd be waiting weeks for them to arrive. Euro Car Parts? Try £420! European sourced discs were not any better than the ECP price. It's funny, they used to be the cheapest over 4 years ago, but times do change. When Rybrook BMW did them for over £300, it was obvious that they would have the deal! The stealers are terrible people were saying?

With the remains of the old discs and pads (in a CSL configuration) being sold for over £100, it did soften the blow. After all, while the discs may not have been any good for me, they were probably fine for most.






345mm CSL discs don't look much bigger than the 325mm discs, but hopefully, it will make all of the difference.



But why go old when you can go new. Yup, it's still a 345mm vs 325mm shot?







It was then a matter of fitting the HEL lines with the refurbished calipers, complete with brass slider bushes. The HEL lines are great for fitting in comparison to the Goodridge lines, thanks to the spinning unions on the hard line end. This makes it a doddle to fit them and allows for the flexi line to be fitted without being bound etc. far more easily! With stainless ends as well, it's just that bit handier!

After a quick bleed, it was time to hit the road with the new brakes.

On first impressions, they were not too bad! They weren't even bedded in! As I came to approach a junction, I had a dozy Land Cruiser owner pull out without looking! As I went for the brakes I was stunned at how sharp it braked! It hurled me to a stop!

It was then time to find a private road and bed them in properly as per Pagid's guidelines for the RST3 and RSL29 pads. Yup it was time consuming!

The second step of that where you put on full braking power from quite a speed showed a few things!
-The DSC system was beginning to get overwhelmed as the pads were bedding in
-Once it went past that, the car was semi-struggling for grip from the tyre! It really was hurling itself to a stop!
-The brakes absolutely stank!
-The pedal was beginning to now go slightly soft, but not sink. I was still on factory DOT 4, as I was planning on flushing the brake fluid out again for the Motul RBF660.

As it was getting late, I ended up parking the car at home for the night!

The next time I drove the car, I would be in for a surprise!

Cheers!

Speak of this quietly. I did actually use a rattle gun after I saw a ratchet wouldn't get it out! I know I know, but I figured it would be a similar shock to an impact screwdriver, which annoyingly I had at home, and not the unit. I need to get that to the unit one day .

I went at Speed 1, which undoes wheel bolts at a normal tightness, building up to full power. The bolt didn't want to know at all. At Speed 2, which will generally undo almost all wheel bolts and brake caliper bolts, it snapped the bit as I began to build it up.

So, the brakes. I gave you folks a brief intro. Sure, the bite was fantastic but it's now time to talk about the downsides.

-Squealing! The Pagid RSL29s at the rear didn't initially squeal. Remember that I fitted them first . They did begin to squeal a little more. The RST1s? They followed the same pattern. I think they may squeal more to be honest! On the track? They are silent as church mice! They tend to stay that way for around 100 miles after the trackday!
-Rattling. I initially thought a balljoint had gone However, you can hear the caliper slightly chattering around the brass bushes, with a tiny amount of play present. Can I live with this, or will I go back to rubber bushings?
-Brake pedal. It's lovely, but you tend to forget how much braking power you have from the get-go. If you come from another car, it can be quite a shock!

So yes, a few annoying things but they do however do the job.

It was then time to do the trackday! This however, did bring up an issue for a few owners including me. Anxiety.

Wimpish to say I know! Many of us were expecting rain. So I didn't bother going to get my track wheels. You can expect my surprise when I saw the the ambient temperature was 35 degrees Celcius! Not good for the SMG pump. More importantly, not good for the car's cooling system!

Upon going up, all was well. I was enjoying the drive up. Sure, the car was on fumes as the car had been stationary during lockdown! But it was so great to be on the road. The weather was hot but great! The car held the temps well and went like a champ! This is why I still have this car! All of this was well until I went to Donnington's gates.

Normally my temperature gauge used to be just below halfway most of the time and tend go to the middle during the summer. The oil temp? Around 95-100 in traffic. As I was sat in the queue to be admitted to the circuit as a Covid-Free, licence holding driver, the oil temps hit 100. It's OK. I'll turn the engine off for 5 mins. Fire it up and the oil temp climbed to 115 degrees. Yikes! I thought I was bad but I'll come back to that later.






Eventually I'd hit the track. Thankfully I'd booked a garage. So I prompted emptied the contents of my boot to the side of the garage, ready to hit the track. Besides the ever-increasing YouTubers going around filming things all was OK. But at least i had some great sights from the garage wall

















Putting these photos up now, I've seem some limitations of iPhone photos, even a good one at that! But the above captures the moment I think. The time was great, all was great.

That was until I hit the track!

I came to hit the track, and I could hear that gearbox pump slightly slowing down. I expected this ; the motor is 18 years old running that, and a new motor is probably due. No gearbox light however, so all was good. The shifts etc. were fine. Well, that is how I thought it would roll!

Hitting the first few corners of Donny, like the Craner Curves, I could tell the vast cash spent on the brakes over the years was well worth it. Sure, it was not quite AP money like what some folks had spent. However, the brakes did feel special and dependable. You could lean on them and know they could scrub off the speed in a heartbeat. Perfect!

All was well until I saw the temp gauge come off the halfway point. It was going towards the wrong side. Nowhere near the red, and not even near the first dot! But it was close enough for me. Did I mention a secondhand S54 engine is around £4,000 these days? Maybe I'm being a wuss, but during these times, I can't afford to take the gamble. Yes, folk are argue what's the point in owning such a car if you are going to be too careful, but it's also a bit of a waste. With this in mind, I went into the garage, and to quote John from Commando "Why don't you let off some steam?".

Thankfully, it didn't let off any steam! I did however, go and grab a coffee, chat to a friend of mine in a distanced manner. We talked aboutabout how things were during the lockdown and generally broke bread. This to me is part of what trackdays are about.

It seems however he had worse luck than me! You'll have some folks mocking those for saying "Manufactuers know best". It seems my friend had a bit of a lesson in that!

In his 2015 Mini Cooper S, the BMW pads last fine on a trackday previously. The BMW pads seemed to fare OK. They wore down a little fast but they were fine. Seeing as the BMW pads are a little price and the car is his daily driver, he threw in a set of Bendix pads. Not a bad call on the face of it. I've done it, he's done, we've all done it.

Upon the second lap of Donny, his pedal was fine, but his braking power wasn't. He had lost his brakes! Not good at all! Upon both of us hitting the track again and having fun, my car managed to hold the temps together. His did too, bar those Bendix pads. Yup, they faded off a cliff once again!

I'd be lying I said I've not seen this with Bendix pads before. On the Mk3 Mondeos, those pads seem to give up in extreme town driving whilst in a hurry. The current 2.5T of mine is no different with these pads. It's a shame it went that way for my friend, but sometimes, such is the way.

We were not the only ones with issues however. A guy there had an E92 M3 which I was wondering about. How did he stay cool in the queue onto the circuit? The truth? He kind of didn't. In the age of no temp gauges, well, bar the oil temp gauge in M/Sporty BMWs, he didn't really know. In the traffic onto the circuit, he hit 120 degrees with the AC on. On track? It was going towards 130 degC. Ouch! Warnings came up in the car, and so he couldn't really go out to play.

Heat was definitely the issue! However, I had a good 10 laps or so around the circuit, despite cars losing coolant and crashing. 1 hour prior to it closing, I decided to leave. I had my fun, the car had survived and it was time to enjoy other things. The other thing? A pretentious coffee place. I know I know.




Yup, it was Caffeine and Machine. Having the Equivalent of the Ace Cafe on your doorstep isn't a bad thing at times, even if the place is a little snobbier! It's the company which counts!

After talking some rubbish it was time to go home. Some would argue this final photo sums up retro ownership at times .




Do I have track footage? Yes. However, thanks to yours truly recording at 240fps instead of 24fps, the PC is somewhat struggling to process the video! Am I making excuses for me being slow? Absolutely! The videos despite this will arrive once I figure a way to process them .

Until then I'll try and provide further updates. Let's just say things have got busy, but for the right reasons. Fingers are crossed!