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My car's progress

54K views 258 replies 71 participants last post by  E46 Coupe 
#1 ·
So I thought I'd keep a journal of my car's progression. Bought in March 2011, a 2004 E46 M3 Jet Black with about 83,000kms. Stock except for colour matched front kidney grills. I don't know why the previous owner didn't change the side gills too.
 

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#17 ·
Awesome.... very tasteful and effective mods :)
Very nice mods so far Ating! Keep em coming!

Elliot
That rear shot :drool:
Will look crazy once its lowered.
very very nice
Thanks All! Still a work in progress.

Wow loving it!! Congrat's! How much did the CSL Airbox cost you if you don't mind me asking?
I'll PM you.

Love LMs. But I am one of the haters, that stretch on the back looks ridiculous. Did you source the LMs from the US or from Australia?
That's cool. I reckon 80% of ppl hate it, but I wanna try it :) I agree it looks like total ass at the moment. To pull it off it's gotta be flush/poked and low. I plan to tuck around half the rear tyre, so the stretch won't be that obvious. They were sourced from the US. I probably could have gone 285/30 but wanted to run 275/30 as most ppl ran this in the research I did. Also wanted to make sure they clear without running adjustable rear camber arms.
 
#6 ·
I then spent a lot of time looking through various wheels, in the end decided to go with BBS LMs. Yes, a very played out wheel so decided to get them in the less common 19x9.5 ET32 and 19x11 ET25 size.





I wanted to go for the stretched look (love it or hate it, though many hate it lol!). So decided to go with Falken FK452s in 235/35 and 275/30.



 

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#8 ·
Next up was suspension. Once again, I did a lot of research on different types from KW, PSS9, TCK, Ground Control, BC Racing...etc. In the end I decided to go with KW v2s and Vorshlag Camber Plates. Being progressive springs, I know I will need a spacer to clear the front springs. I'll also need to dial in some front camber to fit the wheels - not sure if the madrussian mod would have been enough, so decided to get the camber plates anyway.
 

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#12 ·
To fit the wheels I will need to at least roll my rear fenders. In preparation for this, I needed to get out that rubber/silicone stuff that's within the fender lip. The previous week I tried using just a stanley knife but that didn't work well. So just today my friend and I got to it using a wire wheel on a drill. It worked very well though I wish my drill was a little smaller - would make it easier to maneuver around the tight spaces.



Car with the rear wheels off.



It was pretty messy, but took 30min-1hr to get all the rubber/silicone out. Highly recommended method to anyone who wants to clean out their fender lips.

While the rear wheels were off, I decided to test fit the wheels to see if I could estimate how big a spacer I can use in the rear. As I am using a spacer at the front (probably a 12mm), the fronts will poke more than the rear so I wanted to match the rears by using a spacer.

Wheel on.



Car on the ground.



View from the rear.



There's a huge gap in the rear, especially now that the tyres are stretched. Looks so crap haha! Anyway, will look better once the car is lowered. I want to lower it a fair bit so that about half the tyre is tucked.



View from the top. As it stands, the wheels/tyres do poke. But that should all camber in when it's lowered. I know other M3s running this same setup and they need to roll their rear fenders.



 

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#26 ·
That's cool, yeah I actually how you can see the rim :)

max camber plus a drop should be tucking the rear nicely! cant wait to see the end result.... im guessing that the pics of the rears on are without the coilovers installed?
Yep stock suspension still. Will max rear camber and roll rear fenders. I wanna try fit a 5mm or 12mm spacer in the rear. The test fit was to see how much space I have but it's hard to tell with the car sitting so high.

Coming along nicely!

Where are you jacking the car from?
Thanks. The car was jacked from the subframe brace which is just infront of the diff. Not on the actual diff itself.

awesome mods, LOVE the wheels but not the stretch

Looking forward to seeing the V2's go on :)
Thanks! Yeah the stretch isn't for everyone. I actually like certain wheels with stretch, others non stretched. Like I love TE37s (18") with no stretch, but prefer LMs with some stretch. But yeah if it's stretched it needs to be low else it looks really bad.
 
#27 ·
Small Update: Yay! Finally my Rogue Engineering RSMs have arrived. I bought 4 extra bushings in case I need to rebuild them in the future. This week I also ordered 12mm Macht Schnell spacers for the fronts wheels, should arrive next week. The car has been booked in on 26 May to get the rear fenders rolled. I just want to roll the rears first. If needs be, I might roll the fronts but I heard the fender liner will sag as rolling the fronts will detach the fender and fender liner. Meaning I will need to cut the fender liner - which I'm not too keen on. I have also booked the car on 28 May for Inspection II, suspension install and the wheels to go on.
 

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