Porsche enthusiast buys 99 M3 coupe

[Type911]

I have owned several 911's over the last 20 years, from early cars to a
997 GT3. Never considered a BMW, even though I have always liked and respected the marque. I have a Rgruppe friend that had a mint condition, 40,000 1999 E36 coupe she has owned since new. All records, Dinan stage 4 upgrades when new, meticulous maintenance and care for the last 16 years.
Turns out she is buying a new M4, so right place, right time and I now own a very cool M3 !

Car is Titanium silver with black leather interior. 2-18-99 production with the usual options, and the ugly DS2 rims. Now I have to say silver is my least favorite color, but this car was too nice to pass up. I just had to change a few things up to personalize it, at the same time maintain as much originality as possible.
With the help of Bullet Performance in Costa Mesa, CA the car got a handful of purposeful and tasty mods!
H&R sport springs, Bilstein sport struts/shocks, lowered to perfect ride height, Apex Arc 8 17x9 et 42 wheels (square set up) 12 mm spacers up front, Turner motorsport 30/24 sway bars, new RTAB's, JT Design rear shock mounts, X-brace, Rogue short shifter, and a ZHP shift knob

To round out the silver and black wheel color combo, I had the windows tinted
with Suntek CXP dark.

Car was shipped out from southern California to my home in Colorado last week. I'm totally impressed with how this car handles and drives, wow! The 911's have been in the garage since I got this M3. Love these M cars and suspect I will always have at least one M3 in the garage from here on out. This one is a keeper...!

Below are a few photos:

[Type911]

,,,

[TheJordanWhitte]

Nice!

[Azik]

Very nice! I live in Germany and track my M3 and it also has black BBS. But I still own the original Styling 24 and the car looks better with them on it! Although Gold is also cool!

[clhonu05]

Very nice! I recently bought a 98 Estoril Coupe with 50k miles under similar circumstances. A friend of mine was about to trade it in so I gladly took it off his hands. Congrats on the find!

[mboor]

Nice car, and nice find. But "ugly DS2's".... thats where i have to draw the line lol. i love that the 911 is in the garage and the M3 is not.

[found2secure]

The black rims and tint on that silver car just destroyed the taste of the car. You will learn along the way owning a E36 M3 the best way to make it look clean and nice.

[rajicase]

The black rims and tint on that silver car just destroyed the taste of the car. You will learn along the way owning a E36 M3 the best way to make it look clean and nice.

Seriously?

Destroyed? Whats your problem? Why does he have to 'learn along the way' how to make his car look nice. What you are trying to say is; "You'll learn along the way what mods you are/arent allowed to make in order to gain the approval of the bmw snobs on the forums." He knows how to make HIS car look nice because its HIS car. Nobody needs your approval, if you don't like the wheels, fine. Keep it to yourself and let others modify their cars to make themselves happy.

It's these kind of posts that make people not want to post pics of their cars, because the elitists who think anything other than stock/modded to conform with the other elitists is trash and rice.

Nice car OP, looks really good.

[mr ilia]

DSII are not ugly, that's for sure.

[hide1]

DSII are not ugly, that's for sure.

LOL. That's what I was going to say. I liked my dsII's. Squared polished LTWs are why I do not still have them..

[Ex36]

I hear so much about P-cars it's always nice to hear a little comparison. My only experience driving one was an '85 Carrera S. Boy, that thing felt as crude as a UPS truck compared to my M3/4/5. I know it's not a fair comparison, though, because the cars are separated by a number of years, but I still thought I'd come away more impressed with the Porsche. I'd love to try driving a newer one for sure. But there was a reason the M3 was awarded the Best Handling Car of all back in '97. I think the tactile feel of the car is pretty impressive and immensely satisfying.

[CblockM3]

I also like my dsii's! That looks like a very nice car op, I'm sure you'll love it! I had a titanium on black 99 and really miss it, especially that color!

[RRSperry]

Not a fan of the black wheels on a silver car... It just looks wrong on that color...

I've got a friend that used to own Pcars...911's, boxter, boxter S... All of them were money pits, that were always in the shop...He now owns a Z4M roadster and daily drives a MINI JCW. He said NEVER again back to a Pcar. He like driving them, but owning them was financially hard...

[Mklock]

Well ill +1 your car usually agree with not liking silver too but your WHEELS yes actually make it look a lot better for me nice job very clean too and ds2s arnt my taste aswell

[Apex24]

Don't mind the haters, there are lots of them here and most aren't very educated in their opinion. You have an awesome example of an E36 M3, hope you enjoy it in the coming miles!

[rajicase]

Well ill +1 your car usually agree with not liking silver too but your WHEELS yes actually make it look a lot better for me nice job very clean too and ds2s arnt my taste aswell

Totally agree.

[bmuum3]

Man, everyone is hating so much on HIS car. If we should all keep the cars stock mine as well only make one model and one color so we don't offend anyone with our different modding tastes. Car looks good OP. What % tint did you go with?

[M3Dynamic]

I want to add that Apex arc 8 wheels are always the right choice.

[mboor]

i don't see how everyone is hating on this car. 2 people didnt like the tint and wheels.... well 3 if you include myself. Other than that its a really nice ride.

[dnoble37]

Sweet ride man. I love it

[silvermsane]

I like the black rims and dark tint is always good. Now to start uncorking that savage into a more serious machine.

side note: AZIK!!

[Type911]

The black rims and tint on that silver car just destroyed the taste of the car. You will learn along the way owning a E36 M3 the best way to make it look clean and nice.

I wish I had consulted you before I made these changes, would have been so much easier dealing with a resident expert from "Orange Country, CA" seeing how the car has been in the OC all of it's life. What do I do about the Turner Motorsport sway-bars that are a clashing non-factory blue color?
Your statement is akin to putting sauerkraut on a brat. I think it completely destroys the taste of the Brat, French's mustard and Heinz catchup only! Some like sauerkraut, some do not. Other than that who cares?


Did you read the part about Silver being my least favorite color? Too much silver in my opinion is "just wrong"

As far as learning what the "best way", I do remember in 1971 being about 5 years old helping my grandfather change the hoses on his 1968 BMW 1600 and thinking the orange colored marine style hoses weren't factory, but they worked. Total concourse fail! Wish that car was still around.
I've been around German cars all my life, air-cooled VW, BMW's and Porsche's....learn something about them every day, thank you.

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DSII are not ugly, that's for sure.

You are correct sir!

What I meant by ugly, is cleaning DS2 wheels is an ugly job. DS2's are the reason spray-on wheel cleaner was invented.

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Not a fan of the black wheels on a silver car... It just looks wrong on that color...

I've got a friend that used to own Pcars...911's, boxter, boxter S... All of them were money pits, that were always in the shop...He now owns a Z4M roadster and daily drives a MINI JCW. He said NEVER again back to a Pcar. He like driving them, but owning them was financially hard...

RRSperry, it's like any car, your results may vary. Seems as this was the case with your friend.

All my 911's have always been well-sorted and very well maintained. I have addressed the known problem areas and never had a breakdown.
Wait, there was a time when my ignition coil failed on my 1970 911E coupe in Palmdale, CA. Original coil had logged 170,000 miles. A cheap silver Bosch coil made in brazil for $35 took care of it. The correct black NOS German coil I eventually installed was around $75
BTW....it's Boxster

I do love the German ingenuity inherent in BMW's and Porsches!

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Man, everyone is hating so much on HIS car. If we should all keep the cars stock mine as well only make one model and one color so we don't offend anyone with our different modding tastes. Car looks good OP. What % tint did you go with?

Thank you!

I'm not typically a fan of tint on any car but two things came into play. I wanted to break up the full on Silver, and I live at 7000 ft elevation with an average of 300 days of sunshine a year. Point being, the sun is intense up here. The tint helps protect my all original interior

The tint is a Suntek CXP dark. 18 %

[Moron95M3]

welcome!

I'm also a pcar owner...but have yet to drive it ('66 911 sitting in the barn at home)

[breakfast]

welcome!

car looks great. RRSperry, thats one data point. I wouldnt let that stop you from owning one. Pcars are great

[notMpowered]

Nice to hear a porsche owner being impressed with the e36. I just spent all my porsche money and I'm going to have to wait a while to own one so it softens the blow a little bit. The e36 m3 really is a crazy amount of fun for the money spent.