I have a set of 17" style 79s for sale.... Totally understand if u want 68s as that's why I have them to spare, I pulled em off my car and replaced with 68s, but they are a good easily cleaned wheel... Just throwing that out there, and for anyone else... With new tires for 500$... 2k~ on the toyo tires... If anyone is looking to upgrade their e46s profile...
I made sure to mention they are 17 inch not 16 inch because they do make them in both sizes
Last edited by angeleye540i; 03-24-2016 at 03:32 AM.
Good night in Jersey (before the rain)
Raised her up and pulled my bent upper control arm, driver side.
Was able to pull it without dropping the exhaust, dropping the sway bar or displacing the diff. Not for the faint of heart as that inner bolt took 15 minutes to remove and about 45 minutes to put back in using chemical persuasion (silicone lube) plus I got big honking hands.
Also replaced both rear coil springs with suplex HD springs (my driver broke off at the top perch and littered the road)...didn't realize that they were standard replacements, not for a factory lowered coupe. Had to use a pry bar (CAREFULLY) to put them on the locating posts because of the lift. Doesn't look too bad though, will see how she does over the weekend otherwise I will be contacting FCP about this indiscretion.
Below is a lined up pic of the replacement UCA in front of the bent UCA, gave me some pretty noticeable negative camber.
UCA bent.jpg
Appreciate the offer. After getting her aligned and talking with FCP (obviously they will credit with return) I can get the lesjofors since they are spec'd for the factory lower ride...but tbh I always had an issue with the front being slightly higher than the rear from when I purchased her. Now it kind of looks better?
Vicky profile.jpg
Taking the pic I took a better look at the front struts and it looks like the spring ends aren't seated in the lower seat correctly on both sides... maybe this is what I have been seeing (still won't know until I do the front shocks and seat them the 'right way').
[Edit: took a better look and the top is seated correctly in the perch on both sides, I guessing this is due to the factory lowered springs.]
Either way I won't be making any final decision until after this weekend. Thankfully my alignment shop said they will do a warranty alignment governing the circumstance (and since I've had her aligned by them 3 times in the past year) within 2 weeks If I do swap those springs out; especially since I had not a single issue with the ride height difference thus far.
I don't think I have ever heard anyone say owning and servicing a BMW was easy...next up is the sticky caliper, fuel filter and engine misfire cyl #3 (p0303) though I think the fuel filter and/or pump may be the cause of this (thanks MarcoZandrini), fingers crossed.
[lovin' the 740iL thread, good job man]
Last edited by Doge; 03-26-2016 at 11:34 PM. Reason: update
Finally got around to doing my fuel filter...good god...what a mess. I have never done this before and I got gasoline EVERYWHERE "it's in my raccoon wounds!" I also sliced my finger open while doing this because I had to trim back one of the fuel hoses . Lot 'o black stuff came out of the old filter, lots 'o blood came out mah finger. I suppose this is fitting.
Did a trans fluid service, old oil didn't look 'terrible'. Put redline MTL in.
Replaced front right caliper with a BMW re-man from TurnerMS and bled. Now I need to get those GD duralast rotors off the front along with those ceramic pads and front shocks.
Replaced the RF wheel bearing because of a handling issue. Didn't fix the problem so back to the rack it goes.
Drove it 400 miles. Flawless.
Yeah, the front wheel arches are actually higher than the rear. If you follow the body lines, the car is raked forward, but the wheel wells make it look otherwise. My xi is squatting more than I'd like. I really need to source the HD springs for it, or make some buckets and mount airbags in the rear. Would be handy when towing anyway.
If the bottom is not seated correctly on the strut, its possible your strut mounts are installed incorrectly. That would allow the top to seat without the bottom.
I've had to replace both of my front calipers due to stickiness.
[And thanks!]
_____
I had a bit of an "unintended offroading incident" this past winter thanks to black ice. Fortunately I didn't hurt anything TOO expensive, but now the front left strut (or some other component) has developed this really unsettling popping noise when the weight of the car transfers back to it after cornering. Troubleshooting that is going to be a pain I suspect.
Last edited by daytonatrbo; 03-28-2016 at 04:56 PM.
HD springs are offered by BMW, but the Suplex springs from FCP seem great so far (~$90each)..I'm actually going to keep them on now that I've driven her a bit with them even though I'm not partial to the exposed rear wheel well. Towing was my thought too! HAHA.
I think my front springs, being the sport pkg, doesn't have the winding of the coil end at the same place that the std springs do. I looked and there doesn't "seem" to be any issue I can think of, but I need to replace a blowing shock in my front so I will evaluate better then.
Maybe you're strut mount has punched out a bit? I know the rear shock mounts can make some weird noises when that goes, makes sense the front would be no different.
Last edited by Doge; 03-29-2016 at 11:30 AM.
It almost sounds like I've snapped the sway bar in the middle somewhere, but I doubt that's even possible given the low-severity of the accident. I need to do some poking and prodding with a prybar and see if I can find the source. My front struts and mounts are overdue anyway, so I MIGHT start there.
Last edited by Doge; 03-29-2016 at 12:46 PM. Reason: spelling :P
It almost sounds as if I broke one of the coil springs, and the parts are binding, but I can't see anything obvious like that with a visual inspection.
It could be a blown ball joint, which is a pain since the outer one requires replacing the whole control arm, and there's a revision for the xi model, so I would have to do both sides and new inner balljoints before I could align it properly.
Funny, just had (as you remember) broken coil spring gave me a maddening 'clunk'.
After alignment the tech said I was pulling a bit left, last night it was windy AF and she was chuckin' and jivin' in the lane on the interstate. I think while I was doing my oil pan I noticed that my inner ball joint boot had a hole in it on my pass side. I know when the CAs go they can create a myriad of presentations.
Funny...maybe our cars are soul siblings
Swapped back to the sport setting springs for the rear (Lejofors) from the Suplex HDs that I mistakenly bought. Off to get re-aligned tomorrow morning.
Inspected front control arms due to a steering compensation diving my wheel ~5-10 degrees counterclockwise. Front right inner ball-joint boot seems to have a hole and spilling grease, will have my mechanic double check/front end shake down to verify. Probably end up replacing the front CAs when I do my front shocks soon.
What did you do to your e46 today?
I added the optional 6-Disc CD Changer - at a total cost of $43. Knowing I would never find the trunk liner for it, I just mounted it to the plastic tray, which is quite sturdy. It came with a bracket attached and that bracket had three mounting holes.
6Disc_Trunk.jpg
First post here, not going to claim to be the biggest gear head but have done a fair share of DIYs. But I noticed my car wasn't handling as well I believed it should today around corners and through bumps so I checked my PSI for my tires and compared them to my manuals recommendations and after fixing that it seemed to ride much better.
I officially almost have every light redone on the car just saving for those sweet e92 LED lightbar style tailights. Installed m3 HID Halo projectors in front with crystal smoke corner lights, led strip crystal smoked side markers, led interior, led license plate lights, led reverse lights, and 80000k pink HID fogs for when the girl is driving
12980392_10154116598161170_7915871_n.jpg12968721_10154116596021170_2117522000_n.jpg sneak peek of the new set up before everything is done
When I added LED side markers to my car, they are faintly lit whenever the can bus is awake. Its kinda funny, and I've never bothered adding resistors or anything because I almost like it.
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