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Thread: E46 325ti Compact Maintenance/Track Prep Tips?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti

    E46 325ti Compact Maintenance/Track Prep Tips?

    Hi All, I've owned my E46 325ti for a few months now and I've decided as my boosted E39 is going to be off the road for a while, I'm going to track the compact for some fun. My first track day is going to be 8th September at a local UK track.

    Any tips on parts to change or upgrade just in general but also to make it a bit better on track? Car's done just over 123,000mls, engine compression seems all good but it does have some smoke on full throttle so hoping this is maybe the CCV?

    I was planning on changing a few bits before the trackday....

    Drilled/Grooved Front Discs
    HEL Braided Brake Lines
    Pinching the style 66 wheels off my e39 which have 235/40/17 Federal RSR's on the front and 255/40/17 Federal RSR's on the rear - will they fit?
    Some coilovers
    General service like oil, plugs, filters etc
    CCV

    I've already replaced a few parts like split intake boot and checked the DISA is ok. Also changed the inner and outer tie rods and the front lower wishbone bushes were upgraded to poly ones by the previous owner by the looks of it.

    The car was sat for about a year before I bought it and I've used it daily since for work up and down the motorway!

    Anything else worth changing based on the mileage or to make it a bit better on track. It doesn't have to be amazing on track, just a bit of fun and I don't want to spend loads as most the money is going into my e39's engine rebuild!

    Any tips or advice would be great.
    Cheers
    Rob

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Søborg, Denmark
    Posts
    189
    My Cars
    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 325ti Compact Maintenance/Track Prep Tips?

    Hey

    Nice to see another Compact getting some track time!!

    I’d just do a full brake job (discs, pads, fluid) with some quality parts and call it a day. Maybe see what you can do about the blue smoke situation (CCV could be the culprit)

    If you’re going to use it as a DD I wouldn’t go into full #becauseracecar on it, just keep it simple and have some good fun at the track.




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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Thanks very much, compared to my E39 it feels very nimble so I'm hoping it's actually going to be really good fun on track.

    How did you find the brakes on track with decent parts, do they last well before overheating?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Søborg, Denmark
    Posts
    189
    My Cars
    2001 E46 325ti Compact
    Hey sorry for the MIA

    My brakes have always been solid. Used EBC Yellowstuff and Bluestuff NDX. Now I’m on Pagid RSL 29 as the EBC’s wore way too fast. The pagids are really good! For discs I’m on the first set of ATE Powerdisc which seem to be holding up well. Stoptech braided lines and Castrol Performance fluid.

    I’ve never had a fade or anything whereas my buddy in his Megan RS has cooked his brakes on the same day and my brothers Lotus Elise needs a rest once and a while ( I make fun of them a lot for that )

    How’d the first track day go?


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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Yeah it went really well thanks, I also just did Pembrey which is another track fairly local to me and got Castle Coombe booked for the 3rd of November! The compact was great on track, had no problems with the brakes all day. I'm running some fairly generic ebay drilled\grooved discs up front with oem spec Ferodo pads. Rear is oem discs and oem spec mintex pads.

    Only two issues I noticed really was when the fuel tank gets down to about a quarter full, I think I'm getting some fuel starvation on hard corners! It's fine when it's above quarter of a tank so this is the only thing I can think!
    The oil issue has been ok although as it starts to drop the top end gets a little tappety if I stay out on track for more than 20 minutes. Keep it topped up between sessions and its ok though.

    I'm considering braided brake lines atm and thinking about what I could do to make it a bit faster!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Søborg, Denmark
    Posts
    189
    My Cars
    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 325ti Compact Maintenance/Track Prep Tips?

    Yeah I get the fuel starvation issue as well. I hear the installing the M3 fuel tank baffle (BMW PN 16112229656) takes care of that so I’ll be trying that out.


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 10-17-2018 at 04:07 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Glad it's not only me then! lol
    Thanks for the info, I may look into that.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Lawrence Kansas
    Posts
    1,236
    My Cars
    2004 325XI/2008 GL320
    Pay CLOSE attention to tire pressures and camber/toe throughout the day. Measuring tire pressure before and right after a session can tell you a lot about how unbalanced your car is. Do yourself a favor and buy a 0-60PSI DIGITAL gauge that shows pressure down to 1-2 tenths of a PSI. It will allow you to be very precise with your settings. Analog gauges are junk.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Thanks very much. I was just talking about this to my friend yesterday who I car shared the last track day with. I noticed after the last one that I had excessive wear on the outside edge of my front left tyre, much more so than any other tyre which I thought was a little strange.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Lawrence Kansas
    Posts
    1,236
    My Cars
    2004 325XI/2008 GL320
    If the tire pressures were the same left to right, I would add a little negative camber (-0.10-0.25degree) to the LF tire to let it bite harder and keep the outside shoulder from folding up under load.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Cardiff, UK
    Posts
    291
    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Thanks very much, I'll check the tyre pressures and see how much they change left to right on the next track day and then try that if they're the same.

    Any advice on what tyre pressures to run on the below tyres?

    Front - 235/40/17 Federal RSR
    Rear - 255/40/17 Federal RSR

    I'm running about 2.5* camber on the front and the rears are max stock. I'm not sure how correct they are as haven't had it measured\aligned yet!

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