Used to be on a poster in my dorm: 2005 M3

[Beej]

Did some super minor stuff over the weekend (before the autocross) that - to risk jinxing it - bring the car to a place where I'm happier with it than ever.

1) Fixed the goddamn exhaust, once and for all. Tip location isn't perfect but damn good, but most of all, the pipes no longer hit anything. I finally figured out that a heat shield (interestingly enough, bolted to the exhaust and not the car) was actually hitting the inner CV joint if I hit a bump/dip just right. So I poorly slotted/drilled the muffler mounts a bit, and apparently like 5-6mm additional clearance was all it needed. Why can't aftermarket shit just fit?


2) Found "euro" side mirror glass for like half of what BMW charges - I figured why not. It was actually kind of disorienting at first, but cars in the usual blind spot don't leave the mirror until they're visible out of the corner of my eye, so...basically no blind spot (can't wait to make the same assumption when I drive any other car!). They take some getting used to, but I like them. "US" spec in my hand, "euro" in the housing - not a 50/50 comparison, but you can clearly see more in all directions. That line 1.5" or so from the left is where it gets super wide angle.

3) While ordering the mirrors, I decided to toss painted front bumper reflectors in the box. For as little of a change as they are, they actually have a bigger impact than I expected. The usefulness of those things as reflectors is pretty debatable, so they'll stay since they look cool. Took a lame photo of them in my driveway, but since some fine BRR-SCCA folks did such nice work, I'll use these instead pictures instead. Top one shows the piece (~1x4" silver piece on the corner of the bumper), the rest show the ballin':