2006 BMW M3

[JPolen01]

It's just rice. A donk was originally meant for a 1971 to 1976 Impala. A box is typically a 1977-1990 Impala or caprice due to their box like shape. Bubble isn't really a thing but seems like it refers to late 90s into 2000s cars with more curved lines.

You're welcome.

[.RJ]

The more you know...

[Goodspeed]

Polen trying to not betray the fact that he actually subscribes to

[JPolen01]

Are those actual TVs in the front of the headrest? :lol:

[*insertusernamehere*]

"southern sweetness"

[Jake]

Mileage: 133,700

I drove in to DC on Saturday evening for a friend's birthday dinner/shenanigans. As I got off Rock Creek Parkway, I was in a line of cars waiting to get through a stop sign on a hill. I stalled the car and figured "huh, maybe I wasn't paying attention." Naturally, it wouldn't restart. I let it sit for ~30 seconds (while many Prii honked at me) and it started back up. I wrote it off as a weird fluke and went about the evening.

Dinner is over, fun has been had, time to go home, right? Nope. The car started fine and I made it a mile or so, then it died as I came to a stop at a red light. Same issue as earlier - cranking hard but would not fire. It finally turned over and I took off. I made it to the entrance of a roundabout (one lane only) at Thomas Circle, where 14th and Vermont Ave meet, and it died for good there.

Thankfully, two guys got out of their cars behind me and helped push me. I coasted through the roundabout and stopped on Vermont Avenue across from a hotel. My insurance has free towing coverage, so I set up a tow with them and waited.



The first tow truck showed up and it was a flatbed. The driver started to pull the car up and realized he was going to rip the front bumper off if he continued. He didn't have wood blocks or anything, so he called for a different truck and left.

Being on 14th St, there were enough people around, so I sat on a bench and chatted with some of 'em until the next truck came. That driver took one look at the car and goes "pfft, the first driver didn't know what he was doing, this isn't even that low, get in the truck." We dollied it back to the shop I use in Alexandria and I finally got home at 1:30 AM.

Said shop (Gary at Martin Motorsports) called just now and confirmed my suspicions that the car needs a fuel pump. The aftermarket warranty should cover it. He also wants to replace the fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter while he's in there, which I'm fine with given they are original to the car.

I'll have the car back tonight. Was frustrating being broken down, but on the plus side, I was in a well-lit area with people to talk to and a nice bench to sit on. Certainly could have been worse.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice, at least that's a straightforward fix! There's definitely a lot more, uh, undesirable areas in DC that you could have broken down in :lol:

[Jake]

The car's been great, fine, etc since the fuel pump fix.

DonstaMonsta posted more photos on Facebook, this time of all of his old rides bro. I know it was a different time, but dude totally bought in to parts of the F&F franchise.

He had a Benz with flames, chrome dubs and... air?



Face down ass up...



Hellastanced!



We all know the E36, but it once had other, awful-er wheels:



...and Altezza clear tails!



Which may have both been installed on a Slamry at one point.



At least his taste is... consistent? I need another drink.

[*insertusernamehere*]

SLAMRY!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

[Jake]

Mileage: 135,150

The Style 220's needed rear tires, and putting 255/35/19 tires on a car is expensive. This was a great time to switch up the wheels, as I've wanted to do for a while. I ended up with a set of replica 18x9" Style 219's - the real 219's are the 18" E92 M3 wheels. These are very similar and I think they look good on the E46. Pristine condition, no rash, etc and I sold the 220's to a guy with an automatic E90 325i for a pretty healthy price, given they were all rashed to shit with peeling center caps.

Nabbed a set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 tires in 265/35/18 to put on the wheels. I know the old V12 Evo tires were kind of shit, but these seem okay so far. They're grippy enough and quiet enough. It's nice having more sidewall - the car rides way better now. Haven't tested their rain performance but I suspect it will be fine.

Last Tuesday marked 10k miles of ownership since I bought the car on October 15. I celebrated Ten Thousand Taco Tuesday in Old Town:



The weather was too perfect - 75* and no humidity - so I headed south on the George Washington Parkway for the sake of just kinda driving. It seemed like a shame to celebrate that milestone with a quick drive for tacos and nothing more. Ended up at Mount Vernon as my turnaround point. Snapped a few photos along the way.











Maintenance/Work It's Needed
I did this with the Denali and had a heart attack. Still, worth listing out what all I've had to do with the E46 in the last 10k.

• Front & rear shocks with new shock mounts
  
• Exchanged Vogtland springs for H&R Sport springs to raise ride height
  
• Front right wheel bearing
  
• Sway bar end links
  
• High-pressure power steering hose
  
• Oil change (with another due... nowish, trying for every 5-6k)
  
• Fuel pump, pressure regulator, filter

So, not all bad given the mileage and not-great life it lead before I took it on. I have a Blackstone oil analysis kit in the mail and will be sending them an oil sample to run when I do the next oil change here shortly. Would be great to know the status of this delicate unicorn engine so I can get ahead of what may lurk underneath.

As for maintenance coming up next:

• Tie rods
  
• Rear trailing arm bushings
  
• Rear lower control arms
  
• Alignment

There are a couple of bullshit parts that are broken, that I should replace (auto leveling headlight "arm" and strut tower brace mount) for the sake of the car being done right. I'll add them to my FCP order when I place it.

Overall I definitely like the car a lot. It looks fantastic, drives well, and does give you that "feel like a million bucks" fizzy feeling on a nice day or night with the top dropped and the S54 making its sewing-machine-taptaptap-angry-chainsaw mashup of noises all around you. The one problem I have with it is that the internet has whipped all of the "E46 M3 issues" into such a massive froth that I have a really hard time just not worrying about the car.

I think doing the Blackstone analysis for rod bearing wear will be good (or catastrophic) for my head. My mechanic told me to not worry about the subframe given it's a final-year convertible, likely wasn't driven super hard, and there are no cracks to be seen with the subframe installed. There is also the fear of VANOS failure, but I could always pull the valve cover off and check the bolts/tabs on the system. A new valve cover gasket is cheap and might as well be done if I'm cranking away on other stuff.

So yeah. I like it, I worry about it, then I start it and drive it with the top down and forget to worry anymore. Definitely want to keep it and continue to make it nicer/cleaner as I can.

[RawrImAMonster]

Only use OE BMW brand valve cover gaskets. There are a bunch of threads on this on the forums, but everything else has a pretty good chance to leak. You also probably don't have to replace the one that's on there if it looks alright. Whatever material they are made out of doesn't require them to be replaced every time you take the valve cover off.

Yeah I'm fairly worried about my rod bearings too. You're really playing with fire much over 100K if you have the originals and I'm nearly at 130k. Pretty sure I'm going to use blackstone on my next oil change, but I didn't record exactly when I changed the oil so I only know roughly when it was changed last. I think they base everything off how many miles are on the oil so it's hard to tell how useful that will be depending on how close I get on guessing the mileage on this oil change.

[ScottyB]

not sure how i missed this, but great writeup. for 135k this things in awesome condition. for a daily this is perfect...high enough miles you don't have to sweat every little rock chip but nice enough you can just sit there and appreciate it.

I like it, I worry about it

i think this literally sums up German car ownership. just gotta drive it and expect to fix things at intervals. not everyone's made to own an old example of these kinds of cars and you're doing great so far, so enjoy it. i wish i would have realized that with my audi...i spent too much time never driving it hard because i thought i'd break it.

[SlimKlim]

I like it, I worry about it

i think this literally sums up German car ownership.

+1 This could be inscribed on my E36's valve cover it's such an accurate summary of my ownership experience.

[*insertusernamehere*]

German car ownership: drive it like a Miata, worry about it like a Corolla, fix it like a pit crew.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Do the valve adjustment when you go for that valve cover gasket since you probably need one anyway. Helps a lot with the sewing machine noise


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[Senor_Taylor]

Rear trailing arm bushings

Absolutely triggered right now.


I'm surprised DJ hasn't started selling his Rod Bearing wares to both of y'all.

[D_Eclipse9916]

I've got enough work on my table right now


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[Jake]

I've got enough work on my table right now

I'll just cheat on you and your services with Deren instead. :wink:

[WRXtranceformed]

Those wheels and that stance are fire!

What an awesome daily / cruiser

[Apoc]

I like it, I worry about it

i think this literally sums up German car ownership.

+1 This could be inscribed on my E36's valve cover it's such an accurate summary of my ownership experience.

This is why I sell mine as soon as the warranties run out. :lol: