Some German car with an M on it (99 M3 Coupe)

[RawrImAMonster]

The VMRs are what I'm currently running that are dying-star heavy. They are closer in style to the EC-7s than the ARC-8, the ARC-8 is more flat faced, sort of like the BBS 303s.

I guess I was talking about spoke design more than the shape of face. The ARC-8's have the thinly spaced spokes whereas the EC-7's have the wider spacing like the spokes on the evo x bbs's.

The ARC-8 in 18x8.5 form only weighs 18.1 lbs. Not bad at all for the price and considering the stock contours are ~22lbs front and ~23lbs rear.

[SlimKlim]

Ah yeah that's a really good weight for an 18, I think the EC-7s are like a pound or two lighter than the VMRs, which just wasn't enough for me to bother switching them up. I like the style of the ARC-8 but meh, I've seen better.

[D_Eclipse9916]

I dont think I have ever had an m3 for more than a month with a staggered wheel setup, or less than a 245. An 8.5 or 9-inch wheel with a +38 to +42 offset with a 245 street tire will fit just fine with a proper alignment. +12mm to 18mm spacer up front. I have 18mm spacer on my 17x9 +40 Forgeline RS with 255/40/17s on my M3 sedan. No roll.

AKA, max the camber in the rear (-1.6-2.0), and get the toe in the rear to be zero or 1/8 total (1/16 each side) if you want some more stability. Up front take the 96-99 top hats (you arlready have), take the Left side hat and put it on the right side, and right side on the left side. This "hat swap" gives more caster and camber, improving steering feel, camber and caster. Should get between -2.8 and -3.2 on the front. Pair with zero toe up front and you will have even wear. I have done this on EVERY one of my E36s, including my convertible. Some double-wishbone people are shocked at how much camber, until you realize my race car is at -4.3-4.6 degrees up front.

Camber, a NECESSITY for a fun E36.

[Jake]

^^ I plan on doing that top-hat swap this winter now that the car is down for the season. It'll make things moar better.

And I can fit a 245 on an 8.5" wheel easily, though I think my fenders have been gently rolled already.

[Tyler.M]

Looks sweet man, good find.

[RawrImAMonster]

Does anyone else's M3 bog down pretty badly with light throttle when it's first started on a cold morning? Doesn't have a rough idle or anything. It just bogs pretty badly when you take off in first unless you give it a decent amount of throttle until its warmed up.

The evo sort of did this, but no where near as badly.

[D_Eclipse9916]

no

[RawrImAMonster]

Welp, looks like something to look into when I get a chance. Some quick googling suggests a leaky and or in need of cleaning idle control valve.

Not a huge issue, just annoying when trying to take off in my gravel driveway since you have to give it a good bit of throttle.

[Jake]

Mine does it. I think cleaning the MAF has been the key suggestion. It runs fine once it gets past that first 30 seconds or so - thus not on the top of my to-do list lately. I'll get to it this winter.

[SlimKlim]

Mine is very reluctant to accelerate when it's really cold, but it doesn't stumble or bog or anything.

[Jake]

Mine is very reluctant to accelerate when it's really cold, but it doesn't stumble or bog or anything.

The act of idling in the cold will make mine stall itself in fear.

[SlimKlim]

Mine is very reluctant to accelerate when it's really cold, but it doesn't stumble or bog or anything.

The act of idling in the cold will make mine stall itself in fear.

Your car needs to have its MAF and ICV cleaned, a thorough vacuum leak check and a sprinkle of holy water.

[RawrImAMonster]

So there was ice inside of my seat belt preventing it from unrolling this morning. Gonna have to try to find where water is leaking in and getting into the seat belt before it ruins something.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Possibly rear window seals? Mine are bad and water gets in when the snow/ice melts. Ordering new ones.

[RawrImAMonster]

Driver door wouldn't close this morning, which is apparently a common problem. You'd think these things would do better in the cold than they do.

I've got the battery unhooked and the door tied up with the seatbelt so it doesn't fly open during the day. Guess I'm going to have to grease everything up well when the door unfreezes.

I stand by my previous statement. I would never own one of these as my only car. Too much stupid bullshit goes wrong with german cars.

[SlimKlim]

These sound more like old-car-in-the-cold problems than german car problems. What condition are your door, window and door handle seals in? None of mine are in great condition and I never had any issues with the seatbelt freezing up or not being able to get the door closed.

What is preventing the door from closing, is the latch frozen up? Maybe you could borrow a hair dryer from a lady friend if you still can't get it closed later today. :dunno:

[Jake]

Driver door wouldn't close this morning, which is apparently a common problem. You'd think these things would do better in the cold than they do.

I've got the battery unhooked and the door tied up with the seatbelt so it doesn't fly open during the day. Guess I'm going to have to grease everything up well when the door unfreezes.

I stand by my previous statement. I would never own one of these as my only car. Too much stupid bullshit goes wrong with german cars.

Oh come on now, like Joey said, that's an "old car in stupid-cold weather thing." My E30 did it once or twice on extremely cold mornings, and the solution was just to run the engine and have the heat cranked full-blast. Let it sit for 5 minutes like that and boom, door was fine.

[RawrImAMonster]

What is preventing the door from closing, is the latch frozen up? Maybe you could borrow a hair dryer from a lady friend if you still can't get it closed later today. :dunno:

Yeah, seems like part of the latch is frozen up. I didn't get a good chance to look at it since I was trying to get to work.

Driver door wouldn't close this morning, which is apparently a common problem. You'd think these things would do better in the cold than they do.

I've got the battery unhooked and the door tied up with the seatbelt so it doesn't fly open during the day. Guess I'm going to have to grease everything up well when the door unfreezes.

I stand by my previous statement. I would never own one of these as my only car. Too much stupid bullshit goes wrong with german cars.

Oh come on now, like Joey said, that's an "old car in stupid-cold weather thing." My E30 did it once or twice on extremely cold mornings, and the solution was just to run the engine and have the heat cranked full-blast. Let it sit for 5 minutes like that and boom, door was fine.

My old firebird never had a problem with it in the 7 years I owned it and those are some of the shittiest cars made. None of my immediate family's cars have ever had this problem and they are mostly shitty GM products as well.

I realize it is an old car, but the fact that it failed in such a stupid way is kind of my point. It's not like this is an isolated problem, it appears to be fairly common based on some quick googling. These cars just weren't designed to age well, which is why I say I would never own one as my only car.

[D_Eclipse9916]

They really are shitty cars. If you really want I can pick it up with my trailer whenever you need and can dump it for you.

btw, not a common problem. I had never heard of this before, never had it happen before, and never known someone to have this issue. Crappy glovebox? Cooling issues? Common. Again, its so crappy, sell it.

[SlimKlim]

Don't forget the rattly interior, tissue-paper shock mounts, shitty water pumps, weak subframes, spinning ignition cylinders, stock paper speakers, sagging headliner, bad shifter bushings, horrible variable timing systems, crappy blower fan resistors, brake lights that pretend to be out, brake circuits that pretend not to work, thermometers that read 70* too low, self-uninstalling oil pump nuts, exploding cooling fans, exploding idler pulley bearings, failing tensioners, leaky oil filter housings, crappy ignition coils, bad O2 sensors, crappy window regulator clips.

Most of the cars left are approaching 20 years old and have over 150k miles on them. They were far from the highest quality car BMW made and they don't stand up to abuse or negligence over 15-20 years. It is what it is. Either you like the car enough to play the game and dump money into it, or you use it as a beater, or you turn it into a track car and dump crazy amounts of money into it to render it virtually unusable on the street.

And I wouldn't own one as my only car either. It worked in college because I didn't *really* rely on it and I had oodles of time to work on it. If I was a single car parent right now, I'd probably be driving a brand newish something or other just for the simplicity of it.