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

[RawrImAMonster]

Shock mounts are in car is inspected (before the shock mounts, still passed) and it's back on the road.

Getting warm air to come out of the front vents this morning was harder than I expected.

Next order of business is getting that little plastic gear to fix the seat back not tilting issue.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Shock mounts are in car is inspected (before the shock mounts, still passed) and it's back on the road.

Getting warm air to come out of the front vents this morning was harder than I expected.

Next order of business is getting that little plastic gear to fix the seat back not tilting issue.

Make sure to move the lever on the side of the vents to the "hot" position.

A lot of people don't ever realize that the top vent has a seperate temp control as well and always wonder why A. A/C still blows hot up top but cold down below, or B. Heat blows "chilly" up top, but nice on the floor.

[Jake]

Getting warm air to come out of the front vents this morning was harder than I expected.

Both sides of the climate control unit set to 90°, face-airflow selected, center vent wheely-dealy set to three red dots.

Took me a while, too. My E34 was even more complicated as it had a rear vent on top of the rest of the madness. The thought with the separate temp controls is that you can have warm air on your feet/in the cabin but keep cooler outside air blowing toward your face, to keep you more alert.

[RawrImAMonster]

Shock mounts are in car is inspected (before the shock mounts, still passed) and it's back on the road.

Getting warm air to come out of the front vents this morning was harder than I expected.

Next order of business is getting that little plastic gear to fix the seat back not tilting issue.

Make sure to move the lever on the side of the vents to the "hot" position.

A lot of people don't ever realize that the top vent has a seperate temp control as well and always wonder why A. A/C still blows hot up top but cold down below, or B. Heat blows "chilly" up top, but nice on the floor.

Yeah, I had to google that to figure it out :lol:

[RawrImAMonster]

Had time to fix the seat not reclining issue today. Not a bad job, you just have to pull the seat out and take the seat motors and transmission cover off to replace a plastic gear.

Here are some interior pics. The black vaders are still in pretty good shape.

[*insertusernamehere*]

How do you like that center console setup? With the coin holder thingy behind the cupholder and then the other cupholder under the armrest? Where do you usually stick your ipod? (its slightly different in my car btw)

[RawrImAMonster]

How do you like that center console setup? With the coin holder thingy behind the cupholder and then the other cupholder under the armrest? Where do you usually stick your ipod? (its slightly different in my car btw)

Yeah, the guy told me he put it in backwards when he replaced it. Doesn't really bother me one way or the other. I usually set my phone right on the inside of the e-brake handle. it stays there and keeps the cable out of the way.

[D_Eclipse9916]

The interior looks great! Nice job!

[SlimKlim]

Wow, you don't see a lot of vaders in that condition anymore, they look great!

[Jake]

+1. And the center armrest. Yours appears to have no wear where the driver usually rests their elbow. That's nearly impossible to find these days.

[RawrImAMonster]

Not real sure where to ask this so I'll just put it here. I'm planning on getting a different set of wheels (18x8/18x9) this spring.

For autocross rules, does that put you in a different class if you're still using the same tire width as stock?

[SlimKlim]

From the SCCA Rule Book:

Any type wheel may be used provided it complies with the following: it
is the same width and diameter as standard and as installed (including
wheel spacers if applicable) it does not have an offset more than ±¼”
(±6.35mm) from a standard wheel for the car. The resultant change in
track dimensions is allowed. Tire pressure monitoring sensors may be
removed.
Wheel spacers are permitted, provided the resultant combination complies
with the offset requirements of this section. Wheel studs, lug nuts,
valve stems (including pressure-relief types), and/or bolt length may be
changed.

Assuming you're trying to keep it in stock class. If you're going to put suspension on it it bumps you to STX or STU I think (its been a couple years since I've autox'd mine, the rules may have changed) and you can run up to a 245 square.

Unless you've got mad money to spend on some fancy forged 18s, I think you'd be much better off going with a lighter 17" wheel. I used to run 17x9 MT1-Rs that weighed around 17lbs each, and then when I started dailying the car to work after graduation, I went for some Icy Hot Stunna-status 18x8.5 cast CSL reps that are the approximate weight of a dying star. The difference in every aspect of the car's performance was astounding, slower off the line, slower to corner, heavier to brake, etc.

They do look damn good, and I'm still running them with a 245 cause my car is certainly no race car, so it's just some food for thought. I think the 18" reps are pretty close in weight to some of the stock wheels so the difference might not be that noticeable coming from stock. If you go for 18s, get some Apex EC-7s. They look sort of like a CSL but are cheaper than the real thing, a bit lighter than the knockoffs and have good concavity to them. I have a friend that works there so I might be able to get you better pricing.

[RawrImAMonster]

From the SCCA Rule Book:

Any type wheel may be used provided it complies with the following: it
is the same width and diameter as standard and as installed (including
wheel spacers if applicable) it does not have an offset more than ±¼”
(±6.35mm) from a standard wheel for the car. The resultant change in
track dimensions is allowed. Tire pressure monitoring sensors may be
removed.
Wheel spacers are permitted, provided the resultant combination complies
with the offset requirements of this section. Wheel studs, lug nuts,
valve stems (including pressure-relief types), and/or bolt length may be
changed.

Assuming you're trying to keep it in stock class. If you're going to put suspension on it it bumps you to STX or STU I think (its been a couple years since I've autox'd mine, the rules may have changed) and you can run up to a 245 square.

Unless you've got mad money to spend on some fancy forged 18s, I think you'd be much better off going with a lighter 17" wheel. I used to run 17x9 MT1-Rs that weighed around 17lbs each, and then when I started dailying the car to work after graduation, I went for some Icy Hot Stunna-status 18x8.5 cast CSL reps that are the approximate weight of a dying star. The difference in every aspect of the car's performance was astounding, slower off the line, slower to corner, heavier to brake, etc.

They do look damn good, and I'm still running them with a 245 cause my car is certainly no race car, so it's just some food for thought. I think the 18" reps are pretty close in weight to some of the stock wheels so the difference might not be that noticeable coming from stock. If you go for 18s, get some Apex EC-7s. They look sort of like a CSL but are cheaper than the real thing, a bit lighter than the knockoffs and have good concavity to them. I have a friend that works there so I might be able to get you better pricing.

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Screw it, I'll just run the stockers when I autocross it then. I've got fairly new michellin pilot sport a/s's on it now, so they'll do alright.

I did look at the Apex EC-7's and ARC-8's. The EC-7's are almost exactly the same design as the bbs's I had on my Evo. Not a bad looking wheel, but I'm not convinced I like the design and color choices on a silver E36. They are pretty light since they are flow formed though.

The wheels I'm looking at are purely for aesthetic purposes, but they don't weigh too much more than the stock contours.

Pretty sure I'm going to go with the ESM-004's with a graphite center (BBS LM reps). Usually not a fan of the BBS LM style, but they look good on the e36's.

If I don't end up with those, my second choice are the arc-8's in hyper black.

[SlimKlim]

Oh yeah the LM reps are a solid choice, especially on silver.

EDIT: That color is awesome btw, do you know anything about that car? I wonder if it was an individual car or resprayed at some point.

[RawrImAMonster]

Oh yeah the LM reps are a solid choice, especially on silver.

EDIT: That color is awesome btw, do you know anything about that car? I wonder if it was an individual car or resprayed at some point.

I'm guessing it was just repainted at some point, but I haven't looked into it. Here is the guy's profile who owns it.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/member.php?408566-MMFA">http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/me ... 08566-MMFA</a><!-- m -->

[V1GiLaNtE]

When I had my passat I always like the VMR wheels..





But what the hell do I know.. I drive something slow and lifted right now.. :dunno:

[RawrImAMonster]

Those are basically the same thing as the arc8, but not quite as light. I do like those a lot and hyper black would probably look good on my silver car. It probably is smarter to go with the ARC-8's since they are flow-formed. The original BBS CSL wheels that they are mimicking are actually flow formed as well (even though they were marketed as forged).

My only concern is that neither of those wheels will look that great at stock height. Hard to find pictures of either at stock height.

Here are the arc-8's.

[Jake]

E36's tuck tire in the rear kind of by default. They should look alright. And besides... that stock suspension is probably getting close to worn out by now anyway, riiiiight?!

[RawrImAMonster]

E36's tuck tire in the rear kind of by default. They should look alright. And besides... that stock suspension is probably getting close to worn out by now anyway, riiiiight?!

Yeah, I've noticed the M3 isn't really much higher than the evo was and it was lowered a little.

I think I'm going to stay with stock suspension if/when I replace what's there. The point of this car for me is to be a fun, comfortable daily driver and I'm perfectly happy with how it rides and handles as it is.

[SlimKlim]

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.

And yeah, I had to install a 15mm spring pad to raise the rear of my car enough to not tuck rim and I just have plain ole H&R Sport springs. Even though I'm only running 245s the wheels are either +35 or +38 and its a tight squeeze. The rear rubs on bumps and the front apparently rubs if you're turning into a parking lot with a slanted entrance, as Jake and I discovered picking his car up from the alignment shop last night. I need to aquire an actual fender roller and do a legitimate roll and slight pull this winter before I rip a damn fender off.