2006 BMW M3

[Jake]

Yep, this all works out for me because the previous owner bought this warranty two years ago and it cost me approximately $0 extra. I can replace a wheel bearing in 30 minutes, I'd just prefer not to if the thing Don paid for will do it for free.

FYI, the total estimate here, if I paid Gary for all parts and labor and the warranty covered nothing, is right around $3k. Maybe a bit less. I'm getting parts alone for under $500. This is why it pays to learn to spin a wrench, and why so many people who aren't us bitch about how old BMWs are "so expensive to own."

[Senor_Taylor]

This is why it pays to learn to spin a wrench, and why so many people who aren't us bitch about how old BMWs are "so expensive to own."

Oh, it's this again

[Jake]

Being Facebook friends with your car's previous owner ends up being super revealing.

This is what he bought to replace the E46 that I bought from him:



Lowered on 22x11" rimz, tinted windows all around (this would explain why I had a tinted fucking windshield), "chipped" and 20mm spacers.

And then this is one of his old M3s, that allegedly the new owner modified with the awful wheels and Lambo doors:



I like to think that my purchase of this car means it went somewhere that it'll be saved from more abuse.

[Jake]

And "Prince Al" is the current owner of the LamboM3... gotta love those carbonated engines.



Who wants to go stunt on some hoes with me?!

[ScottyB]

:lol:

dem carbonated engines never ran right with those cataclysmic reverters unless you filled up the tank with high cockstain gas and primed the fool pump

[*insertusernamehere*]

OH MY GOD HAHAHAHAHA

[JPolen01]

Is this real life?

[.RJ]

:lol:

dem carbonated engines never ran right with those cataclysmic reverters unless you filled up the tank with high cockstain gas and primed the fool pump

[Jake]

Mileage: 128,750

After I made it through the midpipe install on the E36, I turned my attention to this car as Gary gave me the big list of "to-do's" that I didn't want to put off for very long. I replaced the front sway bar end links and the high pressure power steering line. The line was leaking where the hose is pressed into a fitting about mid-way down, plus the hose overall looked like it had the meat sweats going on. So, good thing to do.

In draining the old hose, I naturally got ATF everywhere so it's left a few residual dribbles. Otherwise I think the new hose is holding and everything is tight enough. If not, it's super easy access to get another socket on there and tighten another crank or two.

Next up is the front right wheel bearing. The brake rotor retaining screw is stuck in there, and I couldn't find my drill chuck to tighten the drill onto the bit enough... so I tabled it for the time being. Hoping to do it this Friday.

Oh, and I noticed that 2/3rds of the wheel bolts were too long. Almost as if the PO had spacers on the car with a different set of wheels, and reinstalled using the same bolts. I had some spares from the E36 so everything is uniform and correct length now. Not sure if too-long bolts can be a problem (they were only 5mm longer, maybe?) but I like at least knowing they're all proper.

[WRXtranceformed]

Mileage: 128,750

After I made it through the midpipe install on the E36, I turned my attention to this car as Gary gave me the big list of "to-do's" that I didn't want to put off for very long. I replaced the front sway bar end links and the high pressure power steering line. The line was leaking where the hose is pressed into a fitting about mid-way down, plus the hose overall looked like it had the meat sweats going on. So, good thing to do.

In draining the old hose, I naturally got ATF everywhere so it's left a few residual dribbles. Otherwise I think the new hose is holding and everything is tight enough. If not, it's super easy access to get another socket on there and tighten another crank or two.

Next up is the front right wheel bearing. The brake rotor retaining screw is stuck in there, and I couldn't find my drill chuck to tighten the drill onto the bit enough... so I tabled it for the time being. Hoping to do it this Friday.

Oh, and I noticed that 2/3rds of the wheel bolts were too long. Almost as if the PO had spacers on the car with a different set of wheels, and reinstalled using the same bolts. I had some spares from the E36 so everything is uniform and correct length now. Not sure if too-long bolts can be a problem (they were only 5mm longer, maybe?) but I like at least knowing they're all proper.

From my limited knowledge of wheel spacers, that would make sense why you have wheel bearing issues.
#thatstancelyfetho

[D_Eclipse9916]

Mileage: 128,750

After I made it through the midpipe install on the E36, I turned my attention to this car as Gary gave me the big list of "to-do's" that I didn't want to put off for very long. I replaced the front sway bar end links and the high pressure power steering line. The line was leaking where the hose is pressed into a fitting about mid-way down, plus the hose overall looked like it had the meat sweats going on. So, good thing to do.

In draining the old hose, I naturally got ATF everywhere so it's left a few residual dribbles. Otherwise I think the new hose is holding and everything is tight enough. If not, it's super easy access to get another socket on there and tighten another crank or two.

Next up is the front right wheel bearing. The brake rotor retaining screw is stuck in there, and I couldn't find my drill chuck to tighten the drill onto the bit enough... so I tabled it for the time being. Hoping to do it this Friday.

Oh, and I noticed that 2/3rds of the wheel bolts were too long. Almost as if the PO had spacers on the car with a different set of wheels, and reinstalled using the same bolts. I had some spares from the E36 so everything is uniform and correct length now. Not sure if too-long bolts can be a problem (they were only 5mm longer, maybe?) but I like at least knowing they're all proper.

From my limited knowledge of wheel spacers, that would make sense why you have wheel bearing issues.
#thatstancelyfetho

If they were too long you would hear scraping and not be able to bolt the wheel tight as the bolt would go through the hub to hit the the upright up front or ebrake hardware.

Has nothing to do with wheel bearing issues


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WRXtranceformed]

If they were too long you would hear scraping and not be able to bolt the wheel tight as the bolt would go through the hub to hit the the upright up front or ebrake hardware.

Has nothing to do with wheel bearing issues


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was under the impression that running wheel spacers put added stress on wheel bearings and leads to premature failure, I wasn't referring to the bolts themselves

[Jake]

If they were too long you would hear scraping and not be able to bolt the wheel tight as the bolt would go through the hub to hit the the upright up front or ebrake hardware.

Has nothing to do with wheel bearing issues

I was under the impression that running wheel spacers put added stress on wheel bearings and leads to premature failure, I wasn't referring to the bolts themselves

As long as the spacer extends the wheel hub sufficiently to allow the wheel to be supported, you're good. Some 5mm spacers do not, which can be an issue. DJ had problems on his racecar because of this "lack of lip" problem as well - if you recall a few years ago he kept breaking wheel studs and that was why.

Dipshit PO did mention in passing that he once ran a set of E39 wheels on this car, which have a larger center bore and end up being supported entirely by the lug bolts, not the hub, unless you run an adapter (which he didn't do). Maybe that played a part, maybe it's just a 130k-mile bearing that's had enough of being slammed through potholes in DC, I dunno.

The new bearing (as part of a new front hub assembly, the only way you can buy them) was $130 and I can install it in ~30 minutes, so not a huge deal.

[ScottyB]

i think 130k out of a rust-belt performance car wheel bearing that you know had some ill-advised wheels on it is pretty outstanding. if they can take that sort of abuse, you should be good for life with the replacement.

[Jake]

Mileage: 128,850

Was going to do the wheel bearing on Friday, until I looked at the forecast. 24* versus a predicted 62* on Sunday? I'll wait.

Everything froze to itself on Saturday morning:



Sunday's forecast held out and it was glorious to be able to work on my car in a t-shirt with the garage door and side window wide open, in mid-December. The wheel bearing job was super easy - it's not a hard task in the first place, and this bearing had been replaced before, I'm pretty sure. BMW doesn't use red grease during assembly (that I know of).

My theory is that the original started to fail, perhaps due to E39 wheels with the wrong hub bore, the PO had it replaced and they used a cheapo part. I used a FAG bearing (sup bro? looking?) which is a solid brand. Should hold up well. Also replaced the front brake rotors as the rears were drilled/slotted (for that subpar braking performance at car show lyfe) and the fronts were blanks. PO gave me the fronts but hadn't installed them yet. At least they match now.

And hooray, my front right wheel no longer sounds like a Cuisinart stuck on "Pulse."

[Jake]

Drove down to Richmond yesterday to swap springs with Felton. He had H&R Sport springs and I allegedly had Eibach Sportline springs, which are lower and stiffer than the H&R's. Felton wanted lower/stiffer, I wanted taller/softer. Win.

So I get down there and we put my car in the air, and I pull the first rear spring. Thanks, lying PO, they're Vogtland and not Eibach like you said. No matter, Felton still wants 'em so we press on.



This was my first time working with a strut assembly that uses a pinch bolt at the bottom to hold the assembly to the wheel hub. The E36 uses a few bolts to keep it all in place, and as such, if the bolts don't fit, the whole thing just doesn't go back together. With a pinch bolt, the assembly can be 90% of the way there, but misaligned, and you can still snug up the bolt with nothing really secured. D'oh.

Soooo when I backed the car out of his garage at 5:30 PM and had some awful clunks and weird steering feel, we decided limping it over to Delta V was the best option as Zack was there after hours and could get it on the lift in good lighting.

Problem 1: my front right strut was not really secured at all. This resulted in me holding the wheel/hub assembly up while Zack air-gun-brap'd it back into place. Now I know how to get these things lined up, for the next time I remove them. Which leads us to...

Problem 2: I'm missing some hardware and the front springs are not really seated correctly. Somehow, when the PO had the Vogtland springs installed, they didn't re-use one of the metal "spring pockets". So, I only had one to re-install, we couldn't figure out how it all went together, and left it out. These pockets also have bearings in them which stayed attached to my old top hats. Lesson learned - buy all-new shit when you do this kind of job. The pockets are $16 each (with bearings) and would have saved me a lot of time.

So now the car is home and parked until the pockets show up (FCP claims the 28th), at which point I can rip the front suspension out again, install them, and put it back together.

If nothing else, the softer springs combined with four new shocks make the car ride really well. Always some frustration with a new-to-you chassis and unknown work from sketchy owners.

[Jake]

Helped my buddy Kevin swap his E46 M3 suspension yesterday, from OEM stuff to BC Racing coilovers. He let me keep all of the OEM stuff in exchange for the time/hands/space, so I cannibalized his setup for the spring pockets and bearing things I needed and can return the FCP order when it arrives.

Everything is properly installed now and the car drives very, very well. No clunks or pops, soaks up bumps well and even handled DC streets with more grace (and less crashy feelings) on my test drive to Zoo Lights last night.

Ride height is a bit higher than before but still looks good:



And we had an odometer birthday on the way home from DC:

[Senor_Taylor]

Ride height is a bit higher than before but still looks good:

I think that's a good thing. With people in the back seat, that thing was LOW.

[Jake]

Mileage: 129,150

Replaced the thermostat today. The car's temp gauge is less buffered compared to a non-M, so it should move around a little bit during normal driving, but it shouldn't hang out at the 1/4 mark throughout a 30 minute drive. I checked the ECU with my scan tool once it was warmed up, and it was never getting any warmer than about 170* F, which is not considered normal operating temperature.

Easy enough job compared to the E36 - there is an annoying amount of plastic to remove (fan shroud, radiator ducting, air intake ducting) as well as random bits that eventually let you access thermostat housing bolts (Xenon ballast, airbox) but it all came apart and went back together easily. The thermostat housing lifts off from the top, not the front like the E36, which I found odd. It made installation of the new pieces much easier though, as you can just drop stuff in place instead of trying to hold it all together while you smash the housing back in place.

The main drive belt looks new, the AC belt is starting to crack. I'll have to order one but won't make it a priority as that's the only thing the belt runs and my need for AC right now is close to nil.

Yay, maintenance. Glad to have it done before we get super cold weather and I stop wanting to work on anything.

[ScottyB]

new ride height looks right on and glad to hear it rides better as a bonus. if it was me i'd be sweating bullets driving that thing around DC daily on the original PO's setup with it so low. suspension travel...its what cars crave!

struts can be a pain in the dick to deal with due to the constant re-aligning on the hub side every time you change something, but you don't have to deal with all those extra ball joints needing replacement some day which is kind of a nice thing.