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      01-17-2019, 06:42 PM   #1
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5mall5nail5's 2015 F30 328i (RWD) Journal

Hey guys - longtime BMW enthusiast here but short-time F30 owner.

Thought I'd consolidate my progress of customizing my F30 here in order to share with others but also document for myself.

I have owned 3 or 4 E34's. One of my E34s may be considered somewhat well-known on the internet. It's a built-engine car with custom turbo, nitrous, and methanol all powered by a custom and self-installed/tuned standalone ECU.





With that out of the way, I was driving a 1995 525i 5-speed with 252k miles (when traded in on my F30). It had E34 M5 N'ring suspension, 40% LSD, etc. I guess you could say I was/am a bit of an E34 fanatic.

Once we had our son (Austin) it became apparent that a 23 year old car with failing A/C wasn't the best choice for a safe mode of transport for a newborn.

I went to Thompson BMW and looked around and found this 2015 F30 Black Sapphire Metallic 328i (RWD!) for sale. It had the sport automatic transmission and was a Sport Line. Sure, I'd have preferred an M Sport, but it has the adaptive headlights, red stitched leather, sport auto, and low miles/CPO. I built my E34 turbo myself, but I am at a point with a newborn and demanding job where I really wanted a warranty.

This is the car as purchased at the end of October 2018:



I then purchased OEM M Performance black grills I purchased from ECS:









Love it - it handles and drives so nice. The ZF 8HP was originally a turn off... I love 5/6 MT. But, after driving it in Sport+...oh man. If you asked me what my ideal daily was I'd have said a 335i/340i 6MT... but after driving the 328i its PLENTY powerful and the ZF 8HP is just absolutely incredible.

The next modification I needed to have was the color-matched side markers. Though I purchased them very soon after buying the car, I put off installing them for some time because people said it was very tedious/difficult.

Turns out, it wasn't hard at all and I should have done it so much sooner:





After doing the side markers I felt like the "whisker" trim stood out too much. Again, I want an M Sport bumper set, but for now, free is free. I had some flat black vinyl laying around for years from god knows what.

I wrapped the whisker trim - it was not easy. I don't really recommend it. Wish I purchased BSM paint and 2K clear:





After that, the Christmas season was in full effect. We had an awesome first Christmas with our son. I was able to get the car tinted which I had been meaning to do. I used Shades of Grey in Trevose, PA. They are awesome. I got Llumar 30%:





My (awesome!) wife made it possible to pick up these for Christmas:



Need to settle on tires but thinking Michelin Pilot Sport 4S! The HRE FF01's are brand new and are 19x8.5 and 19x10. Very excited!

While I wait to pick up tires (and for the seasons to change), I got impatient and wanted a carbon fiber spoiler. I was originally going for the M Performance carbon fiber spoiler but I didn't like how low profile it was. I wish it was a little more "duck tail" looking. Then, I found a user on this forum who had the Turner Motorsports CF "High Kick" spoiler and that was perfect for me.

I brought the car inside and got the garage up to almost 67 degrees F (22 - 25 outside!) and did an ONR wash for the first time today and LOVED it. I compounded the trunk lid, cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol, and installed the spoiler. I used the Kies Motorsport trick by making a "hinge" out of painters tape. Flawless install. I then waxed the spoiled 3x and the car twice w/ Pinnacle Souveran:











That's how she shits for now! Expecting snow tonight and this weekend, so I will probably end up working from home or driving my truck in considering how clean this baby is!

More to come!
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      01-17-2019, 11:43 PM   #2
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Congrats on a beautiful F30.

The E34 looks great! Boston Green?
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      01-18-2019, 12:07 AM   #3
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Car looks great!
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      01-18-2019, 08:07 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by .BMW. View Post
Congrats on a beautiful F30.

The E34 looks great! Boston Green?
Thanks! The E34 above started out as Island Green metallic. It's a respray but similar.

Quote:
Originally Posted by obert View Post
Car looks great!
Thanks man
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      01-22-2019, 09:59 AM   #5
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Did you install HRE wheels yet? I can already see how your vehicle will look: fantastic.
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      01-22-2019, 11:52 AM   #6
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Did you install HRE wheels yet? I can already see how your vehicle will look: fantastic.
Thanks! Not just yet - I think I've decided on tire size. I am going to go with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Have yet to order though.
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      01-22-2019, 12:36 PM   #7
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Quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfm56d7b View Post
Did you install HRE wheels yet? I can already see how your vehicle will look: fantastic.
Thanks! Not just yet - I think I've decided on tire size. I am going to go with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Have yet to order though.
Almost perfect choice in tires although you will need a mobility kit to deal with a possibility of flat tire.
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      01-22-2019, 01:09 PM   #8
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Almost perfect choice in tires although you will need a mobility kit to deal with a possibility of flat tire.
Fortunately I bought the 5 yr tire/wheel/everything protection from Thompson BMW so I'll just pull over and wait for them to come resolve the issue should one arise. I will prob throw a can of fix-a-flat in the car just for posterity.
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      01-22-2019, 07:57 PM   #9
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Nice
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      02-12-2019, 08:44 PM   #10
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I may have pulled the trigger on some things that make the car stop
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      02-16-2019, 06:03 PM   #11
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Got my new tires in! Now I just need the proper TPMS and an appointment to get them mounted and balanced!

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      02-26-2019, 02:28 PM   #12
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A couple more things came

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      03-06-2019, 11:52 AM   #13
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Fellow BMW fanatic here who just started following along with your Garagejournal thread, so I figured I'd peak at the BMW forums to check out your build threads. Great work with your F30, so far!

Cannot wait to see the HRE's mounted and new brakes installed.
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      03-06-2019, 12:01 PM   #14
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Subbed! Excited to see what you're gonna do with this car man.
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      03-22-2019, 08:32 PM   #15
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Finally got my Michelin Pilot Sport 4S mounted and once my wife got home and could watch our little guy I went out in the garage and ceramic coated them, the M Perf brakes, and de-nibbed the tires.







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      04-17-2019, 03:49 PM   #16
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Man oh man - where to start?

So I alluded to having received the M Performance Big Brake Kit in orange previously. Kevin @ Modb@rg@ins was super awesome to deal with, again, and got the kit out to me promptly. I took a couple days off to install the kit, but my 7 mo old son was unfortunately sick and I ended up babysitting the two days I took off Poor guy.

Then, I decided to press hard on a weekend and knock it out... but that ended very abruptly. Got the car up on my new jackstands (I have 4 now):



Pulled the aero parts off the trailing arms (so I have room to crank a breaker bar/torque wrench down on the caliper mounting bolts):



It was like midnight, but I decided I am doing this. We all know how expensive the M Performance BBK is and I was tired of seeing it over there sitting on my workbench. I went to throw the rotors on semi sleepy and realized whoa they don't fit:



Sh*t! I picked "328i" when buying the M Performance rear rotors because I have a 328i! You can clearly see the parking brake doesn't fit within the drum area of the rotor. Sigh.

When comparing the original rotor off the car to the M Performance rear I was sent you can see the issue:





Turns out if you have a post 7/2014 build F30, regardless of engine, you have the larger parking brake/bearing/hub size. So, if you order the kit and choose 335i for a 9/2014 or 2/2015 build date 328i you are choosing the correct rear rotor. Oh well, lesson learned, put everything back together and Kevin got me a label to return the incorrect rears without issue!





Now that I have the correct rotors in hand, I decided to get busy.

Put the car back up, pulled the rear wheels and got dirty with one last picture of the stock rear brakes (god these looked horrible under my new HREs):





The other cool thing about having a 2015 year model F30 (and prob all post 7/2014 F30s) is that the rear dust shields are already the larger diameter. It looks kind of goofy with the stock 328i rear rotor, but it means that if you swap on M Sport or M Performance rear rotors you don't have to pull the hub or cut the dust shield and replace it.

At the same time as swapping on the brake kit I replaced the OE rubber lines with Stoptech stainless lines:



I don't know if you can see it, but atop the 14mm hex on the stainless line is a washer. No one mentions this anywhere. It comes in the brake kit but it doesn't seem necessary as the stock lines do not have one. HOWEVER, I realized that the spring tension clip (above the fitting) that keeps pre-load on the flare fitting was more loose than I would prefer without the washer. The stock line has a sort of built in spacer/prong that keeps the distance spread. So, with the Stoptech brake kit you should install the washer below the body bracket to keep the ~2.5mm distance between the female Stoptech line and male chassis fitting so that the spring is pulled down harder. I could turn it by hand without the washer.

The rear calipers have a single bleeder so bleeding is not difficult. I use a Motive bleeder and sent about 250-300 ml of fluid through each caliper before calling it good.



Next up is the fronts!



Ew

Here are the fronts stripped down with the stock 328i dust shields:



Stripped off:



BMW includes both new dust shields and new hardware for attaching:



I cleaned the hubs up with brake cleaner and wire wheel before going further.

Here's the difference between the stock 328i front rotor and the M Performance 370mm kit:



Anyone who says "Oh but the M Sport 340mm kit is huge" is kidding themselves

Rotors, caliper, pads installed:



And a little shot while bleeding:



Of course the kit comes with new brake pad wear sensors as well. My car has a sensor in the front left and rear right brake assembly.

Did a little coding for the SPBR/M Performance Kit:



And finally, the moment you (really me) have been waiting for:







LOVE IT.

I did drive the car prior to coding. I can confirm that coding SPBR DOES change the pedal travel. When looking at the FDL codes it add it does change some aspect of brake pressure. Without SPBR, the pedal did travel about 1/2 - 3/4" further than originally and was a little deeper to the carpet than I would have expected having driven the F30 stock. However, compared to something like an E34 or E38 it felt fine but I know it's not proper. After coding SPBR it felt taught just like stock. However, it did take a few "stops" before the pedal was right. Once I got through the neighborhood the system had adjusted itself/something to where the initial clamping forces feel exactly like stock. The pads may have slightly less initial bite when compared to the stock F30 328i compound but I'd expect that from a "performance" oriented setup and prefer it. When I first got this car the stop sign 75' from my house was rough first thing in the AM lol - the grabby brakes could get my infant son to spit up lol.

There is typical dimple/drilled rotor noise when stopping along side a barrier or high curb. Normal. Nothing you can do about this but go to blank rotors. Doesn't bother me. When combined with the HRE/Michelin PS4 setup...this thing STOPS. I love it. The Stoptech lines were a great choice and I filled the system with Motul RBF660. No regrets. I used JUST about 1 liter (2 500ml bottles) of 660. If you follow suit just pay extra attention - I am a generous bleeder when doing flushing. I must have moved the catch bottle to the inside and outside bleed screws on each caliper maybe 4 - 6 times just to be sure. I've always done this on my Wilwood setups too.

After all is said and done I reset the service indicators as appropriate (disregard the wrong AM/PM):





Again, love the feel and love the looks. The orange is killer. Once I lower the car a bit it'll have "the look" I want Still, even at the current height, it's killer. Black and orange was a good call - I almost went yellow.

Let me know your thoughts or questions!
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      04-17-2019, 06:34 PM   #17
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Love the result, thanks for letting me assist in your build!
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      04-19-2019, 06:06 PM   #18
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Love the result, thanks for letting me assist in your build!
Definitely! Appreciate the help!
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      04-21-2019, 02:54 AM   #19
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My wife unfortunately clipped a parked moving truck and smashed her stock mirror on her X1 M Sport. We made it work out such that she got my mirror covers (and new M Sport lower cover, new glass, and a replacement motor since that broke a clip off). Little sketchy because I have heard of a lot of people breaking the mirror glass upon removal. The glass on both cars is $350/ea. So, kind of nervous about that but it worked out well.

I ended up buying the official BMW mirror glass removal "wedges" even though I have trim tools - just one extra step to try and avoid catastrophe:



The covers are awesome quality:



I like the original F30 style and am not a huge fan of putting on M3/M4 rep parts, so this is perfect for me.

The OE M Performance carbon fiber mirror caps are super well made and fitment is obviously perfect. They're not cheap, though. Interesting that they're made in China, but the quality is there. There's no plastic "under cap" - these aren't wrapped in carbon fiber and appear to be dry carbon in their construction. Super nice!





The fitment is just perfect - so glad to not have to deal with eBay stuff.

Our X1 M Sport came out nice too - I compounded and polished my covers and rebuilt her passenger mirror, all good:





Til next time!
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      04-22-2019, 12:31 PM   #20
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Love your wheels dude, such an inspiration to get the FF01s....

What color of the FF01s is that? Kind of a graphite color, no?

Thanks!
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      04-25-2019, 02:11 PM   #21
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Love your wheels dude, such an inspiration to get the FF01s....

What color of the FF01s is that? Kind of a graphite color, no?

Thanks!
Thanks! These are the "Liquid Silver" available vs. the Tarmac. You can do custom colors as well but it adds $500+ to the order.
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      04-25-2019, 02:38 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 5mall5nail5 View Post
My wife unfortunately clipped a parked moving truck and smashed her stock mirror on her X1 M Sport. We made it work out such that she got my mirror covers (and new M Sport lower cover, new glass, and a replacement motor since that broke a clip off). Little sketchy because I have heard of a lot of people breaking the mirror glass upon removal. The glass on both cars is $350/ea. So, kind of nervous about that but it worked out well.

I ended up buying the official BMW mirror glass removal "wedges" even though I have trim tools - just one extra step to try and avoid catastrophe:



The covers are awesome quality:



I like the original F30 style and am not a huge fan of putting on M3/M4 rep parts, so this is perfect for me.

The OE M Performance carbon fiber mirror caps are super well made and fitment is obviously perfect. They're not cheap, though. Interesting that they're made in China, but the quality is there. There's no plastic "under cap" - these aren't wrapped in carbon fiber and appear to be dry carbon in their construction. Super nice!





The fitment is just perfect - so glad to not have to deal with eBay stuff.

Our X1 M Sport came out nice too - I compounded and polished my covers and rebuilt her passenger mirror, all good:





Til next time!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing your build details! I enjoyed reading. Looking forward to the next chapter!
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