[iamsammtheman]

Originally Posted by toxik

ah sweet, congrats on new car! do you also have saddle brown interior? i’m really curious how many other cars exist in this exact configuration!

Nope, blk interior

[F30_320D_UK]

I also believe in Liqui Moly oil with some Ceratec! Religiously!

Nice few new mods mate!

[toxik]

haha finally someone that agrees with me! thanks bruv!

[Cytoplasm0671]

Just ordered your red locktite, studs, and lugs

[toxik]

cleaned the alcantara bits and some slight interior detailing. i love being inside this car every day, it’s a very nice place to be:

[toxik]

did some minor DIY work to fix the rear splitters. added some rubber washers as spacers for the fin next to the exhaust, they previously weren’t perfectly level and parallel to diffuser (can see in my old pictures), also added some stainless steel washers to better distribute the weight of the screws holding the splitters to the car. end result looks significantly better and way more OEM. sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference.

[toxik]

A few mod updates to start summer on this build.

M Performance Engine Cover from a m240i:

Decided to change out the engine cover on my car. Few reasons behind it, I saw a good deal on a x3 m40i engine cover on my local FB Marketplace, and really like the style BMW used on those B58 engine covers. There were dry carbon fiber overlays instead of our OEM gloss black plastic bits. I thought it would match my engine bay CF bits perfectly. I didn't want to do a full CF engine cover, think it's a bit overkill honestly.

I did some research and learned that the x3 covers, or any BMW covers for a B58 with CF Bits (G20 m340i also has them), won't fit our car without modifications to the rubber/plastic trims that sit by the windshield cowl in our engine bay.

Here's an example of what I was interested in:




I figured out that the F22 m240i engine covers have the M Performance lettering instead of the ugly "Twin Power Turbo" (no one cares that you have a twin scroll turbo). I then proceeded to use some left over 3M 2080 CF vinyl I had laying around, I found it to be a perfect match to how BMW does it on their own engine covers. Quite happy with end result:






Mounted in engine bay:

[Cytoplasm0671]

Gorgeous

What's up with the Grau thing? Just a fun way to say Gray like mineral gray?

[toxik]

Summer Paint Detail

I've been researching and going back on forth with ceramic coating my car, after looking over each panel, I determined that I'd need at a minimum a week long 2 stage paint correction. Not realistic for me right now and I figure it's best to leave it to just a wax/polymer sealant.

I'm a die-hard fan of AMMO products, so I went with 2 layer-able coats from AMMO.


Products used:




My steps were as follows:

1. Decon wash
2. Clay bar with Speed Shine from Griot's as lube
3. A layer of AMMO's Reflex Foundation Coat
4. A layer of AMMO's Defense Skin Sealant
5. AMMO Frame Pro Trim Coating, a ceramic trim coating on all the M Performance body kit parts that are made of FRP. This made a huge difference in turning them a shiny black color, versus the original matte dark grey. Gonna see how it ages, right now it may be a little too glossy for my liking.

After completing and letting everything cure overnight, I went out to take some beauty shots across from the Manhattan skyline. Here's a ton of pics from my impromptu "photoshoot"

[toxik]

Originally Posted by Cytoplasm0671

Gorgeous

What's up with the Grau thing? Just a fun way to say Gray like mineral gray?

thats our paint color name haha, mineralgrau. if you ever buy paint you'll see it listed as the name (for example, https://www.amazon.com/ERA-Paints-Mi...09GR7TLR2?th=1)

but yeah it means gray in german, my friend had a f30 335i in estorial blue which is called estoril blau, so i'd call him blau and he'd call me grau. just an inside joke i guess.

[oem.plus_440gc]

Looking realllll good! I like the g series M Performance engine cover as well. Was gonna see if one of my friends with a m340 wanted to trade (at least until he turns it back in at the end of the lease), but i didn't know they wouldn't fit the same. I don't wanna have to trim something that he's gonna hand back in...

Keep it up man!

[toxik]

Originally Posted by oem.plus_440gc

Looking realllll good! I like the g series M Performance engine cover as well. Was gonna see if one of my friends with a m340 wanted to trade (at least until he turns it back in at the end of the lease), but i didn't know they wouldn't fit the same. I don't wanna have to trim something that he's gonna hand back in...

Keep it up man!

thanks and yeah, would need same trimming. i bet there's some way to maybe merge the 2 engine covers together with plastic weld, you wouldn't necessarily be able to see the seam if it's on the back side of the engine. but yeah same as you, i didn't want to trim any OEM pieces of my engine bay, this was next best thing!

[wenlubin]

Originally Posted by toxik

Random post-wash photoshoot:

The car looks amazing man, just went from the beginning and followed the progress. Are you still rocking the same spacers? 10mm up front and 15 in the rear?

[toxik]

Originally Posted by wenlubin

The car looks amazing man, just went from the beginning and followed the progress. Are you still rocking the same spacers? 10mm up front and 15 in the rear?

thanks! nope the spacers were for the original 400m wheels that the car came with. with the 513M's you can't run spacers anymore on a F30, they slightly poke out on stock suspension, but with a drop you would essentially be flush. I don't think there's anything wrong with spacers, but I knew whichever wheels I would buy I'd prefer to not run spacers, just 1 less thing to worry about seizing or causing vibrations.

[Cytoplasm0671]

For my 513m rims I added 6mm spacers to the rear to help even them with the poke in the front.

[toxik]

Originally Posted by Cytoplasm0671

For my 513m rims I added 6mm spacers to the rear to help even them with the poke in the front.

yeah i think between you running a staggered setup and also much more camber due to drop, results are gonna be different. my poke right now is very even, i’m only gonna do a mild drop so i bet i’ll still have poke with 0.8 inch drop.

[toxik]

Euro LCI Shadow Line Tail lights:

Took on a very easy DIY project during memorial day weekend, swapped my OEM LCI tails for the Euro Shadow Line version. The difference is subtle and probably not noticeable to anyone other than die-hard F30 enthusiasts, but I saw a M3 CS with these tails, and thought they looked awesome. I’ve had other cars with euro tails or jdm tails, and felt like this one of those standard mods I do to all my cars. One of the more under-rated changes to me are the amber turn signals, versus the USDM reds. For those curious about what these tails are, BMW put them on F80 M3 CS models, they painted all the interior chrome bits black, so the tails have more of a dark cherry look versus pure bright red of our stock tails.

On to the install, very important to tape off your paint, the tails both go in and come out somewhat suddenly and violently, very easy to scratch the surrounding paint if you’re not careful:





Comparing the 2 outer right side pieces side by side, with the OEM on left and the new Shadow Line on the right:



Here’s a demonstration of the yellow amber turn signals:




And some beauty shots of the car assembled:

[Cytoplasm0671]

I definitely see the difference. They're a great addition.

[Samir72]

Shadow Gang approved.😎

[toxik]

Added M-Sport rear door sills to my car. After finding out that BMW stopped putting rear door sills for LCI cars, I went out and bought a used set of rear sills from a pre-LCI car. I think the car looks better with them than without them. Unfortunately, the scuff plates from the used set that I bought had a few scuffs and scratches on them, so I decided to refresh them by buying scuff plate covers. Since my front illuminated door sills say M Performance on them, I decided to get covers that say M Performance as well to match the fronts.

The used set I got:



I opted to not drill my car and use 3M double sided tape to mount them, overdid it a bit but wanted to make sure they wouldn't get kicked out of place either haha.



The new kick plate covers, had some nice weight to them, not just thin metal looking plastic:



pics of them installed:

[rlesko]

Beautiful car man. Do you have an iPhone magnet / charger mounted next to the climate controls?

[toxik]

Originally Posted by rlesko

Beautiful car man. Do you have an iPhone magnet / charger mounted next to the climate controls?

thanks! yeah i have the rennline one, they have a MagSafe charger that i figured is the best option for iphone owners, as Qi chargers seem to overheat phones I noticed.

it’s a bit on the pricier side but good quality none the less:

https://www.rennline.com/exactfit-ma...t-sku-pm01-19/

here’s the actual magsafe charger part that gets added to the mount above:

https://www.rennline.com/wireless-in...rger-sku-pm70/