[stuart-b]

Hi guys,

New to the forum - some very nice e92's around. Mine is a lowly 2008/2009 E92 320d M Sport, with lots of options for the engine type (except iDrive). I bought it at 3 years old, and 22000 miles.

When I first bought it, it seemed very slow, as the previous owner was an elderly gentleman. I took the car to AmD performance in Essex, and it showed 164 bhp on the rolling road - the lowest ED 177 they have had so far.

The filter was changed to a Pipercross performance filter, as the previous filter was *black*. Quick shocked to see that - the garage I bought it from was very bad to have missed that. The tuning began, with the car ending up around 215 bhp - but still not running quite right, as it would spike to 23.5 PSI, then back down to 21 PSI. Once the culprit was found AmD were confident of 220 bhp and 330ft/lb+ of torque was possible. I started to get total boost drops, where nothing was boost until 3500 rpm, then it would all kick in at once.

I live abroad in Croatia, not in the UK - so I took it to BMW Tomic in Zagreb where the master mechanic quickly diagnosed a failed turbo actuator on the Garrett turbo - which was only a £12 part, not requiring a new turbo.

After it was replaced boost was a constant 22.5PSI (I have the torque app plus an OBDII port reader on a Samsung 7" tablet). The power was much more linear and I am very impressed with what AmD managed to squeeze from my little 2.0 turbo. There have been a lot of surprises for more expensive or performance based cars on the autobahn in Germany where I managed a GPS indicated 145 mph (and yes, still accelerating..!) which is 5% lower than the speedo registers, which showed 155 at the time. However, fearing blowing it up, I backed off - still haven't performed a vmax, but I didn't have the torque app set up with oil and gearbox temp, so I didn't want to push it - after all, it's my daily!

The car has now done 35000 miles and still performing well. Total modifications to date include:-

- AmD tuning
- Pipercross filter
- 19" Z Performance wheels with Vredestein ultrac sessanta tyres
- Halo light upgrade
- Pagid high carbon discs and EBC Yellowstuff pads
- BMW Performance exhaust (installed next week, sat in garage)
- Brodit upgrade from Sweden for dashboard with Samsung 7" tab as satnav/media centre
- New genuine car mats

That's it for now - possibly going to get Koni FSD's next year, and a small lip spoiler, but there are no more performance gains to be had without spending a lot more money, and there's no point on this model. In 2 years when my circumstances change I will swap the car for a 335d/335i (to be decided).

Pictures of the car

Standard


New wheels - not the best pic - some better ones below (not my car however)





Pretty concave


Changing the brakes all round - what a mess, and totally cleaned up


Changing the brakes all round


Changing the brakes all round


She's in charge of cleaning - I missed a spot


Some fun with the camera


Who says the Coupe isn't practical?


More pics to come of the BMW Performance exhaust set up, and the Brodit Samsung kit.

Thanks all,

[AWBimmer]

Your wheels make the car, looks lovely!!

[Amini77]

Love your wheels. SGM

[stuart-b]

Thanks guys - drove a long way to get those. They divide opinion among the CSL style crowd, and I had the chance to get those - but I just wanted something different

[Moutamid]

nice sgm bro
wheels looks sexy

[stuart-b]

Thanks - btw, what does SGM mean?

[tony20009]

OP Wrote:
New to the forum - some very nice e92's around. Mine is a lowly 2008/2009 E92 320d M Sport, with lots of options for the engine type (except iDrive). I bought it at 3 years old, and 22000 miles.

My Reply:
Welcome and enjoy. Your car isn't lowly at all. It just has a different motor than some others do. An E92 is an E92. I would even go so far as to say an E90 is almost an E92.


OP Wrote:
When I first bought it, it seemed very slow, as the previous owner was an elderly gentleman.

My Reply:
So now that it's owned by a younger person, I suppose the car is faster?
(Sorry, I couldn't resist; that was too easy.)

[DC_Oldboy]

Nice! Congrats! Looks clean! Moar pics for the girl cleaning your wheels please.

[stuart-b]

Thanks Tony - it'll be 2 years before my insurer will allow me a 335. Till then, I have to make do. Still enjoying it considerably more than I expected!

The car wasn't really run in, now it has loosened up nicely with a few 16 hour drives across Europe, and plenty of autobahn action. Trying to keep up with various '63 Mercs would loosen anything up

DC Oldboy, she's a ballet dancer, so there are plenty online, but that would be telling

[indianras876_bimmer_livin]

"A lowly e92 d" huh? ur kidding me with that statement right? ur car is amazing. so sexy, aggressive elegance as i like to say

[stuart-b]

indianras876_bimmer_livin - nice one. I'm enjoying this - total luxury compared to my Opel Astra before

[Olagüe]

Welcome to the forum!

[KwlAznKid]

wheels look perfect on your car

[Catalina Wine Mixer]

what kind of diffuser is that?

[stuart-b]

Catalina Wine Mixer - that isn't my diffuser that's a pic of another car on the same wheels which is the same as mine, as my pictures suck, as I haven't had a chance to go out and take any properly yet. I can ask though if you're interested.

Thanks for the comments on the wheels, the love wasn't felt over in another forum - most people in the UK prefer to stick to CSL style or BBS, that's about as far as the imagination stretches, but I wanted something you don't see every day.

[Greg330]

SGM = Sparkling Graphite Metallic.....

Good work going for something different wheel wise as it really makes it stand out!

Some proper pictures needed of the whole car with them on!

[stuart-b]

Greg... got it. SGM !

Yep I like the change. The real praise goes to the guys at Z Performance for designing them - they have some other great wheels too - and some similar to yours I almost bought. Check them out. www.z-performance.com

[kdbryce]

what does 2008/2009 mean

[stuart-b]

Ah it means that it's 2009 bought car but registered 58, as the swap over is March 2009 in the UK, so all cars up to March 1st are 58 plate, before that, they are 08 plate, but some 58 plates are sold in 2009, strange system I know ... not even sure why I posted those details, it was one of the garage questions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...as_territories

[Alen E90]

the style 225M's looked good but your new setup looks really nice as well, thanks for sharing!

[Josh1a1h]

Nice!

[mattt555]

Love it, really like the ADv style wheels.
from a UK guy, I found the usual Uk forums the same, its all oem+ oem+ dont do anything else!