[Spensaur]

Hey Ya'll,

I've decided I wanted to allocate a bit of my funds to make my car more pleasing to drive. Here are some pictures of my car as reference (It currently sits on the LM reps):







The performance modifications so far are:
BMW Performance exhaust w/ secondary cat delete
Injen Intake

I want to make it louder, faster, or handle better. What are some reasonable modifications that you guys would recommend without breaking the bank?

[avocet]

i went with mostly suspension mods on my 328i. am absolutely satisfied!

[Tim603]

I went with KW V1 coils and am so happy I spent the extra money, plus if you ever sell the car toss back on the stock suspension and sell the coils, they have pretty good resale value on here.

An AA Tune/3stage intake manifold is a great upgrade for these cars, I have them both and like them

Headers are awesome, I have a pair and they sound amazing

Other than that your car looks pretty money my dude, maybe LCI Tails?

[Spensaur]

Originally Posted by avocet

i went with mostly suspension mods on my 328i. am absolutely satisfied!

What kind of suspension mods did you do and if you don't mind, the cost as well?

Originally Posted by Tim603

I went with KW V1 coils and am so happy I spent the extra money, plus if you ever sell the car toss back on the stock suspension and sell the coils, they have pretty good resale value on here.

An AA Tune/3stage intake manifold is a great upgrade for these cars, I have them both and like them

Headers are awesome, I have a pair and they sound amazing

Other than that your car looks pretty money my dude, maybe LCI Tails?

KW V1 coils are pretty steep aren't they? I'm trying to keep it under $1,000

My car is an n51 so I presume I already have the 3stage intake manifold. Will the AA Tune on top of it make a noticeable difference?

OoooOhhh, headers sound interesting... How much louder did it make your car?

LCI tails, I think I may actually go with this. Now it's time to find somewhere that sells it at a reasonable cost

[Love The Drive]

Originally Posted by Spensaur

What kind of suspension mods did you do and if you don't mind, the cost as well?



KW V1 coils are pretty steep aren't they? I'm trying to keep it under $1,000

My car is an n51 so I presume I already have the 3stage intake manifold. Will the AA Tune on top of it make a noticeable difference?

OoooOhhh, headers sound interesting... How much louder did it make your car?

LCI tails, I think I may actually go with this. Now it's time to find somewhere that sells it at a reasonable cost

To keep it under or around $1,000 for suspension, go with the ST V1 coilovers if the KW V1 is too expensive for you. They are pretty much the same exact thing. Same company, different name.

[mlifxs]

I've done some suspension mods, not an expert.

I decided against coils, thinking the lowering aspect is not real important to me. My car has a lot of miles and I decided to stay conservative on costs, at least for the dampers. Over time, I ended up with BMW perf dampers, Dinan springs and m3 control arm upgrades. I also did a front sway bar and camber plates. In most cases, I was replacing parts with high miles, so I felt somewhat "justified" that I was spending $$ on wear items.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have done Konis with the Dinan springs, along with the sway and m3 control arms. I like the possibility of adjusting the Konis. The camber plates were fun at first but seem like over-kill for a street car, would pass on them.

I was also a little skeptical about future part outs with coils. Our cars are getting older and parts seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper on the forum site....and I would rather not go through the labor one extra time.

On the other hand, If you have lowering as a high priority, coils may make more sense.

[avocet]

My first mod was stuffing in 335 brakes front and rear. Excellent mod and cheap if you are carefull... I found used parts and ended up under 700$ with new aftermarket(read cheap) rotors, oem front pads and trw rear pads.

I stayed with my oem sport coils and used bilstein hd struts/shocks, front m3 arms, front drop hats, front hotchkis sway, rear h&r sway and rear m3 bushings. Combined with some careful alignement considerations, I couldn't be happier.
I spent ALOT of time looking for parts and ended up buying all new stuff(except hotch bar, which was essentially new...) through c-list/ebay/forums and paid under 1500$ for everything. Did my own labour, so that kept costs low.

Athough the thought of an LSD keeps me up at night.

I think if you were to start with, say, bilsteins and go from there you won't be disappointed.

My goal was driveablility with performance. Trackability and looks were at the bottom of my list... I essentially stayed the same ride height(except the .3-.4" drop from the hats) while vastly improving the handling and feel of my car.

Believe it or not, I added a custom fat perforated steering wheel, and it truly improves the driving experience.


I then turned to a few engine mods... modified AA exhaust(to rid of the drone), and an AA tune with 3 stage intake. Loving it. And patiently waiting for news of the ESStuning supercharger...

[PureE92]

Lmao ^^ LSD keeps me up at night. Same here man, I still dont know why BMW couldnt put a fuking LSD into every single car.

[spotteddog]

For you guys who added 3-stage manifold mod: how satisfied were you with performance gains? Is low-end torque increased very much? How much better is highway "passing" performance/acceleration? I'm curious how much quicker a 330 version of n52 is....and is a 3-stage man. worth it.