[doughboy]

After a lull of a few months and passing 40K, it was time to get a bit of work done on the motor, and post a few words up here.

1. Re fit AR decat DPs (after taking set off over a year ago)

2. Get the wastegates adjusted and take some slack out while it was in pieces

3. New discs and pads all round (Mtec drilled and EBC yellow stuff)

4. Service / microfilter with:
Millers racing 300+ brake fluid
Fuchs titan race pro S ester sythetic engine oil (5W-40) I've used this every 6/7K since new
Fuchs titan syntofluid synthetic manual gearbox oil (75W-80) First change
Fuchs titan race synthetic gear oil (for diff) (75W-90) First change since quaife fitted at 8K

Indies Darren Wood BMW did all the work, excellent as usual, watched them do a lot of it and with the restricted time I could be there, they did all the above in 3 1/2 hours (2 guys), including an inspection and filling up the washer bottle!

I'd forgotten how awesome the downpipes are - love 'em! Its just so damn fast now, I was having fun wheelspinning on the wet motorway in fourth at 60mph on the way home! The noise, brilliant.

As my OE discs were worn and suffered from DTV vibration it was time for them to go, I took the plunge and went for those cheap discs from MTEC in ireland, how bad could they be?? Well for £179 delivered for all 4 discs they are amazing value for money.

After 200 miles they seem great, smooth as silk, no wobbles, no heatup DTV wobbles, even pad contact, no noise. I went for drilled and they look great IMO, very subtle, just catches the eye. I also painted the centre hub portion matt black (with stove & bbq paint!!) and they look very nice.

Yellow stuff pads are immeasurably better than Redstuff, great bite from cold, firm pedal, gets firmer and stops even better as they get hot. I have to re-calibrate my brake foot as I keep stopping early at junctions! Have to wait for the next track day to see how they cope there.

Most suprising of all was the new gearbox oil, I hadn't expected any difference at all, it was just a bit of OTT care by myself. The gearbox is 'sealed for life' according to BMW, but it still has a drain and filler plug.

The 355i manual box is fairly 'chunky' in its action and it suits the engine, (its the same box as fitted to the manual V10 M5 and M6 which were only available in the US), and I have the BMW short shift kit to which makes it feel even more meaty.

After driving a few hundred yards, I changed from 3rd to 4th and I thought the shift arm had come off as the shift was so smooth and easy, the way it passed between gears is so light and just rifle-bolt-snickety-snick. The syncromeshes obviously love the stuff as down shifts to 2nd and first, often a bit tricky previously are now just super smooth. - well worth £15 worth of oil!

Pics below of discs being sprayed:

[zltm089]

Nice one!!!...Darren Woods are excellent!!!...

[gangzoom]

Lovely set of upgrades...I love the catted AR pipes on my car, hopefully getting my yellow stuff pads / Eibach anti-roll bars / M3 bushes fitted in the coming week. Wanted to upgrade the discs to DBA items but funds couldn't quite stretch so will make do with the standard items for a few more months. But did find enough funds to stick on some braided lines and Dot 5.1 brake fluid....really need to stop spending money on this car

[gangzoom]

I noticed you changed the oil in the Quaife diff, I was told when mine was fitted there was no need to change the oil? Do you do go on the track a lot ?

[parapaul]

What's the noise like from the drilled discs? I had grooved discs a while back and while they looked great the constant hum very quickly grew annoying

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

I noticed you changed the oil in the Quaife diff, I was told when mine was fitted there was no need to change the oil? Do you do go on the track a lot ?

'no need' means it probably won't blow up if you don't change it, but to maintain anything properly its not possible to leave oil in for years on end. It can only do good to change it. Knowing how it has improved the gearbox feel, i'm sure the diff is happy too.

Officially neither gearbox nor diff ever need any new oil, but i'm old fashioned, and kevin bird reckoned 30k would be a good time to change the diff oil, my quaife has done 32k, so for 7 quid / 1 litre of oil it seemed worth doing in my book.

Originally Posted by parapaul

What's the noise like from the drilled discs? I had grooved discs a while back and while they looked great the constant hum very quickly grew annoying

No noise whatsoever so far. Slotted are usually more noisy anyway AFAIK.

[dxb335d]

Love that review mate, bet the car flies now!! What HP do you rekon she is now? If she spins in 4th @ 60mph, she must light em up big style in 3rd.

Also I am not 100% sure but the gearbox in the M5 with SMG is exactly the same box for the manual cars in the US.

This is 100% the case for E46 M3's regarding the SMG & manual boxes. The only difference being one has a pump and is hydraulicly actuated rather than a manual with a clutch.

[makkan00]

Nice stuff.
Can you kindly write a review on Mtec drilled brakes and yellow stuff?
I thought about having these on my car but I was put off by many reviews. Also few members on this forum strongly advised not to go for these.

[golfmck1980]

I got a full set of Mtec black editions for my previous car (a4) with braided hoses as well, I wasn't impressed with the results at all. I felt the oem setup was far better, gotta say I'm well pleased with the standard setup on my e90 even when my mate took my car for a spin ( he has a 335i e92) even he was impressed with my brakes

[Ant Man]

Nice work Mike. Someone else that uses common sense with oil changes and likes to look after a car.

I also use the same Fuchs gearbox oil, it is BMW approved but exceeds their spec. Previously the first gearchange from cold, changing from 1st to 2nd was not smooth with the OEM Castrol oil. With the Fuchs, it's spot on.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Love that review mate, bet the car flies now!! What HP do you rekon she is now? If she spins in 4th @ 60mph, she must light em up big style in 3rd..

Ta, it does feel scary fast at times, absolute comedy in the wet - straight line acceleration only

Originally Posted by makkan00

Nice stuff.
Can you kindly write a review on Mtec drilled brakes and yellow stuff?
I thought about having these on my car but I was put off by many reviews. Also few members on this forum strongly advised not to go for these.

Yellow stuff are the best pad you can get for the 335i/d fitment of which there are very few options without importing stuff.

I'd rather have ferodo ds2500 or some pagid rs422, but you can't get them for the 335i

One peice cast discs are much of a muchness to be honest, as long as they are machined well that's about it, so the MTEC ones have it on price / looks by miles.

They were shiny but covered in cutting oil/grease and swarf when they arrived, so i washed them with gunk and rinsed them squeaky spotless first, of course they went rusty in 30 seconds then!

Originally Posted by golfmck1980

I got a full set of Mtec black editions for my previous car (a4) with braided hoses as well, I wasn't impressed with the results at all. I felt the oem setup was far better, gotta say I'm well pleased with the standard setup on my e90 even when my mate took my car for a spin ( he has a 335i e92) even he was impressed with my brakes

Discs will make very little or no difference really, its the pads. I've already got braided lines and decent fluid, so I didn't buy the MTEC discs to make the brakes better, they just look good and they are cheap and well made. So far they have no issues with machining runout or the DTV wobbles.

Originally Posted by Ant Man

Nice work Mike. Someone else that uses common sense with oil changes and likes to look after a car.

I also use the same Fuchs gearbox oil, it is BMW approved but exceeds their spec. Previously the first gearchange from cold, changing from 1st to 2nd was not smooth with the OEM Castrol oil. With the Fuchs, it's spot on.

Cheers, i was amazed at the improved gearbox feel with decent new oil. Even more of a pleasure to drive now...