Well I never thought I was going to make one of these for my 335i but after way more dedication/time spent than anticipated, here we are. Lately the mods have been getting better and better, so I thought it was the right time to start tracking the progress officially
As a background I started with Hondas, having a couple of S2000s before getting into BMWs. I've had an E46 325Ci, E92 328i, E82 135i, and now this E90 335i. The amount of information learned with each platform has brought me to a point to confidently conquer every aspect of these cars. I do as much work as I can myself, and it has always been that way. It's the most rewarding feeling, and what I love most about all of this!
The car is a 2007 335i. I bought it in July of 2017 with 159K on the odo, and I got a great cash deal. Couldn't pass it up. For most people, yeah that mileage is pretty scary but since I do all of my own work it was really a non-factor. Plus, the previous owners brother was a BMW tech so the car has a great service history. I even have the original window sticker!
Within the first week I bought it:
My 335i next to my 135i right before I sold it:
Within the first couple of weeks of owning the car, I had the MOSFETs fail on me. Luckily I have INPA and a BimmerGeeks cable so I was able to get the code and determine that was the problem. Miraculously I was able to find a guy no more than 20 minutes from my house that repairs the failed MOSFETs in the DME.
Over that weekend, I installed new spark plugs and I also removed the headlights so I could wet sand and polish them.
Around the same time, I started working in my career as an Avionics tech doing installs on GA aircraft.
Not long after that I completed as few small projects such as retrofitting paddle shifters (had to source a sport steering wheel with paddle cutouts, multifunction buttons for paddle shifters, and the shifters themselves). My roof and hood were faded pretty bad, so I knew from the beginning I wanted to at least wrap the roof. I bought Avery gloss black vinyl and sourced a black oem antenna cover for the roof. At the same time I also replaced the front and rear rubber window moldings.
One evening I was browsing E90post when I came across a listing for OEM pre-LCI Euro headlights. I was looking to purchase a pair because I hate the orange reflector on the US versions so I couldn't pass them up! When I installed these headlights I also installed a pair of LUX LED angel eye bulbs.
Shortly after that, one day I was browsing my local BMW Facebook classifieds when someone was selling these 219Ms for a great deal:
Over the last few months a goal of mine was to remove all of the chrome on the car. I am not a fan at all, and was determined to add shadowline trim to my already existing gloss black grilles and rear badges. I spent months browsing local Craigslist ads and forum posts and was able to piece together a complete set of OEM shadowline trim pieces. It was definitely an adventure from sourcing the parts to spending all of the time installing the pieces! I would do it over and over again though, gloss black ftw.
This picture is from a few months ago. After I finished installing my JB4 I was changing some of the setting via my laptop. A lot more performance mods will be on the way soon.
A few weeks ago I picked up an M3 steering wheel and paddle shifters (direct PnP to pre-lci paddle shifters). I am still deciding on what trim I want to purchase for the M3 wheel. I am leaning towards alcantara.
Stay tuned for some nice changes in the very near future