[shrimpvende]

Just realised I've had the car a year and never started one of these threads. I bought the car last year after my 1 series timing chain got noisy forcing me to get rid quick.

Going for the 3 litre was an easy choice and one I'm really happy I made. I was only 20 when I bought the car and still at uni so the 325 was a better than the 330 for insurance at the time. I also really struggled to find a manual 330D in the right spec so it was a good compromise.

The first thing that really struck me about the car was how much of an upgrade a 3 series is from a 1 series. Although most interior features are familiar it's quieter inside and overall a nicer place to be. The engine is worlds apart, when I took it for a test drive I couldn't get over how refined and smooth it was compared to my rattly 118D. Now I'm 21 and insurance is under £500 I'm going to have it remapped (only quoted £80 to declare it) and I'm hoping it'll keep me interested. I've been looking at a couple of 335i's and a 335D on here but struggled to justify the extra purchase and fuel costs (about £1.5k/year for the 335i). Decided instead to do a few more things to this one first and then think again in 6 months time or so.

The car when I bought it:









first small mod was to replace the naff orange angel eye halogens with some 32w CREE LED's. The difference is massive, and thoroughly recommended to anyone with the Xenons! A pic next to my mum's Z4 for comparison:







I found I really couldn't stand the naff standard stereo so next up was the Alpine Upgrade. I got it for £200 brand new from another forum so it was a real bargain. fitting it was a bit of a pain, none of the wires under the door sills are labelled so we had to work out which wires were for the speakers and the headunit by measuring their resistance. Lots of trim to pull out and replace but thankfully no rattles afterwards


Here's some pictures of the amp install - boot trim, rear seat bases, rear side trim and seat bolsters had to be removed, along with the doorsills to route the wiring properly with the original loom.











I bought some winter tyres from these classifieds back in September, but didn't put them on until boxing day when we had the snow. They stayed on until the beginning of march as I was missing the look of the MV3's and didn't like their wet performance. The ride comfort was great on them though and made going back to runflats even worse. These wheels and tyres will be for sale on here shortly.



It stayed as it was for about 6 months before I started fiddling with it again. I've never like the brushed aluminium trim and it was quite badly damaged at the rear of the doorcards where the seatbelt hits it. I'd been meaning to wrap it in gloss black so finally got round to it. I also bought some red piping from woolies (seen them mentioned on here) but I think it's a little too big. I'm still deciding whether I like it or not, but the gloss black is a big improvement:




(Centre console not wrapped at the time of these pics - now done)

My exhaust tips were looking a bit of a mess and beyond hand polishing. I didn't really want to throw £70 at a pair of new ones so bought a stainless steel refurbishment kit for £12. It has all the compounds and the buffing wheels needed and an attachment for a drill. (I'll get a picture once it's clean again)

I gave it an oil change last weekend using Petronas Syntium, which is LL04 spec and only £45 for 8 litres. Only jacked the car up at the front, but this didn't seem to be a problem as I warmed it up first and the sump plug is towards the back of the engine. It took the full 7.5 litres to get back to the top of the dipstick afterwards so there can't have been much left. I also poured some oil into the filter well whilst swapping it so there was no chance of it cranking dry (something I saw on youtube). The oil and Mann filter were £55 delivered next day from ECP. As far as further maintenance/servicing goes I'm also going to blank the swirl flaps and change the crank breather. Just waiting for some space to be cleared in the warehouse at work so I can do it a dry/safe environment.

These have just arrived (big thanks to ******** for excellent service and overnight delivery) and I really can't wait to get them on. I've wanted them since buying the car but always had other priorities. I really wanted to get them on this weekend but the tyres are still in NL according to the tracking. I bought Kumho KU39's from Tyreleader for £314. Really hoping they're not old tyres for that price.



Next thing will be gloss black grills. I'm going to prep and paint mine rather than buy more, we tried this with my mates E90 last weekend and they came out perfectly - just took lots of time to sand and prep.

[Calluhan]

Excellent work there mate! Those 313's will look great, looking forward to the pictures!

[Jimmy-M2OG]

Looking good bud 👍 I love those wheels, what size are they?

[shrimpvende]

Cheer guys,

Calluhan - I've been following your 335D thread - really nice looking car! I'm planning to do pretty much the same preventative maintenance to mine as you've done

Jimmy - they're 19s and 9.5j at the rear. Tyres are pretty huge - 265/30/19 at the rear - not much narrower than the 20's on my dads XJ!

[Kali]

Brilliant car and excellent progress with the mods. Once you get your 313's on, you should look into lower springs or coilovers set, that would finish the look and the ride quality. That's what I'm planning with my E90.

[dy63]

in for pics of the 313s fitted.

[shrimpvende]

313's are now on....But I've got a problem. I bought Genuine centre caps for them but can't get them in. Resorted to a rubber mallet which got one in but I mashed another. I'm really afraid of damaging the wheels doing this, so does anyone have any tips for getting them in? Are Vinyl overlays a better bet with the supplied centres?

[dy63]

what size centres 68mm?

[shrimpvende]

yep. The caps fit in the hole perfectly (tried putting them in face side to check) so it's just the clips that won't seem to go over the lips. I destroyed a cap last night trying (thankfully zero damage to wheel) so I'll try again today. I wondered whether putting them in hot water for a bit might make the clips a bit more flexible?

[shrimpvende]

******** 313's are on. First impressions are that they look great from the side, but they sit right out almost flush with the arches. This and the fact that the tyre is stretched (265 on a 9.5J) makes them look a little aftermarket rather than OEM. This is a look that some people will prefer, but for me I would prefer them the standard 9J with non stretched tyres (and the rim protector!). I've also had real trouble fitting the genuine centre caps I bought for them. I think I'm going to have to file the inside of them a little to get the clips to fit properly.

[essex_lad]

Looks good. I think cm wheels do bmw centre caps for these

[Aragorn30d]

Dont like those wheels as much as the original ones, too much "gap". But each to their own etc!

[JM85]

The 313's look great, the car sits nicely on them

good work

[Brian mc21]

Be careful about doing any filing at the wheels. You don't want to be giving moisture a chance to get in under the lacquer.

[Calluhan]

I think the wheels look absolutely cracking mate!

Might be worth giving something like these a try for the caps:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-pcs-x-68...item234e4475b8

In my opinion they look better than BMW originals and are a better fit, but of course it's personal opinion.

[AWBimmer]

Looking lovely that.

[Ess]

Awesome, love the 313s!

[Jim1985]

Very clean and subtle looking car!

[jammy78]

You need to get BMW dome badges & stick them on the blank centre caps.

To me replica 313 just don't look right.... you can spot them a mile away!

Great work tho!

[sohail330]

just ordered the same wheels, think they look really good on your pictures. Did you get your issue with centre caps sorted?

Thinking of ordering the kumho tyres you mentioned from tyreleader too how are you finding them?

[shrimpvende]

Sorry for the late reply - not really tested the tyres properly until the weekend. They're really good, took a while to scrub in properly but good grip and quiet at motorway speeds. Not really tested the wet grip yet but they feel fine so far.

They're better than the runflats for NVH but are still quite hard. I'm running 2.2 bar front and 2.4 rear so may lower this slightly.

Centre caps just needs lots of persuasion. Go for genuine as I ended up buying both and the non genuines were crap and definitely too big. I broke one of the genuine ones trying to get it in the front (fronts much worse than rears for some reason).

The reps aren't bad but I've just seen the genuines come up for £900 in the classifieds. It's cost me almost exactly that for the reps and if I'm honest I'd have rather bought the real thing for the money even if they're a bit kerbed. I think its because the rears are 9.5j but from certain angles they just don't look 'right'. I'm getting used to them now though and I'm still glad I bought them

[shrimpvende]

couple of small updates -

bonnet badge replaced. Old one was looking a bit sorry for itself:



I also swapped my gearknob to the weighted ZHP style. It's not listed as compatible for the E90's, but it fits fine. It's made the changes more positive and feels nicer than my 100k old original. Definitely recommended:



I've also bought new thermostats as coolant temp is down to around 80-81 degrees. Fingers crossed it's only the EGR stat that needs replacing. I bought some fuel additive as it was on offer, not really sure if it'll make any difference but worth a punt for a few quid.