2003 BMW 325ti Sport

[ethomas]

Car is away since Friday morning getting its wheels seen to, when it comes home again I will take a look at the rear suspension. First job will be to replace the rear shocks and shock mounts, this seems to be a very common problem area, and the fix is simple and relatively cheap. I ordered a new pair of Sachs shocks (OEM I believe), some Meyle HD shock mounts, and new boots and bump stops. The Meyle HD RTAB bushes will come at the same time, but I will probably wait until the end of September to install these along with a pair of limiters. This should help a lot tightening up the rear suspension and reducing the clunky noises on low speed bumps, it should also help to tighten up the steering a little. After the new bushes go in I will get everything aligned.

Thanks for all the help and input so far, I will let you know how the new wheels look when they are done!

[helix402]

A couple of tips for the rear dampers. BMW have modified the design of one of the support plates for the rear dampers, there is now a rubber spacer fixed to the plate. This makes the top mount last longer. See pic:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=AM52-...

I think it's no 12 on the picture. No 5 is also prone to rusting away. These are worth fitting too:


http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...

I can check the modified plate part no tommorow if you like.

[s m]

helix402 said:

These are worth fitting too:


http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...

I can check the modified plate part no tommorow if you like.

I'd echo that.... And the front strut plates if you ever do the front suspension - 51717036781

[ethomas]

s m said:

helix402 said:

These are worth fitting too:


http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...

I can check the modified plate part no tommorow if you like.

I'd echo that.... And the front strut plates if you ever do the front suspension - 51717036781

Thanks for the tips! Ordered a pair of those, along with new top and bottom washer stacks for the rear shocks.

I just got a call from Lepson's telling me that the wheels were more broken than I thought. All of them needed some degree of straightening, and three of the wheels needed new metal welding in, including around the entire rim on one! The lovely people there have fixed three of them for free, and are only charging £60 for the giant welding and straightening job on the last wheel

[s m]

ethomas said:

s m said:

helix402 said:

These are worth fitting too:


http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...

I can check the modified plate part no tommorow if you like.

I'd echo that.... And the front strut plates if you ever do the front suspension - 51717036781

Thanks for the tips! Ordered a pair of those, along with new top and bottom washer stacks for the rear shocks.

I just got a call from Lepson's telling me that the wheels were more broken than I thought. All of them needed some degree of straightening, and three of the wheels needed new metal welding in, including around the entire rim on one! The lovely people there have fixed three of them for free, and are only charging £60 for the giant welding and straightening job on the last wheel

Good result.

If you ever get the chance to try a set of 205s on the 16s the launch cars came on though, do it!!

[helix402]

[ethomas]

helix402 said:

Nice one, I found it on RealOEM earlier. Two of those on their way from Cooper Hereford. The complete order was:

33526762325 x 2
33526788999 x 2
33526779398 x 2
07119905374 x 4

I think that this covers all the little metal parts that have probably rusted away. Getting impatient to have my car back now, tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning I think...

[ethomas]

Just picked the car up from Lepsons. Holy crap, they are good . Only took one photo because I wanted to get on the road, but the wheels look like new (this was the worst wheel, and the one that needed the 360 degree weld):



I have been accumulating a few parts to fit, starting tomorrow with the air filter, pollen filter, and handbrake:



Finally, I replaced the broken driver side window switch, so I no longer have to jam my finger in the hole to make it work

[ethomas]

A couple more jobs done. Air and pollen filters are fitted, the outgoing air filter didn't look too bad, which gives hope that the car was not too badly neglected. The outgoing pollen filter was missing, so perhaps not

I also replaced the handbrake lever which was a bit of a ballache. The centre console has to come out first, which is not too bad except that I did it in the underground garage of my apartment block, and it was pretty dark. A decent worklight is needed before too long. The teeth on the outgoing lever were totally shagged, there were perhaps 3 places in its travel where the pawl would securely engage, the rest of it was rounded off and useless. The new lever looks brand new. Kids, press the button when engaging your handbrake!

In preparation for the next job, I removed enough of the boot trim to get to the rear shock mounts. As expected these are totally shagged (I can wiggle the top of the shock with my thumb and forefinger). The good news is that the metal appears to be in good shape; underneath a bunch of road grime that made it through the gap where the mount used to be, there is nothing wrong with the structure that I can see.

[BigTom85]

Blimey those old mounts really are shagged!!

[ethomas]

Some small updates. The new shocks have gone in and cured the bang going over bumps. The job took a couple of hours, I managed it without jacking the car, but I wouldn't recommend it. There is not much room under the car with the MTech suspension and body kit, and getting the new shocks to line up with the uprights was horrible. Apart from that the hardest part of the job is getting all the interior trim back in place

A couple of new things arrived, I now have EU legal number plates in pressed aluminium (for that Deutsche look), and a nice new filler cap to replace the pound shop special that the car came with. She is all ready for a trip to the Netherlands next week, to clear out some leftover belongings from my old apartment there. Once we are back here I will think about doing the front suspension and steering column to cure the slight slop in steering, and I will get the rear trailing arm bushes installed.

[curlie467]

I think that it will be the rack. Does it wander around the road and tramline easily?

[Mr Tidy]

Hi OP - good to see another fan of these!

I bought a 325ti Sport last December and it never fails to put a smile on my face when I drive it, although it is a pre-facelift so does not have the 6 speed gearbox. (Actually collected it 29 November but to avoid the RFL pitfall a mate used his trade plates to bring it home ).

I also have the non-working rear wiper - when I can be bothered I will take the motor off and see if emptying the washer water from the casing fixes it! It also has the wrong hatch struts so the tailgate doesn't open itself on the button, but BMW want about £140 for the correct ones so I will live with that.

My front washers had been filled with tap-water and didn't work due to the filter in the washer bottle being covered in "snot" - quick clean with an old toothbrush and refill with screenwash fixed that.

I also had to have the coolant system refresh in April due to a bowed radiator (at 80,000 miles).

Foolishly let my nephew drive it early this year, so then I had to find him one - managed to find a black facelift SE for him with the rare electric sunroof, so recruited another fan!

Edited to include gratuitous photo!

Edited by Mr Tidy on Friday 14th August 19:10

[BigTom85]

All good stuff mate.

On the look out for a 325ti myself. I've driven a couple and really love them, in a par with my old e36 328i I reckon.

I like that they don't rust like coupes/saloons/tourings too. Anyone know why that is?

[PaulGT3]

I've got one like the above in Imola red. Might be tempted to sell it as I think I'm after something a bit quicker!

[ethomas]

curlie467 said:

I think that it will be the rack. Does it wander around the road and tramline easily?

I need to have a good look at what the steering system is doing while my girlfriend sits in the car and wiggles the wheel. The most common problem seems to be the rubber joint below the UJ in the steering column, in RHD cars this is on the hot side of the engine and often seems to get loose around 100k. Very few people reporting problems with the rack itself, and the car doesn't seem to wander much (never driven a car with 18x225 front tyres, so hard to know what is normal).

[ethomas]

Mr Tidy said:

Hi OP - good to see another fan of these!

I am surprised that there is not more of a cult following for them, I guess the looks are a bit Marmite, and the M3 tends to hog the limelight. Even so, NA straight six, RWD, 192 bhp, in a practical hatchback ticks pretty much all the PH boxes.

For replacement boot struts, have you tried a breakers? Give Quarry Motors a bell and I am sure they will sort you out for beer money (admittedly I live in the south, beer here is expensive).

One quick question, how tinted are the windows in your car? I suspect mine have an aftermarket tint on - driving home tonight I had the window down so I could get a decent view out of the window, there isn't any noticeable film on the inside, perhaps I need to look again once the light is better.

Cheers,
Edward

[Mr Tidy]

ethomas said:

I am surprised that there is not more of a cult following for them, I guess the looks are a bit Marmite, and the M3 tends to hog the limelight. Even so, NA straight six, RWD, 192 bhp, in a practical hatchback ticks pretty much all the PH boxes.

For replacement boot struts, have you tried a breakers? Give Quarry Motors a bell and I am sure they will sort you out for beer money (admittedly I live in the south, beer here is expensive).

One quick question, how tinted are the windows in your car? I suspect mine have an aftermarket tint on - driving home tonight I had the window down so I could get a decent view out of the window, there isn't any noticeable film on the inside, perhaps I need to look again once the light is better.

Cheers,
Edward

Mine has tint, but not much (unlike a predecessor 123d with "privacy glass" - how many celebs travel in the back of a 1 Series FFS?? Pointless springs to mind...

I'm more South than you in Berkshire where beer is even more expensive, but not sure how much life would be left in parts from a breaker? Found SGS Engineering "oop North" but don't want to order parts that may be no better than what I have?!

But I have to say 325tis seem like a bargain, particularly compared with E46 325/330 Coupes - and Compacts don't seem to get frilly arches, although I don't know why.

But FFS why oh why when E46 saloon, coupe, convertible and even estate were available in 330i form wasn't the Compact??

Only possible replacement would be a 130i - would it be hard to fit a 3 litre N52 in a Compact?

[Mr Tidy]

PaulGT3 said:

I've got one like the above in Imola red. Might be tempted to sell it as I think I'm after something a bit quicker!

Ooh, if yours is a facelift with the 6-speed gearbox please PM me if you are tempted enough to sell - that is the one thing mine is missing! (Other than a 330i engine!!)

[stepmeek]

PaulGT3 said:

I've got one like the above in Imola red. Might be tempted to sell it as I think I'm after something a bit quicker!

Whats the info on yours? I'm thinking of one of these, send me a PM if you don't mind