BMW E46 M3 Thread
Discussion
Mini update
I have nearly owned the car for a year now and it has been absolutely fantastic. Still enjoying it as much now as when I picked it up and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that its not my daily, so each drive feels like more of an occasion. The Continental Sport Contact 5P's (front) & 6's (rear) are by far the best tyres that I have used on the road. Very grippy in the dry, decent enough in the wet and fairly quiet - certainly a decent upgrade from the Sport Contact M3's if anyone is considering doing the same.
Went away for the weekend earlier in June and covered 500+ miles with ease. Here are a few pics with my dads yellow T-5R from the trip:
Before setting off:
These ones were taken at the Banks brewery in Wolverhampton. Luckily my o/h was driving back to the hotel so I got to have a couple of beers. Best pint that I've ever had actually.
And here we are outside the Black Country museum in Dudley :
I have nearly owned the car for a year now and it has been absolutely fantastic. Still enjoying it as much now as when I picked it up and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that its not my daily, so each drive feels like more of an occasion. The Continental Sport Contact 5P's (front) & 6's (rear) are by far the best tyres that I have used on the road. Very grippy in the dry, decent enough in the wet and fairly quiet - certainly a decent upgrade from the Sport Contact M3's if anyone is considering doing the same.
Went away for the weekend earlier in June and covered 500+ miles with ease. Here are a few pics with my dads yellow T-5R from the trip:
Before setting off:
These ones were taken at the Banks brewery in Wolverhampton. Luckily my o/h was driving back to the hotel so I got to have a couple of beers. Best pint that I've ever had actually.
And here we are outside the Black Country museum in Dudley :
Edited by kerryt5r on Monday 14th August 18:02
TheLordJohn said:
Great thread, lovely motor.
Really like all your cars and your house is nice, too
Thanks for saying so - can't take credit for the house though as it's my parents. I live around a mile away from them so quite handy for parking an old Volvo 850 and swapping an engine over for example Really like all your cars and your house is nice, too
Haven't updated this for ages! I have been enjoying the car almost every weekend for the last year and have only had one or two annoying niggles. Had to replace a parking sensor which was fairly easy to do with the help of my brother - only have the one action shot:
And then the blower stopped working. For a "small job" replacing the hedgehog resistor took a massive amount of time. I hope it never goes wrong again! The retaining screws are almost impossibly hard to get to and had I not seen the various forum guides/YouTube videos then I doubt that I would have attempted it.. Here is a picture of new vs. old:
The car passed its MOT with almost a clean sheet in February 2017 - fuel cap was an advisory as it had started to perish. Got a new one from BMW the next day. In March my wife and I got married - the M3 made an excellent wedding car. Don't have a good action shot yet but here are a couple of after photos from the next morning:
Had an Inspection 1 service carried out in April 2017. Also decided to replace the thermostat, coolant and diff oil/friction modifier in addition to the service items. The diff had been making a vibrating noise when making a tight turn (parking etc) so pleased to report that the new oil and friction modifier has silenced that.
I also attended the very rainy BMW Performance track evening at Brands Hatch on 27th April as a spectator - good to meet some of the like minded M3 cutters and parked up next to this lot:
I have noticed while putting this post together that I don't have any decent photos taken within the last year, so apologies for that! Almost 2 years in and I still like this car as much as when I first got it, so I certainly plan to do some enjoyable miles this summer. I will hopefully get a few good photo opportunities along the way - thanks for reading
And then the blower stopped working. For a "small job" replacing the hedgehog resistor took a massive amount of time. I hope it never goes wrong again! The retaining screws are almost impossibly hard to get to and had I not seen the various forum guides/YouTube videos then I doubt that I would have attempted it.. Here is a picture of new vs. old:
The car passed its MOT with almost a clean sheet in February 2017 - fuel cap was an advisory as it had started to perish. Got a new one from BMW the next day. In March my wife and I got married - the M3 made an excellent wedding car. Don't have a good action shot yet but here are a couple of after photos from the next morning:
Had an Inspection 1 service carried out in April 2017. Also decided to replace the thermostat, coolant and diff oil/friction modifier in addition to the service items. The diff had been making a vibrating noise when making a tight turn (parking etc) so pleased to report that the new oil and friction modifier has silenced that.
I also attended the very rainy BMW Performance track evening at Brands Hatch on 27th April as a spectator - good to meet some of the like minded M3 cutters and parked up next to this lot:
I have noticed while putting this post together that I don't have any decent photos taken within the last year
, so apologies for that! Almost 2 years in and I still like this car as much as when I first got it, so I certainly plan to do some enjoyable miles this summer. I will hopefully get a few good photo opportunities along the way - thanks for readingEdited by kerryt5r on Monday 14th August 18:02
e21Mark said:
Great looking cars. I've decided I need to get myself one within the next year or so.
I was going to attend Brands in my e30. Looking at the weather, I'm glad it wasn't ready in time!
e46 M3's are fantastic cars - really pleased that I bought mine. Would certainly make a nice addition to your already very nice fleet - I follow your project threads on here with great interest. Weather certainly wasn't ideal but good to see some of the hardcore track BMW's making some serious progress regardless! Hopefully there will be a similar meet again soon I was going to attend Brands in my e30. Looking at the weather, I'm glad it wasn't ready in time!
Great thread!
I recently bought one and am loving it so far, only about 1k miles or so into ownership so plenty more fun to be had! Mine currently has a tape deck with the 6 CD changer in the boot so your info re the CD player/ipod connector mod was useful, will be looking to do similar to mine in the near future.
I recently bought one and am loving it so far, only about 1k miles or so into ownership so plenty more fun to be had! Mine currently has a tape deck with the 6 CD changer in the boot so your info re the CD player/ipod connector mod was useful, will be looking to do similar to mine in the near future.
mackay45 said:
Great thread!
I recently bought one and am loving it so far, only about 1k miles or so into ownership so plenty more fun to be had! Mine currently has a tape deck with the 6 CD changer in the boot so your info re the CD player/ipod connector mod was useful, will be looking to do similar to mine in the near future.
Good choice of car I recently bought one and am loving it so far, only about 1k miles or so into ownership so plenty more fun to be had! Mine currently has a tape deck with the 6 CD changer in the boot so your info re the CD player/ipod connector mod was useful, will be looking to do similar to mine in the near future.
and welcome to e46 M3 ownership - glad the information was of use 
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