Discussion
Hi all,
After many years in a boring car, I'm finally looking to get something more interesting and have settled on a BMW 130i. I've found a mechanically excellent car but the bodywork, while not terrible, isn't exactly concours ready either. Anyway, the seller has mentioned there is a tiny rust spot just above one of the wheels, so I just wanted to get some external opinions on whether you guys (and girls!) think this is something to worry about?
My gut says it's such a tiny (seemingly) surface only amount that it probably was caused by a stone chip rather than something more serious. I think this would probably be something I could tackle myself and sort the lacquer peel while I'm at it, but part of me is wondering if maybe there is more rust underneath that I can't see? How much would a body shop (roughly) charge to sort this?
Due to distance I have a car minded friend going to look it over for me, before hopefully collecting next week.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully it's much ado about nothing! Thanks in advance.
After many years in a boring car, I'm finally looking to get something more interesting and have settled on a BMW 130i. I've found a mechanically excellent car but the bodywork, while not terrible, isn't exactly concours ready either. Anyway, the seller has mentioned there is a tiny rust spot just above one of the wheels, so I just wanted to get some external opinions on whether you guys (and girls!) think this is something to worry about?
My gut says it's such a tiny (seemingly) surface only amount that it probably was caused by a stone chip rather than something more serious. I think this would probably be something I could tackle myself and sort the lacquer peel while I'm at it, but part of me is wondering if maybe there is more rust underneath that I can't see? How much would a body shop (roughly) charge to sort this?
Due to distance I have a car minded friend going to look it over for me, before hopefully collecting next week.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully it's much ado about nothing! Thanks in advance.
Angrygopher said:
Curbed alloys would bug me more than the paint chip. Chipstick a fiver, alloy refurb a couple of hundred quid.
A refurb is one of the first task on my to do list! The bodywork is generally not bad for a 15 year old car, but definitely one of the things I want to give some attention to as mechanically it seems good.
I think you're right to focus on the chip and see the wheel as ammunition to barter with. Wheels are easily swapped, body panels less so (obviously some are bolt on but you still have paint to consider). Also agree that it's almost certainly a stone chip and unlikely to spread. I have a couple of similar spots on my 3 series (slightly newer but similar age) and they've never got any worse over the 5 years I've owned it. I think these cars are pretty well protected and resist that kind of damage well.
Richard-D said:
I think you're right to focus on the chip and see the wheel as ammunition to barter with. Wheels are easily swapped, body panels less so (obviously some are bolt on but you still have paint to consider). Also agree that it's almost certainly a stone chip and unlikely to spread. I have a couple of similar spots on my 3 series (slightly newer but similar age) and they've never got any worse over the 5 years I've owned it. I think these cars are pretty well protected and resist that kind of damage well.
Thanks Richard, that's reassuring to hear. I appreciate the car is 15 years old and not crazy expensive so it's not going to be perfect, but at least hopefully it sounds like it won't rust to pieces (EP3 Type R I'm looking at you 
...)Pica-Pica said:
Given the state of the alloys, I would walk away (indicative of someone who does not care much about how they treat their car or their driving. Plenty more fish in the sea.
As they say in the housing market, it lacks ‘kerb appeal’.
As a rule of thumb looking for signs of it not being cared for is paramount in a 2nd hand car. But. The OP says its mechanically cared for. Kerb rash could be indicative of a previous owner and the recent one just didn't care - he/she just wanted a car that would work. After all, the 130i is very much about the pleasure of the engine and driving it and i think the fact it goes under the radar. As they say in the housing market, it lacks ‘kerb appeal’.
OP - where did you find it for sale ?
As for plenty more fish, where a 130i is being talked about - they don't often come up for sale, so finding a good mechanically cared for car is something to snap up if you want one and the price is right.
Get the chip repaired by a professional - won't cost much. Get the wheels refurbed as you state and enjoy the car.
If you are looking to really enjoy it. I would then start a shopping list.
Birds Suspension Package - inc. Quaiffe diff. Expensive but well worth the outlay if you are in for the long haul. If not, springs and shocks would be a good bet - again Birds - using the Bilstein package they have.
Upgrade the discs and pads and if you can get the MWP brake set up second hand. Else they do benefit from a pad upgrade with good standard discs.
If you want to keep it subtle carry out a Golf-Tee mod - which is just blanking off the exhaust port vacuumn pipe so its always fully open - just nicer general sound.
Or again get the MWP exhaust. Just OEM + in terms of noise.
Clutch delay valve bypass - just makes the shift feel nicer at lower speeds.
Also look at upgrading the arms/bushes to the e46 m3 arms. Straight swap. Great handling upgrade. Vastly improves turn in. Its a good cost effective mod anyway as for the age/mileage of the car LCA's are usually worn and need doing.
Ditch the run flats if its on them - recommend Michelins - great amounts of grip available over other tyres i tried on my 130.
They can benefit slightly from a remap but honestly its not really necessary. I fitted a nice aftermarket panel filter and it felt like it rev'd that bit easier. Gave it a bit more air up top.
The community over at babybmw.net is really friendly for the most part. Loads of hints, tips etc. Worth signing up even just to check minor things that might crop up.
Hmmmm....Other than that. Just enjoy it! You've made a good purchase i think, they are understated and fun to drive.
stevekoz said:
As a rule of thumb looking for signs of it not being cared for is paramount in a 2nd hand car. But. The OP says its mechanically cared for. Kerb rash could be indicative of a previous owner and the recent one just didn't care - he/she just wanted a car that would work. After all, the 130i is very much about the pleasure of the engine and driving it and i think the fact it goes under the radar.
OP - where did you find it for sale ?
As for plenty more fish, where a 130i is being talked about - they don't often come up for sale, so finding a good mechanically cared for car is something to snap up if you want one and the price is right.
Get the chip repaired by a professional - won't cost much. Get the wheels refurbed as you state and enjoy the car.
If you are looking to really enjoy it. I would then start a shopping list.
Birds Suspension Package - inc. Quaiffe diff. Expensive but well worth the outlay if you are in for the long haul. If not, springs and shocks would be a good bet - again Birds - using the Bilstein package they have.
Upgrade the discs and pads and if you can get the MWP brake set up second hand. Else they do benefit from a pad upgrade with good standard discs.
If you want to keep it subtle carry out a Golf-Tee mod - which is just blanking off the exhaust port vacuumn pipe so its always fully open - just nicer general sound.
Or again get the MWP exhaust. Just OEM + in terms of noise.
Clutch delay valve bypass - just makes the shift feel nicer at lower speeds.
Also look at upgrading the arms/bushes to the e46 m3 arms. Straight swap. Great handling upgrade. Vastly improves turn in. Its a good cost effective mod anyway as for the age/mileage of the car LCA's are usually worn and need doing.
Ditch the run flats if its on them - recommend Michelins - great amounts of grip available over other tyres i tried on my 130.
They can benefit slightly from a remap but honestly its not really necessary. I fitted a nice aftermarket panel filter and it felt like it rev'd that bit easier. Gave it a bit more air up top.
The community over at babybmw.net is really friendly for the most part. Loads of hints, tips etc. Worth signing up even just to check minor things that might crop up.
Hmmmm....Other than that. Just enjoy it! You've made a good purchase i think, they are understated and fun to drive.
It certainly looks as if it has been fairly well cared for. The car is on decent non-runflat rubber (Dunlop Sport Maxx RT-2s with 7mm of tread all round), It has a good service history (9 services, so generally in line with BMW's suggested 15k/2 year service intervals - I personally will probably service it a bit more often as that interval feels quite long to me. There was a period where it looks to have not been serviced for 3 and a bit years which isn't ideal), a really good MOT history (1 fail for light aim, not many advisories) and quite a lot of receipts to back up work that has been done. I've got the price to under £4k, so compared with other cars up at the same price point it does seem like a decent deal. OP - where did you find it for sale ?
As for plenty more fish, where a 130i is being talked about - they don't often come up for sale, so finding a good mechanically cared for car is something to snap up if you want one and the price is right.
Get the chip repaired by a professional - won't cost much. Get the wheels refurbed as you state and enjoy the car.
If you are looking to really enjoy it. I would then start a shopping list.
Birds Suspension Package - inc. Quaiffe diff. Expensive but well worth the outlay if you are in for the long haul. If not, springs and shocks would be a good bet - again Birds - using the Bilstein package they have.
Upgrade the discs and pads and if you can get the MWP brake set up second hand. Else they do benefit from a pad upgrade with good standard discs.
If you want to keep it subtle carry out a Golf-Tee mod - which is just blanking off the exhaust port vacuumn pipe so its always fully open - just nicer general sound.
Or again get the MWP exhaust. Just OEM + in terms of noise.
Clutch delay valve bypass - just makes the shift feel nicer at lower speeds.
Also look at upgrading the arms/bushes to the e46 m3 arms. Straight swap. Great handling upgrade. Vastly improves turn in. Its a good cost effective mod anyway as for the age/mileage of the car LCA's are usually worn and need doing.
Ditch the run flats if its on them - recommend Michelins - great amounts of grip available over other tyres i tried on my 130.
They can benefit slightly from a remap but honestly its not really necessary. I fitted a nice aftermarket panel filter and it felt like it rev'd that bit easier. Gave it a bit more air up top.
The community over at babybmw.net is really friendly for the most part. Loads of hints, tips etc. Worth signing up even just to check minor things that might crop up.
Hmmmm....Other than that. Just enjoy it! You've made a good purchase i think, they are understated and fun to drive.
The golf tee mod is definitely on the list of things to do, with an M Performance exhaust hopefully in the future. Similarly the CDV valve will probably be straight out! I've heard about the other mods (particularly the Birds diff and the m3 suspension components), so will probably look at those a year or two down the line depending on how I gel with the car!
Thanks for all the advice! Have just joined the babybmw forum, so will probably spend a bit of time reading through some of the threads to see what other changes are out there!
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