My brave pill: E92 BMW 335i with the infamous N54 engine

[Court_S]

KPB1973 said:

Flamesuit on, but I think the Audi 4.2 is a much nicer 'everyday driver' V8 engine than the S65.

No, as an overall package the Audi can't hit some of the same peaks as the M3, but I think that lump has a lot more urge lower down and a bit more in the mid-range. On a slow-medium speed mooch, it is very satisfying (if thirsty) engine.

Btw Sam, if you want a go in my somewhat-sheddy B8 S5, just give me a shout. It has a bag of faults dynamically (laughable bad steering at low speeds), but the V8 engine is a peach.

I like the RS4 - a family member had a B7 saloon back in 2008 which I drove. It left quite an impression on me x that small, grey saloon car made a cracking noise and still had a high red line. Collecting Cars had a really nice Missano Red one for sake recently.

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

That makes sense!

E46s can be getting crusty now, and have potential boot floor cracking issues.

And why have 6 cylinders when you can have 8?

Yeah, I’m not sure I’d want to daily one, drove it in the salt etc. They’re very pretty though.

[Court_S]

mooseracer said:

Will you be looking for a couple again?

I’m easy really, the inky one I won’t entertain is the cab. Ideally I’d like a saloon because I think they’re the coolest but they’re rarer and are now very expensive.

[Court_S]

mooseracer said:

Late manual saloon would be my preference, but yes the coupes are cheaper - I guess because there are more of them around?

I think there were about 630 saloons sold in the UK during the entire production run, so tiny numbers compared to the coupe and cab.

The one thing I do want is a manual; I’m sure that’s why I like stealing my wife’s 330i so much.

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

You definitely need to scratch the E9x M3 itch Sam I reckon.

Even if you don't get on with it for whatever reason, you can at least say that you've had one/experienced one I think.

That’s exactly where I’m at Lee. I’ll either love it or move it on but at least I’m will have done it so no more wondering and wasting hours on auto trader!

Ultimately, if the 335i doesn’t sell I’ll just hang onto it for a while longer. It’s not like I hate it.

[Court_S]

MDifficult said:

I can heartily recommend the B7 RS4 Avant in every way... absolutely loved it. Dynamically I'm not sure it's anywhere near an E92 M3, and there's a hell of a lot less expertise, parts, mods and whatnot available vs the BMW. But, it really was a wonderful car and my family adored it.

You can't go wrong with either option really... both are unlikely to depreciate much further - so I heartily support this upcoming change either way!

Yeah, I’m a big fan. I think they’re pretty good to drive; they were the first Audi to break the stereotype of handling.

[Court_S]

roadie said:

I really like the look of the MV3 wheels on the car, colour notwithstanding.

Changing to 18" wheels is part of my long-term plan, but I am currently spending money on air leaks and fuelling on my N55 E92.

I've already replaced the HPFP, LPFP and LPFP filter/regulator, which has resolved my long start issues and some shadow codes. However, I need to finish the job by replacing the HP fuel sensor.

I've also air leaks on the turbo inlet and outlet and will use the opportunity to resolve this by upgrading the intercooler and fitting a new boost solenoid and diverter valve.

After that I want an exhaust!

Like others I view changing cars with some suspicion, as I have spent a lot of money on my E92 that I wouldn't have necessarily spent if I stuck with my 130i.

I like the design too, it does suit the E9x cars well in my opinion. If I’d known that I was going to end up changing my tyres as well, I’d had dropped down to 18’s. Hey ho.

Sounds like your N55 is causing you some grief. Hopefully you’ll get to the bottom of it.

[Court_S]

MDifficult said:

There's one on CC at the moment, and another in the 'Coming Soon' section. Both are the less fancied colours (one black, one dark blue) but have the wingbacks and reasonable mileage so might be good value - worth keeping an eye on.

I’ll have a look, cheers.

[Court_S]

I collect my refurbed wheels on Tuesday afternoon and I can’t wait because my car is driving like a bag of st on these loan wheels; the rear has two mismatch ditchfinders and the front has one Kumho and as I discovered today, one Bridgestone run flat….that'll do it I reckon.

It had its weekly wash this afternoon.







The Disklok from my M140i us back in action because at 4am on Tuesday some scumbag was caught on various Ring doorbells down the road looking at people’s cars on their drives. He turned up in a B9 RS4 that he’d stolen the day before locally.

[Court_S]

roadie said:

The car is looking mega. I received a DA polisher for Christmas and badly need to find the time to buy some decent pads and polish, and give my car a good decontamination, polish and wax. That should make it easier to clean on an ongoing basis, although I could never manage weekly!

Thanks. I find that keeping on top of it actually makes my life easier long run if that makes sense.

DA’s make a decent improvement without too much risk of doing damage to the paint. Scholl S20 has proved to be a really good one stage polish.

[Court_S]

Fermit said:

Have you replaced your kickplates Sam? They look surprisingly good if not. Mine are a mess, something I want to replace at some point.

Not in this. I had to replace one on the 330i because the rubber around the edges disintegrated.

[Court_S]

Ticked a couple of jobs off today….

The passenger side wing mirror has always had a deep scratch / gouge that’s annoyed me since I’ve ones the car.



Someone local on an owners group was selling a mint pair of covers really cheap so o grabbed them as a cheap way to sort the issue. New cover fitted.



Then I popped over to Wheelmania to collect my refurned wheels which couldn’t come soon enough because the grey loan wheels looked st on my car and more importantly, it drove horrendously on the mismatched tyres. I genuinely thought something was broken.

Wheels waiting for fitting.





And fitted





I drove home via Sytner and nearly had a heart attack when I asked how much a set of the gel M badges were…£28 after my discount! Bloody hell.

I whipped the wheels off once I was home to give them a couple of coats of Alien Magic ceramic wheel sealant. It’s obviously not as good as C5, but it’s a piece of cake to apply and doesn’t need to be kept out of rain for 24hrs etc. The wheels certainly feel very slippery. I wanted to make sure there was some protection on them because the forecast looks crap for the next few days (just for a change).

Sealed, refitted with the ridiculously expensive M badges applied.



Whilst the rear wheels were off, I cleaned up the rear drive shaft interface with the hub. Following the rear bearings being done last year, there was some excess grease making a mess of the inside of the rear wheels on longer drives. I can’t see any splits in the boots and the clips are tight. I think it was just excess grease but will keep an eye on it.

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

I bought a set of knock-off 'M' wheel badges in April 2021 for £2.99 and three of them are still fitted and looking good. I lost one when I got carried away with a jet-wash, but as I'd bought a set of 5 that wasn't a disaster!

At that price I'd still be ahead if I needed to replace them (a few times).

Anyway your wheels look superb.

Cheers. If I’d been more organised, I’d have bought some eBay specials too. The set I bought when I first fitted the CSL’s weren’t too expensive.

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

Your wheels look gorgeous Sam!

Very nice.

Thanks Less. They’ve smartened the car up no end. The factory finish was flaking in places and catch the lip of a rear on a pit hole last summer looked horrendous.

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

I bought a set of knock-off 'M' wheel badges in April 2021 for £2.99 and three of them are still fitted and looking good. I lost one when I got carried away with a jet-wash, but as I'd bought a set of 5 that wasn't a disaster!

At that price I'd still be ahead if I needed to replace them (a few times).

Anyway your wheels look superb.

Cheers. If I’d been more organised, I’d have bought some eBay specials too. The set I bought when I first fitted the CSL’s weren’t too expensive.

[Court_S]

MDMA . said:

Think I might get my wheels re-done in silver. Had them done in anthracite last year, but silver really shows them off.

Is yours in CSL’s as well? Darker colours do work pretty well on white cars like yours but you do risk loosing the detail of the wheel design.

I had thought about pale; satin gold but am glad that I payed it safe with silver.

[Court_S]

Sofa said:

Looks fantastic on the freshly refurbished CSLs, would make me rethink selling it if I were you.

Really need to get the 261M's on my E82 done as they're all knackered, but I've been quoted over £100 a wheel and with an imminent flat move that seems a bit steep...

It does look good - I was glad to see the back of the grey loan wheels.

£100 a wheel does sound really steep - I paid £243 for mine including loan wheels. They're painted and lacquered too.

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

In my neck of the woods thats expensive

£140 for shot blast and powdercoat with a top coat of wet laquer to make a really easy clean finish and I time it for a four tyre change so that I don’t pay to strip and refit 4 tyres and balancing cos I’m buying four new tyres and that’s in the cost of the tyres anyway

There’s a local place that’ll powder coat wheels for £140, they do a more than accept job.

Wheelmania are a bit more, but do a slightly better job.

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

I got a set of 18s dipped and powder-coated in April 2021 for £288 including tyre removal and refitting in Basingstoke, and the Home Counties isn't generally cheap!

That doesn’t sound outrageous.

[Court_S]

Gave my car a quick oil change yesterday as it was getting close.

Up on stands ready



Old oil draining out unfortunately as the flow reduced, the wind decided to pick up and it blew oil splatter on the drive just the other side of rug. Whoops….just wait for my wife to notice and give me a bking.



Old filter



New Bosch filter and o-rings ready to be fitted



Chucked in 6lites of Millers oil which took it to full according to the I-drive.

It was then had a quick wash before heading down to the Cotswolds to see family in case I end up at C&M for breakfast.







Next up is rear discs and pads; there is quite a lip on the discs and there’s not much meat left on the pads. The idrive reckons there’s another 3,600 miles to go….I’m not is sure. Annoyingly my new discs, pads and sensors arrived about 15 mins after taking the car off stands. I’ll be fitting Zimmerman discs with ATE ceramic pads and an ATE sensor.

As for moving the car on soon, those plans might have been scuppered by an impending increase in my mortgage (I thought the current deal ended next summer but it’s in June). Which is massively annoying because I’d found a car I want (a lot).