E46 320d tourer - Resto/Mod
Discussion
So after much deliberation, I have decided to get rid of my E39 
(as seen here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
As much as I loved the car, last month I spent £395 on fuel - which just isnt sustainable on my fairly lowly wage.
So.. I have done a straight swap with a friend for his 2003 E46 320d SE touring. So far it doesn't seem that great of a deal in my direction considering the massive difference is quality of the two cars, however value wise they are fairly close.
As it stands, the 320d is completely standard; and in comparison to the E39, pretty pov spec :-(
The 'lovely' grey cloth non-sport interior is in a right state, albeit completely intact and free from damage; it is littered with various defects. After spending the last 4 years hauling a couple of children around and a bit of a weekend DIY workhorse; pretty much every panel and piece of cloth has some sort of mark or stain on it.
Conversely, the exterior is pretty straight bar two scrapes on the front bumper from driveway prangs.
The plan is to keep the car long term as a daily hack and long distance cruiser when required - however over a period of time I aim to improve the car for my needs. Bringing it a bit closer in luxury motoring to the E39 that it is replacing. I will be upgrading some parts via OEM retrofits and others being aftermarket mods, which will be taking place as and when spare cash and time is available!
I am also currently doing a bit of a tidy up to another E46, which my missus now uses (see here if interested, although I haven't updated the thread in a while: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures at the moment - however I am doing a mini detail on it tomorrow, so I will post up a few (probably a lot) of before and afters then.
Until then, I will be driving around amazing myself as to how ridicously good this thing is on fuel!
(as seen here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...As much as I loved the car, last month I spent £395 on fuel - which just isnt sustainable on my fairly lowly wage.
So.. I have done a straight swap with a friend for his 2003 E46 320d SE touring. So far it doesn't seem that great of a deal in my direction considering the massive difference is quality of the two cars, however value wise they are fairly close.
As it stands, the 320d is completely standard; and in comparison to the E39, pretty pov spec :-(
The 'lovely' grey cloth non-sport interior is in a right state, albeit completely intact and free from damage; it is littered with various defects. After spending the last 4 years hauling a couple of children around and a bit of a weekend DIY workhorse; pretty much every panel and piece of cloth has some sort of mark or stain on it.
Conversely, the exterior is pretty straight bar two scrapes on the front bumper from driveway prangs.
The plan is to keep the car long term as a daily hack and long distance cruiser when required - however over a period of time I aim to improve the car for my needs. Bringing it a bit closer in luxury motoring to the E39 that it is replacing. I will be upgrading some parts via OEM retrofits and others being aftermarket mods, which will be taking place as and when spare cash and time is available!
I am also currently doing a bit of a tidy up to another E46, which my missus now uses (see here if interested, although I haven't updated the thread in a while: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures at the moment - however I am doing a mini detail on it tomorrow, so I will post up a few (probably a lot) of before and afters then.
Until then, I will be driving around amazing myself as to how ridicously good this thing is on fuel!
Had my E46 330D SE for nearly a year and I love it, you wont get tired of not putting fuel in it compared to your E39.
What did you use to clean your steering wheel with?
You said it is a 2003, so it is a face lift which would mean it'll have the dreaded swirl flaps, make sure to get them removed if you haven't, they're engine destroyers.
What did you use to clean your steering wheel with?
You said it is a 2003, so it is a face lift which would mean it'll have the dreaded swirl flaps, make sure to get them removed if you haven't, they're engine destroyers.
I really am looking forward to the reduced fuel cost.. My E39 would manage around 85 miles to £20 during everyday driving!
The steering wheel was cleaned using a technique I learnt whilst working as a private contracted detailer, for a group of BMW and Audi main stealers: cheap disinfectant spray (we call it APC in the trade, all purpose cleaner) and a scouring pad, one of those multicoloured ones you get in a pack of about 10 for £1. (Ideally the white rough sided ones not the green ones as the dye can come out of those)
Spray the entire wheel lightly and the pad, gently rub round the leather with the rough side of the pad, get in all the corners and stitching - be thourough bu careful though, barely any pressure. Then wipe off with a piece of blue roll/kitchen towel/old tshirt.
This works pretty much anywhere on the interior, leather seats, dash trim, door cards, door and window seals etc. Brings the leather up to a nice matte finish, that feels and looks brand new, not just 'clean'.
But shhhh... I never told you
The steering wheel was cleaned using a technique I learnt whilst working as a private contracted detailer, for a group of BMW and Audi main stealers: cheap disinfectant spray (we call it APC in the trade, all purpose cleaner) and a scouring pad, one of those multicoloured ones you get in a pack of about 10 for £1. (Ideally the white rough sided ones not the green ones as the dye can come out of those)
Spray the entire wheel lightly and the pad, gently rub round the leather with the rough side of the pad, get in all the corners and stitching - be thourough bu careful though, barely any pressure. Then wipe off with a piece of blue roll/kitchen towel/old tshirt.
This works pretty much anywhere on the interior, leather seats, dash trim, door cards, door and window seals etc. Brings the leather up to a nice matte finish, that feels and looks brand new, not just 'clean'.
But shhhh... I never told you
Top effort on that steering wheel, I must have go with that on mine! I assume Flash all purpose cleaner would do the trick?
Tesco dash wipes just don't seem to cut it...
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the car, I remember reading your other thread about an E46. Sports seats occasionally pop up cheap on eBay, as I am sure you know they are fantastic!
Tesco dash wipes just don't seem to cut it...
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the car, I remember reading your other thread about an E46. Sports seats occasionally pop up cheap on eBay, as I am sure you know they are fantastic!
Just tried the cleaning trick...
Very impressed! It works really well, and I can't believe how much came off what I thought was a clean car and how much better it looks now!
Steering wheel no longer shiny, and door cards are vastly improved. Thought I would give it a go on the leather seats to see what that did, only did the front panel (behind where your knees would be) and it looks massively better. Going to do the rest and condition the seats in the next few days, got to use the car tonight.
Here is a photo, sorry for derailing your thread slightly but that is an excellent trick!
Very impressed! It works really well, and I can't believe how much came off what I thought was a clean car and how much better it looks now!
Steering wheel no longer shiny, and door cards are vastly improved. Thought I would give it a go on the leather seats to see what that did, only did the front panel (behind where your knees would be) and it looks massively better. Going to do the rest and condition the seats in the next few days, got to use the car tonight.
Here is a photo, sorry for derailing your thread slightly but that is an excellent trick!
StuntmanMike said:
I will give the APC ago on my seats, any particular brand, could we have some exterior pictures?
Are you going to just make it more comfortable or mod it?
Any brand will work, flash with febreze is nice as it smells good.Are you going to just make it more comfortable or mod it?
I don't have any before pics unfortunately, but I do have a sort of after pic which I will upload shortly.
Bit of both, obviously people have different ideas of what comfy/luxury is - I am aiming for sport spec suspension and some bigger wheels than the 16s than it currently wears. Inside will eventually be sport seats, hopefully with a full colour change to my idea of a good looking interior. Then some gadgetry retrofits, mainly because I'm about 5yrs old inside and just like lots of buttons haha!
Mod wise, probably not too much aftermarket, bar speakers and Headunit upgrade as I have a Pioneer Appradio that I love and the STD speakers are crap!
But most of the work will be based on what I can find cheap on eBay or similar, this is by no means a big budget thing.
Halfway through the doorcard, used masking tape to do the compsrison line :-)
Passenger seat (as per before pic) needs more work but fairly time limited so couldn't spend all day on one seat!
Rear bench
Rear doorcard scrubbed numerous times
Boot was as stained as the passenger seat beforehand
Only external pics I got as it was dark by time I stopped
Spent around 8 hours cleaning today and could easily do it again to get a better finish. Plus didn't have any decent products or equipment, just whatever I found at a friends house (I'm away visiting friends and family at the moment)
But its a massive improvement for now!!
Passenger seat (as per before pic) needs more work but fairly time limited so couldn't spend all day on one seat!
Rear bench
Rear doorcard scrubbed numerous times
Boot was as stained as the passenger seat beforehand
Only external pics I got as it was dark by time I stopped
Spent around 8 hours cleaning today and could easily do it again to get a better finish. Plus didn't have any decent products or equipment, just whatever I found at a friends house (I'm away visiting friends and family at the moment)
But its a massive improvement for now!!
Managed to source a set of MV1s yesterday (I prefer these to the MV2s which this age of E46 should have if it were a sport).
Tyres weren't great though so I bought a full set of Continental Contisports - all fitted and handles so much better now!
There's still a bit of wandering around at motorway speeds, so I think I need to get the tracking done soon - can't afford much more until next month though!
Anyway, here's another crappy dark picture outside a pub! Haha!
Will take some better ones once I'm back home and its daylight.
Tyres weren't great though so I bought a full set of Continental Contisports - all fitted and handles so much better now!
There's still a bit of wandering around at motorway speeds, so I think I need to get the tracking done soon - can't afford much more until next month though!
Anyway, here's another crappy dark picture outside a pub! Haha!
Will take some better ones once I'm back home and its daylight.
Edited by LEE337 on Saturday 3rd January 09:25
Yeah they are staggered, not sure what size - guessing 9" rear and 8" front.
Stripes are done with a nail brush; to get bad stains out wet vac isn't good enough so I scrub them with the nail brush to clean them thoroughly then stripe it after to look more presentable than random scrub lines.
Plus it looks kind of cool
The striping I have done on this weren't great though as I was running out of time before it got dark.
These are still the best stripes I have done - was a 2yr old 30k (IIRC) X6M that a BMW main dealer wanted in the showroom. Took two days to detail, but I went OTT on the carpets!
Stripes are done with a nail brush; to get bad stains out wet vac isn't good enough so I scrub them with the nail brush to clean them thoroughly then stripe it after to look more presentable than random scrub lines.
Plus it looks kind of cool
The striping I have done on this weren't great though as I was running out of time before it got dark.
These are still the best stripes I have done - was a 2yr old 30k (IIRC) X6M that a BMW main dealer wanted in the showroom. Took two days to detail, but I went OTT on the carpets!
Edited by LEE337 on Saturday 3rd January 23:28
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