My BMW E46 330i Sport

[petrolveins]

Well i've finally plucked up the courage and booked a trackday for next month at Donnington, got my mate coming along too as an extra driver. May or may not have also just purchased a set of Style 68 wheels with tyres for the track day. Oops. Oh I also bought new windscreen wipers because the old ones stopped wiping water off the screen, got those fancy Bosch aero ones, very impressed with them.

Shall be picking up new wheels soon hopefully and getting them on the car for some photos

[Stedman]

petrolveins said:

Well i've finally plucked up the courage and booked a trackday for next month at Donnington, got my mate coming along too as an extra driver. May or may not have also just purchased a set of Style 68 wheels with tyres for the track day. Oops. Oh I also bought new windscreen wipers because the old ones stopped wiping water off the screen, got those fancy Bosch aero ones, very impressed with them.

Shall be picking up new wheels soon hopefully and getting them on the car for some photos

Get some G1 on there!

[pcvdriver]

oj121 said:

Sir_Dave said:

231bhp isnt too bad for a 19 year old tbh!!

Lovely cars, im on my 4th e46 now ...

Didnt say it wasnt a nice example. Just wanted to know why he settled on that car in particular as there is a lot out there that trumps them in different areas IMO

At 19 I had to make do with a 110 bhp Opel Manta, there again that was back in 1989....

[petrolveins]

New wheels on! Will get some photos when I'm not working.

New tyres are a little more interesting. I'm sure Avon are a good brand but the fairly new looking ZZ3s on the rear are very slippery, lots more oversteer than before, great fun on the road, not so sure how track will be!
Front is very planted though, the ContiSports seem very good.

[Clivey]

petrolveins said:

New wheels on! Will get some photos when I'm not working.

New tyres are a little more interesting. I'm sure Avon are a good brand but the fairly new looking ZZ3s on the rear are very slippery, lots more oversteer than before, great fun on the road, not so sure how track will be!
Front is very planted though, the ContiSports seem very good.

Oversteer you say? That sounds fantastic! I have Avon ZZ5s and the rear's absolutely planted (maybe because I'm about 60 BHP and 65 lb/ft down on your 330i).

[wackojacko]

I love the Contisport 2's on the front of mine but my recent pair of Contisport 3's on the rear are st, horrendous road noise and very unpredictable compared to Michelin PS2's I had before.

[Stedman]

You may need to scrub the rears in.

[wackojacko]

Stedman said:

You may need to scrub the rears in.

Not if they're part worn

[Stedman]

wackojacko said:

Not if they're part worn

It's possible if they've been sitting around for a while

Edited by Stedman on Monday 4th February 09:12

[DanielJames]

Style 68! you've got to be kidding

i ALWAYS wanted a set for mine.

[petrolveins]

Oversteer is addictive off roundabouts, might be right about srubbing them in a little, they really screech if you spin the wheels, though getting quieter. I'll get out take some photos later, they are in no way meant to replace my MV2s but plenty of people prefer these 68s to them.

[petrolveins]

Right I've been out again, I think the difference now is where I used to spin an inside wheel only, it now spins both making the rear end slide, I've rarely been able to get it sideways out of junctions before, that has changed now! They also screech so loud, louder than any tyre I've used before. I tried to scub them in a little, and accidentally on purpose made a nice little 11.

It's like having a new car again. Wahooooo!!!!


Elevenses by tlynchie, on Flickr


Oh and I did get time to take some photos of the wheels, think they look alright, far too much archgap though. Need some coilovers I think.


E46 330i on Style 68s by tlynchie, on Flickr


E46 330i on Style 68s by tlynchie, on Flickr

Edited by petrolveins on Monday 4th February 15:20

[DanielJames]

Had a thought about the rear grip Tom

Do they have a 225 width now all round? Where your MV2's were staggered with 255 at the rear?

[petrolveins]

DanielJames said:

Had a thought about the rear grip Tom

Do they have a 225 width now all round? Where your MV2's were staggered with 255 at the rear?

These are staggered too, 225 on front as before and 245 on the rear now.

[Synchromesh]

It looks really smart on those wheels, and dare I say it, in my opinion better than your 'dailys'.

Please don't put it on coilovers though - you'll ruin the geometry and although it might feel more 'sporty', for road driving it's compliance that gives you the advantage.

[wackojacko]

Arch gap looks the same as mine on 18's

[sparks_E39]

The arch gap is fine, it looks great. I reckon the arch gap on my E39 at the front is 3 times as large, and looks a bit naff.

[Clivey]

Synchromesh said:

It looks really smart on those wheels, and dare I say it, in my opinion better than your 'dailys'.

Please don't put it on coilovers though - you'll ruin the geometry and although it might feel more 'sporty', for road driving it's compliance that gives you the advantage.

Mine's on the standard 18"s, which are fine until you get to a really rough road. - I suspect that sometimes, I could actually drive an 'SE' on the standard suspension and smaller wheels faster.

We also have two Mini Cooper Ds in the family. - The car on 15"s and fat tyres definitely handles better than the one on 17" runflats (which just bounces from pothole to pothole and tramlines so badly you wonder what the steering wheel's for).

EDIT: I also read (IIRC on e46fanatics) that swapping the wheels for the same size all-round reduces understeer and makes the car more tail happy on the limit (because then you overcome the grip of the rears before the fronts)...

Edited by Clivey on Tuesday 5th February 10:54

[petrolveins]

Few interesting comments here, regarding the coilovers, I've read some very good things about HSD coilovers, specifically regarding E46 use of them. Fully adjustable, and when properly setup are excellent on track, and with adjustable damping still comfortable on road.

With regards to changing to a square setup the forums all seem to think it is an excellent idea, taking away that built in understeer designed into all road cars. I was chatting to a few mates of mine, all racing drivers and as they put it, there is a reason all the manufacturers put the cars on a staggered setup, it's the same with all the cars, M5s, M3s, AMGs the lot. We aren't all driving Gods and that understeer right on the limit tells when you need to back off, otherwise you are just going to loose it backwards into wall. Of course if you drive the car properly you can still set quick laps and get around the understeer issue, heck you can still drift the car around all the corners if you please. Also a car with wider fronts will tramline even more and aquaplane even worse.

With regards to the wheel size comments, as one of my mates said, look at a F1 car tyre, it's all tyre wall, that's where they can generate the heat from. My BMW on 17s with higher tyre walls, will handle better than it did on lower profiles with 18s. Not to mention the 17s are much lighter wheels too. He then added if I really enjoy Donny then should buy cheap E36 as a track car, and I rather agree.

[Clivey]

petrolveins said:

Few interesting comments here, regarding the coilovers, I've read some very good things about HSD coilovers, specifically regarding E46 use of them. Fully adjustable, and when properly setup are excellent on track, and with adjustable damping still comfortable on road.

petrolveins said:

With regards to changing to a square setup the forums all seem to think it is an excellent idea, taking away that built in understeer designed into all road cars. I was chatting to a few mates of mine, all racing drivers and as they put it, there is a reason all the manufacturers put the cars on a staggered setup, it's the same with all the cars, M5s, M3s, AMGs the lot. We aren't all driving Gods and that understeer right on the limit tells when you need to back off, otherwise you are just going to loose it backwards into wall. Of course if you drive the car properly you can still set quick laps and get around the understeer issue, heck you can still drift the car around all the corners if you please. Also a car with wider fronts will tramline even more and aquaplane even worse.

Personally, I find understeer harder to deal with because to me it feels unnatural (especially in a RWD car). I don't mind a little (as long as you can override it with your right foot), but if it's excessive it spoils the car for me. When playing with mine, it does feel very neutral though...but still wish I had the 330ci. - You have to keep the revs up in my car if you want to make swift progress; if you don't, it doesn't feel any faster than an average 2.0-litre and you can't power oversteer unless you're at car park speeds. Having said that, it's lovely to drive and still makes a nice noise, especially after 4,000rpm (which is more important on a road / fun car than being 0.5 seconds faster to 60).

petrolveins said:

With regards to the wheel size comments, as one of my mates said, look at a F1 car tyre, it's all tyre wall, that's where they can generate the heat from. My BMW on 17s with higher tyre walls, will handle better than it did on lower profiles with 18s. Not to mention the 17s are much lighter wheels too. He then added if I really enjoy Donny then should buy cheap E36 as a track car, and I rather agree.

I think it's about balance. - You can have either too much or too little sidewall...and IMO too much grip at one end of the car can spoil things as well. I wonder how much the change from 255 to 245 rubber on the rear alone has affected your car.