BMW M140 (at last!)

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Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Tuesday 30th June 2020
quotequote all
Dizeee said:
Does this brace already exist on the 240i ?
Not sure. It was fitted to three door cars but was omitted from five door cars like mine for some reason.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Sunday 5th July 2020
quotequote all
Finally got around to fitting my H+R springs this weekend with a help of a mate. Generally it all went smoothly apart from some rubbing when turning right because the near side drop link wasn’t done up properly (doh). I think we were too busy congratulating ourselves at how quickly the near side was done compared to the off side fronts.... loser Anyway it was sorted quickly enough and today and I’m pleased with how the car is sitting now. It’s booked in for its alignment on Tuesday so can give it a proper drive after that.

Managed to take a few pics.

As the car sat in stock springs



Rear measured



Front measured



First spring in place



Ran into a few silly issues to start with like the spring compressors being too long to clear the wing so we had to space the bottom clamp to shorten the top that wouldn’t clear. Once that was sorted it was plain sailing really.

Both fronts fitted and back on the ground



I kind of lost interest in taking photos at this stage...it made be realise how much effort some put into documenting projects in Readers Cars.

Pics of how it sat after the short drive to the in-laws for a BBQ





Measurements from this morning.

Rear



Front



The fronts have dropped a wee bit more than the tears but I’m hoping they’ll settle a bit more of the next day or so.

Gave the car a wash today and went over it with some quick detailer (much to my other half’s annoyance after pissing about with it yesterday). It’s definitely lower but it’s pretty subtle which is what I was after. My old E90 was on stock springs but always seemed really low whereas modern BMW’s seem to ride a tad high for me.





Heading down to C&M for dinner next week with my other half and again the week after with a mate for breakfast.

alec.e

2,149 posts

123 months

Sunday 5th July 2020
quotequote all
Be interested how you find them- I fitted a set of H&Rs to my M6 and found they upset the balance of the car? Hope they work ok for you

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Sunday 5th July 2020
quotequote all
alec.e said:
Be interested how you find them- I fitted a set of H&Rs to my M6 and found they upset the balance of the car? Hope they work ok for you
I’m hoping they’ll be the compromise I’m after.

I’m well aware that the damping on my car isn’t the best which can be sorted with a trip to Birds etc. However given the cost of that I’d rather put that money towards an M2 in a the next few years.

The stock rear M140i springs are mega stiff and these are a bit softer so hopefully it’ll help the back end a wee bit. It’s a relatively cheap change. Most seem to rate them. If they make it worse I’ll go back to OE springs, possible M135i rear springs.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Tuesday 7th July 2020
quotequote all
Got my alignment sorted out today, it was all over the place after the springs were fitted. Unsurprisingly it feels better to drive. Hopefully it’ll be dry at the weekend so I can try it on some nice dry roads I know to see if it’s better.



Edited by Court_S on Tuesday 7th July 16:56

cerb4.5lee

30,186 posts

179 months

Tuesday 7th July 2020
quotequote all
Great. thumbup

I will look forward to your thoughts on it. smile

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Tuesday 7th July 2020
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
Great. thumbup

I will look forward to your thoughts on it. smile
Cheers.

We’re heading down to C&M for a bite to each and a mooch on Sunday afternoon, so that should give me a good indication of what it’s like.

Ben Lowden

5,968 posts

176 months

PH Marketing Bloke

Tuesday 7th July 2020
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Looking good! Will be interested to hear what you make of them after a few runs.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
Managed to have a nice drive down to C&M yesterday with a bit of silliness on the way home (neither big nor clever, but hey ho)...

The car does feel better with the springs, it’s not a night and day difference, but there is a subtle one there. The rear end seems to pogo less when speed picks up on a B road, it’s still not perfect but it’s better. Still waiting for the brace to arrive, so will get that fitted. I’m pleased with how the car is sitting now.







C&M was very chilly out compared to last summer with less cars allowed in, plus we were there a bit later. Seemed to work though and my other half enjoyed it despite not really being interested in cars.

cerb4.5lee

30,186 posts

179 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
That does sit very nicely indeed. thumbup

Pleased that you got to enjoy the car and to test it out! biggrin

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
That does sit very nicely indeed. thumbup

Pleased that you got to enjoy the car and to test it out! biggrin
Cheers bud.

It was bloody nice to get out of the house together for a few hours, enjoy the sun etc. The roads down were quieter than usual which was nice too.

It’ll be interesting to see if the underbody brace makes any difference because there seem to be two camps; one think it’s ace and improves it and the other that it’s just a placebo.

CallThatMusic

2,522 posts

87 months

Monday 13th July 2020
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I just bought one of these the other day.
Hadn’t driven one before. Just a few miles in and very impressed.
It will get used.

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
CallThatMusic said:
I just bought one of these the other day.
Hadn’t driven one before. Just a few miles in and very impressed.
It will get used.
Good stuff, enjoy.

Very nice 912 there too! thumbup

CallThatMusic

2,522 posts

87 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
And from another angle...
Finding it’s the BMW keys I am picking up of a morning...

CallThatMusic

2,522 posts

87 months

Monday 13th July 2020
quotequote all
Court_S said:
CallThatMusic said:
I just bought one of these the other day.
Hadn’t driven one before. Just a few miles in and very impressed.
It will get used.
Good stuff, enjoy.

Very nice 912 there too! thumbup
Thanks.
I like what you’ve done with yours...


Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 24th July 2020
quotequote all
Few more minor tweaks on the way...

First up I fitted an ITG foam filter this week. I know there’s a debate as to if they actually do anything but they’re not too expensive so I thought why not.



No idea if it’s made any real difference because I’ve not really been able to drive the car since fitting it after fracturing my wrist Tuesday night after having an argument with the ground mountain biking. I’m hoping that they won’t put it in a cast because I’m supposed to be doing the NC500 in three weeks or so.

My underbody brace arrived this morning so I need to try and arrange for that to be fitted. It looks easy enough but access wasn’t great under the car before it was lowered.

[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/fx1Fvbtf[/url]

I’m kicking myself for not speccing CarPlay when I ordered the car last year now my data connection has expired. Since I’ve had the car I’ve had a data connection and years access to Deezer which integrates really well with the car, giving me a huge selection of music to choose from which I could search by voice etc. It also sounded good.

Since it expired I’ve been playing music via Bluetooth and it sounds awful. Amazon Music can be controlled through the idrive and I can search my could music etc. But it’s a bit pants. The data connection is £179 a year which seems a bit pricey so I’m getting CarPlay retrofitted next Friday which will hopefully sounds much better and give me better control via my amazon music app.

drdino

1,142 posts

141 months

Friday 24th July 2020
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Depending on your head unit version, you might be able to (pay to) enable Carplay, or retrofit it relatively cheaply. Do you know if you are running ID5 or ID6?

Court_S

Original Poster:

12,764 posts

176 months

Friday 24th July 2020
quotequote all
drdino said:
Depending on your head unit version, you might be able to (pay to) enable Carplay, or retrofit it relatively cheaply. Do you know if you are running ID5 or ID6?
I’m on ID6 with pro nav.

drdino

1,142 posts

141 months

Friday 24th July 2020
quotequote all
If you don't have the WiFi prep package, you should be able to add the antenna and then enable Carplay with an FSC code, is that what you meant by retrofit? I'd steer away of the interface boxes if you have this particular capability.

I'm on ID6 with WiFi prep, so I could buy Carplay with an one-off payment to BMW through the connected services, have you checked if this is available for yours?

p1stonhead

25,489 posts

166 months

Friday 24th July 2020
quotequote all
drdino said:
If you don't have the WiFi prep package, you should be able to add the antenna and then enable Carplay with an FSC code, is that what you meant by retrofit? I'd steer away of the interface boxes if you have this particular capability.

I'm on ID6 with WiFi prep, so I could buy Carplay with an one-off payment to BMW through the connected services, have you checked if this is available for yours?
Think that’s per year with BMW! Robbing bds.