F31 335d x drive Touring - perfect daily ?

[WTFWT]

gareth h said:

Thomas_ said:

Awesome read. I recently sold a 435D and at the point of selling had all the time in the world to replace it. This changed very quickly with Boris saying we can return to the office. So I bought a high spec LCI 335D..haha

There really isnt much better as an all rounder.

WTFWT said:

Suspension next - undecided whether to go the full Birds or just settle for the ACS springs. Mine’s non adaptive. Half of me wants to limit the outlay but then I also intend to keep it a good while as it’s only done 24k miles.

If you do not have adaptive then you'll definitely want the full Birds setup. I have ACS and adaptive on mine and it's great. On a previous 435D without adaptive I fitted Eibach pros and whilst a huge improvement it was under damped and 100% needed shocks. Without them you still get the horrid mid corner weight shift feeling.

Edited by Thomas_ on Wednesday 16th February 10:22

Edited by Thomas_ on Wednesday 16th February 10:22

I’ve got Birds on mine, wouldn’t fit the same again, either just fit springs or go the whole hog and fit KW V3 (probably not hugely more expensive than Birds).

Oh, that’s a surprise. What do you not like about the Birds set up?

The trouble with the KW stuff (for me) is the endless adjustability. I can see for a dedicated track fiend that might make sense but I just want to fit it and forget it. I don’t want to be faffing around trying endless settings combinations to get it “right”.

[ATM]

WTFWT said:

Oh, that’s a surprise. What do you not like about the Birds set up?

The trouble with the KW stuff (for me) is the endless adjustability. I can see for a dedicated track fiend that might make sense but I just want to fit it and forget it. I don’t want to be faffing around trying endless settings combinations to get it “right”.

You can just set them on the default settings and leave them be. There is a bit more fiddling required during fitting because you should really get the car corner weighted to check each corner is taking its fair share of the weight or the spring is pressing the same amount but its bit strictly required. You can just measure them on the bench, adjust to a similar length and then fit. So even though they are adjustable you don't have to use the adjustments. I've got KW on 2 cars and I've never touched them.

[peetee7]

WTFWT said:

This is fast becoming THE F31 335d thread. Good work!

I have a pre LCI F31 335d. It’s been mapped by Simon at Emaps.

Suspension next - undecided whether to go the full Birds or just settle for the ACS springs. Mine’s non adaptive. Half of me wants to limit the outlay but then I also intend to keep it a good while as it’s only done 24k miles.

Having had 2x 535ds in the past and a E350d relatively recently, the lack of engine refinement is a bit of an unwelcome surprise. Wind noise too. Maybe I’m just spoiled?

In years I’ll look back and think – I really did have a lot of time on my hands for this thread haha

For the money a spring kit works nicely. It’s even cheaper if you go with the Eibach pro lowering springs instead of ACS which pretty much do the same job.

Talking of Mercedes Benz I do miss the turning circle sometimes

[peetee7]

Thomas_ said:

Awesome read. I recently sold a 435D and at the point of selling had all the time in the world to replace it. This changed very quickly with Boris saying we can return to the office. So I bought a high spec LCI 335D..haha

Haha love it ... hopefully you’ll get a chance to rack some miles on your 35d wagon

[peetee7]

gareth h said:

I’ve got Birds on mine, wouldn’t fit the same again, either just fit springs or go the whole hog and fit KW V3 (probably not hugely more expensive than Birds).

I spoke to Kevin Bird when I got my car but at the time just thought I'd be ok with a spring kit - plus it was all the way in Slough. I do sometimes feel I should've made the trip to experience their demo car ... which then of course would've made me go for the B3 kit

I'm easily lead astray

[SR-25]

I’ve just ordered the ACS sport dampers to go with my ACS springs. My LCI 35d has adaptive so that’ll be coded out as part of the install. I’ll be using Mallory performance again in Leicestershire

I’ll report back at some point

Mike

[Thomas_]

SR-25 said:

I’ve just ordered the ACS sport dampers to go with my ACS springs. My LCI 35d has adaptive so that’ll be coded out as part of the install. I’ll be using Mallory performance again in Leicestershire

I’ll report back at some point

Mike

I'm surprised you've gone for shocks too if you have adaptive? Any reason for this?

I find my ACS springs with adaptive shocks is the perfect combo.

[peetee7]

SR-25 said:

I’ve just ordered the ACS sport dampers to go with my ACS springs. My LCI 35d has adaptive so that’ll be coded out as part of the install. I’ll be using Mallory performance again in Leicestershire

I’ll report back at some point

Mike

wow thats excellent. Please keep us updated. Mallory are great guys, they did my ACS springs

[SR-25]

Thomas_ said:

I'm surprised you've gone for shocks too if you have adaptive? Any reason for this?

I find my ACS springs with adaptive shocks is the perfect combo.

Mainly to scratch a rather expensive itch on my pursuit to achieving what i believe in my opinion, the ultimate 20k year diesel daily driver for my budget and circumstances. I've read alot but a forum doesn't allow me to form my own opinion on the full ACS setup stopping short of the RS kit which isn't my thing.

peetee7 said:

wow thats excellent. Please keep us updated. Mallory are great guys, they did my ACS springs

Will do, I'd of come along to the meet if i saw the post earlier. The dampers arrived at ACS UK a couple of days ago so they'll be in my posession anytime now. It'll just be a case of finding some time to get booked in with the guys there.

[peetee7]

Whoops! Small bump which resulted in a broken tail light. Totally self inflicted





New tail ordered. Normal RRP at my local dealer is £230. I paid £169 from Douglas Park BMW Hamilton. Part number: 63217372210.


Took a few minutes to fit ..





All fixed. Took a few minutes.

[gareth h]

WTFWT said:

gareth h said:

Thomas_ said:

Awesome read. I recently sold a 435D and at the point of selling had all the time in the world to replace it. This changed very quickly with Boris saying we can return to the office. So I bought a high spec LCI 335D..haha

There really isnt much better as an all rounder.

WTFWT said:

Suspension next - undecided whether to go the full Birds or just settle for the ACS springs. Mine’s non adaptive. Half of me wants to limit the outlay but then I also intend to keep it a good while as it’s only done 24k miles.

If you do not have adaptive then you'll definitely want the full Birds setup. I have ACS and adaptive on mine and it's great. On a previous 435D without adaptive I fitted Eibach pros and whilst a huge improvement it was under damped and 100% needed shocks. Without them you still get the horrid mid corner weight shift feeling.

Edited by Thomas_ on Wednesday 16th February 10:22

Edited by Thomas_ on Wednesday 16th February 10:22

I’ve got Birds on mine, wouldn’t fit the same again, either just fit springs or go the whole hog and fit KW V3 (probably not hugely more expensive than Birds).

Oh, that’s a surprise. What do you not like about the Birds set up?

The trouble with the KW stuff (for me) is the endless adjustability. I can see for a dedicated track fiend that might make sense but I just want to fit it and forget it. I don’t want to be faffing around trying endless settings combinations to get it “right”.

Apart from the fact that they don’t do a full geo when they install (although they intimate they do), it’s really just an overpriced Bilstein / Eibach set up, I’ve had 2 Bilstein dampers fail, it’s just no where near the quality of the KW set up (which I’ve had on other cars), I’m afraid I was seduced by their marketing bullst.

[peetee7]

Haven’t updated this thread in a while. May well be one of the last few updates on the car as I’ve done pretty much everything I wanted with it. I will either keep the car until it gives up on me (which was the original plan) or if I come across a heavily optioned UNICORN car then I may consider replacing it. But the replacement will need to be very special.

I’ve done some experiments with the Unicorn Developments Stage 2 335d The best I’ve got from the 57 litre tank is 638 miles. Was a full day’s drive on the motorway with approx. 36 miles of stop start traffic. Got a little impatient towards the end but the 700+ mile marker is not out of question with the right conditions and speed. It was a long day!





I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve always wondered how many miles the car could go on reserve fuel (0 mile range). My experiment shows me 12 miles of local driving and 17 miles of motorway driving I know it’s not good for the car but had to do it just once !







Car is currently on 63,558 miles. Any future updates will be at 100,000 mile interval milestones or if the car was to ever leave me.

[SD_1]

Great thread, thanks for all the write up.

I've had mine for just over a year now, a totally standard Estoril blue one. Really enjoying it and very much agree that it is a perfect all rounder. Planning on keeping it long term, so will keep an eye on this thread.

[peetee7]

My F31 335d wagon journey will be coming to an end after 2y 3m’s of ownership. Did tell myself I’d keep the car forever unless a very special unicorn came along. That unicorn has has arrived somewhat unexpectedly.

To conclude I’ve had a thing for fast diesels the best part of 20 years. It all started with the E46 330d when I was a kid. I watched some nutcases (Ant & Pete) take a mapped E46 330d across Europe during the 2004 Gumball 3000 rally - see video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo09RfHHVjE&t=...

Then a few years later the E9X 335d came along and just blew my mind away especially when at the time DMS was tuning them - see video.
https://youtu.be/SY9oioGMLyI

I just had to have a 335d some day. I can conclude for me the 335d has been the perfect daily albeit with some light modifications. It does everything well and if you’re thinking about owning one .. don’t think, just buy it! I hope the car goes on to live a long life and the next owner(s) enjoy it as much as I did.

If you’re interested in an Alpina wagon then by all means feel free to follow.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[lcs_turbo]

I think this very car is on the latest carwow drag race video

Do you still own it op?

https://youtu.be/8bg8VveKvhM

[MDMA .]

lcs_turbo said:

I think this very car is on the latest carwow drag race video

Do you still own it op?

https://youtu.be/8bg8VveKvhM

OP not been seen for a while. Not sure where he is. I’m sure he was picking up an Alpina a while ago and he’s mentioned it on the Alpina forum. Might be an old video?