Our new to us 2015 F31 325D M Sport

[danb79]

Thursday just gone...

New OEM BMW front splitter ordered from BMW eBay (£427)

Unfortunately the wife managed to catch a kerb Thursday lunchtime and ripped it off. It's split/cracked in a few places and not fixable...

I went up there with a trolley jack and tools, got it lifted up & fortunately it'd ripped out the self tapping screws and they were still in the splitter, so wound them out and screwed them back in again, it's not going anywhere for now

She's not hurt, that's what's important!

I'll fit the new one as soon as it lands; have decent 3M tape and Mammoth tape in the garage and various self tapping screws etc

Will get some pics up once it lands and I get to fit it

Other than that it's driving superbly; it's in with Bowker BMW on 04th Dec for it's MOT and injector cleaning etc

[JWH]

Hi, I'm always impressed by the attention you lavish on your car, it looks very smart.
I've got an F31 which has just passed through 110k miles and I'm intending to replace springs and shocks soon. I don't suppose you have a parts list of the components you sourced for the suspension rebuild you'd be able to share with me please?

[danb79]

JWH said:

Hi, I'm always impressed by the attention you lavish on your car, it looks very smart.
I've got an F31 which has just passed through 110k miles and I'm intending to replace springs and shocks soon. I don't suppose you have a parts list of the components you sourced for the suspension rebuild you'd be able to share with me please?

Thank you... It was a way of future-proofing it for us as we're wanting to keep it for a few more years yet unless our situation changes. Pay the mortgage off first (another 22 months left) and then it'll get traded in for a much newer BMW touring probably

All the parts for the suspension overhaul are shown with screenshots on this page of the project:

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

Part numbers are all on RealOEM here:

Front axle: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=3K72-E...
Rear axle: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=3K72-E...
Track rod ends PNs here: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=3K72...

I went for OEM BMW suspension rubber parts (ie top/bottom perches, dust boots, bump stops and necessary camber bolts for the rears etc)

Hope that helps

[JWH]

danb79 said:

Thank you... It was a way of future-proofing it for us as we're wanting to keep it for a few more years yet unless our situation changes. Pay the mortgage off first (another 22 months left) and then it'll get traded in for a much newer BMW touring probably

All the parts for the suspension overhaul are shown with screenshots on this page of the project:

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

Part numbers are all on RealOEM here:

Front axle: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=3K72-E...
Rear axle: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=3K72-E...
Track rod ends PNs here: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=3K72...

I went for OEM BMW suspension rubber parts (ie top/bottom perches, dust boots, bump stops and necessary camber bolts for the rears etc)

Hope that helps

It helps very much, thanks!

[danb79]

JWH said:

It helps very much, thanks!

No worries

I'd highly recommend the Bilstein B4S shocks and Eibach pro kit springs

The F31 drives on them superbly (more so with 18s) But they take the rough roads so much better and the car drives/handles better as well. No more jarring over rough country roads etc

[JWH]

danb79 said:

No worries

I'd highly recommend the Bilstein B4S shocks and Eibach pro kit springs

The F31 drives on them superbly (more so with 18s) But they take the rough roads so much better and the car drives/handles better as well. No more jarring over rough country roads etc

I've had a few months of vacillating over where to go with the suspension. The car's a 340i and very much my daily driver doing over 20k/yr, it's now 6.5 years old on 110k and I intend to get at least another 5 years out of it so while the way it drives is very important to me not destroying the ride quality is also a priority.
It's currently on an adaptive setup, ride quality in comfort is really excellent but the body control is awful and while sport partially resolves that it also just feels very leaden and inert. It tuns on 18 inch 405m alloys with 245/40/18 non-run flats which improved the stiffer mode of adaptive from essentially unusably firm to kind of ok but still not right.
It's recently blown a front damper which has forced me to make a move, in the end I narrowed it down to either B16's with the komfort spring or the Birds spring and damper setup. I couldn't find a way of experiencing the B16's on someone's car and trying to get info on the spring rates used vs standard vs Birds got me nowhere so in the end I went with Birds because I could ride in a demo car fitted with the kit and reassure myself that the ride wasn't intolerable in daily use. I'm still quite sceptical regarding whether the extra expense vs what you've done (it's essentially the same hardware with spring rates and damper valving tweaked) is worth the considerable extra expense though!

Hopefully I'll be pleased with the outcome, I've always found it a great thing to bumble around in plus it goes well and sounds awesome but doesn't drive that well once you push on a bit. The car's already got the BMW exhaust and map on it and is also booked in for their optional LSD to be fitted so with that in the addition to the suspension refresh I'm hoping I'll be quite pleased with the outcome. Lets just not talk about the £5.5k it will have cost to get it driving and sounding as it really should have in the first place!

[danb79]

JWH said:

I've had a few months of vacillating over where to go with the suspension. The car's a 340i and very much my daily driver doing over 20k/yr, it's now 6.5 years old on 110k and I intend to get at least another 5 years out of it so while the way it drives is very important to me not destroying the ride quality is also a priority.
It's currently on an adaptive setup, ride quality in comfort is really excellent but the body control is awful and while sport partially resolves that it also just feels very leaden and inert. It tuns on 18 inch 405m alloys with 245/40/18 non-run flats which improved the stiffer mode of adaptive from essentially unusably firm to kind of ok but still not right.
It's recently blown a front damper which has forced me to make a move, in the end I narrowed it down to either B16's with the komfort spring or the Birds spring and damper setup. I couldn't find a way of experiencing the B16's on someone's car and trying to get info on the spring rates used vs standard vs Birds got me nowhere so in the end I went with Birds because I could ride in a demo car fitted with the kit and reassure myself that the ride wasn't intolerable in daily use. I'm still quite sceptical regarding whether the extra expense vs what you've done (it's essentially the same hardware with spring rates and damper valving tweaked) is worth the considerable extra expense though!

Hopefully I'll be pleased with the outcome, I've always found it a great thing to bumble around in plus it goes well and sounds awesome but doesn't drive that well once you push on a bit. The car's already got the BMW exhaust and map on it and is also booked in for their optional LSD to be fitted so with that in the addition to the suspension refresh I'm hoping I'll be quite pleased with the outcome. Lets just not talk about the £5.5k it will have cost to get it driving and sounding as it really should have in the first place!

The outright cost of Birds suspension put me off; as they are just revalved shocks... IMO very expensive for what you get; whereas the B4S shocks with Eibach pro kit springs cost me £650 via Autodoc and a further £200 for top mounts and rubber bits from BMW etc

I still wanted the car to be road compliant as we travel up to the Highlands a bit and some of the roads up there make our local rough country roads look like billiard tables

Plus it's the daily car for the wife with her commute to work; so overly firm wasn't on the menu

I test drove a few F30s with B16s, B12 etc and absolutely brilliant on the back roads, pushing it, taking bends hard and fast. But driving back on normal 30mph roads through town etc; bounced everywhere and that really put me off

[danb79]

New OEM BMW front splitter landed the other day

Just got it fitted now, in the snow haha

Job, jobbed:

[danb79]

Full clean MOT again via Bowker BMW last week

The car needs for nothing currently (bar a bloody good wash as it's gone grey)!

Watch this space...

[macron]

d_a_n1979 said:

skullandbiscuits said:

Ohh fab, rarely see the 325d engine. Is this the twin turbo 4 pot version?

Cheers and yes

From right back on p1, I was surprised to see these made it to the 7series for a bit, allegedly a little slower to 60 than the much more mainstream 730d and fewer mpgs, bit of an odd choice in that perhaps. Decent sized estate with the turbos, probably a wise move!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024081027...

[danb79]

macron said:

d_a_n1979 said:

skullandbiscuits said:

Ohh fab, rarely see the 325d engine. Is this the twin turbo 4 pot version?

Cheers and yes

From right back on p1, I was surprised to see these made it to the 7series for a bit, allegedly a little slower to 60 than the much more mainstream 730d and fewer mpgs, bit of an odd choice in that perhaps. Decent sized estate with the turbos, probably a wise move!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024081027...

Wow! Never knew there was such a thing

IMO the 7'er needs to be a 730D minimum; they're a big bus and need the power...

The 325D suits the F31; pulls like a train with the car not being lardy...

[danb79]

Full interior and exterior detail this morning with a full AG ceramic coat

[danb79]

Full detail today (cleaned it thoroughly inside yesterday)... It's 2ºC today; rather than -4ºC yesterday

Mine will get done tomorrow or Tuesday; my body's had enough for today...

[danb79]

Gave the F31 a contactless wash (soak with Koch Chemie Green Star; then snowfoamed, wheels scrubbed, rinsed, glass dried and treated, wheels/tyres dried and treated)

That'll do; not as enjoyable as I thought it'd be with it being 1ºC and blowing a hoolie

[danb79]

Fresh oil & filter sorted this afternoon alongside a quick engine bay clean





The car itself is filthy, that's tomorrows job. My body's had enough for today!

[danb79]

And that's the F31 back into summer mode

Velour mats fitted; all alcantara wiped down; leather cleaned, summer 405Ms back on

[Its Just Adz]

Looks great on those wheels again.

[danb79]

Its Just Adz said:

Looks great on those wheels again.

Thank you

I agree; they suit the ferric grey so well...

TBH I like the satin black 397s; they're a doddle to clean

[5 In a Row]

Those wheels are very nice.

Do you ceramic coat them after a winter lay up prior to use?

[danb79]

5 In a Row said:

Those wheels are very nice.

Do you ceramic coat them after a winter lay up prior to use?

Yes

They're washed and then put away; so when it comes to refitting them, I use Gtechniq's Panel Wipe, clean them down and then reapply C5 to them - takes about 20mins all in. Very easy to do