The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[Muzzman]

Mr Tidy said:

Well you'll obviously need at least 17s for the 330i front brakes, and 8.5J square sets are rare because BMW never seemed to use them!

My 325ti was a Sport so it had staggered Style 97 7.5Jx17 ET 47 fronts and 8.5Jx17 ET50 rears as standard.

Based on that I can't see why 8.5J ET40 wouldn't fit but this site might be worth visiting:- https://www.willtheyfit.com/?width=215&aspect=...

17x9 ET42 seems to be the recommended square track setup according to a couple of places

https://www.bimmerworld.com/About-Us/Wheel-Info-Te...

https://support.apexraceparts.com/hc/en-us/article...

[Krikkit]

Just to weigh in on the tyre/wheel debate - I'd start by making sure you can find a track tyre that's affordable in the right size. It's surprising how they vary by profile/width. Once you've found a popular size you can get the wheels to fit.

With the absolute grip not being critical (not being a race car) it might be worth going for a narrowish 17" wheel where you can get plenty of wheels and tyres to suit.

helix402 said:

Sport skirts are a straight easy swop onto an SE.

Thanks, appreciate it. Might take a while to find some in Flamenco unfortunately, but at least I know one way or the other.

Had another niggle today - driver's side window regulator went "crunch" as it wound up, now the window is stuck up... Good job the AC is working as I'm going away with it this weekend and it'll be 30°!

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 4th August 14:58

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 4th August 15:00

[s m]

Krikkit said:

Thanks, appreciate it. Might take a while to find some in Flamenco unfortunately, but at least I know one way or the other.

Had another niggle today - driver's side window regulator went "crunch" as it wound up, now the window is stuck up... Good job the AC is working as I'm going away with it this weekend and it'll be 30°!

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 4th August 14:58

Edited by Krikkit on Tuesday 4th August 15:00

The window regulator isn’t too bad a job Krikkit. One of the cables has probably frayed and then graunched up. It’s more the time stripping all the door furniture/door airbag module off etc
I’ve done a couple

[Mr Tidy]

greenarrow said:

darn, this car is really close to me, on the south coast, but I am not a fan of modified cars as a rule, unless they look completely standard! I don't think this one would go down well with the wife who generally hates BMWs and especially lowered and modified ones.....that said, she did enjoy driving an E46 330i i brought home on a test drive about 11 years ago - but then proceeded to spot some rust blisters on one of the arches and said "non".

I've seen it on Autotrader too (I've still got an alert for them).

Prices for all cars seem to have shot up since lockdown ended. I sold my 103K mile Imola Red 52 plate Sport for just under £1,500 in 2018 and got offered it back in 2019 for £1K!

Being an 04 plate it's as new as you'll get and has some good options like Xenons plus being a facelift it will have the 6 speed box, but that seems expensive to me.

I suppose it just depends how much you want one!

[greenarrow]

Mr Tidy said:

greenarrow said:

darn, this car is really close to me, on the south coast, but I am not a fan of modified cars as a rule, unless they look completely standard! I don't think this one would go down well with the wife who generally hates BMWs and especially lowered and modified ones.....that said, she did enjoy driving an E46 330i i brought home on a test drive about 11 years ago - but then proceeded to spot some rust blisters on one of the arches and said "non".

I've seen it on Autotrader too (I've still got an alert for them).

Prices for all cars seem to have shot up since lockdown ended. I sold my 103K mile Imola Red 52 plate Sport for just under £1,500 in 2018 and got offered it back in 2019 for £1K!

Being an 04 plate it's as new as you'll get and has some good options like Xenons plus being a facelift it will have the 6 speed box, but that seems expensive to me.

I suppose it just depends how much you want one!

Yes I've come to the conclusion that now is not a good time to be buying a used car. Prices seem far too high across the market. I certainly wouldn't give that kind of money for that particular car. For me it would need to be a standard manual car, preferably 6 speed, but honestly not that fussy. TBH its only one of a number of cars that like you I have alerts for and routinely look at.

I would have bought your Imola Red one if it had come up for sale this year !

[Mr Tidy]

greenarrow said:

Yes I've come to the conclusion that now is not a good time to be buying a used car. Prices seem far too high across the market. I certainly wouldn't give that kind of money for that particular car. For me it would need to be a standard manual car, preferably 6 speed, but honestly not that fussy. TBH its only one of a number of cars that like you I have alerts for and routinely look at.

I would have bought your Imola Red one if it had come up for sale this year !

Cheers, but it might have been a bit dearer now!

[greenarrow]

Mr Tidy said:

greenarrow said:

Yes I've come to the conclusion that now is not a good time to be buying a used car. Prices seem far too high across the market. I certainly wouldn't give that kind of money for that particular car. For me it would need to be a standard manual car, preferably 6 speed, but honestly not that fussy. TBH its only one of a number of cars that like you I have alerts for and routinely look at.

I would have bought your Imola Red one if it had come up for sale this year !

Cheers, but it might have been a bit dearer now!

I'm sure it would have been

Still a relatively cheap car though compared with £4K Golf GTI Mk5s and £5K Civic EP3 Type Rs. Everything in the modern classic hot hatch type bracket seems to have climbed about a grand since lockdown started.

[s m]

greenarrow said:

Mr Tidy said:

greenarrow said:

Yes I've come to the conclusion that now is not a good time to be buying a used car. Prices seem far too high across the market. I certainly wouldn't give that kind of money for that particular car. For me it would need to be a standard manual car, preferably 6 speed, but honestly not that fussy. TBH its only one of a number of cars that like you I have alerts for and routinely look at.

I would have bought your Imola Red one if it had come up for sale this year !

Cheers, but it might have been a bit dearer now!

I'm sure it would have been

Still a relatively cheap car though compared with £4K Golf GTI Mk5s and £5K Civic EP3 Type Rs. Everything in the modern classic hot hatch type bracket seems to have climbed about a grand since lockdown started.

52 people watching - surprised so many really but then other than the 130i there aren’t many rwd hot hatches about nowadays

[greenarrow]

s m said:

greenarrow said:

Mr Tidy said:

greenarrow said:

Yes I've come to the conclusion that now is not a good time to be buying a used car. Prices seem far too high across the market. I certainly wouldn't give that kind of money for that particular car. For me it would need to be a standard manual car, preferably 6 speed, but honestly not that fussy. TBH its only one of a number of cars that like you I have alerts for and routinely look at.

I would have bought your Imola Red one if it had come up for sale this year !

Cheers, but it might have been a bit dearer now!

I'm sure it would have been

Still a relatively cheap car though compared with £4K Golf GTI Mk5s and £5K Civic EP3 Type Rs. Everything in the modern classic hot hatch type bracket seems to have climbed about a grand since lockdown started.

52 people watching - surprised so many really but then other than the 130i there aren’t many rwd hot hatches about nowadays

I can imagine that particular 325ti attracting a lot of attention with the "drift" brigade and younger BMW fans in general. Talking of the 130i, part of me wishes I had followed up on one I was looking at locally, where the seller only wanted £3495. That's another car where prices have climbed this summer.

[Max M4X WW]

Would anyone be interested in a semi track prepared 325ti? Email me for details. Thanks

[Mr Tidy]

greenarrow said:

I can imagine that particular 325ti attracting a lot of attention with the "drift" brigade and younger BMW fans in general. Talking of the 130i, part of me wishes I had followed up on one I was looking at locally, where the seller only wanted £3495. That's another car where prices have climbed this summer.

Yes, I can see the appeal!

I'm still gutted I didn't jump on a Japan Red 130i manual that was up for just under £4K 7 miles away a couple of years ago!

By the time I convinced myself I could afford it someone with more sense had already bought it!

So now my daily is an E90 330i with the same engine but it just feels a bit too grown-up and refined for my liking, even though it is definitely quicker than my 325ti was.

[anonymous-user]

Mr Tidy said:

greenarrow said:

I can imagine that particular 325ti attracting a lot of attention with the "drift" brigade and younger BMW fans in general. Talking of the 130i, part of me wishes I had followed up on one I was looking at locally, where the seller only wanted £3495. That's another car where prices have climbed this summer.

Yes, I can see the appeal!

I'm still gutted I didn't jump on a Japan Red 130i manual that was up for just under £4K 7 miles away a couple of years ago!

By the time I convinced myself I could afford it someone with more sense had already bought it!

So now my daily is an E90 330i with the same engine but it just feels a bit too grown-up and refined for my liking, even though it is definitely quicker than my 325ti was.

personally dont see why that one specifically appeals to the "drift brigade", they like the cheap SE's with 16's.
think its a very tidy looking car, clearly well look after, only bits im not sure on is the painted engine covers and the intake but both can be had for pennies

had a front end respray so no paint to be done!

[drophead]

greenarrow said:

eezeh said:

theres a very tidy looking 325ti sport for sale on ebay at the moment!

darn, this car is really close to me, on the south coast, but I am not a fan of modified cars as a rule, unless they look completely standard! I don't think this one would go down well with the wife who generally hates BMWs and especially lowered and modified ones.....that said, she did enjoy driving an E46 330i i brought home on a test drive about 11 years ago - but then proceeded to spot some rust blisters on one of the arches and said "non".

That's about £800 overpriced at least. They're lovely cars, especially with the 6 speed box, but that particular one isn't worth the money. Maybe if it had half the mods and 50k less miles!

[anonymous-user]

Had some new rear tyres fitted the other day, goodyear eagle f1 asymmetric 5's
really not sure whats happened but the car does not feel stable at all, very floaty and quite unsettled whereas with the 3's it stuck to the road like st to a blanket and was really planted and stable in corners

surely this cant be the result of switching from asymmetric 3's to 5's?

[Krikkit]

eezeh said:

Had some new rear tyres fitted the other day, goodyear eagle f1 asymmetric 5's
really not sure whats happened but the car does not feel stable at all, very floaty and quite unsettled whereas with the 3's it stuck to the road like st to a blanket and was really planted and stable in corners

surely this cant be the result of switching from asymmetric 3's to 5's?

Have you checked the pressures after fitting? I'd give it a good dab of throttle and spin them up as well.

[Krikkit]

Window-based update, this was dead on:

s m said:

The window regulator isn’t too bad a job Krikkit. One of the cables has probably frayed and then graunched up. It’s more the time stripping all the door furniture/door airbag module off etc
I’ve done a couple

Snapped cable which then wrapped itself around the inner spindle.

Bought this kit of replacement bits on eBay for £7 and fitted this week: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163857471624

Bit of a fiddly/awkward job (especially tensioning the cables in the last step) but it's all gone back together suitably well. I did it on a roasting day so the door seal came off pretty easily and re-sealed nicely as the silicon stuff was super flexy. Bet it'd be a right bugger in winter.

I've ordered the other side now just in case.

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 14th August 11:56

[s m]

Krikkit said:

Window-based update, this was dead on:

s m said:

The window regulator isn’t too bad a job Krikkit. One of the cables has probably frayed and then graunched up. It’s more the time stripping all the door furniture/door airbag module off etc
I’ve done a couple

Snapped cable which then wrapped itself around the inner spindle.

Bought this kit of replacement bits on eBay for £7 and fitted this week: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163857471624

Bit of a fiddly/awkward job (especially tensioning the cables in the last step) but it's all gone back together suitably well. I did it on a roasting day so the door seal came off pretty easily and re-sealed nicely as the silicon stuff was super flexy. Bet it'd be a right bugger in winter.

I've ordered the other side now just in case.

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 14th August 11:56

I suspect your driver’s side window probably got a lot more cycles than your other one but you’re an expert on doing them now!

[anonymous-user]

Krikkit said:

Window-based update, this was dead on:

s m said:

The window regulator isn’t too bad a job Krikkit. One of the cables has probably frayed and then graunched up. It’s more the time stripping all the door furniture/door airbag module off etc
I’ve done a couple

Snapped cable which then wrapped itself around the inner spindle.

Bought this kit of replacement bits on eBay for £7 and fitted this week: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163857471624

Bit of a fiddly/awkward job (especially tensioning the cables in the last step) but it's all gone back together suitably well. I did it on a roasting day so the door seal came off pretty easily and re-sealed nicely as the silicon stuff was super flexy. Bet it'd be a right bugger in winter.

I've ordered the other side now just in case.

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 14th August 11:56

How is the quality of that kit, my window rattles when its down and you shut the door was thinking of changing the mounts and the cables in the hopes that will stop the rattle

[Krikkit]

Kit quality was very good indeed, whoever made it has obviously spent decent money getting the moulds made, the pulley that sits on the motor shaft is just a splined interference fit, and it was a perfect match. The cables are just like any clutch/throttle cable and seem good.

The only slight snag was the rubber buffers that sit on the window brackets - they've made them out of quite stiff rubber, so the force needed to get the window on would've been huge. I trimmed them down a little so it was still taught, but a little less than window-breaking levels of tool power needed.

s m said:

I suspect your driver’s side window probably got a lot more cycles than your other one but you’re an expert on doing them now!

Exactly what I thought, it also doesn't help that the exterior window seal is letting water through into the door too - the cable itself had rusted and everything was filthy. Can the seals be bought?

[josh-cg608]

Ive just brought a 2003 msport 6 speed with the m54b30 conversion. Ecu had a map and also mishimoto induction kit. Mechanically solid with recent new brakes, clutch, full cooling system and a few other bits. Bodywork isn't ideal so ive got it booked in for both bumpers to be spray and a few bits touched in. And could do with some wet sanding in places. Interior is also fairly clean just after a centre console and both inner door grab handles for dis colouring and scratching. If anyone is breaking a msport and has any interior parts drop me a pm. Finally wheels are booked in monday for refurb and have a fresh set of mich ps4's ready to go on. Hopefuuly over the next year should be brought back up to scratch. Will try and update pics as i go along.