BMW M135i (F20)
Discussion
Thought it was about time I made a thread on my new purchase after reluctantly parting with my 130i (thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... at the beginning of May.
I’m now two months into ownership of this 2014 Estoril Blue Pre-LCI M135i. It’s done 41k from new and comes with a fair amount of spec, including Pro Nav, Harmon Kardon, heated seats, cruise control, electric mirrors and front and rear parking sensors. When these cars first launched, they were considered to be good value at around £30k, but the first owner of this one probably paid around £38k given the spec.
The car previously belonged to a family member who owned it for the past five years and it had one owner before that. The high spec and knowing that it has had an easy life and been very well cared for was what tempted me away from my 130i and after having some doubts about whether I was making the right decision, I have no regrets so far. In an ideal world I would have liked an LCI model as I prefer the revised body, but this was too good an opportunity to turn down.
The biggest difference compared to the old car is that BMW massively moved the game on with the interior of the F20, both in terms of quality and tech. However, as this car is now seven years old the Pro Nav is essential to stop it looking dated IMO. The only thing I prefer from the old car is the seats – the 135 seats don’t give quite as much support and you don’t sink into them as well. The one thing letting the interior down was the steering wheel, so the first thing I did was to buy a retrimmed one from Royal Steering Wheels, which looks fantastic. To be honest it’s probably one of the best things I’ve done to any car I’ve had because you get the feeling of the fresh new wheel in your hands every time you drive it.
Before:
After:
I have installed an MMI box which gives you CarPlay and Android Auto as well as a reversing camera which works really well and seamlessly integrates with the iDrive system – highly recommended if you want to keep the tech up-to-date in these cars and not have to worry about the in-built nav going out of date.
The biggest concern for me about buying this example was that it has the ZF 8-speed auto. This is my first auto and up to now I have been very much a manual guy – if I was speccing the car from now I would most likely have gone with the manual option. Fortunately, I’m really enjoying the relaxed nature of the car around town with this gearbox, which is where I spend 90% of my time. It is an outstanding gearbox and although in the sportier settings it doesn’t quite have the drama of the DCT ‘box in my dad’s M2 Competition, in auto/comfort mode it is better. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I will never own another manual car, but I would definitely recommend trying the ZF8 before committing to a manual in the M135i/M140i. The auto gearbox and infotainment means it is leagues ahead of my old 130i at doing the boring day-to-day stuff, which is ultimately what I mostly use it for.
Compared to the N52 engine, the N55 in this car is naturally punchier from low down with it being turbo’d but it’s also happy to rev out, so you do get the best of both worlds. I know that having a Stage 1 remap on these cars is quite popular but to be honest I don’t feel like I need any more power for the road – the fact it will happily do the boring stuff means you sometimes forget how quick it is, certainly a level above the 130i in that respect. The stock sound is not bad at all (albeit partly fake) and reportedly better than the M140i, but my 130i had a 135i backbox on it, so the new car is still a bit too muted for me at the moment, so I am having the OEM backbox mod done by Modstock next week which should release some extra noise.
I haven’t done a huge amount of spirited driving so far, but I can tell that the car feels softer and less controlled than the 130i when pressing on. I always expected that would be the case though as the old car had a Bilstein B12 Pro Kit and M3 lower control arms which transformed it compared to the standard setup. I have a B12 kit to put on which should hopefully tidy the handling up and make the car feel more controlled. I may then add the underbody brace which the 3-door cars have if I’m still not happy with how the back end feels. I probably won’t do the M3 arms again because in the F20 they need to be combined with tension struts to stop the front end being lowered and that makes it very costly. In any case, I think the front end of the new car is pointier than the 130i was as standard as there is more stock camber.
Having done a couple of longer trips, I am very impressed by how frugal the N55 engine is – it will do low 40s on a run which is noticeably better than the 130i could manage. I used Eco Pro most of the way which may have helped, but anywhere other than on the motorway it makes the car feel like a 114i so I usually don’t bother with it
That sort of efficiency makes the 52-litre fuel tank less of an issue when doing long journeys. It spends most of its time during the week going up and down Sheffield’s hills so I’m currently averaging 20mpg which is around the same as the 130.
As for other plans for the car, I’m also tempted by some exterior touches such as a lip spoiler and a front splitter to make it look a little more aggressive, but I’ll be waiting until the B12 kit is on to see how much lower it sits first.
The market for these cars is very strong at the moment – the M140i values have gone crazy and although the M135i is slightly less desirable (particularly pre-LCI) the inflated prices are filtering right down to the early cars now. Out of interest I asked WBAC for a quote and they came back with exactly what I paid only two months ago! It will be interesting to see if that continues as a RWD straight-six 1 series is looking like a thing of the past.
Thanks for looking!
I’m now two months into ownership of this 2014 Estoril Blue Pre-LCI M135i. It’s done 41k from new and comes with a fair amount of spec, including Pro Nav, Harmon Kardon, heated seats, cruise control, electric mirrors and front and rear parking sensors. When these cars first launched, they were considered to be good value at around £30k, but the first owner of this one probably paid around £38k given the spec.
The car previously belonged to a family member who owned it for the past five years and it had one owner before that. The high spec and knowing that it has had an easy life and been very well cared for was what tempted me away from my 130i and after having some doubts about whether I was making the right decision, I have no regrets so far. In an ideal world I would have liked an LCI model as I prefer the revised body, but this was too good an opportunity to turn down.
The biggest difference compared to the old car is that BMW massively moved the game on with the interior of the F20, both in terms of quality and tech. However, as this car is now seven years old the Pro Nav is essential to stop it looking dated IMO. The only thing I prefer from the old car is the seats – the 135 seats don’t give quite as much support and you don’t sink into them as well. The one thing letting the interior down was the steering wheel, so the first thing I did was to buy a retrimmed one from Royal Steering Wheels, which looks fantastic. To be honest it’s probably one of the best things I’ve done to any car I’ve had because you get the feeling of the fresh new wheel in your hands every time you drive it.
Before:
After:
I have installed an MMI box which gives you CarPlay and Android Auto as well as a reversing camera which works really well and seamlessly integrates with the iDrive system – highly recommended if you want to keep the tech up-to-date in these cars and not have to worry about the in-built nav going out of date.
The biggest concern for me about buying this example was that it has the ZF 8-speed auto. This is my first auto and up to now I have been very much a manual guy – if I was speccing the car from now I would most likely have gone with the manual option. Fortunately, I’m really enjoying the relaxed nature of the car around town with this gearbox, which is where I spend 90% of my time. It is an outstanding gearbox and although in the sportier settings it doesn’t quite have the drama of the DCT ‘box in my dad’s M2 Competition, in auto/comfort mode it is better. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I will never own another manual car, but I would definitely recommend trying the ZF8 before committing to a manual in the M135i/M140i. The auto gearbox and infotainment means it is leagues ahead of my old 130i at doing the boring day-to-day stuff, which is ultimately what I mostly use it for.
Compared to the N52 engine, the N55 in this car is naturally punchier from low down with it being turbo’d but it’s also happy to rev out, so you do get the best of both worlds. I know that having a Stage 1 remap on these cars is quite popular but to be honest I don’t feel like I need any more power for the road – the fact it will happily do the boring stuff means you sometimes forget how quick it is, certainly a level above the 130i in that respect. The stock sound is not bad at all (albeit partly fake) and reportedly better than the M140i, but my 130i had a 135i backbox on it, so the new car is still a bit too muted for me at the moment, so I am having the OEM backbox mod done by Modstock next week which should release some extra noise.
I haven’t done a huge amount of spirited driving so far, but I can tell that the car feels softer and less controlled than the 130i when pressing on. I always expected that would be the case though as the old car had a Bilstein B12 Pro Kit and M3 lower control arms which transformed it compared to the standard setup. I have a B12 kit to put on which should hopefully tidy the handling up and make the car feel more controlled. I may then add the underbody brace which the 3-door cars have if I’m still not happy with how the back end feels. I probably won’t do the M3 arms again because in the F20 they need to be combined with tension struts to stop the front end being lowered and that makes it very costly. In any case, I think the front end of the new car is pointier than the 130i was as standard as there is more stock camber.
Having done a couple of longer trips, I am very impressed by how frugal the N55 engine is – it will do low 40s on a run which is noticeably better than the 130i could manage. I used Eco Pro most of the way which may have helped, but anywhere other than on the motorway it makes the car feel like a 114i so I usually don’t bother with it
That sort of efficiency makes the 52-litre fuel tank less of an issue when doing long journeys. It spends most of its time during the week going up and down Sheffield’s hills so I’m currently averaging 20mpg which is around the same as the 130.As for other plans for the car, I’m also tempted by some exterior touches such as a lip spoiler and a front splitter to make it look a little more aggressive, but I’ll be waiting until the B12 kit is on to see how much lower it sits first.
The market for these cars is very strong at the moment – the M140i values have gone crazy and although the M135i is slightly less desirable (particularly pre-LCI) the inflated prices are filtering right down to the early cars now. Out of interest I asked WBAC for a quote and they came back with exactly what I paid only two months ago! It will be interesting to see if that continues as a RWD straight-six 1 series is looking like a thing of the past.
Thanks for looking!
Edited by chriscoates on Sunday 4th July 09:16
Looks like a really nice example with some good options ticked.
I really like the N55 engine; it’s pretty sweet and revvy for a turbocharged engine and is one of the main reasons I want a none Comp M2.
The underbody brace is well worth fitting especially for £140 from Williams Performance. It definitely tied my M140 front and rear ends together more.
Will be interesting to hear what you think of the suspension upgrades. I sometimes wonder if I should have invested more in my 140. The Birds set up in my 130i is bloody brilliant, perhaps that would have cured my complaints.
I really like the N55 engine; it’s pretty sweet and revvy for a turbocharged engine and is one of the main reasons I want a none Comp M2.
The underbody brace is well worth fitting especially for £140 from Williams Performance. It definitely tied my M140 front and rear ends together more.
Will be interesting to hear what you think of the suspension upgrades. I sometimes wonder if I should have invested more in my 140. The Birds set up in my 130i is bloody brilliant, perhaps that would have cured my complaints.
Very similar spec to my M135i, save for the HK audio. Mine's Mineral Grey but I do like Estoril blue, it really makes the car stand out.
As for exterior stuff, all I've done is change the chrome kidney grilles for the black MPerformance ones (approx 55 quid from Cotswolds on ebay) - such a small change has a massive impact on the front of the pre-LCI, the bumper is very oblique so removing the big shiny highlight seems to diffuse some of the angles a bit.
Which MMI box did you buy, and whereabouts did you tuck the box into the dash?
I had an Andream B box but it died after a day or so, refusing to boot. Also, the LVDS cable from the box to the screen was only just long enough when tucking the box to the right hand side of the glovebox (there wasn't enough space to put it underneath the radio due to the size of the pro nav headunit)
As for exterior stuff, all I've done is change the chrome kidney grilles for the black MPerformance ones (approx 55 quid from Cotswolds on ebay) - such a small change has a massive impact on the front of the pre-LCI, the bumper is very oblique so removing the big shiny highlight seems to diffuse some of the angles a bit.
Which MMI box did you buy, and whereabouts did you tuck the box into the dash?
I had an Andream B box but it died after a day or so, refusing to boot. Also, the LVDS cable from the box to the screen was only just long enough when tucking the box to the right hand side of the glovebox (there wasn't enough space to put it underneath the radio due to the size of the pro nav headunit)
Edited by Mr Happy on Saturday 3rd July 11:55
Nice natural progression here I think after your 130i. Agree with all your comments, the m135i takes the 1 to another level in most regards. The sound of the 130i with 135i backbox is better overall though I feel, more classically straight 6 likely purely down to sound not being robbed by the turbocharger.
One thing driving my brothers m135i quite a lot is it does feel much less engaging to drive, more akin to point and squirt fun rather than my old 130i where you’d grab it by the scruff of the neck and have to ring it out to get the performance out - hence why for 90% of situations the 135i is the better car overall.
Very cool car, great spec, enjoy!
One thing driving my brothers m135i quite a lot is it does feel much less engaging to drive, more akin to point and squirt fun rather than my old 130i where you’d grab it by the scruff of the neck and have to ring it out to get the performance out - hence why for 90% of situations the 135i is the better car overall.
Very cool car, great spec, enjoy!
Thanks for the comments folks.
The MMI box was from a guy called Kush at codeyourbeemer on Facebook - I think it was £220 for the unit and the reversing camera if you fit it yourself. I remember the LVDS cable was stretching slightly because like you say, the unit had to be placed behind the glovebox, but up to now I've had no issues with the connection. You can tell the unit you have Pro Nav as well so you still get the benefit of the bigger screen when you're using it. The only issue I've had is sometimes when I've been using Android Auto and I come back to the car and plug the cable back in, it says there's a connection error
a bit of messing about usually sorts it but 90% of the time it works brilliantly. It has wireless CarPlay and supposedly Android is also wireless but I've never been able to get it to work without the cable connected.
You're right in saying that the performance and shove-in-the-back feeling is more of a factor in the driving experience in the M135i but I'm hoping a few choice mods will make it a better balanced package and help the chassis keep up with the engine.
Mr Happy said:
Very similar spec to my M135i, save for the HK audio. Mine's Mineral Grey but I do like Estoril blue, it really makes the car stand out.
As for exterior stuff, all I've done is change the chrome kidney grilles for the black MPerformance ones (approx 55 quid from Cotswolds on ebay) - such a small change has a massive impact on the front of the pre-LCI, the bumper is very oblique so removing the big shiny highlight seems to diffuse some of the angles a bit.
Which MMI box did you buy, and whereabouts did you tuck the box into the dash?
I had an Andream B box but it died after a day or so, refusing to boot. Also, the LVDS cable from the box to the screen was only just long enough when tucking the box to the right hand side of the glovebox (there wasn't enough space to put it underneath the radio due to the size of the pro nav headunit)
I probably will do the black grilles at some point, especially if I put a splitter on otherwise the colour clash will not be nice.As for exterior stuff, all I've done is change the chrome kidney grilles for the black MPerformance ones (approx 55 quid from Cotswolds on ebay) - such a small change has a massive impact on the front of the pre-LCI, the bumper is very oblique so removing the big shiny highlight seems to diffuse some of the angles a bit.
Which MMI box did you buy, and whereabouts did you tuck the box into the dash?
I had an Andream B box but it died after a day or so, refusing to boot. Also, the LVDS cable from the box to the screen was only just long enough when tucking the box to the right hand side of the glovebox (there wasn't enough space to put it underneath the radio due to the size of the pro nav headunit)
Edited by Mr Happy on Saturday 3rd July 11:55
The MMI box was from a guy called Kush at codeyourbeemer on Facebook - I think it was £220 for the unit and the reversing camera if you fit it yourself. I remember the LVDS cable was stretching slightly because like you say, the unit had to be placed behind the glovebox, but up to now I've had no issues with the connection. You can tell the unit you have Pro Nav as well so you still get the benefit of the bigger screen when you're using it. The only issue I've had is sometimes when I've been using Android Auto and I come back to the car and plug the cable back in, it says there's a connection error
a bit of messing about usually sorts it but 90% of the time it works brilliantly. It has wireless CarPlay and supposedly Android is also wireless but I've never been able to get it to work without the cable connected.lewisf182 said:
Nice natural progression here I think after your 130i. Agree with all your comments, the m135i takes the 1 to another level in most regards. The sound of the 130i with 135i backbox is better overall though I feel, more classically straight 6 likely purely down to sound not being robbed by the turbocharger.
One thing driving my brothers m135i quite a lot is it does feel much less engaging to drive, more akin to point and squirt fun rather than my old 130i where you’d grab it by the scruff of the neck and have to ring it out to get the performance out - hence why for 90% of situations the 135i is the better car overall.
Very cool car, great spec, enjoy!
I agree that the 130i sounds better but I'm not expecting the backbox mod to make it sound better than the 130 - like you say a turbocharged engine is always going to struggle against an NA engine but it's a little bit muted when you put your foot down and you can tell the active sound is doing a lot of the work. I'll wait and see how much difference it makes inside the car before I decide whether to code the fake noise out. One thing driving my brothers m135i quite a lot is it does feel much less engaging to drive, more akin to point and squirt fun rather than my old 130i where you’d grab it by the scruff of the neck and have to ring it out to get the performance out - hence why for 90% of situations the 135i is the better car overall.
Very cool car, great spec, enjoy!
You're right in saying that the performance and shove-in-the-back feeling is more of a factor in the driving experience in the M135i but I'm hoping a few choice mods will make it a better balanced package and help the chassis keep up with the engine.
MDMA . said:
That looks really clean. Please don't ruin it with a pops and bangs remap 
No plans for a remap - like I said the stock performance is plenty IMO especially without any handling mods.Time for a long overdue update!
Firstly, I now have more noise
Having had a 135i backbox fitted to my 130i, I was looking for something similar for the M135i – not obnoxious but a subtle increase, particularly at lower revs so the car is more of an event to drive at town speeds where I spend most of my time.
When my dad had an E92 M3 some years ago, Paul from PCW Exhausts modified the standard backbox and made the car sound like it should have done when it left the factory, and I was pleased to discover that there’s a similar mod available for the M135i and M140i. The standard backbox is removed and the sound deadening is taken out, and the welding to open the box is done on the top so it can’t be seen when back on the car, retaining the standard look.
I contacted Paul back in July but as he now does mods on a whole range of cars, the earliest he could get me in was November! Luckily there are several companies which have sprung up doing the same thing, so I booked the car in with Modstock, who offer a mobile service. I had several conversations with Chris as I was unsure whether to just have the backbox or go a step further and have the resonator removed as well. He recommended doing both and even put me in touch with a guy who’d just had his done so I could get first-hand experience of what it’s like – fantastic service.
Anthony from Modstock came and carried out the backbox mod and resonator delete a couple of weeks ago – within an hour it was done. I love the subtlety of it, the only telltale sign it's been opened up is a bit of permanent marker
That was in July, and needless to say I’m delighted with the results! At £350 it’s great value compared with an M Performance exhaust or an aftermarket backbox from Remus etc. It’s just what I was after, very subtle unless the car is on more than a bit of throttle, and nice and bassy low in the rev range. The pops and burbles in sport mode which are part of the standard mapping are also more significant now.
There are a couple of compromises though – firstly, when in sport mode at low revs the active sound makes the car sound droney, largely due to the fact that it no longer needs to compensate for the quieter standard system. I’ve sorted that by lowering the active sound using Bimmercode for now. I like the increased noise in sport even if it’s fake, but I may end up getting rid of it altogether.
Secondly, the cold start is rather anti-social there's a link to a video of it here but it still doesn't reflect how it sounds in person 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CCKkjwOHII
I’m keeping the neighbours happy by setting off immediately after starting the car when leaving for work each morning – as soon as you apply any throttle it quietens down and once the cold start cycle has finished, you’d never even know the exhaust has been modified. To delete the cold start you have to get the ECU mapped which I have no plans to do, so I’m happy to live with it.
The next job was fitting the B12 kit, which I had high hopes for given the reviews from other owners. I haven’t had chance to drive the car spiritedly since fitting it, but I can already tell that the ride is far more controlled and less crashy than before. It has dropped the front slightly but the ride height at the back is pretty much the same and like the exhaust, that subtlety is what I want when doing mods on my cars. The yellow dampers are the only real giveaway.
It will be interesting to see the difference it has made to the body control at higher speeds because things go a bit wayward when pressing on with the standard setup, it wasn’t the most confidence inspiring.
I also noticed that the front tyres had worn quite badly on the sidewalls so a full a set of Goodyear Eagle F1s have now been fitted along with a full alignment. With all that done the car drives so much better than before – it’s easy to forget what a difference a new set of tyres can make to a car.
The next maintenance job was a new set of brake pads. I got the warning on the iDrive that the fronts needed doing, and they definitely did…
The next little mod was fitting the underbody brace which I managed to pick up used from an M140i owner local to me who was going back to standard before selling. The brace was only fitted to the 3-door M135i, presumably for weight/emissions reasons, so in theory it should improve the looseness at the rear end when cornering and accelerating hard. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo before I installed it so I've tried to point out where the brace fits underneath the car.
As the cold weather is now upon us, I recently swapped onto some winter wheels and put the 436Ms into storage for a few months. I bought a set of 380M wheels with Continental WinterContact tyres off eBay which turned out to be absolutely immaculate, and I actually think the car looks pretty good with them fitted. The fact they’re only 17s means that the ride hasn’t been affected like I’d feared it would be, even though the tyres are runflats.
We had some snow a couple of weeks ago and I can confirm the tyres work well when the going gets slippery – as long as you’re slow and steady with throttle inputs the car is perfectly driveable which makes it quite amusing overtaking the FWD summer tyre crossover brigade because ‘BMWs are useless in snow init’. On the other hand, if you want to use even 50% of the performance on offer the rear end gets rather lively they are 20mm narrower on the back than the Eagle F1s on the standard 436m wheels so it’s not surprising.
At some point I would like to do the M4 LCA/Tension Strut mod, but at £700+ including fitting and alignment it’s not cheap so I’ll keep an eye out for a used set from an owner who is going back to standard to save some pennies. On the cosmetic front, I’ve fitted a Maxton lip spoiler to lift the back end as I find it a bit bland as standard.
I’ve only done 3k since buying the car last May but Im really looking forward to some longer trips with it this year – I’ll be heading down to Goodwood for the FoS and I’m in the process of planning a road trip down to Nice in August which I’m very excited about
Firstly, I now have more noise
Having had a 135i backbox fitted to my 130i, I was looking for something similar for the M135i – not obnoxious but a subtle increase, particularly at lower revs so the car is more of an event to drive at town speeds where I spend most of my time.
When my dad had an E92 M3 some years ago, Paul from PCW Exhausts modified the standard backbox and made the car sound like it should have done when it left the factory, and I was pleased to discover that there’s a similar mod available for the M135i and M140i. The standard backbox is removed and the sound deadening is taken out, and the welding to open the box is done on the top so it can’t be seen when back on the car, retaining the standard look.
I contacted Paul back in July but as he now does mods on a whole range of cars, the earliest he could get me in was November! Luckily there are several companies which have sprung up doing the same thing, so I booked the car in with Modstock, who offer a mobile service. I had several conversations with Chris as I was unsure whether to just have the backbox or go a step further and have the resonator removed as well. He recommended doing both and even put me in touch with a guy who’d just had his done so I could get first-hand experience of what it’s like – fantastic service.
Anthony from Modstock came and carried out the backbox mod and resonator delete a couple of weeks ago – within an hour it was done. I love the subtlety of it, the only telltale sign it's been opened up is a bit of permanent marker
That was in July, and needless to say I’m delighted with the results! At £350 it’s great value compared with an M Performance exhaust or an aftermarket backbox from Remus etc. It’s just what I was after, very subtle unless the car is on more than a bit of throttle, and nice and bassy low in the rev range. The pops and burbles in sport mode which are part of the standard mapping are also more significant now.
There are a couple of compromises though – firstly, when in sport mode at low revs the active sound makes the car sound droney, largely due to the fact that it no longer needs to compensate for the quieter standard system. I’ve sorted that by lowering the active sound using Bimmercode for now. I like the increased noise in sport even if it’s fake, but I may end up getting rid of it altogether.
Secondly, the cold start is rather anti-social
there's a link to a video of it here but it still doesn't reflect how it sounds in person https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CCKkjwOHIII’m keeping the neighbours happy by setting off immediately after starting the car when leaving for work each morning – as soon as you apply any throttle it quietens down and once the cold start cycle has finished, you’d never even know the exhaust has been modified. To delete the cold start you have to get the ECU mapped which I have no plans to do, so I’m happy to live with it.
The next job was fitting the B12 kit, which I had high hopes for given the reviews from other owners. I haven’t had chance to drive the car spiritedly since fitting it, but I can already tell that the ride is far more controlled and less crashy than before. It has dropped the front slightly but the ride height at the back is pretty much the same and like the exhaust, that subtlety is what I want when doing mods on my cars. The yellow dampers are the only real giveaway.
It will be interesting to see the difference it has made to the body control at higher speeds because things go a bit wayward when pressing on with the standard setup, it wasn’t the most confidence inspiring.
I also noticed that the front tyres had worn quite badly on the sidewalls so a full a set of Goodyear Eagle F1s have now been fitted along with a full alignment. With all that done the car drives so much better than before – it’s easy to forget what a difference a new set of tyres can make to a car.
The next maintenance job was a new set of brake pads. I got the warning on the iDrive that the fronts needed doing, and they definitely did…
The next little mod was fitting the underbody brace which I managed to pick up used from an M140i owner local to me who was going back to standard before selling. The brace was only fitted to the 3-door M135i, presumably for weight/emissions reasons, so in theory it should improve the looseness at the rear end when cornering and accelerating hard. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo before I installed it so I've tried to point out where the brace fits underneath the car.
As the cold weather is now upon us, I recently swapped onto some winter wheels and put the 436Ms into storage for a few months. I bought a set of 380M wheels with Continental WinterContact tyres off eBay which turned out to be absolutely immaculate, and I actually think the car looks pretty good with them fitted. The fact they’re only 17s means that the ride hasn’t been affected like I’d feared it would be, even though the tyres are runflats.
We had some snow a couple of weeks ago and I can confirm the tyres work well when the going gets slippery – as long as you’re slow and steady with throttle inputs the car is perfectly driveable which makes it quite amusing overtaking the FWD summer tyre crossover brigade because ‘BMWs are useless in snow init’. On the other hand, if you want to use even 50% of the performance on offer the rear end gets rather lively
they are 20mm narrower on the back than the Eagle F1s on the standard 436m wheels so it’s not surprising.At some point I would like to do the M4 LCA/Tension Strut mod, but at £700+ including fitting and alignment it’s not cheap so I’ll keep an eye out for a used set from an owner who is going back to standard to save some pennies. On the cosmetic front, I’ve fitted a Maxton lip spoiler to lift the back end as I find it a bit bland as standard.
I’ve only done 3k since buying the car last May but Im really looking forward to some longer trips with it this year – I’ll be heading down to Goodwood for the FoS and I’m in the process of planning a road trip down to Nice in August which I’m very excited about
Edited by chriscoates on Monday 10th January 13:34
Sounds like you’ve been busy…..but you definitely need to use it more! 
I fitted the B8 rear dampers and underbody brace to mine and there was definitely an improvement in how it drove, although it still needed more work (admittedly the M135i is softer and therefore less like a pogo stick than the M140i).
Exhaust sounds good. I’ve fitted the 135i box to my 130 and it’s a nice little improvement for sure.
I fitted the B8 rear dampers and underbody brace to mine and there was definitely an improvement in how it drove, although it still needed more work (admittedly the M135i is softer and therefore less like a pogo stick than the M140i).
Exhaust sounds good. I’ve fitted the 135i box to my 130 and it’s a nice little improvement for sure.
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