[Ian.G]

Hi Folks,

my first post so I hope you don't bite.

I've just downgraded my E92 M3 coupe to an E92 330d M sport coupe due to the sheer number of miles I seem to be doing at the moment.

I've not even had the derv coupe a month yet and I've already saved nearly £400 on fuel. All my BMW's to date have been M-cars (E46 M3 prior to the E92 M3). It goes without saying I miss the performance of the v8 but the 330d seems like a great car for mile munching and I'm sure once its had a few tweaks (Remap, suspension and proper limited slip diff) it will make a great compromise between a proper M-car and fuel economy.

I'd like to do a few subtle exterior modifications to the car and I'm wondering where is likely to be the best place to get carbon fibre goodies from. I know there is a lot of poor quality tat out there and I want to avoid buying any.

The things I'm interested in are:

* Black Kidneys - I had these on my M3 and completely change the look of the car - I can obviously get these via BMW performance at the dealers so no major issues there.

* Carbon boot spoiler



* Carbon Rear defuser



The above parts are from Prestige Performance Centre - anyone had any dealings with these guys ? quality parts or not ?

[img]http://www.**********s.com/images/Products/ARKYM/2/arkym-aerosport-msport-e92-front-lip-7.jpg[/img]

Also very interested in the pre-LCI Arkym Aerosport E92/E93 Msport Front Lip Spoiler - anyone know of a good supplier in the UK or anything very similar to this ?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[willhollin]

Welcome Ian, great choice of car, is it a manual or auto?

Teddy @ SSDD Motorsport is the man to talk to about spoilers and lips etc.

[ZURICH]

Hi guys, this company are a local UK bunch with a great selection of every thing. I have friends who have bought from them saying great quality and price. http://www.bmtown.com/ have fun shopping, will look forward to seeing the end result

[Ian.G]

Howdy

Its a manual - I'm not a big fan of the flappy paddle stuff so both my previous M cars have been manual 6 speeders. I drove an auto and I really didn't get on with it at all - if I was ok with the auto box I'd have likely gone with a 335d

My E92 M3 was late 2007 and extremely well loaded with gizmos (everything minus the electric rear blind) - it was a great car but as you can imagine 42000 miles on a v8 gets a bit tiring on the old wallet LOL.

The 330d is a black Msport coupe in manual with black leather, same age as the M and one previous owner - no iDrive on this one either which isn't causing me too many issues as I rarely used the satnav - Have a tomtom 1000 Go Europe for when I need it now. Obviously the lack of a TV wont bother me LOL.

Also the 330d also has the Active cruise which took a bit of getting used too but it really seems to keep me calm on the motorways as it just slows and keeps a distance from the car in front - weird to begin with but great (obviously always cover the brake in case the radar fails LOL).

Its a nice car - Has the following in the build.

Black Leather (no heating which I'll no doubt miss in the winter)
Active Cruise Control
Bluetooth phone prep
Elec Fold Exterior Mirrors
Electric Glass Sunroof
Extended storage
Loudspeaker system - BMW Business
Lumbar support. driver and front pass

The M had proper bmw sun protection glass which the 330d doesn't so I managed to get a really good place to smoke the back quarters and rear screen to the same levels.

I am still quite shocked that all of the non-M cars have completely open diffs in the back - how can they call a car without an LSD the ultimate driving machine? - all it does is make 1 tyre fire which is rubbish. In terms of after-market differentials I've only managed to find the ATB torque-biasing LSDs (from Quaife) which I don't like nearly as much as a proper clutch driven LSD - hopefully somebody makes one so I'll keep hunting.

I've had a pretty poor experience with dealer knowledge and cd changeripod retro fit over the last few weeks - not to mention 2 failed attempts at getting a Dension Gateway 500 installed by the dealer recommended audio experts in Derby - fortunately I got in touch with NaviTVMan over in Birmingham who managed to resolve the issues and he installed me the iPod retrofit and correctly re-coded the Vehicle Order in less than 2 hours from my work carpark - Totally recommend Jason and the guys at NaviTVMan - they really know their stuff.

The car also has silver interior finisher panels which makes the cockpit a little too bright compare to the M. A place is going to 3M carbon wrap all that next week for me - I priced up a set of the 10 piano black/carbon finisher panels at the dealers and they aint cheap LOL.

I think its going to be a great great car once I've sorted a few of the aesthetics out. Steering and body control isn't anything like the M3 but I can appreciate if bmw made the 330/335ds any better it would damage their M car market no end.

I'm not arguing with 41mpg at just beneath license loosing speeds on the motorway either - the M would be doing 21mpg in these situations at best LOL - I think I can cut over 3K from last years fuel bill without even trying hahahah.

[Jon-P]

I'm hoping to find out how Ian got on as I just bought a 330D with a manual box and it sounds like we are on the same page as regards to functional preference and mods at least. The lack of LSD is a surprised to me too but then maybe that helps to keep the M cars ahead.
Did you have any joy finding any other options for LSDs?

[dxb335d]

Welcome mate, would love to see pics of the 330d. Lovely cars!

The 335d steering however is very good. It's Hydraulic unlike the 330d electric assisted steering!

Re-map yours and you will find you are not too far behind the M3 in a straightline.

[scottishpete]

Teddy at SSDD-Motorsport

[frankie]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum

I would say the best carbon fibre your gonna get is from BMW performance as as been as your car cost a few quid that's the product I would and have used on mine the quality of non BMW carbon is not on he same level as per usual you pay for the best!! I got a great deal from sytner nottingham.

Pm me if you want to no what deal I got.

[MEGA]

Another recommendation to SSDD Motorsport from me.

You'd be mad to go elsewhere, the service he offers etc etc is spot on

[frankie]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Another recommendation to SSDD Motorsport from me.

You'd be mad to go elsewhere, the service he offers etc etc is spot on

You'd be mad to put cheap tat on your 30+ grand motor! Only my opinion

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by frankie

You'd be mad to put cheap tat on your 30+ grand motor! Only my opinion

Compare the carbon lip spoiler offered by SSDD and by BMW. In both cases one piece 1:1 weave CF. It's not like you're comparing a sticker to a real item in which case I take your point.

The only difference is with the latter you'll have to vasseline your ass hole and wear your easiest access clothing before walking into the dealership.

Your choice, each to their own and all that.

Dave

[jquan1]

Ian - what exactly have you had fitted for the retrofit ipod interface?

a dealer fit or 3rd party system?

[Ian.G]

Hi folks,

not been back here for a while as I've been busy as hell LOL.

I've gone for a proper ipod interface retrofit done by the guys above. It worked out cheaper than the dealers (its all genuine bmw parts) and took the guy < 2hours from start to finish. He made a fantastic job and can 100% recommend NaviTVMan.

I was originally going to get a Dension Gateway 500 installed - but the technical people who looked at the derby dealers didn't seem to have a clue. To begin with they told me I couldn't retrofit a CD changer as there was no prep (all 2007 cars onwards are prepped as far as I know) - which is rubbish really - I pulled the tray in the left side of the boot and showed them the MOST loop and power cablesl

Then I thought about having the abiliity to use USB as well as the iPod (my car just has the line in port - no proper USB) so I looked at the Gateway 500. The dealer got me in touch with their 'audio experts' who attempted to install it twice and failed. First time they messed up the MOST loop which lost the optical signal - the second time they got the MOST loop correct but couldn't correctly code the vehicle order (some of these non-dealer coding tools do not permanently change the vechicle order - which means if the dealer plugs the diags into your car it can get reset back then you'll have to pay for the coding again - I didn't want this)

The NaviTVMan is ex-BMW and REALLY knows his stuff - my vehicle order has been done perfectly and it won't ever forget about the ipod interface.

Not done much with the car recently - has black kidneys now which makes a massive difference to the looks (if you squint a bit it could by my old E92 M3 LOL) - and I've had the back quarters and screen tinted down to factory privacy glass to match my old car.

Next change will be in a few weeks when all the nasty silver finisher panels come out and get 3M carbon wrapped - lots cheaper than new panels from the dealer - it will look a million times better.

The SSDD rear carbon valance is the BMW Performance one I think - so no real difference there. I'll get that at some point.

I really want to get the Arkym aerosport from splitter - looks loads more agressive than the others I've seen

[img]http://www.**********s.com/images/Products/ARKYM/Arkym-Front-Lip-E92-4.jpg[/img]

So in terms of whats left for the first part of the transformation is:

* 3M carbon on finisher panels
* BMW Performance rear vallance
* Arkym Performance Front Splitter
* Eibach or H&R springs to just drop the car a little
* BBS LM Reps (can't justify 3.3K for some real ones) or CSL Reps slightly spaced

After that I'll start my Diff hunt again - all I can find right now is ATB/Torque Biasing which doesn't suit me at all - hopefully we can find a proper clutch diff otherwise I may start looking at getting an E92 M3 subframe, diff, shafts and hubs from a breakers and doing it that way...

[jimmylad]

what part of derby are you ?? I'll keep my eye out for you..........i'm in chellaston

black grills & new angel eyes on the shopping list when I get back from hols plus having a front end respray too (been polishing it today & the bumper is terrible. Bonnet looks fantastic polished up but those few stonechips here & there really get to me). Most would say it looks fine but there are load of stone chips & they are really doing my head in. Then I might have some new wheels & tyres...................... never ends does it!!

[acerboo]

id stick with bmw parts you get what you pay for

[P 5UML]

i have been looking for the ARkym splitter everywhere too and not been able to find a UK supplier of it!

i ended up buying th CF Performance corner splitters from SSDD-MotorSport but if you do find a UK supplier of the Arkym see if they will do a good price for 2, id still be interested!

[6ftglassy]

Originally Posted by frankie

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum

I would say the best carbon fibre your gonna get is from BMW performance as as been as your car cost a few quid that's the product I would and have used on mine the quality of non BMW carbon is not on he same level as per usual you pay for the best!! I got a great deal from sytner nottingham.

Pm me if you want to no what deal I got.

Hi there,

Did you get any interior carbon?, Been lookin, but its quite steep!!!