Just grabbed a used M3 conv. and need some help and advice

[FVM3]

take off the led strips

[NoHedge]

+1 on the lip.

Congrats on your new car!

[richard313]

hey, I'm from Vancouver as well , congratulations on the new car.

is it a Canadian car? I've seen a couple of postings on Craigslist, 08 verts go as high as $66K!

[mgx]

looks ugly and awkward to me

[Grail05]

JUST fyi.... even on stock height your front lip is too low.. so be careful... otherwise looks pretty good. not bad. i say

[zamm3k]

I would def get competition wheels.

[1sikbmr]

The wheels are axis pentas.
and the lip is hamman. It may be real it may be a replica

get rid of those LED strips!

[Grouch604]

If there's anything that is absolutely 100% for sure gone the day I get this thing, it's the strips, lol. I don't know what this guy was thinking.

It's a Texas car. I think the trucker is picking it up late tomorrow or thursday morn so I guess I might have it by Monday!

Will definitely be looking for some smaller / different wheels

[richard313]

Originally Posted by Grouch604

If there's anything that is absolutely 100% for sure gone the day I get this thing, it's the strips, lol. I don't know what this guy was thinking.

It's a Texas car. I think the trucker is picking it up late tomorrow or thursday morn so I guess I might have it by Monday!

Will definitely be looking for some smaller / different wheels

Are you importing the car by yourself?
If so, how much is this whole importing process costing you, if you don't mind me asking (including whatever necessary to make it insurable)

[Grouch604]

Yes, I'm importing by myself. It's pretty easy I guess. The most tedious part is just getting familiar with the vehicles that you might like and the options/packages pricing etc. then finding a great deal. That alone eats up countless hours, but I find it fun.

For this one, I'm paying 1400$ for enclosed shipping from Texas to Washington where I will pick it up, 6.1% duty, 5% GST, 7% PST (this part could be avoided if I registered in Alberta for one month first), air con tax 100$, provincial and federal inspections that are several hundred per, some temp insurance and other storage type fees etc. that could possibly add up to about a thousand or so., the exchange rate is good now with CAD being slightly stronger than USD.

It always works out to be a much better deal when importing. Even if I wasn't interested in saving money, the selection is just much better also.

[skier]

Definitely remove the LED strips and purple rings, they're cheesy. OEM competition wheels would be my choice for wheels.

[richard313]

Originally Posted by Grouch604

Yes, I'm importing by myself. It's pretty easy I guess. The most tedious part is just getting familiar with the vehicles that you might like and the options/packages pricing etc. then finding a great deal. That alone eats up countless hours, but I find it fun.

For this one, I'm paying 1400$ for enclosed shipping from Texas to Washington where I will pick it up, 6.1% duty, 5% GST, 7% PST (this part could be avoided if I registered in Alberta for one month first), air con tax 100$, provincial and federal inspections that are several hundred per, some temp insurance and other storage type fees etc. that could possibly add up to about a thousand or so., the exchange rate is good now with CAD being slightly stronger than USD.

It always works out to be a much better deal when importing. Even if I wasn't interested in saving money, the selection is just much better also.

What about DRL's and other modification needed to meet Canadian specs?

[_Jono_]

I keep the lip! Hamman doesnt make carbon fiber ones? That JL motoring. I have one on the e90 just like that. Best lip out there.

[Grouch604]

The DRL's can be turned on thru iDrive. I did this in my 135i and it passed all inspections. I might have to change these purple ones though beforehand.

The speedo is already in miles and kms so that part is ok and that is it. I've had a warranty claim on my 135i with the brakelight LED and center brake light and they honored my warranty even though it was a USA car.

If you search around, you'll find that BMW Canada does try to charge you for compliance work if you call them and ask if your USA car is still covered. They'll tell you that you need to buy a speedo from them etc. and this will run you a few grand or so. But I'd recommend NOT to do this since whenever a friend or myself brings up a BMW, once it passes both inspections and is actually registered, you can drop by a few diff BMW dealerships and ask if your car is under warranty. I did this and they all said yes. There's no 'compliance letter' needed, nor compliance work.

Technically, we should not be able to turn off our DRL's but the people that do the inspections never check for that. There's only three different car brands that will not honor the warranty (I forgot which), but most will - although some brands might make you buy a speedo. I forgot if USA porsches have kms written on the speedo.

From personal experience, I know Audi's are absolutely no problem, and my BMW hasn't been a problem. A friend of mine tells me that Lexus, Land Rover are as easy as Audi also. To find mine, I just keep my eye on cars.com and autotrader.com and at least once / month, you'll see a great deal pop up.

The best deals I've found were a used Audi at a BMW dealership or a used BMW at an Audi dealership where someone brought in one as a trade in for the other! I guess they're rivals and want to liquidate the enemy. I'd stick to brand name dealerships.

[Doctor J]

Congrats on the new ride. You'll love top down driving in the M3

[PKL]

Originally Posted by mgx

looks ugly and awkward to me

+1

I'd bring it back close to stock and start over

[Grouch604]

Ok, got the car, put on some brand new powdercoated black 18" m3 wheels with new michelin PS. Looks and feels much better IMO. I'm putting these wheels up for sale with tons of pics. They're actually not bad. Please take a look at them in the for sale section. I'm just not into 20's but they're pretty mint. BIG DISCOUNT for a local pickup for surE!

I also ditched the PURPLE halos! I put stock ones back in from my 135i. That looks better too. They look kinda neat. Easy to install too. Free to anyone that wants to pick these up. The definitely match the color of the car.

Next, I will remove the carbon fibre reflector covers in the front, AND definitely the LED strips - or maybe not. I'll see how they look with LED white halos or HID white halos. The rest actually looks ok, except for some shoddy double sided tape work on all the other carbon fibre pieces. This would all definitely need to be re-done. This guy put cf everywhere possible! I'll probably end up going with a lighter shade of tint too!

I got some more pics. This car is LOUD. It has some kind of aftermarket exhaust that I was hoping someone could identify for me. I don't know how to tell if cats were removed, primaries or secondaries or whether they're high flow or resonators etc. I can see part of the brand name on the tip, but can barely make it out. I'll post pics. Thanks!

[1sikbmr]

nice... that is the agency power exhaust. see link

http://www.agency-power.com/catalog/...fi86a873rprjc2

[Grouch604]

That link says that it fits e92 only? I guess the e93 underbody is the same? There looks like there are some shiny pipes going all the way up to the front too.

Does anyone know if there's a way I can find out if this car has a tune? I have the BT tool with one more vin token so I guess I can use it on this car. Thanks!

[stega]

Originally Posted by Grouch604

That link says that it fits e92 only? I guess the e93 underbody is the same? There looks like there are some shiny pipes going all the way up to the front too.

Does anyone know if there's a way I can find out if this car has a tune? I have the BT tool with one more vin token so I guess I can use it on this car. Thanks!

Oh no... shit he removed the underbody cross brace/ diff guard thing that only the e93 has. It would not have fit otherwise. I will take a picture for you later of my car.


Here is a pic I found... It's kind of hard to see but if you look closely at the diff you can see it in this pic. Again I will get a better pic for you.

[Poleposition]

There is an extremely important support structure missing from underneath the car. It attaches to the subframe and the diff. I dont see it. I would be extremely concerend about this...

[stega]

Originally Posted by Poleposition

There is an extremely important support structure missing from underneath the car. It attaches to the subframe and the diff. I dont see it. I would be extremely concerend about this...

I agree check the post above you. But I am not sure on how important it really is but its there on all the e93's. I would be a bit concerned.