Hello from a new member and just a few photos of my '01 TiAg coupe

[llltonic]

Hi there bimmerpost/m3post!

My name is Ryan, and I'm the proud owner of a high-mileage 2001 TiAg M3, since 2006. I bought it while living in Boston, and have since moved to San Francisco.

Here are some photos of the car's various states under my ownership. It's an outside car: street parked in Boston and San Francisco for most of its life, a ski vehicle, and a lumber transport machine for my custom furniture business. Yeah, it's a little rough around the edges.

Mods include:
- Dinan 4.10 diff
- TC Kline S/A coilovers
- AA Gen IV exhaust
- Dinan software
- Stygar short shifter
- 4X oem rear square tire setup
- Vorsteiner CF CSL bootlid
- Smoked LED brake lights
- blackout grills
- driver-side keyhole delete
- BSW speaker package
- etc

And now for some extensive photo documentation (in timeline order):

The day I bought it:


The following weekend when I found some iForged cheap on craigslist:


First big road trip (to the Kentucky Derby! I think this photo is outside the Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery):


Installing the coilovers in my buddy's driveway:


Ahh, that's better:


At the Larz Anderson (car) museum in Boston:


First autocross:


What you get for $1200 worth of winter-driven iForged. I took them apart for polishing and fresh powdercoat:


Someone jacked my trunk spoiler, so I ordered up a replacement trunklid, shown here with the wheel centers freshly powdercoated:


Vorsteiner bootlid installed, car still on the oem 18s:


Polished iForged hoops. I will NEVER manually disassemble/reassemble three piece wheels again - it took a full day at least to torque down all those bolts:


Wheels reinstalled. Unfortunately, that fresh polish did not last very long. Because they were still so pitted, oxidation sets back in fast in an environment like Boston:


Letting my dad drive it:


A BMW CCA track day:


A Cape Cod weekend:


A photoshoot with some friends' rides to promote our first ever GE Lynn 'Riverworks Car Show':


Oh yes Revere (this was just one lovely piece of my daily commute):


100k miles, 100mph (don't try this at home):


Winter setup - four oem fronts with Dunlop Wintersports. Yeah, I had to add spacers:


Summer wheels back on! A Cambridge parking garage:




I got pulled over a few too many times so I added a front euro license plate that matched my registration:


Here's a photo from that car show we organized at work (It's still going strong each year even though we've both since left GE):


Fall comes so fast:


Texas Roadhouse! TiAg looks best under sodium lights:


My rear control arm cracks and I swap in a new one in my driveway:




Back on the winters, now with spacers:




Night time in Cambridge with the ghost of her owner:


Junk Cars:


Fast forward ... a lot. I quit my job, sell the iForged, travel around Asia for 5 months, and then move to San Francisco. Road trip! The M is now on a square set of four oem rear 18s.

Here we are at Frankie and Johnny's for some real New Orleans po'boys:


San Antonio. My buddy on the right sold the yellow Holden/GTO that you saw earlier to buy the Evo. He's also the cofounder of the Riverworks car show:


Middle America:


123456789.0 - Yep, I'm a nerd:


Welcome to San Francisco! Here's Lombard Street:


Soon thereafter, another road trip brings the M to my hometown of Spokane Washington. Here she is alongside my dad's pristine 2002 Vert:


Priest Lake, Idaho:


At my buddy's wedding on Whidbey Island, shortly after he bought his own '03 TiAg:


I head back to SF via Crater Lake:


And the Northern California Redwoods:


Let's zoom out, cause those are some BIG trees:


Three years later, I'm still rocking my custom 'change' window decal:


Back in SF, during a Napa trip, my driveshaft goes wonky and I discover that New England didn't play nice with my subframe:






Fortunately, the repairs were covered by the class-action settlement, and I took the opportunity to drop in a Dinan 4.10 Diff. I also stripped and Rustoleum'd all the subframe and chassis braces:







Now, she's back on the road and making herself useful. Hauling some hardwood from the lumberyard:


And taking one of my custom coffee tables to powdercoat:


Unfortunately, I don't have any fun recent photos of the M, so I'll sign off with the finished coffee table:


If you made it this far, thanks for watching!


An update: I dropped it off at the shop today for inspection II and a new set of snows to get to and from Tahoe. Here she is in East Bay:

I'm channeling my inner Volkswagen owner with that fixie on the roof
(not that I've ever owned a VW)

[gixxer_kidd]

I miss my e46 m. Nice to see a non-garage queen m3. Thanks for sharing your story.

[DOUT]

wow

[traouik]

very nice timeline
the 1234567890 is def something i would do too lol
and yeah new england is the last thing from kind to your car

welcome!

[jonasaurus]

Amazing journey of you and your car, some great pics (esp in Northern Cali) and nice commentary! Look forward to more recent pics of the car. Hope I still have and use my 2011 M3 in 2020

[major_kusanagi]

Beautiful shots especially the one @ Crater Lake

[GOLFFRR]

wow awesome pics, welcome to the board are you going to hit up mfest this year? there is a huge caravan from norcal this year you should group up with them

[edcvin]

Wow thats pretty awesome. You really enjoyed your M and used as a fully functional car.

Props to you.


-Vin

[ChrisMT79]

Wow you put some miles on her for sure. Nice to see the car being put to use in all conditions.

[bavarian19]

[ooowowizstev]

Nice! I would say paint the trunk and your OEM wheels def look better on the car than those iForged.

[m3_love]

welcome, seems like you had fun in your e46 M3, I love these cars, still look great after all these years

[llltonic]

Thanks everyone for the comments! It was a lot of fun gathering these photos together and a good reminder how much pleasure and practicality I've gotten out of my M. It sure puts the $$$$ tire and repair receipts in proper perspective.

An Mfest caravan sounds awesome, sign me up. Gotta take advantage of all this west coast car goodness now that I'm out here!

I definitely agree about oem vs iforged. I am getting bored of them though, so it's hopefully time to switch things up again this spring I also agree about the ricey cf bootlid. However, I'm waiting til I can afford a full car's worth of paint work to heal up the battle scars of Boston + miles.

[PKL]

Thanks for posting tons of pics, more people should take the clue! pics pics pics but in any event I think you are looking for m3forum.net

[mkPOTO]

very clean e46, and welcome to the boards

[Gkap]

sick e46.

[///MFreak]

clean m3 and nice coffee table

[James T. Kirk]

Yes, the photos felt like a story about a guy and his best friend! I also loved how with each mechanical setback offered a new opportunity to refurbish and upgrade. It's the perfect relationship between man and Bimmer.

[Viral@ActiveAutowerke]

Wow Great Post and Build Glad to See you got the Active Autowerke Exhaust System on the ///M3.

[z00m]

proud to see real M lover

[Bosna]

Amazing photos. A lot of fun to look through. Your car looks great, even ten years later.

[PIMP "E"]

wow, that poor M took some beating.