Mod Regret?

For those of you that mod (I'm assuming that's most of us), is there a mod that you regretted doing to your E9X M3? Please share, especially for those of us who are new to this platform

Getting any type of decal mounted on the paint (if that even counts as a mod) no matter how small. Took it off after a month.

GM

Straight pipe exhaust with catless x-pipe. Came off in less than 24 hrs.

OEM exhaust mod to keep an dying exhaust from dying -> Fail lol
Ended up replacing it with an aftermarket unit -> WIN

All my exterior CF pieces. Started off with a front lip, now i have diffuser, skirt extension and emblems. Now want rear bumper extensions, mirror covers, grilles, hood vents and fender fins... and I don’t know where to stop.

OEM CF interior trim and fox red painted center trim. dash cf trim warped big time, thanks BMW and the center console paint bubbled and flaked off after less than a year, which i couldnt send back because i had already sold the original one at the time now its just a half peeled mess

I replaced the kidneys with jet black. I sometimes miss the chrome since it brings out the classic shape. I was going to replace the amber side markers with black but I decided not to since the contrasting color helps maintain the lines for me. I think the black kidneys maybe look better on the AW cars than an already black one. I dunno.

I think most of the aftermarket carbon fibre bodywork stuff looks a bit tacky, doesn't really suit the car. I could see an aero benefit for a track car, but for a street car I only like the M Performance stuff. Carbon bits look much better on the F8x.

I should have stayed with stock suspension springs vs H&R sports. i felt the ride and handling were better stock.

Patrón wrote

I should have stayed with stock suspension springs vs H&R sports. i felt the ride and handling were better stock.

+1 for stock suspension. I modified my car only to bring it back to stock, nothing beats factory spec in my opinion.

I was super careful on the side of what mods I can resell when I return back to stock. I kept in line with cosmetic bolt on and bolt off stuff. Out of all those items, I don't regret doing any of the mods, but the ones I had to take significant pricing concessions on when I resold it are:

1. ZCP wheels (in general, it's hard to sell wheels without pricing concessions)
2. center console CIC update (I had to buy this brand new at the time)

OEM muffler mod and test pipe. Way too loud and noticeable.

Replacing my factory airbox with an AFe 2 stage. It looks better, but not a good cost to hp gain ratio. Plus once I got a supercharger, it made the induction noise much louder since its open on the bottom and constructed of noise reflective aluminum.

I went 500 lb/in front and 1000 lb/in rear and love it! Factory springs are way too soft IMO.

Silverstoneorspacegray wrote

Interesting, I bought my car with H&R sport springs and now I'm curious. I do love how it looks though.

Yep, I bought black Kidneys from ECS; they haven't even arrived yet and I want to return them lol. The older I get, the more I appreciate the OEM look/nature of these cars.

GeorgeA wrote

+1 for stock suspension. I modified my car only to bring it back to stock, nothing beats factory spec in my opinion.

especially for daily commuting.

Silverstoneorspacegray wrote

Interesting, I bought my car with H&R sport springs and now I'm curious. I do love how it looks though.

they do look really good, the gap on oem looks bad but i loved the stock handling. the best bet is stock or coilovers or springs but with proper shocks/struts.

I bought the car with it on but h&r race springs, completely destroyed the handling of the car. Super bouncy.

So far none, what I consider from time to time is to keep it NA or SC.

BOOF-M3 wrote

OEM muffler mod and test pipe. Way too loud and noticeable.

Joking or..? I thought you liked the combo or is test pipes to loud in the long run Boof?

Helmsman wrote

BOOF-M3 wrote

OEM muffler mod and test pipe. Way too loud and noticeable.

Joking or..? I thought you liked the combo or is test pipes to loud in the long run Boof?

The wife refused to drive it. She was fine at first, but she loves throttle blips and this exhaust would explode on each downshift. One day she said "I'm not driving the car it's too loud and embarrassing" which happens to be the E93. I couldn't get my hands on the E92 anymore so I had to make a decision based on self preservation. Do I want to only drive the E93 while she enjoys our superior E92? I still have the OEM muffler sitting in storage, waiting.

Edit: I would have kept the OEM muffler mod and removed the test pipe but I have a stage 2 tune and therefore the test pipe had to stay.

Really good thread. I see a stock M3 and at times miss the classic look as I have removed all of the chrome on mine and love it. The only part I look twice at these days are the exhaust tips...not thrilled with the quality so I may replace them yet again.

OEM exhaust mod is probably my favorite....so inexpensive and so satisfying.

I daydream about a supercharger....and I might just pull the trigger on it at some point.

Had an aftermarket front clip that sat far too low. It scraped on just about everything. When it cracked as the result of running over a shard of truck tire on the highway (recently), I asked the shop to remove it and replace it with the stock bumper cap. Low front splitters look cool, but aren't really functional on the street.