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      12-02-2021, 08:48 AM   #133
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I've been up and down about what I really want to do next with this thing. It's been listed for a sale for quite a while at a price I'm happy to let it go but no bites (and I'm not surprised).

More recently though I've been having a harder time with the idea of moving on. I even started to remove a few mods and start prepping for a more stock-ish parts list. Stock steering wheel and armrest back in, Sportsters back in the car, stock trunk back on. I keep finding myself loving the car when I do drive it though and I think I've settled back on keeping it. I'm glad I didn't get too far down the road of pulling parts off. The only thought that hasn't fully left is the idea of pulling parts and then finding a DCT car. The appeal of 3.62s and DCT is real and I think that's about as good as it could get for the E9x.

As it sits now, backed into the garage so I can start to change a few things up.




My winter plan for now is to make a few changes and get the car ready for a spring track day. I've been wanting to track the car since buying it and just haven't pushed hard enough to get there. I've made too many excuses but I want 2022 to be the year I actually get there.

A quick decibel app test says this full Supersprint setup won't pass sound at my most local track (98Db limit 50ft from track limits - and it's monitored at numerous locations). Likely going back to stock for now and I'll figure out what I want to down the road. I may just part with the rear section and find a way to mate the Xpipe to OE exhaust.

I'm going to be pulling all of the SPL arms in favor of a more OE+ approach. I plan to change all of the rubber left to solid bushings (except inner camber arm for now). I do plan to keep adjustable toe links because those still make a lot of sense. I'm also highly interested in roll center correction so I may source one of the options out of Europe. I think roll center correction is too overlooked and I personally like to run the car low and my roads allow for it. I may also reconsider the Strom uprights up front to really get both ends dialed in.

Last is a few basic maintenance items. I have fresh plugs to install and I can definitely use a brake bleed.
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      02-11-2022, 12:49 PM   #134
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Funny how plans change. My car is still sitting on jackstands and has been since early December. I also almost sold it a few weeks ago and just couldn't bring myself to do it.



Updates....

Supersprint setup was sold to a local. Stock exhaust going back on the car for now. I also finally decided to just part ways with the Recaro Sportsters. I was never in love with how they felt and it just doesn't compare to driving with a full bucket seat. I purchased another Recaro Pole Position for the passenger side. At some point I'd probably like to get a pair of nice leather ABE versions but we'll see. No rush on that.

I finished getting the solid bushings into the spare OE rear upper arms but for now I've decided to keep the SPL arms on the car. Not sure if I'll just hold onto these and eventually use them or sell. I also have solid bushings sitting around for the rubber on both trailing arm ends but I haven't decided to dig into that just yet.

Old Apex studs and lug nuts are off and out. I had probably two years on them and absolutely no issues. Brand new MSI studs and Core4's new rotating seat lug nuts are on deck.

I sold the GTS wing. I have a brand new MK GT4 wing in the garage I need to put on my spare trunk. A quick test says I like the overall size much better than GTS which often looked too small at a lot of angles. What I'm not sure of just yet it how it will look with the GTS front. MK did tell me they can make the GT4 wing in any width between 110-150cm. GTS is 120cm and GT4 is 140cm. I was fine with GTS width all along, I just thought the depth of the wing and endplates looked a bit small. I may look at having a 125cm GT4 wing made if I ultimately decide I think the one I got is too wide.

Lastly I've had an awful brake vibration for months that as I was reading sounded like it's probably pad deposits. A little back and forth with Jeff at Essex and that's what he thinks it is too. I got one of those rotor hone tools and I'm in process of cleaning up the front rotors. I think the rears are fine so likely won't touch them.


Best news of all, I finally registered for a track day which is 6 weeks from today so I've got to finish things up, re-bleed the brakes, check alignment and I should be all good to go.
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      03-03-2022, 02:14 PM   #135
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What track day/event you going to?
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      03-03-2022, 02:15 PM   #136
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cchen9_ View Post
What track day/event you going to?
Atlanta Driving Society at AMP.
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      03-03-2022, 06:40 PM   #137
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      03-03-2022, 06:44 PM   #138
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Have you tried rebedding the pads? I've had stoptech pads leave uneven deposits and rebedding got rid of the shimmy under light to moderate brake pressure.
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      03-18-2022, 09:24 AM   #139
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spammysammich View Post
Have you tried rebedding the pads? I've had stoptech pads leave uneven deposits and rebedding got rid of the shimmy under light to moderate brake pressure.
I did once and it didn't help much at all. I've since picked up one of those rotor hone tools and used that on the front rotors. I've got out and done two bed in sessions a bit more aggressive than the last time and it does now feel a lot better. Still not perfect but better for sure.

One week from my first track day with this thing. I'm excited to finally be able to really push on the car and have a baseline for what I think actually would be worth changing instead of endless speculation.
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      04-08-2022, 10:37 AM   #140
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First track day in the books. First time I've been on track in 5 years. It felt great to be out there again. The car did great and I didn't have a single issue all day. Weather was about as good as you could ask for. Mostly overcast and at the warmest it might have been low 60s but most of the day a little cooler. I'm hoping to get out to 1-2 more events this year. My goal is to run the other events at the same track. I'd rather be able to have somewhere consistent to go and try to improve instead of jumping in at 2-3 different tracks. My instructor was great. He has quite a bit of seat time in BMWs and he really let me figure things out on my own while providing some input where he felt it was necessary. I think I have the line down just right for 80% of the track and just 2-3 corners that could use some serious improvement. I actually think I'm leaving the most time on the table in the slowest corners.

The car is mostly the same as it's been for months. I did sell my full Supersprint partially because this track has a sound limit that I wasn't sure the exhaust would pass and it was generally a touch louder than I wanted anyways. Back to stock exhaust and my stage 1 Epic tune. I did sell the GTS wing and purchase a GT4 size one. GT4 size seems to suite the overall size of the E9x much better. I sold the Sportsters and finally have a pair of matching Recaro Pole Positions. I kind of wish I sprung for the leather/alcantara ones but I already had one black velour so the easiest/cheapest path forward was just one more matching seat instead of two more expensive versions.

After the track day I can really see the benefit of having a DCT car. It's one of the things I've struggled with a bit when I think about where I ultimately want to end up in E9x land. I still think if I could have my exact car but DCT I would take it over the 6MT despite the slight weight penalty. If it wasn't for having to find an acceptable similar car in DCT and then moving over a lot of parts (and possibly needing to have rod bearings done again) I'd probably make the jump. I still may some day but we'll see.

Wheels are also turning in my head about other things I'd like. I found myself walking away wanting the car less setup and being able to get better as a driver instead of endlessly throwing parts at the car. I still have a few ideas of things I'm likely to change. Granted I'm just getting my feet wet again there were a lot of "slower" cars out there moving around the track much more quickly than me so I know there is a lot of time to be gained just by getting more comfortable. For me when I think about what my favorite M cars look like visually it's always the E46 CSL that comes to mind. It makes me want to take a shot at doing something similar instead of the full track car with aero look. That also said, if I dumped my saved pics of E92 cars you'd find that 75% of them are track cars and it's hard to deny how good it looks with that setup too. I'm sure my path forward will end up being somewhere in the middle with some back and forth trying some different options.








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      04-08-2022, 03:44 PM   #141
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Great pictures and sounds like a fun time!
Have you considered roll center correction/adjusters? Could be something to look into given where you are with your car.
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      05-24-2022, 07:30 AM   #142
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Steve, loving this thread and car! You've always had great taste, keep it up man.

....I've been itching to do an E92 build....
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      05-25-2022, 06:07 PM   #143
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looks great!

soooo you want a DCT car ... lets trade!
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      07-26-2022, 09:02 AM   #144
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Summer update....

When I got home from my track day at the end of March I had wanted to put the car on stands, inspect tire wear, check on brake pad wear, and just overall do a quick look over the car.

The wheels got turning in my head on a few things and I started tearing stuff apart. One complaint about this car is that I bought it so highly modified that I never knew which parts actually made a difference and which stuff was there just to be there. As you can tell the car is certainly more simple/basic now than it was when I first purchased it. I've left the stuff I'd want to do but taken a hard look at the things I just didn't feel like it needed.

I started having a conversation with Jason (OG Shark) about a post I had seen for custom Nitrons and after some back and forth decided I was going to go for it. I had been long debating moving off the MCS over to the Ohlins dedicated track to accomplish two things; 1) get more spring rate under the car, particularly out back and 2) move to a single adjustable. I'm not a shock expert and even with the MCS I generally just left them at their recommended settings. I listed the MCS and got a local buyer and that kicked off the wait for the Nitrons. The Nitron stuff is top notch. They are probably the nicest looking/feeling shocks I've held in my hands. Everything is machined on these. Jason has two offerings, a street based spec and a track based. I had gone for the track based just our curiosity for what an overkill for me shock setup was even like. Unfortunately Nitron sent me the street setup. The street and track share the same front shock/spring config, it's just the rear that is different. Jason offered to make it right at no cost to me but we chatted more and after a conversation with Inertia Labs (this is who Jason is working with to bring these to market) we ultimately decided the street shock could easily handle more spring rate and I was going to try something right in the middle. My setup ends up being the exact same spring rates as the Ohlins dedicated track (685/1028lb). My only complaint which is true of every aftermarket shock option is the rear perch design just sucks when you look at how awesome the Ground Control articulating perches are. That was one thing I let go with the MCS setup and I wish I had kept those. I'll probably look to buy some in the future.





I've also wondered just how much I really need the full SPL arm setup on the car. Failures seem uncommon but I had seen a couple and that just got the wheels turning. Months ago I had taken on converting rear upper arms to solid bushings and had a set of brand new GAS monoball arms sitting on the shelf too. This gives me a more OE like setup that's just as solid as the SPL, I just don't have all the extra adjustment. I'm not sure I even need the adjustment so I'm willing to give it all a try. Just to be clear, I've had absolutely no issues with the SPL parts but I like to tinker and it helps me answer for me if I truly need the parts. I'm not going to part with them either until I can get some miles in and really feel things out. I will be keeping the SPL rear toe arms regardless.







I finally got a chance to take the car for a spin and initial test says I'm a very happy customer. The Nitrons feel slightly more firm than the MCS but no less comfortable. My MCS setup was 500/800lb. Alignment is definitely off so the car feels a touch off under full throttle but I just eyeballed things until I can get it properly done.





Also, while the car was up I started looking at some exhaust options. I had been on the full stock setup for months and it just leaves a little to be desired. My time with the Supersprint also had me wanting to be able to run a stage 2 tune for that little power bump you get when getting away from the restrictive stock X-pipe. I ended up finding a Bimmerworld X-pipe for the right price and decided I would see how it paired with the stock rear. I don't love it but it is a touch quieter than the full Supersprint which is something I was looking for. Feels great with the Epic tune. I do think I need to get new gaskets and clamps as I believe I have an exhaust leak somewhere. As others have stated the fitment quality is probably a 7/10 when you consider how well the OE just bolts right up. It wasn't too difficult to get on but I'm betting I could better tweak the alignment of the whole system. I still think the full Akra is ultimately what I want and will be happy with. It's really the only thing I regret selling from my car as it sat when I first purchased. Luckily they come up used fairly frequently so maybe one day. I would like to see how an Akra rear pairs with the BW X-pipe so I might go that road too.




I'm looking forward to putting some miles on it this fall and hopefully at least one more track day. We're in the heat of summer in the southeast so it's not even a lot of fun to get out right now. It's been one thing helping just staring at the car on stands for so long. I have taken it out every chance I get even with a less than ideal alignment and I must say it feels good to drive it.
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      07-26-2022, 02:08 PM   #145
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Great update!
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      08-29-2022, 02:19 PM   #146
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I finally got the car aligned but had some trouble getting it the specs I wanted. Couldn't get the front camber plates to budge easily enough and out back my car has the Fall-Line lockout shims. The shims looks like they should be easy to swap but they really aren't. I had taken a guess and clearly guessed wrong. I also noticed the bolts are installed from front to back and you can't remove them without pulling the exhaust which I didn't have the time or desire to do so I'll need to go back another day after I fix it. We at least put toe to spec so the car drives straight and won't destroy tires too fast but it's still set to wayyy too much camber. I wanted to be able to drive the car a bit so I've been holding off on fixing it. I'll likely toss it back on stands this week to finally address it all.

While my parents were in town my dad and son took a drive to check out Road Atlanta and spectate a track event for a few. The elevation is so much more extreme than any kind of picture, video, game portrays. It truly does look like a rollercoaster.

I ended up heading back out again this past weekend with my son to go watch a bit of the BMW CCA event there as well.


Tossed the wing back on. I've always liked the look a little better and my son thinks the car looks cooler too





I still have pretty mixed feelings about the BW X-pipe. Not sure about the long term future of it staying on the car.

Lastly I still have these constant thoughts about wanting a DCT car. I've been driving manuals for 15+ years, BMW designed this car around the DCT, and I kind of just want a different experience. I'm torn on going down that road though. Ideally I'd pull all my good parts and just swap them over to another car. I know it would be a LOT of work though. I also know my car and having to find another solid replacement doesn't sound like too much fun. If I decide to make the change I'll wait until winter as I don't drive the car as much and it's easier to live with it being up in the air for longer periods of time. I'm really just thinking out loud with this one. It's been a thought on my mind for at least a year.
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      08-30-2022, 11:56 AM   #147
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Car looks so good with the GTS wing.

DCT on your mind for at least a year... that's an understatement!

How did pops like driving it?
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      12-26-2022, 12:52 PM   #148
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My semi-annual stalking of your build….

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