SSII (Slicktop) E90 M3 Build Journal [OEM+]

[911r]

Back story
After moving on from my first E90 M3, I immediately started searching for another. I have owned 5 M3s (2x E36s, E46, 2x E90s, F80), and have driven every generation M3, the E9x generation is easily my favorite. Because my first E90 had almost zero options (slicktop, cloth interior, single hump) this time around I wanted something with a little more creature comforts. Comfort access, leather interior, and fold-down rear seats at the very least.

Approx ~1week into my search, I found the car. 47.5k miles, SSII, slicktop, and most other comfort features incl. individual audio. The drive home was fairly uneventful, apart from a small 'shimmy' in the steering wheel at 80+mph, and a weird rattling sound coming from the dashboard area at highway speeds (sounds like something is loose in the vents, or in the dashboard somewhere ... ugh)



Bluetooth & individual audio made the ~1500mi drive home much easier. Something I contemplated greatly on the drive back home was the direction I wanted to go with the build. My last car was fairly track-oriented; because this car has low miles, no paintwork, no accidents, etc etc etc. I wanted to take a different approach. I would like to stay as 'OEM+' as possible, or at the very least maintain the car's OEM(ish) look while enhancing performance and not taking away from the car's dailydrive-ability. Three days later I finally made it home.



Future Plans
In order to build the car in an 'OEM+' manner, I first have to revert it back to OEM. While the car was/is largely stock, it had several small modifications including M-performance front splitters (removed as soon as I got home), OEM M-Performance rear CF wing, IND black hood grilles, OEM shadow line front kidney grilles, and front PPF (fairly old, starting to lift at the edges).

I've already ordered SSII hood grilles, OEM chrome/black kidney grilles, some OEM interior trim goodies, and a new front tow hook cover from IND (my current front tow hook cover is poorly color-matched). Going further, I plan on removing the front PPF, window tint, sourcing Öhlins R/T coilovers w/ Öhlins camber plates, SPL front endlinks, a Pinnacle front aluminum undertray, and finally Apex EC-7s -- wish I could go with BBS, but I'm not a fan of the GT4 wheel specs. I feel as though the EC-7s are very 'OEM' looking, and look fairly similar to the M359 Competition wheels that are currently on my car.

Build 'inspiration' picture

[Helmsman]

Congrats, E90M FTW + love that color!

[D1ESEL]

Congrats on your car!

[911r]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Congrats, E90M FTW + love that color!

Cheers! The color has really grown on me, it shows off the lines of the car a lot better than my old AW E90 M3.

[911r]

Originally Posted by D1ESEL

Congrats on your car!

Thanks a lot, Chris, regret not snagging your old E88s when I had the chance!

[derbo]

Lol, I honestly' didn't even know you sold your white one!! :X lol

[911r]

Originally Posted by derbo

Lol, I honestly' didn't even know you sold your white one!! :X lol

Hah, happened rather quick. I'll probably regret it. Looking forward to starting a new build though.

[Blindside_137]

Absolutely stunning. Why not keep the OEM+ look with the 359's? You simply can't beat them. Here's mine with the black chrome grille and a gts lip.

Can't get enough of this color on the E90.

[911r]

Originally Posted by Blindside_137

Absolutely stunning. Why not keep the OEM+ look with the 359's? You simply can't beat them. Here's mine with the black chrome grille and a gts lip.

Can't get enough of this color on the E90.

Looks amazing!! I've considered that, as I LOVE how the M359s look—however, I'm fairly partial to 18" wheels. Ride quality is marginally better with 18"s (taller sidewall), and, more tire sizes are available. I'm hoping on running at least 275/35 squared, and do to that with M359s I'd have to find another set of rear wheels to square my setup & struggle with rubbing up front.

[Blindside_137]

Originally Posted by 911r

Looks amazing!! I've considered that, as I LOVE how the M359s look—however, I'm fairly partial to 18" wheels. Ride quality is marginally better with 18"s (taller sidewall), and, more tire sizes are available. I'm hoping on running at least 275/35 squared, and do to that with M359s I'd have to find another set of rear wheels to square my setup & struggle with rubbing up front.

Thanks! I agree I think they look just too damn good. I have debated the square ZCP setup too. I wish BBS still made the FI in 18" but the RI-A are pretty decent looking on the E90 as well! Looking forward to seeing what you do regardless. Enjoy!

[911r]

Originally Posted by Blindside_137

Thanks! I agree I think they look just too damn good. I have debated the square ZCP setup too. I wish BBS still made the FI in 18" but the RI-A are pretty decent looking on the E90 as well! Looking forward to seeing what you do regardless. Enjoy!

RI-As are great, but they're so 'open-concept' (for lack of a better term) it's tough to run 'em without a BBK. So many options though. Thanks

[911r]

Interior Trim Refresh

Although these cars are great, a big issue I've come across is the interior--more specifically the soft-touch materials that are used to make the vast majority of the interior trim.

I ordered the following parts from BMW directly:
Cupholder trim, right - 51459229096
Cupholder trim, left - 51459229092
Cupholder surround trim - 51457138797
Steering Wheel trim - 32307845940
Ignition Switch (start/stop button) - 61319154945

These are all fairly easy to replace, and make a huge difference (although my horn currently doesn't work after I removed my airbag for the steering wheel trim :/ ... will probably take me another 2hrs to fix that one). To further my interior ‘restoration’, I have also ordered Swissvax to help restore my leather.

The soft-touch material on the driver’s door card pocket is also starting to bubble, and there are several (minor) scuffs on my dashboard that will need to be addressed down the line—but those (2) issues will be significantly harder to address. Let me know if you guys know of any shops able to help out with those issues in the SoCal area.

Before:


After:


Cup holder trim - before/after


Cup holder trim v.2 - before/after


Cup holder surround trim - before/after


Steering wheel trim - before


Steering wheel trim - after


Ignition switch - before


Ignition switch - after

[Blindside_137]

Much better! Wolverine must have had this car before

[swagon]

Only places the soft-touch material were peeling in our E90 were on the steering wheel trim and driver's door handle.

This car must've seen some careless long nails in its life ffs

[911r]

Originally Posted by Blindside_137

Much better! Wolverine must have had this car before

No kidding!!

[911r]

Originally Posted by swagon

Only places the soft-touch material were peeling in our E90 were on the steering wheel trim and driver's door handle.

This car must've seen some careless long nails in its life ffs

Previous owner shared the car with his wife before buying her a Q7–I suspect that's where most of the scratches came from

[E46PP]

Congrats and good luck with the build! 😎😊🙏

[911r]

Originally Posted by E46PP

Congrats and good luck with the build! 😎😊🙏

Likewise!! You should start a thread.

[ganz]

Dudes like 911r and DanMpower have such insane attention to detail when refurbing the cars. Wish I had the slush fund to do all the little things - it really adds up.

[911r]

Originally Posted by ganz

Dudes like 911r and DanMpower have such insane attention to detail when refurbing the cars. Wish I had the slush fund to do all the little things - it really adds up.

You're too kind!! I wish I was on Dan's level, maybe one day; still have plenty left in store for this one. All the small stuff really does add up though.

[MPizza]

did you buy this in Ohio? i almost grabbed this before finding my SSII coupe! very nice car!

[911r]

Originally Posted by MPizza

did you buy this in Ohio? i almost grabbed this before finding my SSII coupe! very nice car!

That's correct! Apart from some minor imperfections I'm fairly impressed with the car thus far. Grats on your E92!