Finally getting myself an e30! Critique my Mod Plans:

[Ahheck01]

I had a good laugh!

:???:

I had a good laugh!

[Digitalwave]

With the tires, go with Bridgestone Potenza's. Great dry/wet handling, treadwear pattern, and no tire squeal when doing burnouts.

Do you know how many different models of Potenzas that are offered?

[Ahheck01]

With the tires, go with Bridgestone Potenza's. Great dry/wet handling, treadwear pattern, and no tire squeal when doing burnouts.

I actually like squeal. It's a good aural indication of how much I'm slipping. Aids in throttle modulation.

-Evan

[BenM]

With the tires, go with Bridgestone Potenza's. Great dry/wet handling, treadwear pattern, and no tire squeal when doing burnouts.

[PiercedE30]

Get the H&R Race springs. Don't mess with the sports. I daily my car to/from work and to the local meets and they are absolutely great. Get some Koni's to go with them and you can have a very well balanced car. It won't be too stiff when the Koni's are set at full soft, and you can adjust it for when you Autox/track. I also had the Vorshlag camber plates with this set up. You aren't factoring in the cost of the spring hats to go with those plates. The hats add about 50 bucks. But boy are those plates worth it!

[Ahheck01]

I totally disagree.

Say you had 10K to mod your first E30 with and didn’t know nearly as much as you did now. Wouldn't you rather have someone on r3v with experience tell you what you should spend your money on rather than spending it on items you don’t need and would of wished you spent it more wisely down the road?

That's kinda where my head is at.

-Evan

[Schniddy]

Don't mod your car according to what people tell you. Do what YOU like, that's what matters.

I totally disagree.

Say you had 10K to mod your first E30 with and didn’t know nearly as much as you did now. Wouldn't you rather have someone on r3v with experience tell you what you should spend your money on rather than spending it on items you don’t need and would of wished you spent it more wisely down the road?

He has over 2K for just the interior. Now if that was me I would look to spend that somewhere else.. M50 swap?

I'm not saying do exacly what someone tells you, but listen to the different opinions and you'll start to see a trend. Then do what is right for you. More than likley what you wanted to do will change for the better.

[JPL]

Don't mod your car according to what people tell you. Do what YOU like, that's what matters.

i agree. but he wanted people's opinion. and maybe what he likes is what other people suggest

[euroshark]

Please, look at this:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...y.jsp?type=UHP

Notice the number one slot.

But no, that's not the only reason I'm going with these. My buddy has them on his e36, while I have Michelin Pilot Sport 2's on my e36, and his feel just as good, and sometimes better than mine. His sidewalls aren't quite as stiff, but the grip is still astounding, and the wet tractions is far better with his - and he paid less than half of the cost of the PS2's.

-Evan

I've seen that, and I was changing tires when the UHP came out... In my formerly-professional opinion, they are cheap crap. Lots of people used to love the Conti Sport Contact 2 as well, and those are in the same exact boat as far as I am concerned.

I would never ever put a tire on my car that has such weak sidewalls what the bead breaker goes RIGHT THROUGH them!! I've never had it happen to any other tires than these UHPs and the Contis... On any other tire the bead breaker will press on the sidewall / bead area and the tire will pop off the rim. On my two examples, at least 50% of the time, it would just rip right into the side and go right through. I remember on a few occasions people getting PISSED because while we were removing their tires to put snows on, we destroyed 2 or 3 of them!

I'm not doubting that the grip is there, but that inherent weakness is frightening, and I would not trust them to hold up well. My $0.02

Don't mod your car according to what people tell you. Do what YOU like, that's what matters.

In the title of the thread he is asking for criticism, and he is being pretty open to it.

Edit: Evan, I'm not trying to be a ball muncher, I like most of your plan! Making a list is a good way to get the full mental picture, and posting it here is a great way to get more information that you can use!

[Jand3rson]

Don't mod your car according to what people tell you. Do what YOU like, that's what matters.

[Ahheck01]

No, don't even mess with these... Get something better, along the lines of Bridgestone, Michelin, Yokohama, Dunlop, etc. You have a ton of money alloted for interior and technology (useless for the most part imo) stuff, and very little for engine stuff and good tires... It looks like your priorities are a little bit off! Again, thats just my opinion.

Spend more money on the motor, maybe do a nice swap! Get GOOOOOD tires to go with your expensive suspension stuff, and get some factory sport seats or some nice old Recaros for under $500. NOTHING beats a pair of classic Recaros

Please, look at this:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...y.jsp?type=UHP

Notice the number one slot.

But no, that's not the only reason I'm going with these. My buddy has them on his e36, while I have Michelin Pilot Sport 2's on my e36, and his feel just as good, and sometimes better than mine. His sidewalls aren't quite as stiff, but the grip is still astounding, and the wet tractions is far better with his - and he paid less than half of the cost of the PS2's.

-Evan

[DarkWing6]

You have broken the first rule of e30 ownership......you created a budget. :D

[euroshark]

Tires: General Exclaims (top of the charts on tirerack) $300

No, don't even mess with these... Get something better, along the lines of Bridgestone, Michelin, Yokohama, Dunlop, etc. You have a ton of money alloted for interior and technology (useless for the most part imo) stuff, and very little for engine stuff and good tires... It looks like your priorities are a little bit off! Again, thats just my opinion.

Spend more money on the motor, maybe do a nice swap! Get GOOOOOD tires to go with your expensive suspension stuff, and get some factory sport seats or some nice old Recaros for under $500. NOTHING beats a pair of classic Recaros

[Ahheck01]

For a lot of this stuff I just wanted to ballpark prices so I know what this is all going to cost me approximately. Better to guess too expensive than too cheap.

I was in the Wheel/Tires thread and someone found a company that did the 4x100 17x7.5 RS replicas for 450USD + shipping. I'll have to dig up the thread.

What will this car be used for?

1) Daily driver year round
2) Autox 5-15 times a year for fun
3) Track school 1-2 times a year

Eventually, one thing I didn't include is the aluminum block M52 converted to OBD1. That's where to GO comes from, but that's last.

Why go H&R race over sport? I don't want it too ridiculously low, and I don't want it too uncomfortable as it is mainly a fun DD to toss around. In combination with the thick sways, I would think the races might be a big rough day-to-day.

Debadging, in my opinion, make the e30 rear end look REALLY clean. I've always liked the look. I'm not trying to pose as anything, but all of my 3-series BMW's have been debadged. My 525i and 540i/6 were not, just because they were closer to stock anyway, so I wanted to maintain the appeal when I sold them again as stock.

-Evan