Feels good to be back - V8 M3

[iso_hi]

After selling my last E30 and moving back to SF I didn't think I would own a BMW again for a long time. Until today.



2012 BMW M3. It's a convertible with DCT and 60k miles. Will post more info soon.

[ZEKTI]

Dope, always loved the sounds from that motor. Going to modify at all?

[iso_hi]

Tbh I'm probably going to keep it stock or do very mild mods. I definitely want to change those terrible wheels to something OEM. If anyone has some style 219M hit me up. And I also want to get the chrome window trim wrapped in black. Maybe a CarPlay adapter for the interior. I've had it for a little over a month now and have put a little over 1000 miles on it. I love the sound it makes. After having three soft top E30's I am loving the hard top as well.

As much as I love the hard top I know it's probably super expensive if something breaks. So last weekend I decided to change the hydraulic fluid for the top motor. BMW claims its lifetime fluid...



Do you guys agree? Yeah didn't think so. I emptied and filled the reservoir in the trunk once then opened/closed the top to cycle the fluid then repeated the process once again. I used some cheap syringes from Amazon.

Last Monday I also had an appointment to get the rod bearings replaced. Race Factory in Campbell had BE bearings and ARP hardware in stock so decided to go with them. They had the car ready the next day so it feels good having that peace of mind even if the bearings that were removed weren't in terrible shape. I will probably return to Race Factory for service in the future they were awesome and I currently have apartment garage parking so can't really do my own maintenance.



And today I finally washed this dirty thing. Never really been a fan of black cars but this is actually Ruby Black which is a pretty rare Individual color from what I have read. The interior is champagne I think with extended leather. I'll get some pics of the inside once I clean it up.

[Northern]

I share your view on black cars, but that fleck/red/purple looks great in the light

[2mAn]

My Dad had a 328i Vert of the same chassis, wasn’t bad… I would never own a black car simply because I’m terrible with keeping them clean and black always gets dirty with the quickness…

[iso_hi]

Black car def sucks but I'm lucky to have garage parking at my apartment and at my job so at least it stays clean for about a week before getting all dusty

Been a while since the last update. I've only put a couple thousand miles on the car since Feb since I've been traveling for work frequently. In May between a couple work trips I was driving the car and got a "Check Emissions" alert on the screen. Pulled DTCs and it was related to the secondary air valve on the passenger side. I still had Carvana 100-day coverage so I took it to one of their preferred shops but after having my car for a day they let me know they don't work on M cars -__- I ignored the code for about a month until I took it to the BMW dealer on the last day I was covered. Carvana uses Silver Rock for claims which the dealer had no issues working with them. It took a couple weeks for them to approve the work since apparently they found build up in the head causing insufficient air flow, but since they took my car on the last day I was covered it was fine. They ended up dropping the engine to clean the passenger side head, New valve seals were installed after the head was cleaned. The entire invoice was like 12k but I only paid $100 which was cool. So my S65 is like 50% new Would have been nice if the dealer installed new valve covers but that was not the case.



I got rid of those ugly ass aftermarket wheels and installed a set of style 219M which are BBS along with some Continental DWS06 rubber. They were on before the dealer took my car so they did the alignment as well. Handles so good but I still haven't really pushed the car outside of the straights.



Looking a lot better but something is still missing...



Notice the difference? I got the chrome trim along the windows and convertible lid wrapped in satin black. Looks so much better, almost like a coupe from a distance. Oh I also threw on a new rear M3 badge since the original was faded. It was like $70







Definitely doing the CarPlay upgrade next and after that not really sure. I'm really happy with the car as it is. Maybe some new brakes and then some track action?