Fidiman's build thread (updates first and last page)

[Fidiman]

Little teaser for the next mod ! First page will be updated soon !








My friends and I didn't have enought time to complete the job, so we have a spring to mount on the right damper. We will proceed next week

[Fidiman]

So here is my new mod : Eibach Prokit springs ! I changed the top part of the dampers too ('cause I broke some screws on it when I installed my strut brace ).

I did the job with two friends in the garage of one of them. We enjoyed it and learnt lots of things ! Now, I could do it only with one person to help me 'cause I know how to do it. I think next mods on my ride will be done with the same team.

Some shots during the labour :

Front right :


Front left :


The wheel arche :


Working again and again :









A little sporthach with my wheels next to it I was impressed of the feeling of this car even if it has few hp (it weights less than 1990lbs ...).

And then a difference between tire width :



Now the car is funnier to drive, I can corner hard and I have a very enjoyable feeling. I don't feel it harder on the road or bumpier. I will have to do a complete geometry of the car in a few weeks.


Before :


After :



I will do more pics in a few days. What do you guy think ?


Keep tuned !

[Stohlen]

Originally Posted by Fidiman

I will do more pics in a few days. What do you guy think ?

Can you post the unedited version of those pictures so we can actually see what the car looks like..

[Fidiman]

Yep ! Here it is :


Before :




After :




I will do other these days !

[notmisfit]

Looks great! Much respect to another Titanium Silver owner!

[Jay-K]

great looking car..

[Fidiman]

Originally Posted by notmisfit

Looks great! Much respect to another Titanium Silver owner!

Thanks mate ! We are too few E82 titanium silver owners ...

Originally Posted by Jay-K

great looking car..

Tank you man ! Love your Volk wheels !




Few pics taken today ! Hope you'll enjoy it (next time I will take the Canon 50D of my father ) :

[FIRST1]

Originally Posted by Fidiman

You've inspired me to get this done to my titanim silver 1er! Looks great! I was fooled that you had splitters at first!

[Chandon]

Awesome looking 1er you got there

[Fidiman]

Originally Posted by FIRST1

You've inspired me to get this done to my titanim silver 1er! Looks great! I was fooled that you had splitters at first!

Do it ! That's very simple to do. I just have to re-do them again on my e82 cause I did not do it correctly at left ...

Originally Posted by viciousgook

Awesome looking 1er you got there

Thanks man ! I inspired me a lot from the cars on the 1Addicts board

[FIRST1]

Originally Posted by Fidiman

Do it ! That's very simple to do. I just have to re-do them again on my e82 cause I did not do it correctly at left ...

I'm gonna get them vinyl wrapped in black, so that it's reversible. Also getting the side mirrors wrapped while I'm at it!

[Fidiman]

I saw your topic and now your car is really great looking !


A little up of my topic because I have a problem : when my car is loaded (ie 4 persons in it) or when I corner hard with a difference of level on the road, there's rubbing rear ... I need to find a solution with you guys 'cause it drives me really mad !

I mounted the Eibach ProKit on the stock BMW sport package suspensions. Tires rear are Hankook Ventus V12 255/35/18 (someone said Hankook were large tires). Wheels rear are VMR VB3 9.5" with an ET of 45.

I already have redone the alignment with -1.49° rear.


I thought of :
- putting more rear negative camber (I don't jnow if I can go further than -1.49° and I'm frightened about consumming more tire ...)
- filing the inner body (frightened about paint crackle and rust)
- rolling a bit the fenders (frightened about the look, don't want to be seen I rolled my fenders)
- changing tires by 245/35/18 (but I would loose the feeling of the car I love so much ...)


So what do you guys advise me to do ?


Thanks in advance !



Edit : You can see the problem on this pic :



Here is the zone of rubbing :



Some stuff in the trunk to lower the suspension () :

[Fidiman]

Hi guys, I post here some upgrades I did on my car. I have not posted here for a very long time Some pics will be on the first page.


I did some works on my own in my garage after researching a lot on the board. I wanted a more incisive and precise car, so I decided to go on the route of those who want to perform their ride :
- M3 front suspension arms
- E93 M3 front anti roll bar and E93 M3 bushings
- M3 rear suspension arms
- E93 M3 rear anti roll bar and Powerflex bushings
- Powerflex Blackseries subframe bushing inserts (as I didn't want to change the complete bushings and as I didn't have the correct tool, I will do the complete bushings when the car will be 60k miles old)
- Michelin Pilot Super Sport in 215/40/18 front and 245/35/18 rear

I didn't disassemble the rear subframe, I only dropped it with my jack. The worst part was fixing the rear anti-roll bar ... It was a pain in the a** ! But passing it from one side to the other wasn't very enjoyable too


Comments on the mods :

So, regarding all the stuff I did and the fact it was the first time I worked on a car, it's useless to say I'm very happy because I succeeded in all the operations

Now, the car feels very planted on the ground. I quite eliminated the body roll with the stiffer anti-roll bars. It's very impressive how you can feel the differences a bigger ARB can give !
The car feels more precise and the chassis is awesome. Only problem now : I feel the lack of power ...

I still have some bouncing issues but it's due to the Eibach Prokit with my old and crappy M-sport suspensions (75 000km with the OEM dampers). Next mod will be the changing the suspension for sure and I will do it before the brakes !

Now I don't have any rubbing in the back thanks to a narrower tyre !


Pics of some stuff installed :


















Pics during installation :



Stand your noooose up !








And now some zoom on plastidipping I did on my mirror caps and stickers on the front grill :



I like the new style with the caps blacked out :









Zooming on the quality :



If you want to see the rubbing like surface, you have to look carefully and place your nose at 2cm of the cap :



And now the M stripes :






What do you guy think about these new upgrades ?


Edit : Now I have to find a new set of suspension (I thought about coilovers). I will post after in the appropriate section.

[Dre's One]

Wow! I love your car and its story about the mods, really nice! I'm from Belgium and it's the first time I see someone close to me with a modded E82.

I read all of your updates till the last one. You've done some nice ones, but I think there's one that still has to be done

Your window trim is silver, like mine originally was. I've wrapped it in black and it looks way better! You should definitely consider doing this. It will look great with the grey and black accents on your car

[MaDoNiOn]

awsome stuff!

[Fidiman]

Hey Andreas, thanks a lot Which mods do you have on yours ?

Warping chrome line will be done in few weeks I think. I will Plastidip it, like my wheels because of that pothole ... Have you some pics of your blacked out trim ?


Thanks MaDoNiOn

[sumbeam]

awsome mods!

Could you tell us more about installing M3 parts on e82? How much were the anti-roll bars? Are they plug & play»?

I'm very interested on this mod for my car...

Regards!

[Dre's One]

I haven't done so many mods. I wrapped my interior in Carbon wrap, wrapped my window trim and added some M stripes. Next week I will be getting my windows tinted. I have the 118d so I won't be modding the engine much because it doesn't have that much power. Chiptuning will get me from 136 to about 180 HP :/

If you're thinking of plastidipping it, the first picture won't be that interesting for you. I read on here that somebody cut out the sticker while wrapping it. I did it like this, way easier.

If you're going to plastidip it, post some pictures. I would love to see how that stuff works

[Fidiman]

Originally Posted by sumbeam

awsome mods!

Could you tell us more about installing M3 parts on e82? How much were the anti-roll bars? Are they plug & play»?

I'm very interested on this mod for my car...

Regards!

Thanks sumbeam ! So, about installing M3 parts on E82, it's completely plug&play as it's moe or less the same plateforme. For example : remove one OEM arm, remplace it by the M3 one, bolt it, torque it correctly and that's done ! Very easy.

For the subframe inserts, you shouldn't completely drop the subframe : only 7-10cm will be enought. Find the right orientation of each insert, Powerflex give the correct installation instructions, blot the subframe at the correct torque and that's it !

For the rear anti-roll bar ... Well ... Same story as previously said, you have to throw out the OEM bar which is not as easy as it seams to be. Then you have to pass the big M3 bar ... That's a pain in the *** IMO.
Then, I recommend to go with the Powerflex rear anti-roll bar bushings (purple ones which are as stiff as the OEM M3 bushings) because of their design. They are easier to install and the hole is bigger than on the M3 ones : you won't have any problem with that.
If you thought that putting the new ARB was difficult, think that's nothing compared to bold the bushings

If you don't want to have any difficulties, drop the subframe, but you will have to disconnect brake lines, driveshaft and all that stuff ... I don't know if it's worthy or not !

Last thing : I think, when the car will be 60k miles or a bit more, remplacing the OEM bushings + the inserts by complete solid bushings (as in the new M3/M4 or M5).

Originally Posted by Andreas Van den Driessche

I haven't done so many mods. I wrapped my interior in Carbon wrap, wrapped my window trim and added some M stripes. Next week I will be getting my windows tinted. I have the 118d so I won't be modding the engine much because it doesn't have that much power. Chiptuning will get me from 136 to about 180 HP :/

If you're thinking of plastidipping it, the first picture won't be that interesting for you. I read on here that somebody cut out the sticker while wrapping it. I did it like this, way easier.

If you're going to plastidip it, post some pictures. I would love to see how that stuff works

Thanks for the pictures ! Where did you buy your warping film ? I would say : save your money and go to see Shiftech in Luxembourg or Belgium. They do a second stage for your engine with changing the injectors You will have around 210hp with that !

Btw was it difficult to warp your window trim ?

[Dre's One]

I bought it from a wrapping company close to where I live. Most of them sell rolls of 1m x 1,5m.

The wrapping itself wasn't difficult. The straight pieces were easy to do. Just place it on the trim, use you fingers to get the wrap around the edges and use a creditcard or something else to tuck it behind the trim. Sometimes you need to cut the excess wrap, sometimes you need to tuck it behind the trim, sometimes both. You'll see what I mean.

As you can see on the picture above, I used some kind of a makeshift mold for the upper part Just use paper and tape and draw out the trim. Then cut it all out and draw the shape of the trim on the wrapping paper. Now you have a perfect fitting sticker! I didn't have enough paper to cover all of the trim. I cut it in half where the front and back window meet (there also is a trim) and then overlapped them so it doesn't look cheap.

If you're going to do this by yourself, do it piece by piece, don't peal the whole sticker directly. Use tape or something.

ONE MORE THING: JUST DO IT

[Fidiman]

I finally decided some new mods on my car, but not with a vinyl ... With some Plastidip ! I did the chrome line and ... My wheels (as I touch a f*****g pothole) !


Let's see the result, with a new sticker :





I had to put the tow hook, even for them who dislike it :





She was ready to see the track two days later




Then, I organised an small event at the racetrack of Chambley (Francis Maillet Competition), near my hometown in France. We were 8 cars to drive and everybody enjoyed the day. We were very lucky: no rain at all ! I could finally test my new mods correctly

The little group of the day :



A GP2 car which was runing, we had to make some pauses to let the pilot test the new settings (insane sound) :





The heavy moded Seat Leon of the Francis Maillet Competition Team (they use it at several trackdays as 24h of Spa or the 24h of the Mans) :



Our cars :



Waiting during the tests of the GP2 :



Some rolling shots :





I love this part of the track :



The two more badass IMO :






Now, the car has quite no more body roll (still a bit but ...). It feels increadibely planted. A friend of mine told me it was the car with the most incredible chassis I was with the OEM brake pads (but with RBF600 and stainless hose), the braking feeling was much more enjoyable as the basic one.
I didn't attack while braking this time. I did a 2'17" lap time, so 4" better than the other time (I was braking much more harder). I think, I could do a 2'15" without any problem with the same configuration.
I had a little issue (my rear wheels loosen ... I cannot explain how ... I don't know neither if someone wanted to do a bad joke ...) but nothing went wrong. I didn't want after that to go again on the track, I was too tired.

So, to sum up, 4" better with my mods, 2" less are possible (so 6"). A M135i was here this day and did 2'14", that was my benchmark. Not bad at all I think regarding to my little experience of racetracks.

Next steps will be the brakes and the suspension. I think, I will conserve the OEM calipers a time and will upgrade the pads. I thought about something like Hawk HP+ because the Pagid RS26 (Yellow) are not produced for the front of my car ... Any other suggestions ? I have the same calipers as a 128i.
For the suspension, after plenty of reflexion, months of debating with myself and members of this board, I think I will go to the KW v2 route. If it's not sufficient enought, I will put the Swift springs of HPA on it. Now, I have to save some money for them Or if I win money I don't know were, I will buy the v3 (dreaming doesn't cost anything as we say here) !

So, take your keyboards guys !

Oh, and I forget : here are a little video for some laps I did :

[Fidiman]

Hi guys, such a long time I did not post here ... I dislike to do "up" like that, but I think you will forgive me.


I finally decided to go with ST XTA because I had a good deal with them : 899€ delivered instead of ... much more I read during a long time all the certificate of the german TüV and I finally found that this kit is the same as KW v2 but with linear spring front (rear are the same as v2, progressive) and camber plates.

Here is a little review of this kit as there are quite none for the E82 ... Last week I recieved them and decided to mount them. Here are some pictures ...


First, you see the BIG differance toward the XTA and the M sport suspension + Eibach Pro Kit :

Mounted, they are like that :

I had a SUV-style BMW 1er :

I decided to lower the front of the car and let the rear settle a bit (only few kilometers, it was the foloowing day of the installation) :

[url=http://flic.kr/p/pTHHan]

Finally washed it after such a long time ...

That was how she settled (rear and front) after the alignment (I know it's too early but I didn't have the tools to adjust the wheels correctly at home ... Moreover, regarding to the price of Michelin PSS ...) :

Here are my values of the alignment. I think it's something good to begin, I will adjust them in a couple of months when I will find the definitive lowering and the correct rebound settings for street (for the track, I will have to wait till spring comes) :

Front
Left camber : -1°26' -1°28' Right camber
Total toe : 0.9

Rear
Left camber : -1°35' -1°35' Right camber
Total toe : 1.1

So, as previously said, the springs are not completely settled, I will have to wait a range of 1000km more or less. As the rear will naturally lower, I will have more camber rear (I don't know how much, I will see it next alignment).

Now I'm lowered at the minimum rear, I can have 20mm of travell on the rear perches (corresponding to 30mm toward the wheel and the fender). I adjust it to have -36,5mm of lowering comparing to stock suspension, it will be slightly lower than my Eibach Prokit.

After 250km more or less, I have a distance from fender to center wheel of 325mm front (cannot put one finger) and 340mm rear (one finger and some millimeters in addition) :

Loving my front camber :

As it is my first kit of coilovers, I didn't know what to expect ... I was very frightened of the harshness, the noise, poor quality and so on.

But wait mate ! You're not installing sh*tty coils but KW ! So that's true, I mounted them by myself like all the other job I did on my car. They are very well engineered and the installation is quite easy. It was the first time I did such a job. Only drawback : the rear ... The prenches are not THAT well thought : they completely move when you're trying to adjust them. So here are the steps I recommand if you want to adjust your rear highness :
- put a jack under the camber arm
- compress it (your spring will be compressed as well)
- put your strap and continue compressing the spring with it
- when you cannont compress anymore, lower the jack, the spring still remain compressed
- you will be able to move the perch as you want
- when finished, compress the camber arm again, decompress the strap and ... That's done
All the mesurement I did where done all wheels on the floor and with high precision. Thanks to that, I have the same lowering on each axle.

The factory settings are quite good : from the stifer, you open 9 clicks front and 6 rear (on 16 clicks, but in fact 18 in total : you're not supposed to use the two extreme ones). It's less bouncy than my stupid M Sport suspension and Eibach springs. I will test in the coming days at 3 clicks front and 2 rear. I will buy the 1M bars in order to have the access of the rebound settings front.
Remember : when you will found your lowering (front), you will have to lock the perches with the little KW/ST tool. If you tighten it too much, the little screw will pop out of some millimeters and you will have to tighten it once again ... So be precise in your job !

You could think the rubber employed for adjusting the lowering front and the system rear (with no lock) can be frightening ... In fact yes, but after reflexion ... Not at all : you will have the weight of your car on it (almost 1500kg), so you will have some forces which will lock them. In addition, your spring will try to "un-comprim" which will add another force. Don't worry, I said it was well engineered

The linear springs are totally different from the ones I tested on the 135i E82 of a friend of mine. Those supplied by KW/ST are on top. They are not bouncy as those on the car I drove. In addition, don't forget KW put linear springs only on the front of the kit, not on the rear. They do that even on their Clubsport version ! If you want full linear springs, you should go for the ones supplied by Swift

So let's speak a bit abou the drawbacks because nothing is perfect in life ... The camber plates ... I have all harder stuf on my car : E93 M3 anti-roll bars front and rear, M suspension arms front and rear and so on. It contributes to the harshness and noise you can hear whem the road is getting worse and worse. But nevermind, I knew what it would happended when I bought the kit.
So I can clearly here some metallic noises because of the camber plates in the cabin. They are a bit getting on nerves in the street till 70km/h but on highway and higher speed (till your tachometer will allow, thanks Germany), you won't hear anything. It will produce this typicall "clong" on the big asperities or holes on the road. When you will go on a pothole, you will hear your new stuff making noise too. In addition, don't forget the antiroll bars will increase this phenomena too ...

For the good news now The car is more comfortable and much more planted than the M suspension and Eibach Prokit. You can faster and faster into the curves. I was used to take one at 140km/h and cutting it to have the less bodyroll and bad reaction as possible ... I took it and stayed on my lane, not going to the other one, at 160km/h and the car wanted and could go even faster. I thought there was no limit. I decided to stop playing if some guy in blue was watching me (who knows ?).
On litlle backroads, that's fantastic too : I can go at the same speed as before but I feel much more safe ! You can imagin, after testing that I did not stayed at the same speed as before : I wanted to put more speed in the coreners, and that's what I did. Car is incredible ... And don't forget these are the factory settings ! I couldn't imagine on the track and with a harder rebound

This kit helps you to push out the limit of your car and use the full potential of other modifications you did before (like antiroll bars for example). I will update the post after some kilometers in addition.
Moreover, I think I will increase the higness front a bit and why not lower the rear of some millimeters too. Why not achieving 325-330mm from center wheel to arches all arround. I think it will have a nice look in addition of having a nice handling. I should maybe opent the rebound of the front dampers a bit more in order to have more comfort on highway or on backroads when I don't want to drive like a maniac.

I think I will stop there and I hope it will help the guys who don't want to spend a lot in coilovers and want to have KW quality (and even more thanks to their upgrades on the v2).
My satisfaction regarding to the ST XTA ? I would say 85% because of the noises of the camber plates and the rear which is a pain to adjust, so ... Hightly recommanded