"Tobias" 2013 Carbon Black 135i - Build Thread

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pharaoh

Looks super clean! Nice job. How did you go about the debadging process? Dental floss and goof off?

Started with a hair dryer to heat up the goop, then used a plastic spatula/tint tool to gently pry the letters off, and goof-off to clean up. Gotta be very careful with the goof-off though, it eats paint.

Originally Posted by Esteban

Car looks great and sounds awesome! Nice work Matt.

Thanks Esteban! Very happy with it at the moment!

[Matticus91]

Took Tobias for a photoshoot! Full shoot here: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...0#post22359170

135isill by Matt Steele, on Flickr
TobiasOct2017-3 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
TobiasOct2017-6 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
TobiasOct2017-12 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

[puppydax]

Looking great! What size tires are you running with those offsets for the front and rear? I have an 09 and looking to get some wheels with the same offsets, but want to avoid the extreme poke look. Yours looks great!

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by puppydax

Looking great! What size tires are you running with those offsets for the front and rear? I have an 09 and looking to get some wheels with the same offsets, but want to avoid the extreme poke look. Yours looks great!

Factory specs! They fit great. I'd like to run 225's in the front when I change them out next

[puppydax]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Factory specs! They fit great. I'd like to run 225's in the front when I change them out next

I just looked through your Flicker. Amazing photos first off. Second, I'm more tempted to buy these wheels. A local guy has them for sale for whatever price I want to pay that's at least $500. I test fitted the wheels and was rubbing in the rear with 235/40/18. I was planning on running 245/35/18 and as long as you're not rubbing, I will borrow his wheels and test fit factory tires on them.

Thanks and AMAZING pics! What camera do you use?

[puppydax]

But I also forgot you're LCI and can run more aggressive fitment than non-LCI, I think?

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by puppydax

I just looked through your Flicker. Amazing photos first off. Second, I'm more tempted to buy these wheels. A local guy has them for sale for whatever price I want to pay that's at least $500. I test fitted the wheels and was rubbing in the rear with 235/40/18. I was planning on running 245/35/18 and as long as you're not rubbing, I will borrow his wheels and test fit factory tires on them.

Thanks and AMAZING pics! What camera do you use?

Originally Posted by puppydax

But I also forgot you're LCI and can run more aggressive fitment than non-LCI, I think?

Glad you liked the pics! I use a Nikon D7000 and D7100, with some different lenses. I process in Adobe Lightroom. Each picture on flickr has specs listed on it including individual camera settings for each shot.

Make sure the wheels are actually the same spec - these wheels were meant for a 235i, not a 135i, and the fitment is odd. They do work but I have some slight rubbing in the back passenger side on severe bumps, especially with weight in the car. If your suspension is stock and you get the same spec wheels with the OE spec tires you should be totally fine, do expect some rubbing in severe circumstances. I don't think LCI makes any difference on the suspension, it's all visual/aesthetic stuff.

[Esteban]

I remember reading about the springs being different somehow beginning in MY 2011. Don't remember the details, though. Maybe that's the difference in LCI vs non-LCI that was referred to above, even though the official LCI MY was 2012.

[Esteban]

A quick search found this info about spring changes in 2011 for anyone interested or didn't already know.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471267

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Esteban

A quick search found this info about spring changes in 2011 for anyone interested or didn't already know.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471267

Nice find!

[Matticus91]

I was extremely fortunate to find a fantastic deal on a full Bilstein B12 Pro-Kit with Eibach springs as well as a full set of genuine BMW Performance Springs. I sold the Eibachs since I cannot run a drop that aggressive with my setup (1.2" drop from stock) and the roads here are such garbage I was worried about damaging something. So I went with the BMW Perf springs, T2 front, T3 rear.


Parts used:

• Bilstein B12 Pro-Kit for e82
• BMWPS T2 front springs, oem#31336788892
• BMWPS T3 rear springs, oem#33536788899

I also purchased all new mounting hardware, but only ended up using some of it since the Bilstein kit came with some components and others were completely fine. I suggest doing the same, as you should replace whatever is damaged or old and you can always return what you don't use.

It took me a very long time to settle on this configuration but it seemed to offer the characteristics I was looking for:

• Slightly decreased ride height (.5" in this case)
• Stiffer all-around springs (about 35-40% stiffer)
• Better road feel
• Reduced body roll
• More planted rear in corners

First impressions:
I'm going to give my conclusion/first impression here, and then below you can find DIY info and an install video.

• Ride Height: I have only driven about 20 miles so far and I have not had the car aligned yet. The susepension has just settled and the drop is barely noticeable from the stock m-sport springs, and it's exactly where I want it to be. I expect it to settle a little more over the next month.
• Spring Rates: The BMW Performance springs are noticeably stiffer than the M-Sports, and I would say they feel like more than the advertised 34% stiffness increase. The ride is not at all jarring, and the Bilstein shocks soak up bumps much better than OEM.
• Road Feel: There is a noticeable increase in road feel but without an alignment there is also some oddities in the steering, this will after a trip to the shop this week.
• Body Roll: This is by far the most notable change, immediately you can tall that body roll and pitch has been decreased significantly. Braking and acceleration feels much more confident, there's no more nose diving on hard braking and the rear doesn't faff about under hard acceleration. Roll in corners has easily been reduced by 75%+ and the car feels much more responsive.
• Rear End: The back end of the car feels much more planted, especially over bumps in turns. I think adding a diff lockdown bracket in combination with this setup will make a world of difference from stock.

Overall Conclusion:
For the money, the B12 kit cannot be beat. However, I am also glad that I opted for the BMW Performance Springs as the drop with the Eibachs would have been way too extreme for local roads and my tire/wheel setup. The BMW Perf springs with the Bilstein shocks is a match made in heaven and the car feels much more confident overall. The car handles bumps and potholes well, with no increased stiffness that I can tell. The OEM shocks do not handle bumper roads well so this has been a great improvement. I have not found any downsides, and there's nothing I would do differently at this time. Some suggested camber plates, but with the BMW springs you do not need them. If you stick with the Eibachs, that is likely a different story. I am extremely satisfied and highly suggest this combination to anyone looking for a better-than-stock ride without breaking the $1k mark or jumping to coilovers.


Crappy cell-phone pics at my work garage until I can get some better ones:
20171211_095131 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171211_095152 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171211_095118 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171211_095104 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

For my detailed thread and install info, click HERE

Some other pics:
20171210_125659 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171210_125730 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171210_125742 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

Update:
Got the car aligned yesterday, didn't take the pins out of the front shock mounts so front camber was limited but so far the car feels fantastic. Way more confident around corners than before, much better turn in, and way more responsive. The reduction in body roll is nothing short of astounding, it really feels like a sports car now and not some mushy sedan!

Here's some bonus pics and the final product.

20171213_130751 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171213_134325 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20171214_143432 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

[Matticus91]

Been having some fun and also did a few little things to the car! Apologies for how dirty the car is, the roads are pure white with salt here and washing the car is pointless at the moment!

I've been hating how bad the OE BMW rear rotor hats looked since they got all rusty. I decided to clean them off with some brake cleaner and spray them with black high-temp caliper paint to see how they'd come out. It was SUPER low effort, I literally just sprayed the rotors down with brake cleaner, taped off the caliper, and got to work with the paint. They look fantastic now and all of the rust is 20180108_190235 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

I also had a slight knock in the front end that I wanted to diagnose, the front lower control arm was a little loose so I pulled off the wheel and fender liner to tighten it up. Byproduct of rushing the reassembly from the suspension install.

Also pictured, I was viciously mauled by my dog after making some exclamations about snapping a body screw.

20180108_184714 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20180108_184946 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20180108_185034 by Matt Steele, on Flickr


With the suspension all buttoned up I made yet another trip to NJ to take my mom on a trip to Island Beach State Park, where we saw a Snowy Owl and Apollo had his first beach experience. It was VERY cold.

20180107_083320 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

SnowyOwlIBSP-6 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
ApolloIBSP-17 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
ApolloIBSP-5 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
ApolloIBSP-4 by Matt Steele, on Flickr


When I got home there was some more snow for us so naturally I had to do what every car guy with a RWD car does...


20171230_162320 by Matt Steele, on Flickr
20180104_090332 by Matt Steele, on Flickr

[Esteban]

Painted areas look great! You should really make a video of doing donuts in the snow.

[desertman123]

I love the painted rotor hats! I was thinking of doing the same to mine.

And your floof is adorable 😍

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Painted areas look great! You should really make a video of doing donuts in the snow.

Yup I'm really happy with the result, will likely do the fronts as well.

I actually have some clips that I need to put together, but I have to burn off my tires tomorrow so I want to do that and put it all in one video

Originally Posted by desertman123

I love the painted rotor hats! I was thinking of doing the same to mine.

And your floof is adorable 😍

Definitely do it! 100x better and super easy. I literally just wrapped the caliper with paper towels and painters tape and then sprayed over the rotor hat. I got paint on the disk face but it came off after some driving. TCS was not happy about that at first lol.

Apollo is a massive floof. 40lbs of just fur

[tjswarbrick]

Looks good!

Apollo the floof doesn't seem to mind the cold one bit.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by tjswarbrick

Looks good!

Apollo the floof doesn't seem to mind the cold one bit.

Fairly certain 20F is still "warm" for him lol

[1and1]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

So.....
How does it feel to know your doggo has more followers here than your car?

Your car is a handsome sonofagun, but puppers is a freaking movie star.
Suspect he knows it too. Even that shot where he was mauling you was impressive!

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by 1and1

So.....
How does it feel to know your doggo has more followers here than your car?

Your car is a handsome sonofagun, but puppers is a freaking movie star.
Suspect he knows it too. Even that shot where he was mauling you was impressive!

Agree! Look at that ham prancing in the pic above. I'm just jealous cause all I got is a cat, and a mean one at that! lol

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by 1and1

So.....
How does it feel to know your doggo has more followers here than your car?

Your car is a handsome sonofagun, but puppers is a freaking movie star.
Suspect he knows it too. Even that shot where he was mauling you was impressive!

Originally Posted by Esteban

Agree! Look at that ham prancing in the pic above. I'm just jealous cause all I got is a cat, and a mean one at that! lol

Lmao yeah he's a ham for sure. His parents were bigtime show dogs, he was supposed to be as well but we "rescued" him for a more humble life as a garage assistant

In all truthfulness he's a fantastic dog! We're working on getting a female samoyed pup, so he'll have a sister soon

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

We're working on getting a female samoyed pup, so he'll have a sister soon

You should name his sister Artemis.

BTW, those pics of your car look great!

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by Esteban

You should name his sister Artemis.

BTW, those pics of your car look great!

Funny thing that, my best friend wants to name their new pup Artemis for the same reason haha