Fresh rod bearings, new suspension. 135K miles.

[JayVee]

Rod bearings are done!!

Bilstein B12 pro kit installed at the same time along with ARP bolts + every nut/bolt/washer/o-ring being replaced with new OE replacements.
Other parts include new ECS vanos high pressure line, updated oil separator return line, motor mounts, steering coupler, etc. If it came off, a new one went back on.

Car is a 2004 with 135k miles. I’m owner #2, have had for 7 years. Lightly driven as a weekend car.

I went with VAC coated bearings. After extensive research and talking to multiple companies as well as understanding coatings/clearances and the mechanics behinds them. It was clear for me.

[Phoenix///M3]

Nice, I had the same philosophy doing rod bearings. If I touched it and it was original it got replaced.

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[DropTopKingM3]

Im about to have a major overhaul done myself. Did you go with the extra clearance bearings? Im having the big 3 done alone with full suspension/bushing components, and cooling system refresh done between the end of this month and fall.

[Phoenix///M3]

ACL stock clearance here. There's a massive thread somewhere on m3cutters on ACL bearings with a claim that their stock replacements are a tad looser anyway.

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[JayVee]

Im about to have a major overhaul done myself. Did you go with the extra clearance bearings? Im having the big 3 done alone with full suspension/bushing components, and cooling system refresh done between the end of this month and fall.

I went with regular clearance as well. There was quite a bit of engineering that went into the OEM clearances. I personally believe these weren't "flawed" from the factory. But more so owners lacked the proper warm-up procedures. The VAC bearings are coated with a Molydeum-disulfide coating. These types of coatings have been extensively tested in high wear applications.

[DropTopKingM3]

I went with regular clearance as well. There was quite a bit of engineering that went into the OEM clearances. I personally believe these weren't "flawed" from the factory. But more so owners lacked the proper warm-up procedures. The VAC bearings are coated with a Molydeum-disulfide coating. These types of coatings have been extensively tested in high wear applications.

Yep same here. Theres a big thread on Bimmerpost where they said really good things about VAC bearings.