Tyler's 2011.5 Jerez Black E90 Slicktop Daily

[Tbonem3]

Thank you Ejaz!

[0-60motorsports]

Thank you Ejaz!

My pleasure T! Always an admirer of your attention to detail.

[kaiv]

Not usually a fan of Jerez but this is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly executed!

[Tbonem3]

Thanks Kevin! Once I install the ohlins, drop the rear a 1/4", dial in a little more camber, and then polish/coat the car again, I think it's gonna be perfect!

[0-60motorsports]

Thanks Kevin! Once I install the ohlins, drop the rear a 1/4", dial in a little more camber, and then polish/coat the car again, I think it's gonna be perfect!

That'll look really good.

[Tbonem3]

Some small updates before I post about my suspension changes, to keep things chronological.

New OEM wipers for the upcoming rainy season



New air filter. Cleaned the dust/pebble out of the housing.



And now most importantly, at very little cost luckily, I was able to replace the worn CIC button. You can't buy this from BMW, and buying a whole new controller is $$$.

Aliexpress to the rescue!



Oh and I got lucky and found a like new set of Factory BMW Black Chrome grilles. I thought I grew out of blacking out things after going with a factory look on my E46, but since I'm modding my E90 in a particular way, and because I love this black chrome on my X7, I wanted to give it a try on the E90. These parts are NLA, though I did see ECS listing them for $6xx recently. I got these for $200. The differenc between these and typical gloss black (like from IND) is significant. Not cheap at all. Goes well with my not cheap E88s I think.

[Tbonem3]

Alright, my favorite type of modding! Chassis!

The Bilstein B8s have been great. The swift springs have been pretty good - I just feel like they needed the front rate to be closer to 3xxlb not low 200s as the front would dive a bit too much. The 1" drop looks great, but you're on the bumpstops too much. I tried to alleviate that by reducing the stack above the spring for more travel. That is, cut mounts up front and Monroe (dinan copies) RSMs. I was pretty happy, but this was always a temporary solution until I got Ohlins or MCS.

I actually had bought the ohlins off a local back in summer of 2023! But with moving, no garage and a new baby, I just couldn't get to it.

I went with Ohlins due to their popularity for E46 and E90 as well as their known quality. Price was a bit cheaper back then, I paid $2500. Also, I could re-use the new front mounts that I had cut down. I wanted to use them becuase I planned to use Dinan fixed camber plates which add 6mm of material to the stack. So 10mm of cut mount minus 6mm of dinan plate = still about 4mm of "free lowering" And the rear RSMs have similar. I really want to avoid solid bushings on this car, esp up front. I haven't found that many camber plates options and they all seem pretty hardcore, so sticking with stock mounts was key. GC street is the only viable option for me, but they're $700, so I hope to acheive my goals with just stock mounts.

I was also, at first, impressed with Ohlin's spring rate choice of 343 (60N) & 685 (120N). I felt that they got the E46 wrong with 400/628 (I think it should be 343/628 or 400/685).

After installation, however, with my type of driving, I still don't think 343/685 is enough, so I'll be looking to go up to 400/784, but I'll touch on that later...




So first I disassembled the Bilstein fronts, as I knew I needed to modify the mounts before installing the ohlins.



You take out the bearing to expose the backside of the 3 studs - you have to pop them out



Gotta have a big vice!

Then pop them into the Dinan plates. I used some sockets to create pockets for the studs to go into so that I could press them flush, actually, beyond flush.






Doesn't take long at all if you have a good method.

Now to install...



Ohlins asks you to preload the spring by 6mm, then height adjustment is done with the strut body, where the hub clasps it. Only bad part, the adjustment knob is on the bottom. Everyone has theirs up top for adjustment in the engine bay




Very nice parts, easy to work with for adjustment. I set the damping knob about in the middle for now.

On to the rear...



Comparison of Swift 672 (12kg) versus Ohlins 120N (685lb). Not too different. Ohlins is shorter to allow for adjustment perch.




At least the rear's adjustment knobs are up top, but that area is covered by liners doh! I have no problem leaving liners out, but some have made nice holes in them for access. Maybe I'll get around to that.



Ohlins is great at making sure NVH is limited. They provide rubber and plastic sheets/seats. Having said that, the sheet was barely 1/16" (prob just 1mm) and the footprint (OD minus ID) was pretty small, like 3/8". So next time I'm in there, I'll replace with my own 1/8" thick rubber sheet, and I'll make a larger footprint.

Still, on the first drive, it was almost as quiet and soft as stock. Just slightly harsher - maybe I can mitigate it further.

more coming...

[Tbonem3]

So I drove the car a few times and noticed that I could still get too close to bottoming out for my comfort on hgh speed, big dips. Ostensibly, spring rates at this level do seem appropriate, but then remember that the E90 is a good 350lbs heavier than my E46. Then it's easier to understand how much spring the E9x can take. I've been reading and it seems like track e9x guys are running often 500-600/900-1000 or thereabouts.

So my decision is to go up 10 newtons to 400lb in the front and 784 rear from 343/685. Ohlins says you can go up to 30% increase without revalving the dampers. I'll be doing about 15%.

First step was to reach out to Barry for Ohlins springs. Unfortunately, the perfect sized Ohlins for me were out of stock. He was able to sell me the equivalent swift (65mm) for same price - cool!

Now, for the front, custom rates usually mean the need to switch to camber plates and coilover size perch like 60mm/2.5", BUT there is a little trick we can try. Member LSB4Me, as I understand it, took the 343lb e9x ohlins spring and made it fit his E46 ohlins kit. The e9x front spring is 6mm smaller in OD than the E46, whcih isn't much, just 1/8" on each side to account for when it comes to fitting the rubber pad. I think he said he had to trim his pad. Now, I'm going the other way - I'll be putting the slightly bigger E46 spring on the E90 front mount. It seems like it'll work, just eyeballing it, but I won't know until I get my hands on a set.

Another member here has expressed interest in swapping with me (as I waxed poetic about 343lb front springs on E46). So once I have the E46 springs in hand, I'll measure and take pics and see if we can't make this work.

Worst case, I'll have to sell the cut mounts and dinan plates, and get the GC street plates with 2.5" and then get the corresponding swift spring (~7", 65mm, 7N/mm). Might not lose too much money going this route, but I'd really be happy to make the e46 springs work and stay on OE mounts.

The rear swifts came super fast (thanks Barry - 3DM)



Also pictured are Whiteline subframe bushings - I'll detail that next time



Here's the current stack. I mentioned earlier that it was nice that Ohlins provides cushioning, but I still found it inadequate.



So here's what I've done. I took that little, thin top rubber donut and put it down below, under the plastic seat for a little extra cushion there. Then, up top, I made my own bigger, thicker pad for where the spring perch sits against the body.



The spring is a bit shorter than ohlins, but there's plenty of adjustment. There was an even shorter option still, but both Barry and I thought twice about having so much of the perch's threads above the spring. So just a little weight loss here

Took it for another romp, and WOW so much better. Felt sharper and more responsive all around, which I was not expecting (flat ride?). And of course, as expected, I was not squating all the way down after a dip. It's firmer, but not harsher! Even trying to compress the car as much as possible, there's still no rubbing or bottoming out! The front still does dive a little much, so I still want 400lb.

Now that it's stiffer, I felt comfortable lowering the rear to my desired look which is tires *just* tucked. I'm really really loving the car. Now, I want some more power and noise!

[0-60motorsports]

That looks beautiful

[Tbonem3]

So after increasing the rear spring rate from 658 to 784lb, I was waiting on new GC street camber plates before jumping up from the standard Ohlins 8" 343lb front spring to Eibach (2.5") 7" tall 450lb linear spring.



Got the parts in after only like a month wait!



Ohlins vs Eibach coil. Much smaller and lighter!



I took a picture of my current bilstein/dinan setup so I could eyeball the location of the strut for decent alignment. I love the custom GC ///M washers



Since the new spring was a different height and weight, I knew I'd need to adjust the bottom perch upwards.



I also went up to 5mm spacer from 3mm with new Apex bolts since I'd have more neg camber and stiffer springs






Oooo that's hawt





Unfortunately, the Ohlins can not properly control the rebound from these 2kg/in (100lb) stiffer springs. If you slow rebound with the Ohlins' adjustment knob, you also increase compression which just makes it bouncier. I'm also pretty low, lower than I should be and that contributes to an upset ride, but I'm willing to compromise a bit. My E46 is also low with stiff springs, yet it feels sublime (MCS ftw).

So, I'll need to grab a set of old stock dampers (I saved springs and mounts) and send the Ohlins to Barry at 3DM to revalve at some point.

If I put the ohlins at about halfway (15 clicks), it's a pretty good compromise and will do for now, but it all pales in comparison to the control my MCS have on my E46.

[Tbonem3]

Forgot a few things, and I don't want it to get too out of order, chronologically.

While doing the rear ohlins and swifts, I worked on the subframe bushes. I had gone with Whiteline poly in my e82 128i, and was very pleased with them. All the benefits of solid, with a little give.



The rears are easy, you barely have to lower the subframe (no need to disconnect brakes/ebrake cable)



With about 70k, they look great and feel pretty good overall but, under torque like 1 to 2 or 2 to 3, they squirm bad, and are harsh especially with DCT!



New ones are easy to pop in as they're 2 parts, and lubed, plus I put them in the freezer



Unfortunately, unlike the E82, I can not do the front bushes without completely dropping the subframe, and I have no reason or desire to do so at this time, so it'll have to wait. Luckily, just replacing the rear bushings has compeltely solved any sqiurm, bucking, harshness when upshifting and reaccelerating with more torque.

I also refilled the diff with OE juice (about 65k, normal interval)



Forgot to document the annual (7k) oil change done in late February switching from Castrol to Motul power ester 5w50



And while doing that, partly due to mileage (37k interval suggested, now I'm at 74k) and partly in preperation for test pipes and engine tune, I replaced the spark plugs. OE NGK.

The coil packs are a bit different, and getting them off is a bit harder than on S54. I found good fulcrums for each one, and used this pry tool to get them off quite easily.



The V8 is a bit tighter of a fit in an engine bay than S54. The rear cyl needed an exotic mix of adapters to get to. 2 wobbles and various extensions:



The plugs all looked great, not too dry and white (lean), not too dark and wet (rich), and I'm at the recommended replacement (37k iirc).



My battery was starting to dip below 12v, even getting down to like 5v, and while a charge would bring it back up over 12v, I decided to simply replace the battery right away, which also allowed me to go to a lighter/smaller spec. I still need good power as the car is fairly modern, and I have a sound system, but the H8 was really big and heavy. I got an H7 AGM through Costco for a great price ($169.99).

12.83v off the bat, nice!



Gave me a change to clean up the tray, as well as change the mounting configuration to fit the smaller battery



You just move this clamp up one hole:




All done, I saved like 10lbs lol You also have to register the battery on this era plus, possibly, code the CAS module with the specifics if you make changes like I did, going from 90Ah to 80Ah or if you go from AGM to lead acid.
Then you can register (the mileage) with ediabas Tool32:



Now for some more "fun" stuff, AWE46M3 helped me snag a local stock X pipe with low miles that already had TMS test pipes installed, plus included to original cats (which I've since sold for almost what I paid for this entire setup lol).



I took the opportunity to replace the pre-cat widebands ahead of time. I'll leave the originals on the original X-pipe as I'll likely have to swap it out every 2 years for SMAWG



I've actually already installed them and tuned with Hassan (HTE), but I'll document it later plus some other exh work I'm doing to find the right tone and volume for this beast. With the 4pipe muffler, and test pipes now, it was waaaaayyyy too loud and raspy (bad, ugly rasp, not zinggy e46 m3 rasp).

[0-60motorsports]

Nice progress and looking forward to what you do with the exhaust

[Tbonem3]

So last post, I had installed test pipes, paired with my 4 pipe muffler, and then tuned with Hassan @ HTEtuning. I really love the extra HP/TQ - very similar to S54 where catless headers + tune = about 40hp. Cost me ~$600 easily the best bang for buck on this car. Even cheaper than S54 as you don't need headers, just the downpipes. And the stock X pipe has secondaries, so no worry about emissions smells.

However, by deleting the massive primary cats, the exhaust note is cacophonous mix of rasp and a "droney" type of note that's awful right around 4k. This is with the 4 pipe muffler, mind. I put the stock muffler on and it's basically back to stock levels.

I had to remove the X pipe anyway, with my bi-annual smog test coming. I started to think about what I could do to "fix" the exhaust note, since now would be the time to make changes, with the piece being off the car temporarily. Bought new rubber hangers as the X pipe with test pipes was just touching the reinforcement plate.




While I decide how to mod the exhaust more, I took care of a few other lingering items:

When I swapped over to the E88s, I lost the TPMS in the AG M359s. I don't really care for TPMS, and prefer lighter/simpler setups almost always, so I deleted the TPMS module, and coded the car to go back to E46 era flat tire monitoring.




Before tuning with Hassan, I wanted to check was software I was on as many on M3post were saying that the last software 241E was a performance imporvement over the original factory softwares. I wanted to practice my coding/flashing skills anyway.



So I was on 190E (2011.5 model)



Now, 241E (used Winkfp)



Within that same Daten file, are updated DCT files as well. Updated U.S. and European plus GTS and CRT. Almost everyone talks about GTS, but there are some aspects I don't care for. I really liked stock u.s. just fine, other then how slowly it would get back into 1st after reversing. The updated U.S. file (7847869) made improvements on that and jerkiness. I'm really happy with it. I prefer it to European as euro starts in D(2) iirc, and I prefer manual 1 with DCT speed at 3. My MDM settings have DCT speed up to 4 so that I get the auto-blipping.




I had ordered a steering wheel at the end of 2023 for a pretty good price at the time, about $780 from a dealership (no tax, free shipping), but then got a notice that they couldn't get it, and they were backordered. I decided to let them keep the payment and wait till BMW made more knowing that this was a fairly common thing now, and didn't want to wait anyway just to have to pay considerably more.

Turned out to be a good move. They came back about 5-6 months later, and the price went over $1000! Crazy. Well, my luck didn't stop there



I open it up to revel in the fresh matte goodness and I notice some DCT paddles attached hmmm. I was pretty sure they're a seperate part. They are, and they're like $1000.

So I got quite a deal

I'll reuse my original paddles and hold on to these new ones should mine stop working. Used ones go for about $300 on ebay.



My 75k wheel didn't seem too bad, but once you compare to new, it becomes obvious

Removal/install is exactly the same as an E46 wheel, probably the same as all BMW wheels





That stitching...



That fresh matte black that's really like dark grey mmm....

Next I'll document the exhaust journey (modified X pipe and modified muffler), and I did a fresh paint correction using all new products but coated with my trusty Gyeon Pure Evo.

[Tbonem3]

As I had mentioned, with the test pipes now fitted, my "4 pipe" muffler was just too loud and the rasp too gnarly, which I had anticipated, so I pivoted to my next plan of action: modify my original muffler lightly, something like a 1 to 2 pipe mod.

But before doing so, gotta get rid of the awful tips. I went back to Burkhart Engineering in Germany again, but chose the slashed cut tips this time. (80mm & e90 length)



The rivets are hardened steel, and drilling them out took too long, so this is my fastest method should you wish to replace stock tips on a stock e46/e9x muffler:



lift it up a little on opposing sides



Nip off the "disc"



Then punch the inner portion down and out




Much much better

You can see the slant here:



I didn't like how visible the stock muffler's outlet pipes were on my 4 pipe muffler, so this time, I remembered to slice the outlets off enough so they're not really visible when it's all said and done.




Also did a quick polish, mostly to clean it up and make it look new(ish), wasn't going for a true mirror-like polished finish




I also don't love the brushed finish of Burkhart's tips, so I high-polished them:



Ready to fit (Burkhart includes correct rivets)



My goal was to replicate what I did to my E46's stock muffler, i.e., clean it up & add single wall, slashed cut tips 80-83mm size



So it's just the stock muffler with tips at this point, not modified internals yet.

[Tbonem3]

So it's really quiet, like more than I expected. It's barely louder than stock, so I will definitely need to open the box up and modify it for more volume.

I was expecting it to sound like the E46 when you do catless headers, even with the stock boat anchor, it's obviously louder and rougher.

I started researching all of the different methods of modifying the muffler.

I decided I'd start with a "2 pipe" job, using an exhaust pipe repair kit - fiberglass wrap. That way, if 2 pipe is too loud, I can peel back the wrap until I reach my desired amount of coverage.

Here's a nice diagram I found that shows a partial cover-up of the 2 main perforated pipes (the ones fully covered in a "2 pipe" mod job)



I also, after watching many youtube videos and reading m3post forums, noticed that the "best" sounding cars often had quad resonated X pipes. In my expierence, I've enjoyed the nastier sound of the S54 without cats and resonators, but the S65 is just so nasty, you have to tame it down lest you desire the most ridiculous rasp you've ever heard.

The big primary cats really temper the note down, so much so that even a muffler delete doesn't sound too crazy. But as soon as you lose those big cats, it gets very loud and raspy. I wasn't too interested in buying an aftermarket X pipe, didn't see any real benefit, stock is already 2.5" and has nice secondary cats in there which I want for smell control. So I started thinking of how I could add a pair of resonators to the stock X pipe. I anticipated needing to be quad resonated if I was ging to be opening the muffler up more because getting more volume via muffler mod also introduces more rasp. Resonators seem to be the way to keep the volume up, but control the rasp.

I got under the car and confirmed there's a ton of space where the primary cats would be. Though, there's not a lot of ground clearance. Interesting note * BMW's resonators and cats are offset, with more of their body going upwards into the vehicle to create more ground clearance.




Ok, so I was confident I could fit resonators in there, but was mindful to keep the body diameter under 4" as the stock primary carts are about 3" thick at this point. Well, many res are 4" body, but not offset. And I couldn't find a spare pair of stock resonators to buy, so I kept looking. I eventually found some nice 3.5" diameter "bullet" resonators from Total Flow that I thought could work. It wouldn't result in less ground clearance, if I moved them forward just a bit where the pipes naturally go upward to meet the headers.

I'll get into the fab job in a later post, but here's a pic of them:



The plan is to mock it up next to my stock X pipe, take measurements, and cut the test pipes down to accomodate the resonators, weld it all together while still maintaining the correct dimensions as stock. Without a jig, this was gonna be a bit tricky.

While I waited for the resonators to come in, I started in on the muffler as well, ordering the exhaust wrap, and trying a 2 pipe first. I'll document all that in the next post. Before that however, I got some new detailing products from my wife for Christmas that I was not expecting!
She got me not 1, but 2 bottles of Carpro Essence, a fine, final polish with built-in sio2 ceramic to prep for ceramic coating. She knew I was eyeing it on amazon, but she went a step further and ordered the kit that comes with Carpro's "gloss" pad as well.



Wow this stuff was a dream to work with. No strong smell, no dusting, long enough work time (not as long as Griot's boss, but nobody's perfect), and delivered beautiful glass like gloss.

I didn't take any other photos of the job, but here's a nice shot a week after the coating cured (Gyeon Pure Evo):





I also went back to chrome front grills as I make the car less agressive looking (switching the E88s for M359 comps soon)