Tyler's 04 slicktop 6spd Silvergrey MCS/Brembo/CSL/Karbonius/Nogaros/Supersprint

[Tbonem3]

Tyler, build is looking great bud.

Really gives me inspiration to not be lazy haha.

Thanks! Ha, nice! I'm lucky I genuinely like wrenching and cleaning lol

[Sharocks]

Tyler, build is looking great bud.

Really gives me inspiration to not be lazy haha.

[Tbonem3]

After I was happy with everything and drove it a bit, I made an appt for an alignment at JMP in the valley here. Ride height (center cap to fender) is 13.375" Front & 13" Rear without me in it, but half tank.




Looks like I did a very good job on my DIY camber adjustment (weighted string), so that's cool. I had set the camber plates for maximum caster, but you can see that it came out with a half degree disparity. It now pulls slightly to the right. The shop said they couldn't fix it because our strut towers' hole isn't big enough to access the 4 bolts. I wasn't going to pay another $120 for them to drop the struts and adjust (guesswork). I'll do it myself later. I'll mark the plates and tower in order to reach the same camber, but I'll bring the driver strut's caster forward a hair.

I've been busy with the steelgrey car, and it's been a while since I detailed the car. I already have and used Mother's CMX coating spray (sio2/tio2) to very good effect on a tiag 128i. Fellow member and professional detailer here mentioned he liked Mother's CMX polish - it contains the sealant in it for a one step, and it promotes adhesion of other ceramic coatings or sprays after it cures 24hrs. I used a medium/light (green) LC CSS pad so that there'd be some cut, but a fine finish. (order is [softest] black [no cut], blue, green, white, orange)



The polish/sealant is very nice to use. Pretty creamy, more like Griot's for longer work time. Doesn't nearly dry up and dust like Meg's 205. It's thicker too, not watery.



I usually use a MF applicator to apply the CMX sealant spray, but had some cheap foam ones. They just smeared it around. When applied with MF, it sets up just like wax (hazy, not streaky), and wipes away just like wax (I love real wax). I'll never use these foam applicators again - junk.

Never the less, the car came out great (the polish/pad is chiefly responsible for the gloss factor):





Out of the fluorescent, into the day light






My favorite pic (shows the new stance as well):

[Tbonem3]

It's ok. Nobody believed me about the monoball fcabs or the SS dual pipe sect 2 either.

[jet_dogg]

I’m surprised the spherical bearing of the Vorahlag plates had worse steering feel than the TMS Street camber plates? 🤔

Note: I personally have the Ground Control Hybrid setup (which is like the race version with a small polyurethane bushing) and don’t know if my steering feel was any better or worse.

Me too, with motons and monoball plates I had incredible steering feel back in the day. Additionally, I could feel if I ran over a dime going slow over smooth pavement.

[loudspeaker69]

I’m surprised the spherical bearing of the Vorahlag plates had worse steering feel than the TMS Street camber plates? 🤔

Note: I personally have the Ground Control Hybrid setup (which is like the race version with a small polyurethane bushing) and don’t know if my steering feel was any better or worse.

[DJAM3]

Nice.....I wasn't aware there was a fold down option.

[0-60motorsports]

I need to get a set of TMS plates too, probably when i get my PSS10's

[Tbonem3]

Did a canyon run a few days after the suspension changes, and really disliked the lifeless steering feel I was getting. It reminded me of when I tried the TMS monoball FCABs. I figured it was the spherical camber plates. I was very happy with the previous TMS plates (poly bush), so I bought another set ("street") and sold the Vorshlags to a friend.

You can see the much larger footprint of the TMS. Despite the disparity in size, the TMS are no heavier than the vorshlags, luckily. Gonna miss the vorshlags, they're really really nice and well made.



The TMS plates are quite a bit more expensive than other options. Worse still, they don't come with the necessary upper thrust bearing. Turner gives you the option of buying them, but they word it as "perches." Well, I didn't think I needed it because I didn't want stock perches - I'm using 60mm springs. Turns out the BMW part is a combo, it's the black metal spring perch WITH the yellow/black bearing.

So I ordered a new set of perches/bearing for $40



I hadn't gotten an alignment yet, so no biggie dropping the other plates and putting the TMS in



Not quite as pretty as the gold and red of the vorshalgs And the plates' studs are unnecessarily long.



All done. Hopefully, this is the only change I need to make to be all set and then get an alignment.



Happy to report, the car feels great again. I've got the spherical RSMs and bottom shock attachment, but they don't ruin any perception in "feel." I'm all about the feel and the sound aka the "experience"
____

My cubby door (under hvac) got a couple of scratches over the years, so I bought a new one, but I got the sun glasses holder with the lid that folds down. It's lined with soft felt inside which is nice as it quiets whatever is inside when it's moving around (my garage door opener or whatever).



New next to old. Honestly, the old one looks incredible for 18 years and 180k miles, but my steelgrey car's cubby is atrocious, so this one will refresh that car nicely. The standard for this car is higher.

[Tbonem3]

Ya damn inflation & materials/supply chain issues. I feel bad for people getting into the E46 and modding nowadays. Remember the good 'ol days of no online sales tax and $15k m3s?

[jet_dogg]

Those DMG rear braces look nice, but dang they are $855 today on eBay!

Different styles and finishes are less. Also the longer you wait the more the price keeps going up due to raw materials.

[fattycharged]

Those DMG rear braces look nice, but dang they are $855 today on eBay!

[loudspeaker69]

A little toe-in in the rear for stability.

I'll probably just do neutral up front. If I get (wider) 18s again, I'll dial camber in further which will cause some toe-out.

Just my 2cents:

Weekend Car:
- Front: Toe out
- Rear : Toe In

Daily Car:
- Front: Toe @ Zero for the Daily
- Rear: Toe @ Zero or A touch of Toe In
(I run this set up with Toe in @ the rear and have noticed very good tire wear on my Michelin Pilot 4S)

[Malloy]

The car just gets better and better!

[Tbonem3]

A little toe-in in the rear for stability.

I'll probably just do neutral up front. If I get (wider) 18s again, I'll dial camber in further which will cause some toe-out.