Bran.Stum's first 'M' - 2002 M3

[bran.stum]

Beautiful!

Love the look of the alcantara steering wheel, how do you like it compared to leather?

It feels great and looks great! I’d say the biggest downside is maintenance on the material, if I wasn’t wearing driving gloves I’d have to be cleaning it religiously.

[Dino]

It feels great and looks great! I’d say the biggest downside is maintenance on the material, if I wasn’t wearing driving gloves I’d have to be cleaning it religiously.

Yeah that's something I'm thinking about before pulling the trigger on getting one. I guess I'll try to make it a habit to use hand sanitizer before touching the wheel to remove any oils.

I heard Coby Wheels could thicken up the diameter of the wheel, did you get yours bulked up or kept it stock thickness?

[bran.stum]

Yeah that's something I'm thinking about before pulling the trigger on getting one. I guess I'll try to make it a habit to use hand sanitizer before touching the wheel to remove any oils.

I heard Coby Wheels could thicken up the diameter of the wheel, did you get yours bulked up or kept it stock thickness?

I’ve heard that too but didn’t know he offered that when I shipped my wheel out, so it is stock thickness. I have heard that those who had it done by him didn’t receive the best results so maybe do some research first

[chicane]

Solid ride. Love what you have done. One question...why not role with dual Recaros up front?

[bran.stum]

Solid ride. Love what you have done. One question...why not role with dual Recaros up front?

Thanks! Matching Recaros is an eventual goal along with potentially deleting the rear seat, just can’t justify spending $1300+ on another seat when that money could be better spent on other things I need to have done (racp reinforcement for one).

[chicane]

Thanks! Matching Recaros is an eventual goal along with potentially deleting the rear seat, just can’t justify spending $1300+ on another seat when that money could be better spent on other things I need to have done (racp reinforcement for one).

Holy shit! $1300! Well I guess that answers that question....no man I hear ya.

[Titaniu//M]

I always admired the journal for this car back when it was on M3forum. Glad to see the new owner continuing the legacy

[M3AN ONE]

Solid build

[bran.stum]

Obligatory mid carwash pic.


At 194k miles my foglights have seen some better days. Could not justify spending the $200+ for oem fog lights, went with Depos instead. Installed some laminx to keep them nice.


New OE fog light trim and Osram Nightbreaker bulbs.


Went on a plastic replacing spree. Hood vent was faded, cheap enough to replace. Ceramic coated the washer nozzles too.


Then the lower bumper grille.



The kidneys and side grilles were starting to get water spotted. Tore everything apart to polish the chrome.


Top is after and bottom is before.








Side repeaters were faded. Replaced with oem Magnetti Marelli.



Got around to dealing with this.



Used NOS 3m stripping. Not perfect but also not falling apart.


Spent the day detailing cars with some buddies of mine.







I completely forgot that I still had a one piece lip. I was curious to see if I would like it more this time around, except matte black.


Also found a used Avin Avant 4 w/ carplay up for sale.


Recaro removed to route the required nav extension harness. Followed factory cables all the way through.


Installed. Obviously not really a difference looks wise but the experience is much more modern. Carplay was great, made this almost 20yr old car feel much newer. The headunit along with the Bavsound speakers sounds great! I really need to find a Bavsound ghost sub to complete it. Hopefully one will pop up for sale soon.

[Mike0032]

I really love this thread because without posting odometer pictures you would never guess this is a near 200k mile car. Just goes to show with tidy upkeep and care these cars can last a lifetime.

[James31]

The process I was shown was: spray the seat with heavily diluted simple green, scrub in circles with something like a fingernail brush, wipe with a clean microfiber and repeat as needed.
If you need to resort to more aggressive measures: use a soaked magic eraser and gently go over the seat with it, being careful around problem areas, and wiping clean with a microfiber. A magic eraser is essentially a fine abrasive, so as I said do it gently and be aware of already existing problem areas!

It says on the simple green website that it is not to be used on leather. Are their different version?

[bran.stum]

It says on the simple green website that it is not to be used on leather. Are their different version?

I've never had a problem, but I also heavily dilute it. May or may not have different results with straight simple green.

[bran.stum]

Small updates.

Replaced the driverside plastic door sill trim. One of the mounting points broke off on the old one while installing the Avin unit.


The rear tires were due for a replacement. 3 years old with 30k+ miles.



Removed the old wheel weights and any remaining residue.


Their replacements waiting to go on. Fresh Michelin PS4s.


I took them to BMW to be mounted as I had previously with my front set. I expected good results again, but the tech that did it must've been new or just blatantly stupid. 😑
Effed up both my wheels.





Probably the techs reaction after finishing them.


When funds allow I really just want to replace these with Apexs new forged Arc 8s, or just have these repaired and refinished next time around when I need tires.

Snagged a set of new JTD rear shock mounts.




New OE bumper reflectors to replace the ill-fitting Depos that I had.


Color-matched using spray paint from O'Reilly's. An actual decent match. Even the flake is somewhat similar.



The little rubber boot around the filler neck was just starting to deteriorate. $14 from FCP and took maybe 10 min to install.

[bran.stum]

Been a few months.

I'll start my usual minor update with my cars current mileage:

Finally rolled over to 200k on my way to work one morning. Now I officially own a 200k mile e46 m3.


One of my headlight washers and its cover turned up missing one day. It more than likely fell out when driving but considering how simple I've found it to remove them, some random crackhead could have easily decided they wanted it as a trophy 🤷♂️ I still have yet to find a replacement for this.


Found a Macht Schnell intake boot for pretty cheap. I honestly struggled to get this thing correctly installed, unsure if whether the boot was cut or if maybe the Dinan airbox had anything to do with it.


Got the car aligned. I figured the guys at the dealer screwed my wheels up enough and I didn't want to risk further damage, so my buddy was kind enough to lend me his stock 335d wheels.
#datfitment






And back to regularly scheduled programming.


Went to Oregon for my cousin's wedding. E46 was tucked away in my friend's garage while we were gone. Freshly washed and sitting snug under a car condom for a week lol.


We roadtripped his fully deleted and tuned 335d 11 hours to Oregon. I really want a diesel next, maybe an e70 x5d?


I had decided to experiment with some ambers for whatever reason. So got a great deal on a full set and they were waiting at home for me after I got back from Oregon.


I know ambers aren't a complementary color to silver, but I really dug the look. Was fully intending on buying matching indicators and side repeaters but decided I'd rather sell them.


I'm sure some of you have heard of the Creek Fire we have going on here in California. My house happened to have been right outside one of the evacuation zones, so up until about a week ago my commute home usually looked like this


The smoke and ash has started to clear recently so I was able to get a good wash in


My front left wheel bearing has started to emit a humming noise so just waiting on an OEM FAG front kit from FCP to be delivered.

Hope everyone's staying safe and healthy out there.