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Gave the car a well overdue workout up through the Mangamukas to Cape Reinga. Nearly used a full tank of gas there and back starting from Paihia.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/2429235706 Long time lurker here. Thought this might be of interest to others keen on a rare E36 M3 saloon. Apparently only one NZ new in this colour. Quite a nice example.

Good day, Hope all of you are having a great day so far! My name is Marco and as the title states am I a new member and new to BMW. Took delivery of my BMW 130i yesterday. Always loved these cars especially the deep purring sound, to be honest the main reason I bought it . Would like to expand my knowledge on these cars and BMW in general as I come from a Mazdaspeed (MPS) background. Hope to meet some of you soon. Will add some pics soon, car was too dirty to do photo's any justice. Here is a sneak peak! As promised a few pics of the new family member! And after a few days of ownership realised it had a leak, looks like it might be the windscreen washer pump/tank from a bit of research on the net. Really enjoying this little pocket rocket.

Don't start down that route... My replacement airbag means my dashboard now needs replacing as it looks too aged?

Took Mrs M's Baur to have the hole in the sill sorted. Could be a while, but the guy overseeing the work was factory trained and has worked on BMWs for over 30 years, and remembers when E30s were new. Sadly, while there, I found that someone has tapped the front bumper hard enough to slightly deform the wheelarch. On the other side to the rust. ? Very unhappy about that. But it too, will be sorted.

Why not just ask him via FB messenger? ?? do not do this

One satisfying (albeit eye-wateringly expensive) upgrade last weekend. Thanks @str8_6 for the help! This was actually quite an involved process - first the airbag must come out in what is a very finicky process (after disconnecting the battery), then after removing a few screws the two pieces of plastic trim (controls and lower trim) can be removed. These two pieces are attached with more screws, so they too need to be unscrewed before doing all the steps in reverse to put the new trim in. This bugged me every time I got in the car. Looks really nice now.

Swapped out my paddles to some F series ones, I much prefer the OEM look over the aftermarket paddles I had. Also fitted a 1M strut brace, no real change in handling, but it looks nicer. Along with that chucked in an E92 M3 front sway bar, nice subtle change there. Plus while I was down there, noticed my sump gasket is starting to leak, so yay, extra things to fix ?

Pm-ing

When the price on some new wheels is so low, this then makes the prices of the "used" wheels come down as well. Why would you pay $500 for a ratty set of 14" weaves when you can buy a shiny new set of 15" Chinese replica wheels for $700 payable at only $5 a week for the next fifteen years? Who cares about the fact they are not like for like, and the old weaves will still be useable long after the Chinese rubbish has fallen apart on the NZ roads. Personally I think 14" weaves look very average on an E30 after all these years, that combined with the massive sidewalls of the tyres has the ratio all wrong. I guess I have been influenced by all the new stuff rollin' on 22"s with 30 profile rubber. That view seems to be shared by many as there is very little demand for the smaller wheels, and the 15" version is very sought after. Hence the market value of each type, and as a knock-on effect the cost of the centres to go with them.

Thanks for the advice from everyone that posted, was really helpful!. The car got everything done at Apex on the North Shore in Auckland by SJ, 11/10 recommendation. Don’t send your car anywhere else.

There seems to be an assumption that money spent on refurbishing wheels should able to be recovered. Like any modification imho that's not guaranteed.

the car is out towards your way SJ so i might give you a bell (to your office phone) to make an appointment to bring it in

Last wax/polish I used was Autoglym UDS and it was pretty good. For wheels, CRC Mag Monster is hands down the best wheel cleaner I have used. Beats Dragons Breathe for sure, and doesn't smell like sh*t. It doesn't go very far straight from the bottle though, so may pay to dilute 50/50. The 500mL bottle is only $13 on special and the 4L is $100 when on special (https://www.repco.co.nz/en/car-care-panel/car-care/tyre-care/crc-9309-mag-monster-mag-wheel-cleaner-4l/p/A1336147)

Im not in a situation to buy but would snap it up if I could. Good luck

I got my 15x8 BBS RG003's for $400. $2k for some shitty weaves. Nope.

Front bumper replacement, ready for paint ?

Started experiencing a lumpy idle on start up, intermittent sluggishness when driving a few weeks ago along with some odd gearbox behavior. i scanned the car, got a p0369 crank shaft sensor intermittent code. After some googling and reading ordered a new sensor from Coombes (genuine is best) and it was off to Mosens for fitment along with a gear box flush. Got the car back today, feels like new. So smooth in both engine and gearbox departments. Brilliant!

Fixed for MY2023

Fitted some old door sill trims to the back of my 530 tonight that is in much better condition to the outgoing ones... forgive me purists...

Changed the thermostat........ wasn't anywhere near as hard as I was lead to believe. Just went for a 20 minute test drive, KTMP according to the BC sat around 87°-88°, reaching a top of 91° (outside air temp of 11.5° at the moment). Before, the KTMP would sit around 65° on the average day, getting up to around 72° on a long drive, and only reaching 91° when the outside air temp was above 20°. I believe that's another problem sorted, and better economy will follow with it now reaching proper operating temperature. Manifold swap yesterday has made a big difference, no diesel smell at all, and definitely feels stronger and smoother down low, especially with a cold motor.

Best motoring decision of my life. The hype is real. No road car comes close for the money, (and even a lot more).