hybrid

Sure, Improvements from a lower center of gravity. I did infact change my spring rate to a little firmer... Sorry I cant remember the rates of the springs. However I found that over time the shock had to work 'harder' as it was under constant compression. The trampoline effect was felt at its worst when after coming down the back straight of Taupo raceway and into the back corner under hard cornering the car would almost bounce. (these were extreme condidtions) I obviously was reach beyound what the stock shocks was designed for. However on the road, my car was still very comfortible. Your forgetting probably the main reason for getting coilovers and thats adjustiblity on the shock. I run koni race shocks in the e30 (Yellow) on a ground control "coil-over" and adjustible perch system with adjustible camber / castor tops and 525 / 700 pound medium race springs. This setup is for my race car while the KW Variant 2's are more for sporty road driving, with scope for the odd track session setup KW have been quite prominant in BMW racing for some years now, I choose them as they have designed a great qaulity and tested product. While a fan of koni and bilstien myself I have had my eyes opened up to other brands out there. Every country has its favourites. In the US its H&R, Bilstein, Moton. In Germany / northern europe its KW, Ohlins, Koni In NZ its Tien, D2, Munroe etc etc I choose mine because they have a great reputation on european cars on and contuct testing and have developed their products on the nurburgring on my actual chassis. Japan has "the" drift scene for the world and Tien are at the top of their game in this scene. I agree there are some really bad knock offs around and people are easily lead by crap. If the deal is too good to be true, then it probably is.

Okies, back on topic. I will post my experience with lowering my 330i on quality lowering springs. Pi springs (uk) vs my current KW v2 ‘coil-overs’ About 3 years ago I purchased my 330i with 40ks on the clock (I guess you could say the standard shocks were 'run in') I wanted wheels and to lower it. So one pre-req to the shop wasI didn’t want a hard spring rate. So they put in a set of Pi power springs. Lowering it down about 50mm I was running my shock at about 60-75% compression. The following behaviour was experienced. * Medium compression * Rebound was 'medium to soft' * Suspension was what I called unbalanced So when I went over a bump or whoop in the road as the suspension compress it was firm and when it was on rebound it was soft, which caused my car 'trampoline' over hard bumps at speed. It defiantly handled a lot better than stock but I would say I was 100% happy with it. However im a little anal about handling and understand it more than most. Legal quality lowering springs are fine for most people just wanting to lower there car. If you factory shocks are up to the task then go for it. on the other side of that, coil over’s really are the next level. That floppy rebound feeling totally disappears. I recently had a very hard drive down in Havelock north with the coil over’s and I can tell you it was some of the most enjoyable driving I have done in a while. If you can save that extra 2k (around 3-3500 total) then do it! you’ll love yourself for it! Specially in an m3. Coil- over’s * Medium - firm Compression * Rebound Medium - firm (adjustable) * Balanced feeling with no 'trampoline' effect on whoops IE your tires stay on the road longer over bumps = more control Note: I also upgraded to EiBach / AC Schnitzer sway bars, but this is mainly around cornering and steering placement The choice is totally up to you. Most people are happy with springs and that’s fine. This is just a user’s perspective on the topic.

I can photograph various AKL vehicles. the turbo 'maybe' finished by then too

expensive lotto

hehe .. all the "leave it to the last minute" people are out in force .. cant wait for the holidays that for sure.

the other thing ... the government only made a comment that the cars are greener, its not the whole point of buying them. If they _really_ wanted to make an impact environmentally then a hydrogen 7er would have been great... then they could of really championed "clean green" NZ and the first country to start running on hydrogen Its the only real fuel alt for the future... electricity is the pussy and nerds way out.

so bravo.... you really have bought into the media hype then. I just watched last nights tv3 news article. Most of it was rubbish. There was no point even having the article on the 'news' one point particularly annouyed me. the greens party leader stating that they dont need to be driving around in 'big' 6 cylinder cars gas guzzling. Errr. Power to weight a 6 cylinder engine is counted as the most fuel economic with _real world_ use. (power to move people / towing etc etc) Another person made the point that the TCO on a BMW is going to be far cheaper than other vehicles. And we are talking qaulity cars here, I dont see nissans or toyota interiors lasting the distance. Basically the fuel debate is bullshit, as the energy to create a new car / 'carbon foot print' (f**k I hate that term) is far greater than the fuel it uses. As to my initial response to the herald.... perspective people as much as the NZ or world media try to concentrate on the sensationalised details.

All this cracks me up, I didnt watch the news last night but Im starting to doubt the figure the herald reported of 35 cars is correct. Its probably more like 5 x 7 series and couple of x5's and several 3 series. heheh People have totally missed the point on all this, They have already said it was up for tender not they just walked off the street and said I want 35 cars, give us your best price. Now in my experience, BMW would have come to the table (as with other manufactures) with thebest offer they could of made. The other thing the media is _totally_ forgetting is BMW cars from factory options have bullet proof glass / doors and guns mounts. I dont see ford having these options. It suprised me when going through the ETK that I can buy actual gun mounts for my e46! ... BMW Badass Motor Werks

not really ... BMW has far better ties to Germany than say Ford has with Ford US. They wouldnt have just cut the margins .. I think you will find BMW would have some what 'sponsored' the fleet. I don't think thats going to happen under MMP ... if the media stopped reporting on polictical bun fights all the time, they might actually stop. Thing is just to ignore it.

I bought a philips one originally (e46 dash) which has all regions in service mode. Ones from europe defanitly. My Original headset was ajap only and didnt have any regionlisation settings.

side note .... wonder if well see the PM on bimmersport now ? j/ks

I wrote to the herald with this to put some perspective on things I can see while people a mad on here about the supposed published price, please keep in mind its like any tender. BMW AG would have had the opportunity to get publicity on this. BMW would of slashed the price no matter what to get the deal. BMW enjoy a great position of being one of the greenest vehicles in the world and for them to capitalise on this I think is a wise move. For your readers information. The e65/66 Chassis (which is what they have purchased) is in its run out year. The new 7 series (F01) is due to be on sale in Germany some time next year. Also something to remember, while they indeed look like big gas guzzling vehicles, it is a 730Ld which is; a 7 series with a 3.0ltr Turbo Diesel engine, the 'L' stands for limousine. Which is less than the current Ford Fairlane’s which use a 5.0ltr petrol engine. The vehicles both weigh about the same. Its easy for people jump the band wagon with out indeed know the facts, I just wish before people would draw conclusions they could look into things a bit more  Kind Regards, Josh Purcell BMW e46 330i and e30 m325i owner. www.bimmersport.co.nz admin

splines coz da wheel missed the diesel patch at 6000rpm au.. sorry couldnt resist

"A blogger on kiwiblog.co.nz points out that the BMW's top speed of 238km/h is 20 per cent faster than the Fairlane, making it "easier to get to the rugby on time" - a reference to Helen Clark's speeding motorcade in 2004." bloggin nuubs capable of far more

The only thing problematic with the vanos system is people not servicing the carsproperly in the first place. Its typical nature ... blame it on the car when it breaks due to ill service records. There is however a problem with the oil pump sprocket nut coming off causing oil pump failure .. there was a recall for it, you could ring BMW to find out if your vehicle was in it. It's one of those 1 in a million chance things that it will happen to you but even still. You are covered with normal mechanical insurance.

looks awesome man! good to see it back on the road! If you have scraping issues, running a slightly more shamphered tire will help, erm its that or rolling the guards a little. look sooooo hot!

It runs on Idrive .... not sure that it has a separate nav computer ? .. maybe a complete Idrive computer replacement ? .. this is a question for jochen I believe.

with the e46/x5/e39/e38/z3 (not sure about e36 ODB1) but the milage is recorded in the DME as well as the intrument cluster. Take a laptop and a serial to i-bus interface, and read in the _real_ milage straight from the ECU. This cannot be hacked buy convetional methods as you need a special BMW specific interface chip to talk / write to the DME / k-bus.

With the right lighting anything is possible with cheap cameras nice install

I had a the e46 rubber slab (4 spoke) wheel ... went for the Multi-functional one because of radio, volume, cruise control, pleather and generally looks better .. it will also allow me to control the bluetooth module when I get it. Its really strange aye, the car because of the nav and wheel upgrade feels like a totally different vehicle. quite a refreshing feeling. check my e46 MF steering retrofit thread here... http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....showtopic=13689

proud! good sh*t...

John, Just came across this ... http://www.studie.jp/stst/stst/vlnz4mcoupe/index.html company in Japan doing a full motorsport CF kit. click the arrows to change photos

lovely car! .. nice work

do a skid ....