Eagle

The engine is only aspect. You add the all the electronics, tired suspension, heavy cars etc, you see why very few people truly refresh them and spend the barely min on them, you rarely see any with big k's. Obviously you can do much the work yourself if you have the skills\tools and get parts overseas, but they never be what id call cheap to properly refresh.

Is there different types of E46 alarms or just the one?

Didnt even know there was a business called that doing the same thing, i thought it was a typo.

PS5's no doubt. Should last much longer than PS4's.

Only complaints about SD european ive heard are their prices

Yeah new ones feel almost too hard to lift some days, but then you think about them having to work on big slopes.

Thats what i use it for. As a note Bimmersport would be pretty much dead for new content if none of us did. Only really the regulars who may do that. Im sure there's many members or vistors who view\read but dont post\contribute etc, so not the best indication.

I was getting increasing on center vagueness when driving and slop when rocking steering wheel with engine off. Moving the shaft at the firewall produced excessive movement Removed the column and traced the play to plastic bushing in the lower steering column behind the steering angle sensor. Checked out a couple local E46's and @Vass send me a video of his, both had much less movement than mine. Got a replacement low k one from E46 M3 Nick Weitz is wrecking. Steering is significantly improved, now precise and a nice weight to it now. Feels like my E36 with the same setup. No before video but here is the new one. Still some movement but i think that is mainly due to poor\cost cutting design, not very well supported down low + plastic bushings. No parts listed to rebuild so probably one of those issues will start to occur more frequently as E46's age. IIRC @Sammo had a similar issue with his E46, presumably obvious noises would occur once the wear is great enough. 20230610_160645.mp4

+1 loosen it a bit with rattle gun and spring still fully compressed if you arent.

If you borrow my Eibach hubcentric ones for finalization if you like.

Yeah i was tempted to get some FL-5's in 18x8.5 ET35 but hard to justify the cost vs benefit. I think the main issue with fitment is the many different factors between everyone setup and driving. Get lots of contradictory info. I drove with the stock rear alloys on the front for a test (18x8.5 ET51 255\35R18 tyre ) and had no issues with stock msport setup I used 15mm spacers on the stock front alloys(225\40 18x8 ET47) and bought them down to ET32. I didnt drive with them because appeared like they would rub slightly on the inner guards at full lock\suspension movement.

Be interesting to see how much better you think the audio will be over the stock setup (given OE mounting\locations seem to be a big weakness).

Anything euro is marked up a fair bit for retail customers compared to Japanese etc. People buying parts at Repco arent typically the shop around type so they take advantage for that. 5 years ago a Gates idler pulley for an M54 was $180 retail and $90 trade.

Yeah i think trade in would of been around 5k give or take. I wonder what the market thinks its actually worth if you $1 reserved it, 10k max id guess. You are paying a premium 'bought it off the dealer in 2001 type experience'. As you say its really for a fan with yolo money to spend.

I dont see the point of keeping it a garage queen myself, its never going to appreciate much in value and its nothing special to drive in that spec. Id just use the car as intended without caring about the mileage while keeping it garaged and maintained.

'01 325i auto sedan. Wonder if they have ever changed things like fluids or tires during all those years.

Probably needs a small amount of money spent on it im sure but very tidy indeed. 10k seems reasonable.

Basically on the opposite side of the caliper. You have to remove the wheel.

Yeah Renault era Nissans are bad for it, eg timing chain covers which isnt a cheap repair labor wise. I prefer the older style gaskets they used on the 80's BMW's etc. They may not seal for as long as rubber type ones but they tend to seep rather than go brittle and leak badly.

Yeah i dont put much of a premium on k's for a vehicle this old. 5-6k max.

Yeah spline count is really what matters. Im running Luk E36 M3 flywheel and Sachs 3.2L clutch on my E46. Got both from Spareto.com for $1200-1300 shipped in 2 orders.

Factory head units and amps are basically unwanted parts here that can be had for no or very little cost, its easy to swap them out one at a time and re-test. If that doesn't help you probably want to test the speakers.

Id go for Michellin PS5's, they say they last quite a bit longer than PS4's. PS4's easily beat RE003 in all areas expect steering response. RE003's are a entry level performance tyre and very old tech.

+1 depends on the part but anything electrical related i always go OE\genuine unless its NLA.

Do the hidden OBC unlock and bring up the coolant temp so you can see what its actually reading under different conditions. The gauge being buffered means if it goes even a few degrees out of its normal middle range then its going straight to the red zone. Cooling system refresh is always a good idea as you probably given its probably on old\unknown parts. Never really heard of sensor failing but you can almost guarantee the thermostat and fan clutch are original. When i buy a car i usually remove the radiator at the same time and clean out all usual debris on the front of the fins and the AC condenser area.