Yuen

I fully agree. Forget about it. Save up your money and spend it on something more worthwhile.

$130 is a pretty good price. Up to you, but remember they crack easily, they don't bounce back like the stock ABS bumpers do. Plus fitting will be a hassle.

Looks like it works, but did you have to screw them into the center console/dash? If so a cupholder isn't worth that kind of permanent damage to my interior! Docile: The E36 center console cup holder part # is 82279404572.Picture attached.

There's always been arguments as to whether strut bars make a significant difference or not. It seems strut bars should be the last thing you add suspension-wise, because they give you the least value for money. Have you lowered your car? Also, the guys on Bimmerforums say the X-brace is a good value for money mod to firm up your chassis. If you want to go with strut bars, I wouldn't get those, they look too flimsy. You get what you pay for. There's also the argument about hinged vs non-hinged strut bars, hinged doesn't do much apparently.

You can, but it's a bit of a pain to do the cutting, so I'd only do it if I felt the 5.25"s were really lacking in midbass.

Only $30? They look fantastic. Hartge right?

It looks nice since it's whiter, but you're losing output because any tint will decrease the amount of light transmitted through it. alex: Not much of a choice in terms of good lighting which will look newer/nicer than your current setup. I'm assuming your car has the Bosch ellipsoid headlamps which all Euro E36s have, and they're the projector ones, not the parabolic ones? If so, that's about the best one available, it's the best headlight for the E36 and it's a big upgrade for the guys over in the USA One option that would give you better lighting, and look new, would be the Hella HID setup for the E36. They're the only company that has manufactured a HID setup specifically for the E36. The other HID setups are either retrofits (best result would come from retrofitting Accord Euro HID projectors into ellipsoid headlamps), or HID bulbs in the normal ellipsoid (ie: Bosch) headlamps, which isn't ideal because halogen headlights were not designed for HID, and it causes glare to oncoming traffic. Also, the beam pattern and output will not be as nice as using a true HID projector. If you're a DIY person, I'd suggest going with the Accord Euro retrofit, the next time you come across an Accord Euro at night, pay attention to its xenon headlights (assuming it got the xenon package). Also, the Hella HID lights come with angel eyes as well, but it looks a bit weird - the rings are smaller than you'd expect. Still, they'd make your car look a bit newer. Perhaps the simplest upgrade would be to get some blue tinted bulbs, if you think white light makes your car look newer. But I wouldn't do that, you'd be compromising your safety for looks. Plus blue bulbs will NEVER match the colour and intensity/output of real xenon.

You're welcome. And let us know how it goes! May I ask which dealer you're using now? If you're in Auckland it'll be useful info for me.

Nice work! I like the ///M, it's a nice touch

Wowww.. thanks!

Was that for 2 straight pipes all the way back (getting rid of the catalytic converter) and having 2 resonators in the midsection, with a custom muffler at the end?

LOL, all the confusion. For what it's worth, mine are the Nokia speakers. I will get a picture of the speaker against a ruler tomorrow and post it up.

Fair enough I prefer to work on the car myself. Having said that it was pretty easy. Hardest part was compressing the brakes! No worries Ok, so you're pretty much in the same situation as I was. I was told the brakes were wearing thin at a WOF. About 3000-4000kms later, the brake pad wear light came on. Even after that I waited about 1000+km before I found the time to do the brakes. I was expecting it to be pretty much grinding on metal, but there was still about 3mm of pad material left! The rear pads still had plenty so I have not installed them. Bimmerzone sells mainly OEM parts, so they will be able to supply you with them if you require. I believe they will be cheaper than the PBR pads I got too, I only got them because everyone on Bimmerforums loves them for the track, and I wanted to give them a go. I feel they're about the same as stock pads in terms of performance and also dust, maybe I don't drive the car hard enough. About the dealer doing the job correctly... just my point of view here, they do not. With the dealer, you're getting overcharged for a less than decent job. I bought the Bentley manual and torque wrenches so I can I do it the right way. But with the dealer you get so many cars coming in each day, and I really doubt they will torque everything down for you. It's just a car to them after all, but it's YOUR car. When I was replacing my radiator, I asked the dealer if they sold distilled water so I could mix it with the BMW coolant. "No we don't sell it. What do you need it for?" "To mix with the coolant. Don't you guys use it?" "We just use tap water" And in 50,000ks, when your cooling system fails prematurely, you send it back to the dealer and pay them to fix their own mistake In the end, sure you're more than likely to get an OK job, the brakes won't fall apart or anything due to overtorquing, but for what you pay, sometimes an independent will do a better job than they do. Still, I'd get a quote for labour and parts separately, chuck it on the forums and see what everyone thinks

It depends on what year your E36 is, or you could also tell us which model BMW radio you have. It's very likely yours does not have a world tuner. I think only in the very last year(s?) of the E36, some came with radios that had the world tuner.

Not another stolen car!! Bloody thieves, they should be shot. Good luck on the search, I will keep an eye out for it. Post it on MMC.org, MSport, AMAZD, Performance Car, Chosen Few, and any other car forums you can find.

Oh I see. Good to hear the CS guys are getting some good wheels too then! RealOEM is the best. Those DPE wheels are sick.

I got Racebrakes to quote me prices on my brakes, and importing them from the US was still quite a bit cheaper. Though if you can't wait that long for them to get here, then they could be an option.

How long exactly do you have till you have to replace them? I got 4 Brembo rotors + 4 Axxis/PBR Ultimates + 2 brake pad wear sensors for around $550 NZD, shipping included, from the US. Ask Vincent from www.bimmerzone.com. From what I understand there is no difference between Brembo and OEM (unless you go for Euro floating rotors which Brembo doesn't seem to manufacture), because Brembo makes them to OEM specs. The shipping was $100 USD alone, it was the cheapest form of shipping too, USPS said 6 weeks but it took about 9 If you want faster shipping, it will cost you a pretty penny, close to $300 USD. You can see how much you'll save, if you can wait a while, then you should just import them. $1500 is just ridiculous. My car is an E36 320i but the M3 brakes have similar pricing IIRC. I actually got a quote from shops in NZ, I was planning to go with EBC Red pads, but they cost way too much. I replaced them myself too which saved me even more money Btw, if you care about the rotors looking crap from rust in the future, once you get the new ones, give the centres and the edges a coat of high temp paint and you'll be thankful in the future! If that's true, I'll do it for $600

Thanks! BMWCar July 06, I thought it looked familiar

Hahaha, ok, and don't hit any curbs with that thing!

That's odd, I read in some magazine that the actual CSL ones were forged, while the CS ones just looked the same but were heavier, presumably cast!

Saw that a few days ago, that was the first time I've ever seen one.

Yeah, I've seen at least a couple of 4 door M3s, the Estoril one on TM sometime ago, the Byzanz one, and there was a Dakar Yellow one at the track day... pics aren't loading for me btw?

I thought they were all 4" in the rear regardless of year? Anyway, mine's a 1992 E36, and I just pulled one of the speakers out yesterday and it's definitely 4". The kickpanel speakers are 5.25".