Neal

I reckon the M3 E46 18x9 rears would look great on the back I know of a set of rears that will be coming up around Feb when I swap them out of new ones They have some kurb rash that needs sorting, but run true. Also have a 16x8 ACS type 1 rim that needs re-furb.

I had bad boot rattle when the rear spoiler bolts backcame slightly loose (try grabing spoiler to see if noise reduces) , Other areas for attention is rear number plate mounting (Put a clouple of strips of foam door surround sealer under it) and rear boot lock. Also make sure that boot rubbers are in good condition

I recently had the rearview mirror bubble of death ( Just before the point where they dump acid all over the interior) Sent it to the USA and it repaired and sent back with new autodimming glass where the gel doesn't break doesn't to acid over time. Took less than two weeks and cost roughly $250 nzd belowis an email I recieved from them in regards to an Oval M3 Mirror I needed repaired. I called them with credit card details rather than mailing it. http://www.sybesmas.com/home.html Thank you for you inquiry. Unfortunately, we do not have the plastics in house to build you a mirror as a pre-exchange. However, if you would like to send your mirror into us, as a repair and return, we will gladly exchange out the defective glass cell. The cost for repair is $95 (including shipping/handling) which will be retained up front prior to the repair. Customers in Canada will be charged $120(USD) and all other international repairs $175(USD). **For international customers please note that your country may have additional surcharge fees upon the return of your product. These charges are not included in the price above and will not be paid by Sybesma's Electronics Please be advised that, to repair your mirror, we must open the plastics in your mirror. In the rare instance your plastics break beyond repair, Sybesma's will make every effort to find a comparable replacement but no guarantees are made. If unit does break, $15 will be retained as a bench fee and the remaining will be refunded. (Less shipping/handling if you did want mirror returned). Please send your mirror along with your name/address/phone/credit card number stating you would like the mirror repaired and returned. If you prefer not to include your card number we will contact you for it once the unit is received in house. PLEASE NOTE - We no longer carry glass cells that support the slider button auto dim feature, cells for the Lincoln Continental mirrors or for the Mitsubishi Spyder as they are unavailable to us. ***We request you DO NOT send in any additional plastics with your mirror (i.e. trim pieces, pins etc.) Your fully assembled mirror the only item needed. Sybesma's Electronics will not be liable for any lost pieces*** Warmest Regards, Sybesma's Electronics 581 Ottawa Ave Ste 100 Holland, MI 49423 USA 800-456-4265

Have measured a 3 db difference higher in my old e36 with sub box running in back corner of the boot compared to middle boot up against back seat. Suspect it coupled with the car better in that position. However I prefer the quality of the bass more in the middle, timing seems to be better. Having said that try running your sub 180 degrees out of phase to see if it sounds any different. You maybe getting phase cancellation in your midbass from your fronts depending on your subs HPF and your midbass LPF points and the roll off rate your crossover is running . (e.g. bass between the sub and fronts partly getting cancelled out between 70 - 90 hertz making it sound like less Bass)

These Altenzo share the same spec for grip and tyre as a Pirreli P6 (AA 320) Grip is one A with AA being highest. On paper they have more traction than the majority of Firestone tyres that NZ'ers love to put on there cars so they can't be that bad. My own pref for road tyres is for AAA with 180-220 treadwear with bridgestone being the tyre of choice for the last 4 sets based on price / performance.

What a great looking service. Your timing for this post is perfect. Got some audio bits for the car to get.

Rang the local Firestone dealer for a set of Re11's for the M3. Got called back saying that bridgestone in not carry the sizes I'm after anymore but did offer up Re002's. I'd rather not go that way. Any Bimmersport suppliers got 2 x 235/40/18's & 2 X265/35/18 Re11's sitting on the shelf ? Update: Have been able to place a factory order for rears via Bridgestone NZ for the rears. These guys have been exteremly helpful. Will take a few months for them to be manufactured / sent to nz which suits the timing for the rears I will need.

Yeah , sorry , didn't mean to undermine people that may have been hurt , but that's a lot of eye candy cars that are wreacked. Probably should have posted something like this clown .....

Can a prius turely be called a car ?

http://jalopnik.com/japanese-ferrari-crash/

For some reason I'm thinking it's more like a speedway TQ. I'd love to have a ride in a drift car

That must be one of the tidiest E21's in the country ! Very nice

Put the e46 rearview mirror back into the car after having it refrubished in the USA. Had those dreaded bubbles of death start appearing. Some of the acid stuff leaked out and did some minor damage to the mirror before the repair. Brasso seems to be tidying it up ok.

That kicker should have been fine, looked like a good spec sub. I'm thinking that the amp would have been clipping to distroy the voicecoil (or a faulty speaker perhaps) Here's another variation of the boot well install. Plenty of ideas here http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/top...lium-bmw-323ci/

M3's have spare tyres ? Unfortunately they don't due to the smaller tyre well to allow M3 rear muffler. All you get is a compressor and tyre gunk and more room for car stereo's Very nice tidy install. Was that a E46 m3 or a larger E46 boot well ? I'm planning on putting my amps in the same location. Also gives stealth install and retains full boot use. I'm thinking that the depth of the tyre well will limit your sub to more shallow depth models. From memory there is a metal bracket that would need removing to allow enough depth smaller subs unless if you use super shallow subs (Like the 13 inch soundstream) I do like the idea of the IB sub Rogan has talked about , sounds like they have come along way since the earlier Cewin Vega's , infinities or JL audio's I wouldn't go with 2 x 17cm bass units suggested, you problably had the two 6X9 HK subs which would produce similar levels of bass and hardly any sub base. (These provide only mid bass really ) Rogan may be able to suggest a shallow mount sub that would go in M3 boot well. Your high powered amp is the issue and does limit choices somewhat. In term of the audio feed to the sub amp, I'd look at modding the BMW tuner stage by adding RCA outputs to feed the sub amp rather taking a speaker type feed. That way you can get a cleaner unclipped feed into the sub amp and set it up so that it never has to clip the signal. BTW , did you earth the amp to the chasssi or take in back to the neg battery terminal.

With an amp that size, get a heavy duty sub with a single voice coil with a similar or larger power rating to the amp and make sure that the box is of the right size so you don't mechanically overdrive the sub. Seem strange to to do a voice coil if your putting clean and un clipped audio through, Do you like serious amount of volume ? What's the rest of your setup. BTW, Looking forward to hear 3pedals car audio setup at the next SQ Car Stereo comp. I’m ready to be enlightened on quality car audio.

Seem to run well when those engines get the full on formula holden treatment. 300 kw with close to stock enternals bar the heads. All alloy engine as well so not to bad wieght wise. Think 15 % more power than a stock 3.8 M5 with similar torque.

interesting sub. Power is ip onthe IB's. I like the idea of the boston as it almost mimics the shape of the ski port

BTW , here's a pic of a C110 as I mentioned in your other sub post. Great SQ and output for a small box sub. I've put it into the M3 so you can see size.

My 10 cents worth. I'm going to do a variation of this type of install in my M3 I've done this type of install this on three BMW's. (e21 + e30 + e36). All installs using the ski ports were using Subs designed to run infinite baffle (IB) so the bass ended up having a higher Q i.e. Bass sounded more like Night Club sound rather than tight hi end HiFi speaker sound. These installs all used 12 inch subs You need less power than running a sub box in the boot as the BMW boot sound installation will drop volume by 8 - 10 db at lower volumes. With Boxes at higher volumes you get bass transfer occurring which the sub will transmit the sound via the vehicle structure so it's not quite linear in terms of bass drop verse volume. In terms of cone excursion for the IB setups I mounted two 24mm MDF baffles back to back and shaped the second layer to the shape of the ski port on one side and rounded the corners on the inside. The forward excursion of the sub did not touch the baffle as a result. I didn't hear any untoward sounds such as huffing you sometimes get via ported boxes. The nice thing about running IB setups is that you lose very little of your boot space. JL Audio makes some nice sounding IB subs and while some people rubbish IB setups they can be made to sound quite good. I've also run sealed box subs in the boot (10 inch) and these have run lower Q's and produce fast tight bass notes with better timing. On this setup these I've run larger amps to make up for boot insulation but I’ve never been completely satisfied with running IB via ski port or sealed box in boot not firing through ski port. What I’m planning for the M3 is to run a hybrid sub enclosure utilizing the ski port with a forward facing sub with custom baffle shaped from the sub into the ski port area. It will run a 1 cubic foot sealed box with a passive radiator running facing the boot. The Sub will be a 13x9 inch Boston SPG555 which matching Passive Radiator. The Passive radiator allows weights to be added so the box can be adjusted to give the desired Q . (e.g. boomy to tight bass) I’ll post the build on here when I’ve got all the gear for the M3 build. I believe this will produce the best of both worlds in terms of direct cabin firing sub and running a smallish box but at the end of the day there are pros and cons to any setup.

Jochen forgot about Bluray , but it can be covered , as can DD/DTS 4.1 Audio with a few xtra bits & $$$. Will post details once it's built. VM Module 2 is the start

A gentleman from Porirua European seeing my M3 told me he'd recently supercharged an M3 and pointed out that a comon issue for the e46 m3 is that the airflow meter/sensor is know for causing surging on E46 M3 and the E46 330. He was taking about some way of bypassing it as per CSL setup which improves drivablitiy. I might have miss-understood as I'm an IT person rather than automotive expert but here could be your answer.

In my 2002 I only get surging in 1st & 2nd which its cold whilst travelling up the short hill where I live. Very smooth when warmed up. Only issue I have is running 96 oct after 98 oct where I get light pinking.

Very nice car and can understand the wifes worry. What ever you do don't check out www.horsepowerfreaks.com or www.dinancars.com

I guess for a lot of people these day an e39 with a six pack would mean a 5 series with a couple of beers