2004 330i M Sport 6spd Manual

[AdiS]

Dude, your 330i is coming along nicely and looking awesome. Props for putting in the proper effort!

Thanks AdiS:thumbs: The idea is to try keeping it in the same or better condition than when I got it. It seems like these cars have become the 325iS of the 20th century so to speak:rollsmile: So I plan to keep it original:thumbs:

I completely agree. I am also only trying to improve the condition of mine, and keep it as original as possible. Will probably post an update soon.

 

[Bavs108]

What's a good long lasting tyre to get for my car? My rears will need replacing soon so I need to start shopping around. Currently have Conti Sport Contact 3's. The previous owner said that she replaced them about 7000km ago when I got the car. Since then I've done about 4000km and have between 3-5000km left on my rear tyres which I'll easily cover within a month or 2. It looks like the previous owner was over-inflating her tyres, because they seem to be wearing from the center out which could be the reason why they've worn out so fast. Should I stick with Conti's or look at another brand? I spoke to a guy at Hi-Q who said that the Conti's are a softer tyre and will wear faster, but has more grip.

 

[SP33DYV]

What's a good long lasting tyre to get for my car? My rears will need replacing soon so I need to start shopping around. Currently have Conti Sport Contact 3's. The previous owner said that she replaced them about 7000km ago when I got the car. Since then I've done about 4000km and have between 3-5000km left on my rear tyres which I'll easily cover within a month or 2. It looks like the previous owner was over-inflating her tyres, because they seem to be wearing from the center out which could be the reason why they've worn out so fast. Should I stick with Conti's or look at another brand? I spoke to a guy at Hi-Q who said that the Conti's are a softer tyre and will wear faster, but has more grip.

You have a 330i. So stick to decent tyres. Conti Sport Contact3, Bridgestone S001, Michelin PS or something similar.
I get around 25 000km on a set of rear tyres on my e46 325i. I use Conti Sport Contact 3 as well on the 325i. You should get considerably less on the 330i, seeing it has way more torque. Another factor is what tyres do you have on the front wheels. I prefer to have the same tyre all round, but it is not a necessity.

 

[SPIDER]

What's a good long lasting tyre to get for my car? My rears will need replacing soon so I need to start shopping around. Currently have Conti Sport Contact 3's. The previous owner said that she replaced them about 7000km ago when I got the car. Since then I've done about 4000km and have between 3-5000km left on my rear tyres which I'll easily cover within a month or 2. It looks like the previous owner was over-inflating her tyres, because they seem to be wearing from the center out which could be the reason why they've worn out so fast. Should I stick with Conti's or look at another brand? I spoke to a guy at Hi-Q who said that the Conti's are a softer tyre and will wear faster, but has more grip.

You have a 330i. So stick to decent tyres. Conti Sport Contact3, Bridgestone S001, Michelin PS or something similar.
I get around 25 000km on a set of rear tyres on my e46 325i. I use Conti Sport Contact 3 as well on the 325i. You should get considerably less on the 330i, seeing it has way more torque. Another factor is what tyres do you have on the front wheels. I prefer to have the same tyre all round, but it is not a necessity.

+1000000

 

[Bavs108]

What's a good long lasting tyre to get for my car? My rears will need replacing soon so I need to start shopping around. Currently have Conti Sport Contact 3's. The previous owner said that she replaced them about 7000km ago when I got the car. Since then I've done about 4000km and have between 3-5000km left on my rear tyres which I'll easily cover within a month or 2. It looks like the previous owner was over-inflating her tyres, because they seem to be wearing from the center out which could be the reason why they've worn out so fast. Should I stick with Conti's or look at another brand? I spoke to a guy at Hi-Q who said that the Conti's are a softer tyre and will wear faster, but has more grip.

You have a 330i. So stick to decent tyres. Conti Sport Contact3, Bridgestone S001, Michelin PS or something similar.
I get around 25 000km on a set of rear tyres on my e46 325i. I use Conti Sport Contact 3 as well on the 325i. You should get considerably less on the 330i, seeing it has way more torque. Another factor is what tyres do you have on the front wheels. I prefer to have the same tyre all round, but it is not a necessity.

Yeah I'm not going to skimp on tyres. I have sport contact 3's in front as well with plenty of tread left. Was told that pilot sport 3's last a bit longer than the contis, but also a bit more expensive. I noticed twt have a promotion running on michilins at the moment. According to their website the PS3's are on special for around R2300, Conti's are going for around R1800. The other option is Pirelli Roso's although haven't heard about them from someone with first hand experience.

 

[SP33DYV]

Just keep in mind the Conti Sport Contact 3's have better grip than the Michelin PS 3's and I'm sure you can get the Conti's for less if you shop around. TWT is one of the more expensive places to buy tyres from.

I must admit, I have not heard good stories about the Pirelli's, especially the Rosso's.

If you want a really good tyre at a very reasonable price, look at Toyo T1 R's. Excellent all round tyre, just a little noisy compared to the Conti's.

 

[Bavs108]

Just keep in mind the Conti Sport Contact 3's have better grip than the Michelin PS 3's and I'm sure you can get the Conti's for less if you shop around. TWT is one of the more expensive places to buy tyres from.

I must admit, I have not heard good stories about the Pirelli's, especially the Rosso's.

If you want a really good tyre at a very reasonable price, look at Toyo T1 R's. Excellent all round tyre, just a little noisy compared to the Conti's.

Thanks man:thumbs: ill shop around and get some prices then take it from there.

 

[Doomsdaya]

The only problem I experienced with Conti's is traction in wet weather, I be drifting everywhere :fencelook: but on hot & dry days, its super grippy :rollsmile:

I found Pirelli's to be quite good but won't get much mileage out of them where as I got the best mileage from Conti's. Toyo's are very good tyres both in wet & dry conditions & for the price, I'll take it over Hankooks any day :thumbs:

 

[Bavs108]

Thanks guys:thumbs: I also heard that Toyo's are very good. So far I can't find any reason to fault the Conti's apart from the short lifespan, but I've attributed that with the previous owner over-inflating as the possible cause of that. I've heard that the Michilins are very good, but is it worth the extra cost compared to the Conti's?

 

[SP33DYV]

I cannot fault the Sport Contact 3's in the wet. A huge improvement from Sport Contact 1's, I must admit.
My ex 330i had the Michelin PS3's and I must admit they lost traction a little quicker than the Conti's in a corner, but still an excellent tyre. I don't know if they're worth the extra cash though.

The Toyo T1 R on the other hand is a grippier tyre than both the Michelin and the Conti in all road conditions, but does not even last as long as the Conti's in my case. I only had one set of the T1 R as I could not get the 245/40 ZR17 when I needed to replace the rear tyres, so I went back to the Conti's.

 

[Legacy]

I cannot fault the Sport Contact 3's in the wet. A huge improvement from Sport Contact 1's, I must admit.
My ex 330i had the Michelin PS3's and I must admit they lost traction a little quicker than the Conti's in a corner, but still an excellent tyre. I don't know if they're worth the extra cash though.

The Toyo T1 R on the other hand is a grippier tyre than both the Michelin and the Conti in all road conditions, but does not even last as long as the Conti's in my case. I only had one set of the T1 R as I could not get the 245/40 ZR17 when I needed to replace the rear tyres, so I went back to the Conti's.

Maybe there was a large age difference between the two since I have the opposite thoughts actually. For me the PS3's are way better in wet and dry than the Conti's, where both tyres were pretty much new.

Also Michelin tyres have the best looking sidewall IMO.

 

[SP33DYV]

I cannot fault the Sport Contact 3's in the wet. A huge improvement from Sport Contact 1's, I must admit.
My ex 330i had the Michelin PS3's and I must admit they lost traction a little quicker than the Conti's in a corner, but still an excellent tyre. I don't know if they're worth the extra cash though.

The Toyo T1 R on the other hand is a grippier tyre than both the Michelin and the Conti in all road conditions, but does not even last as long as the Conti's in my case. I only had one set of the T1 R as I could not get the 245/40 ZR17 when I needed to replace the rear tyres, so I went back to the Conti's.

Maybe there was a large age difference between the two since I have the opposite thoughts actually. For me the PS3's are way better in wet and dry than the Conti's, where both tyres were pretty much new.

Also Michelin tyres have the best looking sidewall IMO.

In my case the Michelins were about a 2 years newer than the Sport Contact 3's. It's really knit picking though.

 

[Legacy]

I cannot fault the Sport Contact 3's in the wet. A huge improvement from Sport Contact 1's, I must admit.
My ex 330i had the Michelin PS3's and I must admit they lost traction a little quicker than the Conti's in a corner, but still an excellent tyre. I don't know if they're worth the extra cash though.

The Toyo T1 R on the other hand is a grippier tyre than both the Michelin and the Conti in all road conditions, but does not even last as long as the Conti's in my case. I only had one set of the T1 R as I could not get the 245/40 ZR17 when I needed to replace the rear tyres, so I went back to the Conti's.

Maybe there was a large age difference between the two since I have the opposite thoughts actually. For me the PS3's are way better in wet and dry than the Conti's, where both tyres were pretty much new.

Also Michelin tyres have the best looking sidewall IMO.

In my case the Michelins were about a 2 years newer than the Sport Contact 3's. It's really knit picking though.

Very strange. Maybe the PS3's were glazed from highway driving or something. It doesn't really matter though, we both love the PS2's :inlove:

 

[Thunder]

:thumbs: :thumbs:

Looks very very good man. :inlove:

 

[Bavs108]

So it's been a while since I last updated this thread:rollsmile: As per one of my previous threads, I had a small incident with my car where an iron rod fell on my fender leaving a nasty little dent behind:yuck: I've since had that fixed up by the local Dent Doctor without respraying. I will see if I can post some before and after pics later, but they did an amazing job and apart from a small crease in the paintwork which is hardly noticeable, it looks and feels like there was never a dent there:rollsmile:

In addition, I've had my new SC3's fitted to the rear just last week. I drove with the new tyres for a week and immediately noticed that my car was not handling properly and felt like it was going to lose control every time I took a bend at more than 120km/h. I knew the wheel alignment was the main suspect, so I took it to a bmw approved fitment centre and they fixed up the alignment. Basically the place where I had my tyres fitted had set the alignment to a normal 3 series without sport suspension so the camber was set straight especially on the rear tyres instead of slightly inward. Anyway had that sorted last Friday and the handling is incredible. I haven't had a chance to test the tyres in the wet, but I suspect you would have to push the car incredibly hard for it to lose traction.

I also had the CDV delete mod done, so now my clutch feels much more responsive, and it doesn't jerk when changing from 1st to 2nd especially while the engine is cold:rollsmile: At the same time I also replaced my serpentine belt, which was almost finished and it would've gone unnoticed had my uncle not pointed it out to me.

So that's what I've done over the holiday season:rollsmile: For this year I'm contemplating having angel eyes and HID's fitted and maybe a decat to open the car up a bit. Any thoughts on this?

 

[AdiS]

So it's been a while since I last updated this thread:rollsmile: As per one of my previous threads, I had a small incident with my car where an iron rod fell on my fender leaving a nasty little dent behind:yuck: I've since had that fixed up by the local Dent Doctor without respraying. I will see if I can post some before and after pics later, but they did an amazing job and apart from a small crease in the paintwork which is hardly noticeable, it looks and feels like there was never a dent there:rollsmile:

In addition, I've had my new SC3's fitted to the rear just last week. I drove with the new tyres for a week and immediately noticed that my car was not handling properly and felt like it was going to lose control every time I took a bend at more than 120km/h. I knew the wheel alignment was the main suspect, so I took it to a bmw approved fitment centre and they fixed up the alignment. Basically the place where I had my tyres fitted had set the alignment to a normal 3 series without sport suspension so the camber was set straight especially on the rear tyres instead of slightly inward. Anyway had that sorted last Friday and the handling is incredible. I haven't had a chance to test the tyres in the wet, but I suspect you would have to push the car incredibly hard for it to lose traction.

I also had the CDV delete mod done, so now my clutch feels much more responsive, and it doesn't jerk when changing from 1st to 2nd especially while the engine is cold:rollsmile: At the same time I also replaced my serpentine belt, which was almost finished and it would've gone unnoticed had my uncle not pointed it out to me.

So that's what I've done over the holiday season:rollsmile: For this year I'm contemplating having angel eyes and HID's fitted and maybe a decat to open the car up a bit. Any thoughts on this?

I'm seriously considering the CDV delete.. I'm starting to notice it more and more..

If you do HIDs, PLEASE only do them if you install proper projectors. Vsomai can help.

A decat is never a bad option though I am still trying to do some research on that myself with regards to what is the best route, and how it affects the sound of the car etc.

 

[NavZ]

Michelin PSS>PS2>PS3
I love the PS2s

 

[Bavs108]

Yeah I need to do some research on the lights and decat. The orange colour of my lights are starting to irritate me a bit every time I see an e46 with white lights:yuck:

The CDV mod is well worth it. You'll definitely feel the difference. The clutch just feels better in general. Just make sure you bleed the system properly and top up the brake fluid.

 

[Bavs108]

Going through my old threads and can't believe how fast time has flown:flyfun: I got my car around this time last year:rollsmile:

Update:

-Had an inspection 2 service done not so long ago.
-Replaced all 6 ignition coils.
-Replaced Thermostat.
-Resprayed the whole front end due to stone chips.
-Replaced the whole center console base and installed cup holders.
-3 of my wheels were slightly buckled so I had them straightened about 2 weeks ago.
-Sound upgrade - http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=46264

Things to do (Mostly preventative):
-Thinking of replacing vanos seals.
-Want to inspect my vacuum hoses, throttle body and ICV.
-Might need a new battery sooner or later. (feels a bit lazy cranking up in the mornings)
-Tyres will need to be replaced around December/January. Rear tyres are almost finished. They seem to have lasted longer than I expected.
-Might replace control arm bushes as a preventative measure. My current bushes are still ok though.

 

[Leon]

Nice Work!!

I also did a major service on my car, replaced all the oils and belts, feels like a new car:rollsmile:

My one rim is also slightly buckled, where did you fix yours? and how much did it set you back?:ty: