E36 328i Individual

[Kao]

Hi all,

I was lucky enough to buy my first BMW from my brother. He's looked after her like a gem and has kept her completely original. She was originally from Joburg but made her was down to the coast once my brother bought her. Got the pleasure of driving her back up to Joburg to her new home. Unbelievable how well these cars can feel on long distance drives when maintained well. Need some guidance on a few items and was hoping you'll could steer me in the right direction. The lights, when driving at night, is bad. You can hardly see. What bulbs could I use to improve that? The hood lining on the sunroof has dropped. Any recommendations on who I could have it redone with? And she's picked up a rust spot on one of the door frames due to her being a few years at the coast. Would i need to look into sorting that out now or attend to it at a later point? not sure if that could ruin the original paint as well.

 

[TBP88]

Find M3Boi's thread, he's got the most sorted 328i I've ever seen. If you do anything to the paint just keep the colour, violet looking unreal in the sun there.

 

[kgosi_f30_340i]

Congratulations on your new purchase and welcome to the BMW family. You are in exactly the right place to help you get your car in great again. I am not one to know all of those things but I have no doubt someone will be here to say who you can call for what. Also just let everyone know where you are based.

 

[Benji]

Love the Daytona Violet!

I would recommend as a temporary measure, remove as much of the rust as possible (small wirebrush or scratch/sandpaper it off) and treat with some sort of rust converter just to stop the rust from spreading. You could maybe try hide that repair spot with a bit of touchup paint while you wait to sort it out properly. Who knows, maybe you decide it doesnt look too bad and leave it at that

Rust never sleeps...

As for the headlights, have you checked that they are actually adjusted properly before throwing money at them? Had a similar issue with my E39, headlights were terrible and it tuned out to be broken adjusters. Got that sorted, parked the car in front of a wall and adjusted them according to spec. Wont say I have the best lights in the world now, but they are certainly acceptable.

 

[FILV]

Welcome!
Looking good in that Daytona Violet

 

[AshG108]

Welcome,
attend to the rust or as @Benji has said...get a hold of it for now.

For the headlights, I would recommend an Osram upgrade bulb, I did the same on my little Polo with halogens and it helped a ton. With the age of the car also look at getting or doing a headlight restoration to clear up some rash on the headlights which can contribute the bad lighting.
As for the interior upholsters, the gents will recomdn someone good, but for now that rust must voetsek ASAP!

 

[kryptosza]

Welcome; and I must say, she is oh so pretty, especially in that color! Even though I have since moved to an E60 5 series, I just loved the E36s; almost as much as the E46s. Agreed on the rust, it must definitely go ASAP, but if it was well looked after, and you continue to do so, she will still give you many, many happy and smiling kilometers

 

[M3boi]

Welcome and congrats on your purchase! Daytona Violet is stunning!

Definitely make the rust removal a priority, other than that just maintain it properly and take it somewhere that will do a thorough inspection so that you can catch anything before catastrophic failure.

Have fun and enjoy the process! Keep us updated as you go along.

 

[zabbo]

Congratulations!! What a beaut of a car you have acquired! As above, attend to the rust asap and then the rest can follow.
Lovely car with my favourite colour and wheel combo

 

[Kao]

Thanks everyone. So my brother got a lucky and managed to get her in Techno Violet. I also thought it was a Daytona at first. Will put the rust issue on the top of my list. @AshG108 , thanks will have a look for the lights.

 

[Gordvisr]

Welcome, post some more pics, have a big love these cars.

 

[QikNish]

That's a keeper! Love it

 

[NWZ333]

Damn! Congrats…. What a stunner!

 

[individj]

lovely .

 

[AshG108]

Thanks everyone. So my brother got a lucky and managed to get her in Techno Violet. I also thought it was a Daytona at first. Will put the rust issue on the top of my list. @AshG108 , thanks will have a look for the lights.

And please keep us updated, will be awesome to see this car being looked after.

 

[Ahmedy]

Welcome and congratulations.
I've had my fair share of bulb swaps and finally came to a conclusion for daily use.
Phillips extreme vision 130 .
They may not give much distance over standard halogen bulbs but are notably clearler for every weather scenario.
I had aftermarket xenon's which where extremely bright and gave distance but were an eyesore for every reflective board . Not so good for cloudbursts, heavy fog and smoke.
Cheapy LEDs are a waste of time . They can't seem to focus clearly or aren't bright enough on places that you need it to be. Also terrible for smoke , rain , fog and reflective boards .
I must add I've split my headlights apart and cleaned them up because of all the dust here on the farm. Also I can say that the original lamps are better against brands like depo. I have both and my 26 year old Bosch lamps still does the job .