Gavsadler's 2011 E90 M3 Sedan M-DCT

[gavsadler]

Update Nov-24:
A couple of weeks ago, I got round to fitting the new cover under the radiator / coolant piping. I had initially considered going aftermarket, but at the end of the day, I wanted to keep things OEM. I also kinda like the look of these pieces under the bumper.

Anyway, after some faffing to get the car onto the ramps (I need to work on some ideas to improve this process), I set about stripping off the old covers. At some point in the car's previous life, the main central cover must have taken a knock, and there were some attempts to do a repair using fibreglass. I guess this patch did work and has held up, but I didn't do these covers any favours last year when I forgot about a speed bump during an emergency and the covers took the hit.

They were really in a sad state. I have probably driven the car too long with the old covers in their current state, but alas. Time to replace.

Some pics below of the old and new.














Overall, much much better. I'm relieved all is installed and fastened the way it should be, and the coolant piping is protected again.

Next steps for the car, I need to get round to installing the suspension bits, probably next month.

That's all for now.

 

[Benji]

Update Nov-24:
A couple of weeks ago, I got round to fitting the new cover under the radiator / coolant piping. I had initially considered going aftermarket, but at the end of the day, I wanted to keep things OEM. I also kinda like the look of these pieces under the bumper.

Anyway, after some faffing to get the car onto the ramps (I need to work on some ideas to improve this process), I set about stripping off the old covers. At some point in the car's previous life, the main central cover must have taken a knock, and there were some attempts to do a repair using fibreglass. I guess this patch did work and has held up, but I didn't do these covers any favours last year when I forgot about a speed bump during an emergency and the covers took the hit.

They were really in a sad state. I have probably driven the car too long with the old covers in their current state, but alas. Time to replace.

Some pics below of the old and new.

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Overall, much much better. I'm relieved all is installed and fastened the way it should be, and the coolant piping is protected again.

Next steps for the car, I need to get round to installing the suspension bits, probably next month.

That's all for now.

Nice work, it is all about the details...is she skid panning tomorrow?

I shudder to think how much those covers cost? I need some new covers for the E39 but cant get myself to hand over 5k for a bunch of incomplete plastic (some of which is NLA) nobody ever sees

 

[Del-Bosc]

Nice work, it is all about the details...is she skid panning tomorrow?

I shudder to think how much those covers cost? I need some new covers for the E39 but cant get myself to hand over 5k for a bunch of incomplete plastic (some of which is NLA) nobody ever sees

But you know they missing, 😖 will drive me crazy

Coming back to this thread makes me feel motivated to try do my own maintenance work, knowing full well after 30min of bust knuckles I’ll drop kick the the tool box and break my toe.

Big up to the op, your commitment is impressive.

 

[KPM3_30]

Update Nov-24:
A couple of weeks ago, I got round to fitting the new cover under the radiator / coolant piping. I had initially considered going aftermarket, but at the end of the day, I wanted to keep things OEM. I also kinda like the look of these pieces under the bumper.

Anyway, after some faffing to get the car onto the ramps (I need to work on some ideas to improve this process), I set about stripping off the old covers. At some point in the car's previous life, the main central cover must have taken a knock, and there were some attempts to do a repair using fibreglass. I guess this patch did work and has held up, but I didn't do these covers any favours last year when I forgot about a speed bump during an emergency and the covers took the hit.

They were really in a sad state. I have probably driven the car too long with the old covers in their current state, but alas. Time to replace.

Some pics below of the old and new.

View attachment 26086

View attachment 26088

View attachment 26089

View attachment 26087

View attachment 26090

View attachment 26091


Overall, much much better. I'm relieved all is installed and fastened the way it should be, and the coolant piping is protected again.

Next steps for the car, I need to get round to installing the suspension bits, probably next month.

That's all for now.

Nice work Gav! These covers were replaced on my car by the previous owner a few years prior to me purchasing and they were already showing damage when I went to see the car..

Couldn't be assed to repeat this process, so just decided to do the TuneTech metal plate that replaced those 3 covers for a little more $$$.. I left the OEM stable a long time ago though 😂

 

[gavsadler]

Nice work, it is all about the details...is she skid panning tomorrow?

Unfortunately not, got some other family commitments tomorrow morning, so will rest and prepare for the 2025 season, haha.

These covers were about R4500. But without these, oil cooler pipes and some other stuff are hanging out and asking to be hooked on something.

 

[jayaynikkal]

Update Sep-23 to Mar-24:

Not too much to report here, after the heavy expenses incurred earlier in 2023, things have been a lot calmer. The car has seen fairly regular use, although that being said it has been short trips around town for the most part. As such, fuel consumption ranges anywhere between 17-22l/100kms. A moment of silence please….

Moving on, I’ve continued with trying out various products, below are some quick pics of P&S Dynamic Dressing RTU on part of the airbox lid, it’s a water-based product and gives a nice matt finish. This was just 1 quick coat, but I’m sure the streaks can be blended out with subsequent coats. I was in a rush, so just did a quick coat on the airbox lid only.

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In Dec-23, it was time for a detail again, so used some of my favourite products to enhance and protect the exterior.

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Other than that, mechanically all has been well, with the exception of the lower control arm on the LHS. There’s a noticeable click when turning full lock in reverse, coming out of a driveway, or when trying to park. I still chatted to Danny about this last year (compared on both cars). So I suspect I’m in for some more M Tax on parts in a few months time when I get round to doing this.

A nerdy stat, for this tax year, the car completed 2246kms.

Plans for the months ahead: replace lower control arms, more detailing, cleaning and trying out new products, and maybe some other bits and pieces in the pipeline related to the motor. I'd also like to do magnets for the front plate, and investigate the left front headlamp which appears to have a leak, it mists up when washing the car.

Just dropping in some thoughts in case you’re still considering going with mag plates. I had mag plates installed on the front and back of my car. Typically, I ran without a front plate most of the time, but I always kept the back plate on. Over time, I started noticing surface rust developing on the paint around the area where the magnets were attached at the back. It seems like dirt trapped beneath the magnets might have contributed to this issue.

Just thought I’d share this as it might save you some hassle down the line if you decide to go with mag plates.

 

[gavsadler]

I just liked that unit you used, as it looks like it shows the state of the batteries health?

Sorry missed this last year. Yes, the tester shows the battery voltage, but also the CCA remaining in the battery. So you will see in the pic of the new battery, rated capacity = 850CCA, and before installation it was 775CCA. So I would expect this to go up after some time in the car charging (I actually recall checking a week later, and the reading was over 800CCA.

As a comparison, I recently replaced a battery for another customer, and rated capacity was 900CCA, but the reading was 510CCA / Replace battery.

 

[gavsadler]

Update Oct-24 to Jun-25:
I'm here again, no better at improving the frequency of updates, haha. Nevertheless, here we go...

In Oct-24, we used the car to Sun City again for a short break. No issues to report on the trip, with 5 people and a packed boot, things went smoothly and those dreaded speed bumps were navigated comfortably. The only issue I had was baboon crap on the boot one morning. But I managed to get it off without too much fuss. Thankfully the paint was protected, so no long-term damage.

Fast forward to Jan-25, and DannyBoy mentioned he had a spare unit to update the tech inside to Apple Car Play. We spent the afternoon making the interior look quite sad, but unfortunately, we did not have joy with getting this particular unit to work. We suspect it may have been a cable issue and elected to revert back to stock. I didn't want to leave the car in pieces either waiting for a new cable. However this would still be something which interests me into the future.




Then in Feb-25, BMW CCG had their first skidpan event of the year. We used this car, and took one of my daughter's friends with as well. It was her first time at an event like this, so she was mildly terrified at first, but then wanted to go again, and again, and again, lol. As always, good times were had, as well as some rorty cheers for @Benji vaporising his Vitour tyres on the Z4M.

March and April were pretty normal, no massive updates to report.

May-25, time for some more fun in the sun, with the 2nd installment of the BMW CCG Skidpan Gymkhana. Once again, a good time was had by all. My in-laws joined me this time round, as well as my petrolhead daughter and her friend (back for more laughs). One thing I can say, is that my efforts this time round were a lot more zealous and exuberant than last time round. a debrief with @Benji also confirmed the same on his side. So decisions were made to calm things down a little bit, haha.

Someone from the club took a few videos from the sidelines, and Colin shared with me. I also added one from the inside of the car. I must say, while outside looks relatively calm, it is noticeably busier and more violent inside the car.

Cooling things down a bit, in June, it was time for a service. I honestly didn't realise how fast time went by, but it's been approx. 2 years / 5000kms since the last service. While the 2 year timeline may appear to be a bit long, I do use the car regularly, so fluids do circulate appropriately.

The only frustrating thing about this exercise is the time taken to get the car up in the air. It's a real faff with blocks and small ramps, to get onto the bigger ramps. Eventually I got it up enough to get my (new) jack under the car and lifted the whole front end up at once, followed by resting it on trestles. I did an oil change, oil filter, cleaned the air filter, and reset codes. I still need to do rear discs and brake fluid, but will get to that in good time. I'm also pleased to report that the old oil was still looking good, with no signs of any debris in the dish, or the oil filter itself.











Any issues? Well over the past month or so, I've noticed a bit of a misfire, about 2mins after starting the car from cold, as it moves off the cold start sequence. Then after about 3mins the misfire goes away, and everything is normal. I scanned for codes, but nothing popped up. I had a chat with Peter, who suggested it could be coil packs starting to give notice. Additionally, it could be the plugs, or I believe there is a fuel breather valve under the plenum which could also contribute to this.

That being said, subsequent to the chat with Peter, and feeling sick after pricing coil packs, the car has not misbehaved at all, not even when cold. It's like it was teasing me to see what will happen next. Anyway I'm not complaining if the car is no longer complaining.

Next up, as mentioned, probably rear brakes and a brake fluid flush. I was also very tempted to participate at a recent club Time Trial at Red Star Raceway, but decided to spectate for now, perhaps later in the year I will go stretch the M's legs in a safe and controlled environment.

Thanks for reading...

 

[modocrat]

Your Father in law looks like he was better off at home on his rocking chair, reading his Beeld 😂

 

[Benji]

There has been a misunderstanding, my comments on exuberance were that you were headed in the right direction Definetely not that you needed to reign things in... M3 makes all the right noises on the skid pan

Probably for the best tho, the Vitour tyres have paid their price. Smooth concrete has a friction factor after all 🤷‍♂️

Rears compared to fronts:


I have plans to extract maximum life from the front tyres soon!

 

[AshG108]

Your Father in law looks like he was better off at home on his rocking chair, reading his Beeld 😂

Ja Oupa was not stimulated at all...but the front seat passenger was in it!!