High Miler E46 M3 for Bearings etc

[Peter@AEW]

A true one owner high mileage M3 for bearings.

The car was brought in 3 weeks ago for vanos which had gone dead and was throwing errors.
After attending to it it was decided to do valve clearances bearings and rear shocks which are blown.

 

[444YYY]

One owner.. nice.. will be good to see what the bearings look like from one owners driving style, warmup sequence etc...

 

[Peter@AEW]

 

[Peter@AEW]

High res pics later.

Best set of bearings I have pulled from an M engine.

Love to hear your thoughts...

 

[Peter@AEW]

For comparison

All the pics below are from second owner cars who brought them in for bearings immediately after purchase.

75000Kms Z4M


110000Kms Z4m


90000Kms e46M3

 

[TBP88]

Conclusion - Z4M drivers punish their cars more than E46M3 drivers???

 

[Dean ///M]

Not what I expected for 193K km looking very good. What's the secret?

 

[Ga-3M]

Super interesting!! And I honestly don't know what the reason could be although there must be something?!

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One owner that's looked after it properly must play a role?

 

[telegamer]

Maybe it's driving style....its ne owner after all...

 

[GoCart]

Driving habits, period.

 

[444YYY]

One owner.. nice.. will be good to see what the bearings look like from one owners driving style, warmup sequence etc...

The above plays a major role.
What oil did the car use?
What was the oil change interval?

 

[Dylan dos santos]

It seems like this owner really took care ! Amazing to see !

 

[AdiS]

Conclusion - Z4M drivers punish their cars more than E46M3 drivers???

I suspect that a long-time single owner is simple more kind to the engine. Every time an M car changes hands, it has to go through that 'honeymoon phase' where the new owner presumably goes out and wrings it's neck. The more owners, the more times i would imagine this to happen. I would also think that the attitude of an owner who does not plan to keep the car a long time also impacts how the engine is treated.

Thanks for sharing Peter, very interesting!

 

[Gizmo]

In addition to what Adrian posted, a car with modifications puts more strain on the car as the honeymoon phase is revisited more often and that's one reason why modified cars are worth less than their stock siblings even though large amounts of money in mods have been put into the vehicle.

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Everytime a new mod is added the car goes back to its honeymoon.

 

[Rotinaj]

Conclusion - Z4M drivers punish their cars more than E46M3 drivers???

I suspect that a long-time single owner is simple more kind to the engine. Every time an M car changes hands, it has to go through that 'honeymoon phase' where the new owner presumably goes out and wrings it's neck. The more owners, the more times i would imagine this to happen. I would also think that the attitude of an owner who does not plan to keep the car a long time also impacts how the engine is treated.

Thanks for sharing Peter, very interesting!

Dunno about that. Almost 4 years into the ehm money-pit and i can't help but enjoy a honeymoon drive once a week. Just so much fun doing silly things. But always lingering in the back of my head is what will go wrong next and will it chuck a bearing again.

 

[AdiS]

Maybe it was just lots of highway driving in this car then.

 

[Peter@AEW]

Maybe it was just lots of highway driving in this car then.

Apparently not.
It was used for normal daily commute to office etc.
Owner is a banker.

 

[Fordkoppie]

I would guess he was one of the few who ALWAYS treat the engine very carefully when cold, and probably also had more frequent oil changes than required.

 

[Gizmo]

There are those amongst us that practice mechanical sympathy. Looks to be the case here.

 

[individj]

seems like it ..also seems like he would not of been using thinner oil.