[hernandez706]

Originally Posted by BimmerJRP

what diffuser do you have there?

It's the M Performance diffuser unpainted, in it's matte finish.

[PDM5]

Got another rock stuck in the front brakes. At least that's what I assume it was. Horrible, horrible noise, but thankfully I was close to my exit off the highway. Everyone in the neighborhood was looking at me like I was driving a squeaky pile of crap. Appeared to have dislodged it when I backed into the garage to check it out.

This is the second time within a few months this has happened. Never had it happen with any of my other cars. I guess my brakes have a taste for rocks :

[PeanuKeeyes]

Washed it.
Drove it.

[GoldfishRT]

Brought it home last week! Still absolutely head over heals with the thing.

But for today, ordered some winter shoes and soles for it. Hurts dropping that cash but cheaper now than in 6 months when they're needed. TireRack has Wintercontact Sis for $103 a pop and a $70 rebate. Threw them on some Alutec Drives. Got the order pick up discount. Happy was able to keep it under $900. Should be able to survive the Colorado winters with ease. Had a '91 300ZX and a '99 Miata and for the flatlands it shouldn't be much trouble. Snow melts quick here. It's just enough of a problem that I'm not comfortable rolling with all seasons. Too many afternoon surprise snow storms that can make the commute home a nightmare.

Edit: Next on the docket. Hitch and bike rack. Maybe black kidneys and some CF wing and mirror treatments?

[BEM-S4]

Washed it, nothing too exciting. Then dried it using Chemical Guys Afterwash drying lube. Hot day, black car, not a single water a spot or streak. Dried faster too. Can't say if better or worse than similar products but drying lubes are well worth the $, not snake oil as I mistakenly assumed.

[rfellman]

Installed a complete BAVsound system, with amplifier and subs. The sound rocks now!!

- 2017 m240i conv, 6MT, Dinan Stage 1, Dinan cold air intake, Mperformance LSD

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by rfellman

Installed a complete BAVsound system, with amplifier and subs. The sound rocks now!!

- 2017 m240i conv, 6MT, Dinan Stage 1, Dinan cold air intake, Mperformance LSD

Murray at Visual Ice can make you a custom enclosure for a trunk sub using the template he made for my car. Not expensive and he does great work. Fits in the little bump on the back of the rear seats, pretty useless trunk space.

[msej449]

Originally Posted by PDM5

Got another rock stuck in the front brakes. ... This is the second time within a few months this has happened. Never had it happen with any of my other cars. I guess my brakes have a taste for rocks :

Are the front intake vents open and connected to the wheel arch? On my car, they are. The upside is better ventilation of the brakes, the downside is more road debris and dust getting to them: here labelled 'Brake Vent Duct (open)' :



There are various threads on this. As far as anyone can work out, these vents are closed-off in cooler climates but open in warmer ones and on cars with M Performance brakes. Although it still doesn't seem consistent. Some owners with them open have considered closing them off in the winter when debris is more likely and cooling not as important as summer.

[makrop]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Murray at Visual Ice can make you a custom enclosure for a trunk sub using the template he made for my car. Not expensive and he does great work. Fits in the little bump on the back of the rear seats, pretty useless trunk space.

I'd be interested in some more info on this... pics?

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by makrop

I'd be interested in some more info on this... pics?

It protrudes into the main trunk area maybe an inch, we stole a little space to get extra volume for the box. It's a VERY tight fit in the bump-out really need to push hard to wedge it in there. Designed for a Focal 8" more than enough speaker for the car, I'm impressed with how hard it hits.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by msej449

Are the front intake vents open and connected to the wheel arch? On my car, they are. The upside is better ventilation...

The vents' airflow isn't doing very much in terms of cooling the brake components. BMW probably has hard data on the subject. The stock components and fluid are fairly robust, so I doubt more than a few owners have ever exceeded the components' capacities without taking the car to a circuit track.

Because I was taking my car to the track and the brake components were getting much too hot, I took my car to a top-of-the-line race shop to see what we could do with the airflow coming through the vents. The conclusion quickly reached was: not much at all. More on that in this track thread: https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1670372.

[PDM5]

Originally Posted by msej449

Are the front intake vents open and connected to the wheel arch? On my car, they are. The upside is better ventilation of the brakes, the downside is more road debris and dust getting to them: here labelled 'Brake Vent Duct (open)' :



There are various threads on this. As far as anyone can work out, these vents are closed-off in cooler climates but open in warmer ones and on cars with M Performance brakes. Although it still doesn't seem consistent. Some owners with them open have considered closing them off in the winter when debris is more likely and cooling not as important as summer.

Yep mine are open, so that is likely the reason this has happened with such frequency. With all the never-ending construction in the DC area, I really need to get some mesh for the other openings for the radiators so rocks don't start to cause problems for those either.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by msej449

There are various threads on this. As far as anyone can work out, these vents are closed-off in cooler climates but open in warmer ones and on cars with M Performance brakes. Although it still doesn't seem consistent. Some owners with them open have considered closing them off in the winter when debris is more likely and cooling not as important as summer.

Definitely not just related to cooler climates, my Canadian market M240i has the ducts open. Also, we have a lot of gravel spread on the roads in the winter here, but I haven't had an issue with debris due to the open ducts.

[msej449]

Certainly, correlation is not causation. The relevant threads go into many pages with no certain conclusion, and no consistent fitting principle obvious. Perhaps the only way for @PDM5 to be certain is probably a field experiment: close them off or mesh them in a way that will collect debris; drive for a few weeks; then see if anything significant has collected. But I suspect that this is one of those things where it'll be hard to know for sure.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by msej449

Certainly, correlation is not causation. The relevant threads go into many pages with no certain conclusion, and no consistent fitting principle obvious. Perhaps the only way for @PDM5 to be certain is probably a field experiment: close them off or mesh them in a way that will collect debris; drive for a few weeks; then see if anything significant has collected. But I suspect that this is one of those things where it'll be hard to know for sure.

One thing that should be done for an area that has lots of road debris, though, is mesh between the air inlets and radiators to prevent puncture from stones. I have put mesh behind all the openings in my front bumper except for the brake cooling ducts.

[lateapex'er]

Installed new OEM shift knob/boot from M2. Had blue stitching changed to black!

[bricel24]

Custom fabricated muffler delete. Still trying to figure out which tips to replace these to.

[Maynard]

Originally Posted by msej449

.....As far as anyone can work out, these vents are closed-off in cooler climates but open in warmer ones and on cars with M Performance brakes. Although it still doesn't seem consistent. Some owners with them open have considered closing them off in the winter when debris is more likely and cooling not as important as summer.

Not really a central issue, but neither of these is the case - my 228 with base brakes, custom-ordered and delivered to upstate NY, had the side-curtain slots open. Best guesses abound, but it isn't either of those reasons. For the stone issue, I'e heard several stories of people bending or shifting the brake backing plate a little to have less of this. It only happened to me twice, so I haven't looked into a specific fix. Really unlikely to me that a stone would travel through the brake vent ducts and make it behind the splash shield, but anything is possible.

[Poochie]

Originally Posted by lateapex'er

Installed new OEM shift knob/boot from M2. Had blue stitching changed to black!

Hey, it looks great, never thought of that..

What did you use to color the stitching?

I hope you don't mind if I share your picture on the M2 section..

[Ron Jeffries]

Originally Posted by bricel24

Custom fabricated muffler delete. Still trying to figure out which tips to replace these to.

How's the sound? I feel that I need this ...

[Sisyrx]

Bavsound Stage 1 installed today, what a difference from the stock Hi-Fi!

Ghost subs are on hand and going in after my hands recover from today's door panel excursions.

[BrettKA7]

Received my wheels in the mail!

They are Alzor 030, which are replicas of 359M wheels. Size is 18x8 ET35. Should fit flush without poking. At least, that's what I'm hoping/praying for.

Quality is actually very nice. Found some very small imperfections in the form of dust under the paint, but they were impressively well-packaged with foam, then cloth, then a plastic rim protector, then cardboard, then a box, then another box. No chips or scratches I could find with a flashlight on the faces.

Have OEM BMW center caps in the mail and installed the M wheel emblems to make them look factory-fresh. The cutout for the wheel emblems looks close to 19x11 but the stickers that BMW uses for wheels are 17x9 or 18x10. Sadly they're a bit small in the cutout so I may fix that at a later time. Not super noticeable on a black wheel.