So, it's been a 3 year journey thru tears, wallet crunching disappointments, knuckle skinning torments and sweats, and relentlessly chasing the dream that is the perfectly stock, perfectly driving M3.
and I can finally say that I am where I was 3 years ago when I first picked it up..
How about a short pictorial journey?
this is the day I picked it up back in 2011 Sept.
approximately 11 months later on some random day when it hailed.. notice the stock rim now.
first DIY project replacing all ignition coils, plugs, oil temp sensors, vanos filters etc...
after the first year... still looking magnificent.
but been suffering a steering wheel vibration for a long time..
first winter with Pirelli's. (last year)
first major DIY... Valve cover gasket. I did this 5 times.. i'm sort of an expert now. also did transmission oil, differential oil, whole bunch of stuff.... sept~Oct of 2013.
second winter with Pirellis'.. did buncha donuts in the parking lot..
earlier this year, I actually put this car up for sale.
I've had my share of issues and maintenances to deal with, and continued problem with steering wheel vibration drove me crazy everytime I drove the car.
If you had driven it, half of you wouldn't even notice it. but I am very sensitive about these sensations (like mmret is sensitive about interior rattles
) and I tried many many things to remedy it. checking and replacing components, getting it inspected by "Pros", balancing and road force balancing it again , adjusting pressures etc.
road force balancing and alignments and control arm replacements made it very very close to natural but it was still detectable..
I was just tired of subjecting myself to the agony of having to feel this in a machine that looks this good, drives fantastic otherwise.. I just found myself avoiding chances to drive it for anything longer than 30 minutes...
So I put it up for sale, and started test driving some cars.... I wrote up a lot of reviews on here during this time.
i thought it was a pretty decent deal considering the amount of maintenance done but fate had other ideas. one cold day i took it to work, and on my way home, i got hit by a gigantic boulder, cracking my windshield. now my car looked ghetto special..
anyway.. one potential buyer had it inspected at crowfoot BMW in calgary.
they said it needed full set of new brakes (which i knew and was gonna do in the summer if i kept it), new windshield (which is obvious), control arm, control arm bushings(i didn't think this was needed but what do i know, right), oil pan leak fix(they didn't know it was oil pan seepage, they just said oil leak, diagnosis required), handbrake cable for grand total of $4k.
and potential buyer wanted all 4k off my asking price.
i said no thanks.
maybe god didn't want me to sell it.
so i ordered control arm bushings, oil pan gasket, new brake parts.
did the work.
As I suspected, the control arm bushings, both Front and back were perfectly fine. ..replaced anyway, since i had to take it apart to inspect..
and also, as I suspected, the handbrake just needed adjustments as the shoes were like new and it wasn't properly adjusted to the rear brakes.
had the car aligned, balanced and drove around in relative happiness knowing that my car is in good shape and I was UNDER BUDGET for annual maintenance for once. grand total I spent on all this, approximately $900 and 26 hours of my labor.. I know.. it's because it's a f-ing pain to work underside of a car without a lift..
If i still had access to my father's repair shop(where i used to work as part time mechanic in my younger years), I would have been done in 11 hrs or less.
Anyway.. since i took it down from "for sale", might as well improve it a bit.
fixed every paint chips on the hood and ...everywhere, basically. took 2 weeks.
and since i was under budget, might splash on some new rims!! debated between new rims and new exhaust.. rims won out.
unfortunately, the new rims accentuated the steering vibration problem.. tried balancing it 4 times, including roadforce, and it just wouldn't jibe.. turns out, my front tires are out of rounds.. one of them, anyway..
I had to fork over another 500 for new set of fronts. (Michelin Pilot Sports AS3.. can you believe Canadian Tire is the cheapest source for these??)
but now, I am FINALLY vibration free.. sure, you can still feel the steering wheel movements, but it now absolutely corresponds with the road surface and what the tires are doing.
I thanked god, then myself for having perseverance to finally obtain what i deserved after all these years of having this car.. a Perfectly driving stock M3.
I like driving it, and i LOVE looking at it. but it does get tiresome for someone so sensitive to every sensation in the car..
the car will make all kinds of noises.. the shifter clacks, the differential clunks, the body creaks over severe bumps, bit of rattles in the cabin, and engine makes different noises and feels a little different depending on outside temperature (or moon's phase, tidal settings or which way your d1ck is leaning when you wake up that morning etc.) on any given day...
and it's all NORMAL.. it's very very difficult for someone like me to get used to.. but I realized, pouring over hundreds of pages of M3 relates online posts on all kinds of topics that all of these are normal for this car.. and I am now kind of used to it.
still not comfortable though.
it's still a magnificent car.. but i got smoked by a freakin RAV4 the other day, so it's not fast anymore. let's call it 'quick on its feet for its weight and age'.
so, what do i do with it now.. that's the question i keep asking myself..
I don't need to sell it and i still like it quite a bit. but if i do, i'll probably spend even more money on cars.. like leasing brand new MINI.
or maybe downsize to a Miata or something... I think i'll probably move away from FGCs for my next car, unless it had a warranty. but i'm now used to certain level of amenities and power.. which kinda deters me from choosing otherwise excellent cars...
it's something i ponder about.
hmm.. not much of a story, but let's call this my 3 year ownership report.
Oh and in 3 years, i've driven it 26000 km..
as it sits now.