Someone less than qualified or caring has incorrectly routed the maf sensor wire, that should knock a grand off the price 
Someone less than qualified or caring has incorrectly routed the maf sensor wire, that should knock a grand off the price
redhookfern wrote: The cloth/alcantara seats were amazing, coupled with the "black cube" interior trim. Looks really nice in the coupes.
I humbly disagree. As much as I love BMW cloth interiors, I prefer my color combo in my ZHP. 
Well I went to look at it. Other than some scratches on the coin tray (anyone have a good fix for that one?) the car was absolutely perfect. He also had all the documentation, and the owner was obviously anal about everything in his life, and the car was no exception. So I bought it for $11.5.
Thanks to everyone that helped me with this and the other cars I posted about.
Awesome! Hopefully you love it as much as I love mine!
Congrats! Post a picture of the coin tray. There were several combinations available for the center console area.
In reply to dyintorace:
Thanks, and I'll do that. But I'm not picking it up until Monday night, so it will be after that.
bravenrace wrote: Well I went to look at it. Other than some scratches on the coin tray (anyone have a good fix for that one?) the car was absolutely perfect. He also had all the documentation, and the owner was obviously anal about everything in his life, and the car was no exception. So I bought it for $11.5. Thanks to everyone that helped me with this and the other cars I posted about.
Whatever the coating is on the interior pieces of E46s, it sure as heck isn't very durable.
Me want e46. Me have rav4 but its paid. Such is the dad life.
In reply to ZOO:
Yeah, it feels soft, like they were trying to cover up that it was plastic. You can scratch it with your finger very easily. Makes me wonder if there is a coating I can spray on to restore it.
Plastidip can be used to replicate the finish... YMMV. My VW has a similar coating.
Nathan JansenvanDoorn wrote: Plastidip can be used to replicate the finish... YMMV. My VW has a similar coating.
Yup. Plastidip is an excellent simulation of the factory stuff.
In reply to SlickDizzy:
I've heard a lot about it, but I've never used plastidip. Can I tape off the areas around it and apply it with the door in the car, or would the door need removed first?
In reply to SlickDizzy:
I've heard a lot about it, but I've never used plastidip. Can I tape off the areas around it and apply it with the door in the car, or would the door need removed first?
You can tape it off no problem. It works just like spray paint.
E46 console dip w/pics: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=753372
Thanks, that looks like it will do the trick.
Okay, another question. This car is supposed to have wider rear tires than front. But it has the same size all the way around. They are I think 225/45-17 all the way around, which is the proper size for the front. The rears are supposed to be 245/40-17, which are almost identical in diameter, and obviously 20mm wider. The owner says this is common so that they can be rotated, but that one set of wheels is 1" wider than the other. I didn't measure, but I looked close and could not see any difference in the wheels. What's the scoop? Is this common, or should I buy the correct tires for the rear? While I see the advantage of being able to rotate them, I also know that BMW probably had a good reason for staggering them, and I'm inclined to buy two tires for the back. What say you?
dyintorace wrote:redhookfern wrote: The cloth/alcantara seats were amazing, coupled with the "black cube" interior trim. Looks really nice in the coupes.I humbly disagree. As much as I love BMW cloth interiors, I prefer my color combo in my ZHP.
While I can't say I like that two tone interior, that car is awesome! Really nice.
bravenrace wrote: Thanks, that looks like it will do the trick. Okay, another question. This car is supposed to have wider rear tires than front. But it has the same size all the way around. They are I think 225/45-17 all the way around, which is the proper size for the front. The rears are supposed to be 245/40-17, which are almost identical in diameter, and obviously 20mm wider. The owner says this is common so that they can be rotated, but that one set of wheels is 1" wider than the other. I didn't measure, but I looked close and could not see any difference in the wheels. What's the scoop? Is this common, or should I buy the correct tires for the rear? While I see the advantage of being able to rotate them, I also know that BMW probably had a good reason for staggering them, and I'm inclined to buy two tires for the back. What say you?
That isn't really common at all, AFAIK. The rears have a different offset than the front to compensate for width so it is hard to tell them apart on the car. Just take one off the front and one off the back and lay them on the ground to make sure, or just check the stampings on the back of the wheel.
BMW uses ABS wheel speed sensors to track tire pressure (if one loses air it will not rotate at the same speed and throw a TPMS code) so you risk throwing TPMS codes as the tires wear due to the incorrect size.
There WAS a verion of the style 68's that could be ordered with the E46 M3 that were the same width front and rear, but different offsets - they were an extraordinarily rare winter option, though. All 330ci with the sport package had the staggered set, no exceptions.
Oh, here's mine (topaz blue on dove grey):
In reply to SlickDizzy:
Nice! What year is it? I like the look of the coupe a lot more than the vert. But this was just the right car, so I have a vert!
As far as the wheels go, he said the car currently has the wider wheels on the front! I couldn't really tell any difference, and he seemed to think it was a benefit. The front and rear tires, as you probably know, are almost identical in diameter, so I don't think it affects anything like tire pressure sensors. I think the listed difference for the Goodyear F1's that are on this car is like .4". But it kind of bugs me that it's that way, so I may buy the correct rear tires and save the old ones to use on the front when they need replacing.
Mine's a 2002. I was actually looking for a sedan but this one's color combo drew me in...
At the very least, I'd put the wider wheels on the back...the difference of tire diameter may only be .4" but keep in mind they're also being stretched wider than designed so you probably lose a little more.
Same size tires on a staggered set, I have heard of. But never with the wide wheels up front 
In reply to SlickDizzy:
Well the idea behind the same size tires is so that they can be rotated, so it would seem to make sense that the wider wheels would sometimes end up on the front. While the idea of that bothers me, I also couldn't tell by looking at them and the car drove fine that way, so idunno. I guess I'm trying to find out if that is something owners sometimes do, meaning that it is deemed acceptable, or if it's something the previous owner did on their own. Note that the owner I'm buying the car from didn't do this. They were that way when he bought it. He only put 3000 miles on it during the 3 years he owned it.
If you're just putting around town, it will never matter. On the track or auto-x though, you'll feel the difference. I felt a huge difference in turn-in when I moved from a square setup to the staggered set I have on the car now.
I'd be curious to know how the different offsets affect handling too. I'd never ever run them that way, but that's probably just because I think of VW fanbois running staggered Vette wheels on Jettas and the resultant terrible handling...actual driving experience behind, the thought just bothers me because it isn't "right."
But that's just me. 
Can you buy an extra pair of the wider rims and then run the square setup all around? I'd imagine the front wheel lips may need some work to clear the 245s, but it should work. A good percentage of the E36 guys run a square setup on the wider rims for the ability to rotate the tires, but it would also give you some increased front-end grip.
SlickDizzy wrote: If you're just putting around town, it will never matter. On the track or auto-x though, you'll feel the difference. I felt a huge difference in turn-in when I moved from a square setup to the staggered set I have on the car now. I'd be curious to know how the different offsets affect handling too. I'd never ever run them that way, but that's probably just because I think of VW fanbois running staggered Vette wheels on Jettas and the resultant terrible handling...actual driving experience behind, the thought just bothers me because it isn't "right." But that's just me.
So what happens when you run the smaller tires in the rear, oversteer?
dj06482 wrote: Can you buy an extra pair of the wider rims and then run the square setup all around? I'd imagine the front wheel lips may need some work to clear the 245s, but it should work. A good percentage of the E36 guys run a square setup on the wider rims for the ability to rotate the tires, but it would also give you some increased front-end grip.
Yeah, that would be great, but then I'll be buying 4 new tires and two wheels. I'm much more inclined to just buy the two wider tires and be done with it.
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