My First Ever BMW!

[H20E46]

Hi guys, it's good to be joined along with other BMW car owners & enthusiasts 

I took ownership of my first BMW 2 months ago - it's a e46 318ci Msport in sapphire black met (lower engine size for instance purposes & age 😩😂) - I was offered it at good price and couldn't say no.

bought of a chap who owned the car for the best part of 4 years and maintained the car with no expenses spared (main factor as to why I bought it) - had 107,000 miles when I purchased it & now just hit 109,000. Come with all previous mots and service history mainly from BMW themselves and a few from independent specialists. 

** changes made to the car are as follows **

1) the car originally had heated black leather interior - it looked a little boring with the exterior finished in sapphire black. I sourced some electric & heated fatura individual leather interior to replace with the black leather - so out came the black and in went fatura with the guidance and support of my local BMW specialists who carried out the wiring for the electric front seats. 

2) on the car were some damaged carbon fibre clubsport bumper corner splitters which didn't look right so I purchased a brand new set from SSDD Motorsport to replace them. 

3) the car was sitting on genuine mv3 alloy wheels which weren't too bad looking but personally they didn't satisfy me, so i searched for some 19" CSL style wheels. Eventually after a few weeks of constant searching I found a set down south London at a steal so bought them. Didn't like the finish on them so off they went to prestige wheel centre for a refurb and colour finish to hyper black.

3) while the csl's were in for a referb, I found myself a buyer for the mv3's so off they went and replaced them with a set of mv1's for temporary, 

4) rear number plate lights wernt bright enough so I purchased error free LED number plate lights from SSDD Motorsport.

5) for my satisfaction, I booked the car in for a health check with Bm Parts Centre LTD (my local BMW specialists) - they checked it over & then booked in for a service next month (November). 

6) originally the car  had a rolling tray which wasn't very practical so this was replaced with a cupholder & coinholder

7) ohh, just before I forget lol the original registration plates were replaced with my private registration. 

** PICTURES OF MY E46 SO FAR **

1) The evening the car was purchased

2) visit to Bm Parts Centre Ltd the following day. 

3) Black leather interior getting pictured to be put up for sale - must say its probably the cleanest interior I've seen - the new owner was impressed with them  

4) fatura leather interior picked up & ready to clean before fitting into the car. (Drivers seat needs some treatment) 

5) new interior fitted 

6) back to Bm parts centre to get the electric seats wired up  

Wiring completed & electric seats fully functioning 

7) error free LED number plate lights fitted 

8) removing the damaged clubsport corner splitters & replacing with the new ones 

9) Collecting my new 19" CSL wheels 

Mockup of the wheels against the car before dropping of for a refurb

10) Quick snow foam wash & wax 

Waxed 

11) evening look with interior & exterior LED's lit 

12) Number plate change 

13) Quick photoshoot 

14) mv3's coming off ready to be collected by the new owner & on go the mv1's (actually look good on the car) 

15) rolling tray removed and replaced by  cupholder & coin holder 

(prior to interior change)

Unfortunately, in the last week of September I was involved in a non fault accident while on the way to work  - nonetheless, I have now managed to buy the car back from my insurance company and have agreed to get it repaired myself professionally. The plus point is that I've located the body panel I require for the repair in the same colour which means no spray job is required. I will keep this thread updated with detailed pictures before & after the repair, along with all future changed which I will make to the car.

Picture taken on the evening the car was transported back from the premises of the insurance approved repairers 

Thank You 

- H20E46

[avalaugh]

Good looking coupe, well it was

Sorry to here it's been damaged after all that work, FYI you've got M3 mirrors too [emoji108]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[H20E46]

30 minutes ago, avalaugh said:

Good looking coupe, well it was

Sorry to here it's been damaged after all that work, FYI you've got M3 mirrors too [emoji108]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks mate & your right it was a good looking coupe until someone thought it was okay to emergency break on a dual carriageway while doing 60mph but regardless of that, the car will be back up and running by Saturday (fingers crossed)

haha yes genuine m3 mirrors, a little disappointmented that the previous owner retro fitted them to fit the car which means they are not electric fold (originally they were)

Keep your eyes pealed on the repair pictures 👍🏻

[Chris320cd]

Nice thread - also bought my first BMW in June - had the Futura leather as standard from new - it's a bugger to keep clean but I love it! Really good looking cars in Black.

[H20E46]

2 hours ago, Chris320cd said:

Nice thread - also bought my first BMW in June - had the Futura leather as standard from new - it's a bugger to keep clean but I love it! Really good looking cars in Black.

That looks great mate, any plans for it?

ill be updating my thread shortly with the repair work I've carried out by far

can be found via the following link

 

 

[Chris320cd]

No plans to update the car as funds are in short supply, but would like to change the wheels at some point. The CSL's look really smart. Mine were refurbished before I had the car and are not as silver as I would like. They seem to have been refurbished in a light gunmetal grey which fades to a darker grey as they go further back which isn't really my cup of tea. I'm not even sure what type they are as I'm confused by all the numbers available but they could possibly be MV2's. Perhaps someone could tell me which they are!. The cup holder looks much better. I haven't even got the roll top that most have. Mine is some sort of phone holder for an old style mobile. Other than that, the spec was so good I don't feel that I want to change much else - it has all that I needed. 

ps - of course now I've uploaded a photo of the wheels, they look really bright but in reality that's not the case. Doh!

[Chris320cd]

'Will be interested to see the work you do on your car in future threads - good luck!

[H20E46]

9 hours ago, Chris320cd said:

No plans to update the car as funds are in short supply, but would like to change the wheels at some point. The CSL's look really smart. Mine were refurbished before I had the car and are not as silver as I would like. They seem to have been refurbished in a light gunmetal grey which fades to a darker grey as they go further back which isn't really my cup of tea. I'm not even sure what type they are as I'm confused by all the numbers available but they could possibly be MV2's. Perhaps someone could tell me which they are!. The cup holder looks much better. I haven't even got the roll top that most have. Mine is some sort of phone holder for an old style mobile. Other than that, the spec was so good I don't feel that I want to change much else - it has all that I needed. 

ps - of course now I've uploaded a photo of the wheels, they look really bright but in reality that's not the case. Doh!

They're mv2's mate & to be fair they do look pretty decent on the car . If I hadn't located a set of csl's my next option was to go with the standard wheels which are mv2's 

[H20E46]

8 hours ago, Chris320cd said:

'Will be interested to see the work you do on your car in future threads - good luck!

Follow my thread for updates. I've not carried out the repairs