Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/)

-   -   Crossing the thin redline into madness. Meet Red, my old new BMW 328i (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/204534-crossing-thin-redline-into-madness-meet-red-my-old-new-bmw-328i-8.html)

Like you, dear reader, I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing during this lockdown. In fact, I have made it my life’s mission to eat as much Parle G (much respect, so wow) as I humanly can. Thanks to Modi G, my body is now approximately 28.79% Parle G, and the liquids in my body are slowly being replaced by godly amounts of glucose. So the next time you see me, if you think I look like the kid on the cover of one of those Parle G packets, you know why.


In case you haven’t noticed, this lockdown has been driving me crazy, and the only reason you haven’t read a headline in the papers that say, “SENIOR CITIZENS ASSAULTED BY FERAL MAN AFRAID OF SUNLIGHT” is the two-pronged fact that papers aren’t being distributed and that no one has read one since 2005.

It’s not all bad. I’ve learnt new hobbies, like meditating, playing Russian roulette thanks to the wife’s cooking, working out an hour a day, and lying shamelessly through my teeth. But I miss the simpler joys of life. Like firing an engine into life and waking up the entire neighbourhood with its cold start as they all abuse me for shattering their sleep at an unearthly hour. Ah, the good times. How I pine for them.

Wan hai there, how you doin'

No, there are no updates on the car. Of course there wouldn’t be. No car parts are being delivered, and we’ve all pumped the brakes on our collective lives. Global supply chains are being impacted, the impact of which is being felt the world over.

I wish I could tell you that I’ve made the most of this enforced sabbatical by learning the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, but alas. It is not to be. I have unleashed my inner LazyBoy and got some work done in between hours of trawling sites for any nuggets of automotive information I can find and then devouring it whole. But yes, you best believe I’ve been doing my homework (wish I had done that more as a kid, but YOLO) and prepping my shopping cart for when stores reopen and I can take my trolley and pretend I’m drifting between digital aisles of car parts waiting to be pillaged. What, you don’t dream of such things?


So yes, this entire post has been a giant exercise in megalomania, and as much fun as it has been to sit here and smash the keyboard until something coherent comes out the other side, I’m off to have a close encounter of the Parle-G kind.

That car looks good lowered. I've been contemplating lowering mine but as the tyres need replacing really soon have decided to go for 245/45/18's on all four.

The wise Jedi Knights over at Bimmerfest have assured me that for Indian road conditions this would fill the wheel wells really well and give me a smooth ride as well as correct the 3% offset that this model has with the speedo. What's your thought on my planned square setup?

TL;DR: Go for a square 245/45/18 setup, it's perfect for our Indian conditions.


Now that that's done, I'm free to get into the long version!

My ride's been running a square setup even before I got it, with zero issues. I'd recommend it without any hesitation whatsoever. The unlowered car on that setup was firm, but pliant and comfortable. There were zero issues with the car bottoming out too, which happens with me now if I'm tackling it even slightly over -1 KMPH.

From a practicality perspective, it has zero issues and is almost all you can want, but I disagree that it fills the wheel well "well". There's still a fair bit of leeway in there. I'll offer you an honest appraisal of each setup, without rambling too much.



Squared, but not lowered

Yays

• The square setup can be done with no issues
  It's as comfy as can be for 18 inchers
  Scraping isn't much of an issue, unless you're carrying a heavy load

Nays

• Look at that wheel gap. Just look at it. It's a bit ungainly

Squared, and flying low

Yays

• Aesthetics, aesthetics, aesthetics
  Improved steering feel and dynamics
  P̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶s̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶g̶o̶
  P̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶l̶a̶d̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶f̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶n̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶n̶t̶s̶

Nays

• A tad impractical. The car is now Scoooby's nephew, Scrapey Doo
  Y̶o̶u̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶y̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶a̶d̶

All things said, if I could go back in time and un-lower the car, I wouldn't. It looks dynamite, and the dynamics are sharper now. And I can take pics like this. Hopefully I offered you some food for thought and helped you understand things better. If not, and you're still confused, welcome to my world.

From a practicality perspective, it has zero issues and is almost all you can want, but I disagree that it fills the wheel well "well".

'Well' you've been running a 225/45/18. What I'm planning is a 245/45/18 which, 'well', does have a higher profile and with the right camber will, offer a better ride, apparently. It also, with no rubs, fills the well better. I'm curious if you'd looked at this option of girth, height and offset, with 'well' filling, ofcourse. 🙄

You’re mistaken, hombre. I’m not running 225s, never have been. I’ve been running 245s from day 1. The pics above are all 245, stock and lowered. Make of it what you well.

I really love the combination of these wheels and the lowered stance. It makes your car look really dope. Do you have an estimate of how much the car has been lowered? My 320i on 17 inch wheels scrapes big time on large speed breakers and I just wonder what might be happening to yours.

Thanks bud, always appreciate appreciation.

I’m going to go off Eibach’s claims and say this has been lowered by 1.0" at the front and by 0.6" on its hindquarters.

I don’t have a word for this very scientific phenomenon, but a large, invisible knife cuts through my heart with a loud KHARRTTRRR sound every time I go over one of our larger than life speedbreakers. I guess that’s what they call just scraping by.

Thank you for the clarification. I'm definitely going with 245/45/18's as soon as Bangalore is open again. Now that my car is soon to turn 7, I'm going to spruce her up a bit, starting with retrofitting Cruise control as I do quite a bit of highway driving. Next will be the M Sport bumpers and side skirts with a front lip.

I did notice some discoloration on your iDrive screen? What is that?

Do that for sure. Which tyres are you looking at? I'll be up for new tyres in about 5-6k KMS, and was wondering which to plump for.

Pirelli is great value at 17xxx a piece, but they're too soft in my experience. Michelin's are perfect, but cost 5k a tyre more down here! That's a pretty big delta. Perhaps I'll look at Yoko's or even Conti's. Heck, this lockdown even had me reading up extensively on MRF Perfinza's, and the reviews are very good, even on NikhilB's Octy VRS. But I doubt I'll go for them even though the 245/45/18 is MO rated. Don't think I'd be comfortable gambling on tyres. As my sex ed teacher used to say, using the right rubber is always important. I don't think this is what he meant though.

Nice! I'm considering going down the same route too. A friend picked up the full M=Sport body kit along with a GTS style bumper and it looked H-O-T. It costs a very pretty penny though, and I'm trying to be fiscally frudent. Trying being the operative word.


A word of advice; if you're planning on lowering the car, don't get the front lip. It'll scrape over everything in sight and will be destroyed in next to no time.

Sadly, at some point in its ownership, I suspect a bottle of car freshener of some kind was kept near the screen for an elongated period of time. The condensation on the display is most likely from that. I'm planning to order a replacement display off eBay, but that plan is on ice until things normalise. It's annoying, but I just have to grin and bear it for a little longer.

By the by, the Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2s Ive gotten are absolutely fine so far. Granted, they only reason I even considered them was because of how much cheaper they were than the competition - IIRC, I paid about 12k per tyre, give or take.
Also, I haven't had a chance to really test them out in the rain (bought the car after the monsoons) and I haven't done sustained speeds on a highway run yet, but what I can tell you is that they're quiet and not too firm.
So far, no complaints, but they're still young.

+1 on the square setup - staggered setups aren't really worth it. Let's face it, we're not exactly performance driving on the daily commute, and even if we do get up to some naughty speeds once in a while a square setup's absolutely fine. I get that it makes sense on the 530d because of the sheer torque being pushed through the rear wheels, but on a 328i square's the way to go.


Nope. 245/45/18 has both shorter sidewall height (profile) AND a shorter overall diameter than 225/45/18.
Also, camber doesn't affect ride quality at all unless your camber's completely messed up, in which case the car will be jumping over uneven roads.
I'm running 245/40/18 on my 328i, same as Turtles, so i know what I'm talking about. I'd recommend sticking with 225/45/18. Yes, the tyres are a little skinnier, but 225's still a decent footprint. When I'm due for a tyre change (which is going to be a while), I'm almost certainly going back to 225/45/18.

Sounds very promising man. I’ll take your ride for a spin later to gauge them better once this whole lockdown blows over. At 12k a pop, I’d be mad not to consider them, the price difference is huge.

Thank you for this top tip. Please remind me to buy you an extra non-alcoholic beer next time we meet.

You lost me at 'non-alcoholic'.
Jokes aside, theyre fine. When normalcy resumes we'll take both cars for a spin.

I'm seriously considering Falken Ziex. This would be the third tyre change on the car so I'm willing to experiment with cheaper tyres

I know a good seller in Poland of all things F30. Let me know if I can help with sourcing your display.

Thanks man, share his details if you could via DM or e-mail, I'll have a chat with him.

The seller goes by the handle 'amador143' on ebay. It's a Sunday. I've just given you something that's going to occupy the rest of your day. Enjoy!:)