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-   -   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-9.html)

Today, as I was fishing out the 859th Parle G from the bottom of a particularly watery cup of chai, I saluted the fallen soldier and felt something had to change.

Good Day? Nah, too much crunch and integrity. The thrill of danger incumbent in sending a Parle G spellunking is what makes it fun.

It is at that point that I realised my descent into madness was nearly complete, and had to find something to do with the car.

Despairingly, I hunted all over for something, anything to do, even as the wife glared battle axes at me. I dared not tell her I was looking for something to keep me busy; god knows there’s enough of that around the house, and I artfully find new means every day to avoid all of it.

I carried on my real-life version of Minesweeper, and found it. The Box. I had found The One.

No, I'm not proposing to the car. Yet.

Many, many moons ago, I had ordered this from China before their predominant export took on a more sinister form altogether, and decided to get this bad boy installed because it hits the spot.

[In best Dee Dee voice] "oohhhhh, what does this button do?"

Out with the old...

..in with the new

I wish I could tell you this was a labour of love, but no, it wasn’t. Even someone with an IQ that’s room temperature, like yours truly, can get it done in less than 10 seconds. Easy off, easy in. Don't take my word for it though, here's a video showcasing exactly that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVAPxlJpxcY

I’ve kept the stock button safe, in case I ever want to go back, but I realised that the gloss raspberry coloured metal ring around the button needs to go, pronto. Maybe I’ll spray paint it black? Great, another little task to keep me busy! Just don’t tell the wifey, no need to confirm her suspicions that I’m a kaam-chore.

What tyre pressure are you running on your 245/45 R18's? I don't see this size on the pressure label on the door.

Yes, strangely it isn't mentioned. I run 32 in the city and 34 on highway runs. These are on tubeless tyres, not sure if RFTs call for something else.

Hey buddy. Have you changed spark plugs and if so, what did you use and what was it's price?

Out of curiosity, at which point of time did BMW sell the 328i in India? I actually had no idea about it before reading a couple of reviews here.

Hey hey. No, I haven't done so as yet. Perhaps it was done at some previous point in its ownership, but I haven't really pored over the service records of late.

A quick search tells me it costs about 70 USD, so I reckon it would cost in the ballpark of 7.5K for a set of 4 + labour. Possibly even less, but that's my guesstimate.

If I recall right, the F30 328i it was sold in 2012 and 2013, when the appetite for diesel cars was frenzied. It ended up being shelved sometime after that, and came back as the 330i.

Oh, ok. I'll admit, I have never actually seen a 328i in India. Nor a 330i, for that matter. I do remember seeing a 320i and a 325i from the E90 generation but those were way back when BMW officially came to India. Every F30 and G20 (one or two) I have seen on the road, however, has been 320d's without fail.

Hi iliketurtles, I think there is some confusion on the tyre size that you are running. Based on a few posts on this thread and another post on another thread, you have mentioned you are running 245/45/18. On post #108 of this very thread, if you zoom into the last picture, you can see that the tyre size is actually 245/40/18. This is the reason why you felt that the tyre doesn't fit the wheel wells well, because 245/40 is smaller than 245/45, and the latter actually does fill the wheel wells to an extent comparatively.

Sorry, I think you made a typo and meant 245/40/18, because 245/45/18 has a higher sidewall height and taller overall diameter than 225/45/18.

So just putting it out here in case it helps someone, the following sizes can be run on the F30 safely (only talking about square because for staggered, options are a LOT) :

225/45/18 - OE size with sidewall of 101.25 mm.
235/45/18 - Slightly wider and few mm taller than OE. Sidewall is 105.75 mm.
245/40/18 - Smaller sidewall than OE and will also increase wheel well gap as compared to stock. Sidewall is 98 mm.
245/45/18 - Much bigger sidewall and will reduce wheel gap to an extent. Sidewall is 110.25 mm.

So I went ahead and up-sized to 245/45/18 tyres. As I thought it has reduced the wheel well gap considerably. From a 4 finger gap, it's reduced to two. The car now looks like it's been lowered. clap:

Awesome! What tyres did you get? I'm using 235/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 3 on my 328i :)

The last thing I'd like to do is run foul of the Yakuza, but I have. A thousand apologies, you are indeed correct. I don't know how I committed such an elementary cock-up, and yet, here we are. May I please have your Katana, so I can do the honorable thing and commit seppuku?

Congrats Moontan, looks slick! I still think that gap in the wheel well is too much for my taste, but that's something worth retaining since it's more practical and you don't need to be minded about running over a leaf in the road and bottoming out.

Also, that looks more like a 3 finger gap? Unless you have fat fingers. I'm not judging, I just thought I'd make the remark!

--xx--

That said, I'm going to add the next chapter of this ownership review, lovingly entitled "Marie Kondo, hamare do (bumpers and fenders)"

As the mysterious They often say, cleanliness is next to godlessness. Or is that godliness? It’s one of the two, take your pick.

But if the latter is true, I am well and truly in possession of a one-way ticket Down Under. Not that one, knucklehead; the other down under, hotter and with more deadly animals than that Down Under, from whence Shane Warne came.

The short version is this: I am not a neat freak, or one for aesthetics, and those that know me well have come to accept this, begrudgingly. My wife is the honorary lifetime President of that Fan Club, and she takes that position very seriously.

Now, I’m not fully unacquainted with small-framed Asian Women asking me to get my house in order. The wife takes care of that with a zealous passion that frightens me sometimes. And it is with a tiny sense of fascination that I watched another small Asian woman talk about sparking joy. The last time that happened, I was in Bangkok and the year was 2006. It was the most wonderful 30 seconds of my life.

One aspect of neatness I do have a thing for is clean aesthetics though. I’m not a fan of things overly done, and especially not if it’s a nice piece steak.

I’ve whined and moaned with friends in private about the car’s front bumper for far too long (the silver whiskers at the bottom look very catfish like. Yes, I’m serious). So if ever Kondo behen and I had a chat about the car, I’d have to take a long, hard look at the things that don’t spark joy for me.

Call me impulsive, or call me a wackjob, but I’ve been eyeing a new set of fenders and bumpers for the car, and after a lot of hemming and hawing I pulled the trigger on a bodykit for the 3’er, comprising of a pair of fenders, bumpers and a diffuser thrown in for good measure. The diffuser is not going to be installed now, it’s to diffuse the wifey’s rage when she sees the bill. Maybe she can use it to smack me over the head repeatedly, so win-win, I guess?


More pics will be shared later post-install, amigos. Until then, I’m going to go in the opposite direction and say please don’t keep revvin’, since we’re all locked in at home.

You're probably going to be a bit surprised, but after many months of read-ups on all options available for a switch to tubeless and a small upsize, I was convinced by my regular supplier of rubber (!) to try out Triangle Sportex TH201 100Y AA with a tread-wear of 280. Trust me, if the tread-wear rate was any higher, I would not have gone for it. All other specs were perfect. It's been close to 600 kms so far including a very, very spirited drive to Coimbatore from Salem (speeds hit, maintained and braked hard at, shall never be revealed on this forum), where I stopped every 50 kms to check the condition of the tyres and they've been sublime. Silent, smooth and it validated what my tyre guy insisted I try. It's monsoon season after all so the highway had lots of rain too. I need to mention I did this after, what has been debated as necessary or not, running in the tyres for a good 200 kms. Let's see how they hold up. This was an experiment taken after I read reviews on this brand and spec online. Wish me luck. :). I did not want to post this experiment till I actually subscribed to the very good reviews online myself. So apologies for the delay in responding.

You got the M kit. Awesome. I would love to see the install. No rear diffuser install for now because of the twin exhaust?

Always good to see someone trying something new. How much were they for, out of curiosity?

Absolutely, will share pics post install in about 2 weeks or so. The rear diffuser stays off for now until I finalize what to do with the exhaust. It'll get slapped on later once things get firmed up.

Always happy to share prices, they were 8.5K a piece. Alignment, post install at my favourite rubber guy, was 750 and balancing was 280 a wheel.

Style and aesthetics are such an ineffable quality, much like the nature of the PM Cares fund (that's the first and last political joke on this post, because it's the only I have right now).

I always felt the F30 is a good looking thing, but there's always a good chance of improving things by mixing things up a bit, and so I did. Behold, my new old and all improved somewhat F30 328i.


I picked up the kit a few weeks back (which included both bumpers and fenders, and a diffuser for the rear bumper at an irresistible price as stocks were being liquidated. I got it shipped over to my trusted FNG, Redline Autohaus, and allowed to get to work on transforming the car after I gave it in late last week. And boy, did they deliver.


Back with our regularly scheduled programming. The car was, like the innards of my mind, utterly filthy on the outside since Mumbai has been blessed with the onset of the rains, and I was lucky to have a trusted detailer in Glosswerkz close at hand to give the car a quick wash and wax prior to delivery. I\'m going to let the pictures do the talking for now, I think the car looks even more breathtaking, but I\'ll let you be the judge of that, dear reader.

Of course, the world is never enough for our insatiable human desires, and so I stepped down this morning and took another set of pictures after cleaning up the car a bit. Only the best for you guys!

Notice the blank space left for the quad exhausts in the diffuser. I'm going to have to figure this out

It cost a pretty penny, about 75k for the kit alone, but was it worth it? In my mind, absolutely. The car feels refreshed and much closer to the final look I had in my mind when I pictured it. As always, i'm sure you'll will weigh in with your thoughts, and I look forward to poring over them. For now, I'm going to just go pour myself a drink and relax. Later, amigos. Peace out.