Just wanted to return the favor with a couple of quick, cheap mods.
Mod #1: My preferred grill look is old school BMW: chrome frame, black slats. I was thinking about buying some matte black spray paint from the hardware store and taking an hour to mask off the chrome surround and then spraying the slats.
Then I saw a $5 Krylon "paint pen." I bought it, shook it up, and in about five minutes had the chrome faces of the slats, back to black.
It looks great from anything more than 18 inches away, and it's stood up to a couple of car washes already.
Mod #2: For $10, I bought one of Nelson's really excellent metric clutch stops.
http://ift.tt/1rSZX5w
I tried making my own with home depot parts with my last e46 and it was an improvement over the stock plastic thing. But Nelson's is metric and that makes much finer adjustments and a more solid fit.
I was happy. My wife? Ecstatic. She's not particularly small--5'5" or so but she hasn't really been able to drive this car comfortably no matter how far up she brings the seats. This is strange because we had another identical e46 wagon with the same seats (sports, manual) and she drove that car fine.
The difference? No clutch stop on the new car. She could reach the brakes and gas fine, but to operate the clutch she had to get on tiptoes
So for $10 we were able to get her a new car, kinda.
Mod #3: Today, I finally got sick of worrying about my license plate bracket and stopped at my local stealership. I was driving past, and I figured I'd pay the extra $15 bucks and not have to worry about my plate, which is now held on by one bolt, falling off on the highway.
I buy the bracket. Turns out, with a BMW CCA discount--this is Paul Miller BMW in Wayne NJ--it was actually *cheaper* than the cheapest mail order price.
I found one skeevy e-bay place that was charging literally double the dealer's price.
I then asked about an e-brake handle/boot I've had my eye on.
Their price with the CCA discount was within $4 of the lowest on-line price, and $40 cheaper than several perfectly reputable online outlets.
Instant gratification, no shipping costs, although I am paying sales tax.
Overall, a nice and surprising deal. Hopefully your local dealer is equally competitive on parts prices.
Go figure.
Have a great weekend.
Mod #1: My preferred grill look is old school BMW: chrome frame, black slats. I was thinking about buying some matte black spray paint from the hardware store and taking an hour to mask off the chrome surround and then spraying the slats.
Then I saw a $5 Krylon "paint pen." I bought it, shook it up, and in about five minutes had the chrome faces of the slats, back to black.
It looks great from anything more than 18 inches away, and it's stood up to a couple of car washes already.
Mod #2: For $10, I bought one of Nelson's really excellent metric clutch stops.
http://ift.tt/1rSZX5w
I tried making my own with home depot parts with my last e46 and it was an improvement over the stock plastic thing. But Nelson's is metric and that makes much finer adjustments and a more solid fit.
I was happy. My wife? Ecstatic. She's not particularly small--5'5" or so but she hasn't really been able to drive this car comfortably no matter how far up she brings the seats. This is strange because we had another identical e46 wagon with the same seats (sports, manual) and she drove that car fine.
The difference? No clutch stop on the new car. She could reach the brakes and gas fine, but to operate the clutch she had to get on tiptoes
So for $10 we were able to get her a new car, kinda.
Mod #3: Today, I finally got sick of worrying about my license plate bracket and stopped at my local stealership. I was driving past, and I figured I'd pay the extra $15 bucks and not have to worry about my plate, which is now held on by one bolt, falling off on the highway.
I buy the bracket. Turns out, with a BMW CCA discount--this is Paul Miller BMW in Wayne NJ--it was actually *cheaper* than the cheapest mail order price.
I found one skeevy e-bay place that was charging literally double the dealer's price.
I then asked about an e-brake handle/boot I've had my eye on.
Their price with the CCA discount was within $4 of the lowest on-line price, and $40 cheaper than several perfectly reputable online outlets.
Instant gratification, no shipping costs, although I am paying sales tax.
Overall, a nice and surprising deal. Hopefully your local dealer is equally competitive on parts prices.
Go figure.
Have a great weekend.
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