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2004 BMW M3

The following is a log of my experiences with my BMW E46 M3. I got the car in 2004 after selling my beloved Honda Civic. While the M3 was a blast to drive I never got too attached to it. In 2007 I moved on to a 2007 BMW 335i. I felt that, performance wise, a twin turbo engine offered more potential. I was also working for a turbocharger manufacturer at the time, so there was incentive there to create products for the vehicle at work.

10/24/05

Well, it has certainly been awhile since I last entered any information here. That doesn't mean a lot wasn't going on with my M3 though. In fact, my M3 has seen the most action yet over the past few months. It has gone from stock form to a slightly modified level that is enough to satisfy any enthusiast for a brief period of time. It has seen a good bit of track action. It has also made video appearances on tv shows and tuner marketed dvds.

Me and my M3 can be seen on an episode of the upcoming ESPN 2 show Import Racers. The show should begin airing this fall. The episode I was involved in followed three types of tuners for a day and then it ended with a little fun at the track. I did the episode with McKinney Motorsports and yet again I also got to work with XS Engineering. They filmed me installing some new parts on the M3, thanks to Kinesis, Eibach, and Toyo. Then we hit the Irwindale Speedway drift course to test out the new mods. It was fun to slide the M3 around a bit. I give a lot of respect to the drivers that can hold a fast drift through the big bank there. It it is a bit intimidating. I was not about to try and get the M3 sideways in that area.

Shortly after the ESPN2 show was filmed I did some commentary for an upcoming DVD called the Pursuit of Function. It is a documentary about the people who were involved in the underground movement of JDM styling in the United States. It would have been cool to have my old civic in the video, but they settled for the M3. You can see some of my M3 in the trailer: The Pursuit of Function

The M3 also got to experience the big track at Willow Springs fairly recently. It got to know Buttonwillow backwards and forwards so I figured it was time to let it try something new. It also gave me a chance to test out the new goods on a real road course. The M3 felt awesome on the track, very neutral. I wasn't experiencing the understeer I was feeling when the car was in stock form. The Eibach anti-sway bars upped the diameter from 26 mm in the front to 29 mm and from 21.5 mm in the rear to 25 mm. This provided a bit quicker transition of weight and aided in getting the rear to come out on call. The wheels also upped the front tire width from 245 to 255 in the front and 275 to 285 in the rear. I gathered tire temperatures to help dial in the ideal air pressures and observe how the tread was being used. The data showed very even temperature distribution from front to rear. The balance was pretty much as good as it could get. It also showed that I was in need of a little front camber. In the future I might pick up some Ground Control camber plates and then car will be setup perfectly. Towards the end of the day at Willow Springs I was feeling a bit too comfortable. Forgetting that I was in my street M3 and not in a full on race car I went way too hot into turn one and ended sliding myself out into the dirt. It was my first off track excursion ever after many years of on track driving. I wasn't too down on myself because when you get more aggressive that is what can happen. It is hard to dial back into street car mode after driving race cars on r compound tires. In the end the M3 got a bit dusty, but was otherwise just fine.

06/24/05

Over the weekend I took the M3 up to Buttonwillow Raceway yet again. This time it was configuration 1 run counter clockwise. I had experience running Buttonwillow counter clockwise once before, a few years back. This weekend helped me to become very familiar with it though. I thought the M3 did an awesome job for having a stock setup. It hung with the fast group of cars in my run group. Ok well I had made a few adjustments a few days before the track event so I guess you could say it wasn't entirely stock. I threw in some Axxis Ultimate brake pads and Motul brake fluid. The Axxis Ultimates aren't the dedicated track pad but they eliminated the damn pad squeal I was getting from the stockies on the street. While installing the brake pads I discovered that my front wheels had two left tires. My right front tire was rotating the wrong direction. Now I was hoping that driving a relatively stock car that could be easily serviced by a dealership would be less work for myself. However it is apparent that if you want things done correctly just do it yourself. I am not sure if the tire was wrong from the initial car purchase or if it was changed when I got the large nail removed. If it was wrong from the beginning I just never noticed because who thinks there will be two front left tires on a car straight from the dealer? Ok ok maybe I shouldn't have even given them that much credit. At this rate it might not be too long before I need new tires anyway.

I was running in the HPDE 3 group with NASA at Buttonwillow. It was the first NASA HPDE I had participated in. I think they run things very well. It was a much more pleasurable experience compared with running with Speed Trials (not to be confused with SpeedVentures). There was only one car in the group that was a bit out of control. It was a guy in a purple Lexus IS 300. He had some incident occur in the majority of the sessions. He was behind me at pregrid before one session and I thought to myself oh dear I don't want this guy near me, especially not behind me. I let him pass after a couple laps so I could get a better eye on his actions. Sure enough he spun out a couple laps later. He got reprimanded during the post session classroom downloads. If your around a purple IS 300 at your next track day watch out because the driver likes off track excursions. There was also an Aston Martin DB9 in my group. It was nice to see that out and running. The driver didn't push the car super hard, but I probably wouldn't either. There is no reason to risk hurting an expensive car when there is nothing at stake except maybe an ego.

05/11/05

When I recapped my track day experience I forgot to tell about my missing tow hook! Since it had been pouring the whole day previous to the track event all the dust surrounding Buttonwillow turned to mud. An off track excursion meant that you would most likely get stuck in the mud, which quite a few people succeeded in doing. In order to expedite the process of freeing cars from the mud everyone was asked to have their tow hooks ready. I went scavenging in my trunk to find my tow hook, but alas it was missing! The following picture illustrates what
I saw...

The M3 does not come with a tow hook in the standard BMW trunk tool kit because it gets a larger tow hook. The tow hook should have been in the allocated space in the styrofoam next to the mobility kit. However when I looked the space was empty. The logical explanation is that the body shop must have jacked my tow hook! I feel rather naked without the tow hook so hopefully I will acquire one soon. I used my internet searching skills to get the part number so I can order a replacement.

Now on top of everything it seems that I am really having trouble with wheels and tires lately. Yesterday I had one of those days where I couldn't seem to do anything correctly. For instance a task as simple as pulling into my parking garage became difficult. There is a gate on my parking garage. It had been on a bit of the fritz recently so I think the maintenance people did a few adjustments. Apparently they decided to shorten the length of time that the gate remains open. I usually wait for the gate to open a little ways away from the entrance. It helps in case someone decides to leave at the time I am entering. Then I can let the person exiting through before I enter because there is only space for one car inside of the entrance. I pulled forward to pass through once the gate opened. When got partially through the gate it decided it was going to begin closing. It does have a sensor that tells it not to close because there is a car in the way, but it only reacts after it has begun to close slightly. I continued passing through and hoped I wasn't too close to the gate. I almost made it completely through, but something grabbed one of my rear wheels. On post inspection is appears that the wheel got caught up on part of the gate track, but the damage is rather odd. See for yourself in the following pictures...

It looks like I will be paying a visit to the wheel repairer at some point in the future.

I seriously don't do these things just to have something to write here. They just tend to happen to me. I chalk it up to my awesome good luck. However all in all I can handle little annoying things going on with my car just fine. No matter what the car represents to me, it is still a material object. What really matters is that the little annoying things I have to deal with everyday aren't health problems. Therefore thus far the year 2005 has been a pretty good one.

05/06/05

I just got back from Buttonwillow where I drove the M3 on track for the first time. It was my second ever track day at Buttonwillow, but my first time running the course clockwise. I think the course is a bit more technical in clockwise formation. It also rained last night which created nice mud puddles all around the track. Putting a wheel off was hazardous. Early in the day a good many people had to get towed out of the mud. I kept it on track though. I wasn't pushing the car too close to the edge. I wanted to keep the M3 in one piece and mud free.

Although I did manage to make it through the track event without any problems the drive home was a slightly different story. Shortly after leaving Buttonwillow and settling in for a nice cruise down the I-5 my change in tire pressure indicator came on. In the past I have had the indicator come on for no apparent reason. It would remain off after being reset once or twice however. I had just left the race track so I thought perhaps the indicator was being triggered by the tires cooling off a bit. I kept resetting it, but after about four times I gave up. I figured I could just check the air pressure when I arrived home and if need be I would hit up an air compressor. I figured that if anything it might have been caused by a slight leak in the tire I recently had plugged. After a thrilling drive down the I-5 with surprisingly little traffic (accept for the brief slow down due to rubbernecking) I arrived in my home parking space. I pulled out my trusty tire pressure gauge (never leave home without it) and got to work. I started with the right front tire then moved around the rear of the car and finished with the left front tire. The right front tire was the tire that was plugged up a few weeks ago, but nevertheless it was still holding tire pressure like a champ. There was no indication of any fluctuation until I reached the left front tire. The tire pressure gauge indicated that it had reduced pressure by about 6 psi. The other tires had increased psi by about 2 during the trip from Buttonwillow to Los Angeles because of elevation changes so that meant there was about an 8 psi drop in total. I had found my problem tire. It only took me about a second after the pressure reading to notice the small nail head protruding out of the tire's edge. I poked the nail head with my finger and I could hear the familiar hissing sound of air being released. I had definitely found the problem. Now I must plug up another tire. I love how I always seem to have the little minor issues that are completely beyond my control. People really need to stop leaving nails in the middle of the road! I now predict that in another two weeks or so I will type up yet another entry about a tire plugging experience.

On another note yesterday afternoon, just before I left for Buttonwillow, I stopped by the body shop to pick up the M3 emblem for my trunk. My car is now completely back to looking stock, how exciting. Although I still have to get rid of the dents in one of the tail pipes (have I ever mentioned how much they bother me?) and I now have some scratches in the rims that look like they are battle scars from track debris. Most specifically I think they stem from rocks that people pulled onto the track after flying off into the mud. Maybe I should just get some HREs to rock on the street and then wrap some track tires around the stock rims so my rims can stay fresh on the street (I like doing things backwards).

04/29/05

Tonight I went on one of my typical Friday night grocery store runs, you know because I don't do other things on Friday nights, and I kept seeing a flashing light out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't entirely sure whether I was imagining things, just seeing other people's headlights, or mine were doing something funky. When I pulled into my parking garage I knew for sure I was not imagining things. My right headlight was on the fritz. It decided to begin randomly flashing off and on. It reminds me a bit of a problem my parent's had with one of the headlights in their Range Rover. I guess I will just monitor the situation for a few days. On another note one week until I take the M3 for its first real exercise session. A few laps around Buttonwillow should make her happy.

04/04/05

I had to wait a couple weeks to take care of the thumping problem since the day after its onset I left town for awhile. Immediately upon my return I got my car back over to the dealership. The nice thing is that they will drive you home after you drop off your car. I got to spend my day waiting around at home. I came to find out the problem stemmed from a large nail stuck into the right front tire. That is the exact area I was suspicious of. I guess the nail was hiding from me when I did a short inspection of the area in the dark parking garage. Did I mention it was dark? It is now all patched up and happy. Although I am annoyed I have a patched hole in one of my tires.

03/22/05

It is pouring rain in Los Angeles. Now my car has a weird thumping sensation underneath the floor boards. While driving my friend and I tried to determine what the cause was. I had recently gotten the car serviced so I thought maybe some lug nuts had come loose or maybe some wheel weights fell off. The change in tire pressure indicator was not triggered so I was not sure if there was a tire problem. The car has run flats so I wouldn't feel a pulling on the wheel from a flat tire. After parking my car in its parking space for the night the projected problem area was inspected. However it was a rather difficult task in a dim parking garage. I did not notice any missing wheel weights, loose lug nuts, or gashes in the tire. The pressure in all tires checked out a-ok as well. I guess I will have to make another trip to the Beverly Hills BMW service department.

03/16/05

Finally got the car to the dealership for maintenance and oil change (I was out of town that's why it took so long). They found nothing wrong and performed the necessary maintenance procedures. The oil was changed, the SMG was reprogrammed, and I paid nothing. Excellent. However I am still waiting to find out what will be done about the dents in one of my exhaust tips (unwanted reminders of getting rear ended). I was told they could be repaired/ replaced/ rewhatevered, but my invoice only showed an estimate of four parts for zero dollars. I still have dents in one of my exhaust tips...

02/14/05

Here is the wonderful story of my car situation as told to Vinh in AIM...
merritt: ok so my car was making the god awful noise right
merritt: like fingers nails on a chalk board multiplied 100 times
merritt: it was embarrassing to be driving it because it was so loud and terrible
merritt: it sounded like possibly something wrong with the wheel bearings
Vinh: ok
merritt: because it was whenever there was forward motion and it was louder when the speeds were slow
Vinh: so just drive fast! :-)
merritt: yeah then it was just a slight squeaking
merritt: so anyway i called the dealership this morning like yo bitch i needs to bring my ride in for service
merritt: just like that...
merritt: and they informed me they were booked until thrusday
Vinh: ...
Vinh: why is it that luxury dealers always seem to be booked
Vinh: whereas i can just bring my honda in any time..
merritt: so i was like uhh well i can't really drive the car its only got 4,000 miles still under warranty. i can't take it anywhere else.
merritt: so they said well maybe you can just bring it by and a manger will take a look and blah blah
merritt: so i was like alright i'll be there in about an hour
merritt: so i'm driving over there la la la driving and squeaking
merritt: i get about two blocks away
merritt: i'm in third gear and the squeaking fades
merritt: and its gone
Vinh: lol
Vinh: it just rubbed away...
Vinh: that's how i am with things
merritt: so i was like hmm when i slow down the squeaking is awful so we'll see..
Vinh: i ignore it in hopes it will go away on it's own.
merritt : i stopped at the traffic light
merritt: nothing
merritt: so i drove past the service entrance like ok i'll drive around the block and see
merritt: nothing...
Vinh: :-)
merritt: @..)%(&^()^&)(& thing just worked itself lose and went away

02/12/05

Alright its official now. My M3 is about 6 months old (two of which were spent in the body shop) and it has developed its first issue. I can't count the whole getting rear ended by a shitty minivan an issue because technically it wasn't the car's fault. It seems that some cars just beg for things to happen to them. It is always the good ones too... My old 98 Integra Type R couldn't go more than a handful of months without something happening like getting rear ended by an SUV or having the rear bumper taken off by a taxi cab... I had my Civic for four years and nothing real major ever happened. There were a few things like the rear tranny mount bracket breaking, a bad axle, and a slipped cam gear. Those things all happened while at the race track though. It made things easier to fix and they probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been racing the damn thing all the time. Now all I do is drive the M3 around LA. Tonight it just randomly started making an absolutely horrid metallic screeching noise. Whenever it is moving forward is sounds worse than fingernails scraping a chalk board. I have a feeling it could be something with the SMG or maybe something simpler like wheel bearings in the right rear of the car where it was hit. What really sucks is that tomorrow is Sunday. Nothing can get done on a Sunday. I have to wait until Monday to figure out when I can bring the car in. Therefore I get to be stuck in my apartment until that happens.

10/26/04

Guess who finally got their car back from the body shop sans M3 emblem on the rear? Yeah that's right me!

10/17/04

*.^%^.!*.^%$($^$)&$^$(*@$@.^.%&*^%(*^$(*^$)Y^*($&@.(&.^.YTHG HV.TYT (*Y^)*.&^^)*&^@)*.$_%.*@(^%(&
sometimes it helps just to hit random buttons...

10/14/04

Ok so its been a week and guess what!!!????? I get to wait another one!!!! I'm so excited because I never wanted to see my car again anyway. .%(*^!@%^.%^@(^%%^*^.%&(@^&(*^&^(*$^().*&%(*@^%.*^)(^&@^)&(^&@.)^&$^@.$&%)%^ Blah! I'm gonna go break something...

10/07/04

I WANT MY FRIGGIN CAR BACK!!! I think that maybe in a week I might get my car back, but I thought that last week... ARG! I'm tired of driving a stupid rental car. A Toyota Camry just doesn't drive like an M3... *(&@.$Š@&^@(*^&(*^&@).(^*@).^&)@$ *sigh* I'm done venting. I think I'll take a nap.

09/04/04

Here's the photo of my car everyone has wanted to see! Oh wait no just kidding its the photo that I never ever wanted to have taken of my car.

09/02/04

It figures that whenever you learn to deal with what has been thrown at you something else comes along to try and take you down. In an effort to try and expedite the whole process of getting my car repaired I called the insurance company I have to deal with to see what was up with my claim. When I called I was forwarded to the adjuster assigned to the claim. The adjuster so nicely (that was sarcasm) tells me that none of it is blah insurance company's problem because the guy who hit me didn't have an effective policy. This was all done just after I learned that the damage estimate is $6,500. So basically this is going to be a long arduous process and I have learned, the hard way, that the LAPD could not give two shits about someone getting rear ended or anything else for that matter.

08/31/04

Right now I just want to climb on top of a mountain and scream my head off. I am having an extremely terrible week and that is definitely an understatement... Today I was driving home from school going down La Brea Ave. I was thinking that I might stop at the grocery store on the way. I stopped, as one should, at a traffic light that was red. Next thing I know I heard a nice crunch and felt a good jolt. I got rear ended by a minivan. I was coming home from a swim practice after which we ran up and down stairs plus squats and lunges for about 45 minutes so I was already feeling great. I think I am going to feel like utter shit tomorrow.

07/20/04

So I've been cruising around a bit in my new BMW M3. It is rather nice to have power windows, a sunroof, leather seats, and rear wheel drive now... The car handles quite nicely. Some slightly wider tires in the future will also help out.

07/08/04

I finally sold my car the other day. It is gone for good from my life now. As I watched it drive away without me I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed. After all I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that thing over the years. Now it is time to move on.