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2005 BMW E46 330Ci M Sport

79K views 178 replies 39 participants last post by  thegentleway 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought Delilah in February this year. Spent ages looking for one with the right colour combo and the options I wanted (and at lots of M3s as well). Only option missing was xenons but that's not a deal breaker as they can be retrofitted. She was pretty much 100% OEM apart from golf tee mod and hole in the bottom of the airbox. Only issue on test drive was air con compressor was a bit noisy. Previous owner admitted to never having refilled it in his ownership so I figured the level was just low. Even though she had 106k on the clock, he'd clearly looked after her. Here are the pictures from the advert:

















 
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#90 ·
I've been using Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 from Opie Oils, which is BMW LL-01 but I think I think I'll switch to Viscol for that price!!

No major plans as I've got no money left after all that work. J polished the paint so I need to clean her and seal with Tough Coat. Then lots of little bits and bobs:
- I've got some new repeaters to freshen up the wings
- replace rear heat shield and handbrake shoes (back plate has disintegrated due to rust and will need a handbrake for the MOT)
- sort out the rear brake light sensor
- glue the sagging door trim
- find and fix oil leak
- fix the headlamp trim
- Gtechniq C4 the scuttle panel
- take a look at VANOS
That will keep me busy for a while... Oh there is a creaking (at the back I think) when I accelerate and brake. Hopefully it's the giubo and not the dreaded subframe mounts.
 
#91 ·
I didn't get a chance to do anything this weekend as I had to do 300 mile trip to collect her then I started servicing my dad's 08 Vectra: glow plugs, rear pads, cabin filter, air filter were nice and easy but the fuel filter was a right b!atch. It's in a stupid plastic case that I could not tighten enough to seal. Kept ****ing diesel everywhere. Eventually cranked it to the mega max with my oil fiter removal tool. Took so long messing about with it that ran out of daylight to do oil and oil filter (couldn't even see where it was lol). On Sunday I was at a coaching course then watched Rosberg win the championship. Gutted for Hamilton, would have liked him to win again. I think he's much better than Rosberg.
 
#97 ·
As said by others, looks like they have sanded down the orange peel and not polished it out properly. Or not fully wiped down with IPA/panel wipe or even they have used a heavy filling polish and your washing has removed it

I had similar when I bought my last car, the dealer repaired a dink in the rear quarter and looked ace until the first wash, then I saw it for its true self.
 
#101 · (Edited)
All the best show finish paint jobs are wet sanded for a flawless, orange peel free, dust free finish!

A near perfect spray gun finish is very difficult to achieve and a bodyshop might wet sand to remove the worst of the imperfections

You'll be fine with compound - just keep checking the finish

:)

Edit: Just looked back at your pics - chances are there will have been dust in the lacquer as it looks like it was painted in the unit not a spray booth

:)
 
#102 ·
Thanks, that's reassuring. J replied and said it has been wet sanded and to buff it off with farecla scratch remover from Halfords. He said he uses a high solids clear coat cured with UV so should be almost as hard as oven bake. Is it OK to try some farecla or should I just stop being tight and get santa to bring me a DA and some compound?
 
#106 · (Edited)
I got the DAS 6 Pro on the DW group buy for £100
But if funds won't stretch and it's only going to be used a couple of times a year then I'd probably go for the Argos Challenge extreme DA but off ebay at less than £50 without the pads, add a couple of cheap hexlogic style ebay pads and the turtle wax T10 & T30 compound - total spend around the £75 mark

:)
 
#105 ·
Finally got round to finish my mates R32 on Saturday. I did the rears the other day but took them off to flush the brake fluid, before and after:



then onto the fronts:



Taking the front caliper off:



old vs new comparison:



Front before and after, you can see how wet the floor is on the after shot - it was raining quite a bit:



then onto the belt, the tensioner is quite easy to access once this black plastic reservoir is moved out of the way:



it's also easy to access underneath from the wheel arch: just had to take off the plastic wheel arch cover:



I took both wheel arch covers so I could give the sill a quick clean, you can see all the crap I cleaned out:



Here's why the belt needed changing:



Got quite cold and wet in the rain but started on Delilah's handbrake, swapped the back plate and shoes on the offside, here's the leftovers:

 
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