He that can have patience, can have what he will...

Vossen VVS-CV2 (20x9 fronts, 20x10.5 rears) currently on stock sport suspension...

Better late than never (but never late is better)

After two speeding tickets in two months I decided to get myself a radar detector. The Valentine One is considered to be one of the, if not THE, best radar detector in the market.  I picked one up 6-months used for $300 from some kid on Craigslist. It could have paid for itself if I would have thought about this BEFORE the tickets...oh well, better late than never, right?

I wanted a clean install without any wires dangling in plain view so I hard-wired the unit into a power cable located in the spot light console under the roof lining. It was a little tricky to get to, especially with my gorilla hands. After I got access to the power cable I found out that the splicer/connector provided by V1 wasn't the same gauge as my car's power wire, causing the unit to turn on and off as the wire shifted around. I got the right connector from Radio Shack for $2 and BOOM, the bimmer is now a stealth, radar detecting, speed machine!

A little taste of the Vroom...

Sagging is so 1993!

Shop #1 screwed up on my Remus exhaust install - the pipes hung way too low and jutted out way too far like a pair of machine guns. Shop #2 was able to tuck the tips in a bit and get the exhausts to sit higher into the diffuser, but the hangers were still a cluster-fuck of a job and after some spirited driving the left muffler would start to droop significantly lower than the right side (due to the metal expanding after heating up and pushing down the rubber hangers). So today I went back to shop #2 to see if they could fix the problem but they didn't have time to work on it today and I wasn't totally convinced they knew what the best approach was. They wanted to shorten the pipes in FRONT of the muffler and that was a scary thought since so much could go wrong and that's the part people see!

I then drove over to Automotive Connoisseur Group and they put the car on the lift to take a look. Listening to the (good) ideas being thrown back and forth by the two techs at ACG,  I knew I was at the right shop. After about 30 minutes of analyzing all the options we agreed that the most important thing to do was to re-do the hangers so that they housed the mufflers as they were deigned to (instead of the make-shift crap that was there). We also decided not to mess with the length of the exhaust any more since there was a huge chance we'd get ourselves into more trouble without much potential gain. Plus, if the tips sat higher in the diffuser holes, the exhausts wouldn't look like they were sticking out as much since the tops of the pipes wouldn't be as visible.

I picked up the car 5 hours later and I'm really, really glad I went to ACG. The exhausts are now sitting snugly in the diffuser, they don't shift around, and after my drive home the left and right pipes sat in the same position as when they were cold! ACG told me that they actually heated the pipes before they did the final welds to make sure there wasn't going to be any shifting...I think I know where I'm going for my future installs!

I've definitely leaned my lesson and realized that some things are just worth paying more for. Modding cars with aftermarket parts isn't a normal car repair that anyone can do and all you have to do is worry about getting the lowest price...it takes skill, experience, and attention to detail to get the results you want.

3rd time's the charm?

Getting my wheels has been a nightmare. Wheels were the first thing I ordered for my car, yet here I am...still rolling stock after 2 months! I first went with 19" Hyper black Linea Corse LC818s which showed up out-of-round. They took forever to get me replacements and I started getting pissed so I decided to change direction and go with something else. The Lineas were a bit too gaudy and I probably would have gotten tired of them quickly anyway so I guess in the end I'm glad I had a bad experience with them. Nothing really stood out for me...although I relaly like VMR mesh wheels, everyone has them. One day I came across an e90 on m6 replica wheels with a nice drop and it looked really clean with some aggressive spacers. I almost didn;t even realize they were m6 replicas, actually. I started looking into m6 reps and found out that most of the ones being sold these days don't have the black/gunmetal trim like the real m6 wheels (due to legal issues I'm guessing) and I'd probably have to get them powder coated for the look I want. Plus they aren't really that great in quality. So much for that idea...

Wheels definitely make the biggest impact on a car so I thought to myself, go big or go home! I wanted a style with either a nice deep lip (a bit of a dated look) or a deep, concave look (very popular these days). I like polished silver faces with black trim (like the m6 wheels) since it looks clean and matches my polished exhaust tips and black paint. I kept finding myself going back to the Vossen site and noticed their new super-concave collection. The CV2 caught my eye and had all the elements I was looking for. Unfortunately, they're only made in 20x9 and 20x10.5 which is super aggressive and more expensive than I hoped, but after I found some pics of an e90 on CV2s I was stoked and pulled the trigger. I'm happy with my choice and I'm sure they'll look sick...but of course, as soon as I placed my order, Alufelgen and Morr announced their new 19" diamond cut mesh wheels!

Botox lips and ass implants!

From the beginning I really wanted my exhaust to have a deep, gurgly sound without being annoying or overbearing. I did a bunch of research on exhaust systems (turbo-back, cat-back, and axle-back systems, cat-less downpipes, high-flow cats, midpipes, etc) and I decided to go with the pricier Remus Race axle-back mainly because it's one of the only axle-back exhausts that added a nice, deep tone without any drone at low RPMs. Plus, it has quad tips with carbon fiber inlays which is pretty unique on an e90 and meshes well with the carbon diffuser I had to add to make room for the larger exits. If I was going for pure performance I would have probably gone with AR catless downpipes and a full turbo-back system but I don't want to have to worry about emissions later. The exhaust has been on the car for about 2 weeks now and is still getting "broken in" to reach optimal sound but I'm really happy with what I hear so far.

If you look closely at the rear the tips they look like they are jutting out a bit...mind you, this is AFTER the first install which was so bad that I didn't even pay the guy! Not only did he weld the pipes instead of using the clamps, he also totally messed up the hanger fitment and the exhausts hung about 3" below the diffuser. It looks much better now after I got a different shop to cut and re-weld, but I think I still want them to push the pipes back more. I also want them to weld the mufflers to the body instead of using the rubber hangers. That will bring the exhaust up a little higher and also avoid having the rubber hangers expand when hot, which causes the exhaust to droop a bit after a long drive.

For the front bumper and side skirts I decided to go with m3 reps and had the work done at 2M. The bumper came out perfectly but they had a bit of trouble with the skirts which were a tad short. It's not noticeable though and I'm happy with the turn-out overall. It's a subtle change that makes the car look sportier and more aggressive. I might do the hood and trunk later, but I'll leave that for later =)

Two scoops, please!

I bought an AFE dual cone cold air intake a while back but it just collected dust in my garage for over a month since I was still on the fence about installing it. I've seen various dyno results that show anywhere from +0hp gain to +20hp gain so I guess the performance benefit really depends on your overall set up and tune. I'm not planning to squeeze out every last bit of power from the car or constantly tweak stuff so I started leaning towards getting rid of it. I figured their popularity was attributed to being easy to install, being fairly inexpensive, adding some sound, and making the engine bay look cooler...all of which weren't really that exciting to me.

So what made me pull the trigger? Easy...my hands were already dirty! Earlier in the day a friend and I attempted to replace the idle air control valve in my old Accord and I was a little shocked that it actually worked. We got rid of the idle surge, the check engine light disappeared, and I ended up saving more than $200 compared to what the shop quoted me. I felt fucking invincible! So when my friend pulled the intake out of its box and started tinkering with it we both looked at each other and knew what was next.

I hate cats.

I was never really fond of cats. They always struck me as a little creepy, they walk around showing off their butt holes like they own the world, and they definitely don't provide the type of affection another animal would considering you're providing them with food and shelter. It's almost like they expect it! Anyway, despite my feelings towards cats I thought it might be good to have one in the house to (1) give my parents something to do and (2) because I've never really had a pet and cats are supposed to be easy to take care of. To be quite honest, if we messed up and the pet got sick or died, I'd feel a lot worse if it were a dog. LOL is that bad?

So here I am, being righteous and benevolent driving to an animal shelter to adopt a cat, and on the way there I get pulled over AGAIN - my second speeding ticket in a month! The cop got me at 90 while merging onto the freeway but I swear I felt like I was doing 80. I wasn't weaving through traffic or anything crazy but I guess 90mph is still 90mph. This is going to make me sound like a douchebag but cars that are built to drive fast should have higher speed limits. A late-model BMW doing 90 is a lot less dangerous than a 1983 Corolla doing 90 in my opinion.

Then to make things worse when I got to the shelter I had to wait two hours to speak to an adoption counselor. When I finally got called, the lady informed me that everyone in the house needs to come "meet" the cat before we can take it home!!! WTF is that!? First of all, why didn't you tell me this BEFORE I waited two hours? And secondly, I'm doing the shelter and the cat a favor and you want me to jump through all these hoops? Keep the f'ing cat then!

Mr. Ticket and I are going to be on a first name basis...

"Yous must play for a Anaheim baseball teams cuz yous AAAAANGELS"

It took about 5 hours to get the LED halo bulbs in and rewiring the daytime running lights but it was well worth the effort! Compare the pic above to my previous post and you'll see the old halos which were a hideous yellow. The difference with the new wiring is that now only the halos turn on as the DRLs whereas before the halos and the inner halogen beam would turn on. The wiring process went surprisingly smooth minus the fact that we ended up with two extra screws and upon first start the engine fan turned on and wouldn't turn off. The fan eventually fixed itself after restarting the car...I'm guessing the ECU was just confused after re-connecting the battery.

I'm learning a lot about this car and BMWs in general and it's amazing how differently things are engineered compared to Japanese cars. Even the small stuff like panel access and plastic cover latches are complicated and require a lot of knowledge to work with - if it wasn't for the forums and the people who post instructions I definitely would've been hostage to the dealer or a professional more often than I'd like.

Let there be (white) light! No? Not yet?

Got me some WeissLicht LED bulbs ($149 from jlevistreetwerks.com) to make the halo lights and day times bright white like the regular beam xenons. This is standard on all the new BMWs but the 2007s came with ugly halogen bulbs for the halos.

I would have never have guessed that replacing any of my headlight bulbs would require professional help. It's supposed to be something the average guy who likes to pretend to "work on his car" on a Saturday afternoon should be able to do in his driveway at home, right? Not if you have an e90 sedan!

There's an "access panel" in the WHEEL WELL which requires A COIN to open. Yes, it said "coin" in the manual. You can get "access" (assuming you have extremely tiny hands) to the low beam xenon bulb and turn signal bulb through the access panel, but apparently not the angel eye bulbs. To get to those you have to remove the ENTIRE WHEEL WELL PANEL! Ridonkulous!

After tinkering around for 2 hours with my gearhead friend Ben, we were honestly just glad that the all the lights were working just as well as they were before we even started. I decided the best thing to do was to wait until I get the rims put on by Group5 since the wheels are going to need to come off anyway. FAIL!

I prefer my BMW grilled...

Got my new gloss black grill in the mail ($90 from jbspeed.com) the other day to replace the factory chrome one. Pretty easy to install and looks really clean! You can just pull out the old grills and snap in the new pieces. The top trim requires some more work: you need to screw out some torx screws from the hood (one of mine was stripped so that was lame - ended up having to break the old trim...the other option was to drill out the screw but that risked damage to the hood, knowing me). My first official "mod"...yeeeah!

Other titles I considered:

• Who invited Paul Wall!?
• The whole top diamond and the bottom row's gold...
• Call that b*tch Weber cuz she got a grill!

New shoes!

My new rims (19" hyper-black Linea Corse LC818s) arrived at Group5 Motorsports a couple days ago, but I still can't put them on since I need to wait for my tires to be shipped. I got antsy and had to go see them in person. OK, I'll be honest...I've gone to visit twice already!

The picture above is the rear wide 19x10" with an aggressive 22m offset (notice the concavity in the center)

And So It Begins...

$25 BMW keychain. Yup.

This is going to be the first of many unnecessary things I will purchase for this car. And it's going to get a lot worse. I already ordered an angel eye kit (to convert the standard halo headlights to bright LEDs and use them as day-time running lights), 19" hyper-black Linea Corse LC818 rims (19x8.5 fronts and 19x10 rears), KW lowering springs, and a black gloss grille to replace the chrome OEM one (to match my rims, of course!). Some other mods I'm considering are a Bastuck exhaust (for a throatier but not too loud sound) and a GIAC flash (increases horsepower and torque by at least 50 vis software...who woulda thunk!)

I know what most of you are thinking. What are you, 18!? The way I look at it is that yeah, maybe I'll get over all this once I do it. And that's fine. Worse comes to worst, I go back to stock everything and sell off all the aftermarket crap. What's a few thousand dollars to live out your high school dream, right? Right? Anybody?/? =(

Pics coming soon!

Epic Win!

Speeding ticket on the way home from the dealership. That is how I fucking do! LOL

There's a stretch of about 2 miles of open road on Camino Santa Fe on the way home and I decide this is the perfect place to let the turbos open up and get the real BMW driving experience. I mean it was damn near 10pm on a Wednesday...what could go wrong? So I get the car to about 110mph, enjoying the surprisingly responsive paddle shifting and the rear wheel drive pulling me out of curves with ease, only to see a cop car a few hundred feet on the side of the road. WTF? Really!? I start braking but I'm going way too fast and as expected, he pulls me over. I apologize to the cop for speeding and explain to him that I JUST pulled off the dealer lot and wanted to test out the car on some open road and it wouldn't happen again blah blah blah. He seemed pretty understanding and even went as far as making conversation about the 335's specs and compared it to his Dodge Charger at home (which he claimed would smoke my car...dick.). I'm thinking I'm about to get away with this...

Nope. After all that he hands me a ticket, citing me for doing 88 in a 50 zone. I guess there's no sympathy for Beamer owners...something I'll have to get used to I guess.

Lovesprung...

Three vehicular transactions in one day! I returned the convertible, sold my sister's Corolla, and bought another car on 9/27. I think in the back of my mind I always knew that the best car for me in terms of price, practicality, and fun was going to be either a G37 or 335i sedan. Basically, a much better version of my Accord.

In the end, the 335i's awesomely fast twin turbos won me over...plus, I found one with all the options I wanted (navi, satellite radio, power everything, black on black, sport package, etc.), it was in really good condition, and got a great deal. I'm actually glad I went through my weird, lengthy car buying process . In the end I felt a sense of happiness, relief, and confidence in the fact that the car I ended up with was a great fit for me in all apsects and I'm not going to be stuck with that "what if..." feeling for the next 5 years.

The One That Got Away

Everybody needs to do it at some point. You gotta go for the gold, try to get that super hot girl, land that dream job. For me, that moment came in the form of a 2007 BMW 328i convertible. I'd always wanted a convertible and I felt like my next car should be something nice, something fast, something I enjoyed driving. I considered and test drove just about every car that exists (I'm sure my friends were pretty annoyed after months of hearing about all my car ideas). At first I planned on keeping the Accord as my secondary car so why not get something crazy for the weekends? I finally pulled the trigger after my Mom, of all people, pushed me to do it. "Now's the time to be stupid," she said...I guess that was enough justification?

I got a manual since the 328i was pretty boring in auto and the 335i was out of my price range (added about $10K). The week I bought the car there was a crazy heat spell in SD so I took the car out and drove around aimlessly the first few nights. After a bunch of cruising and abuse, practical Jimmy kicked in and I decided to take advantage of CarMax's 5-day/no limit on mileage return policy. There wasn't a single reason why I backed out...but rather a mix of things: 1) I felt like a douchebag. Yea, I know, most people who know me would think, "But you kind of are...". Whatever! And I know I worked hard to get where I am blah blah blah but the image of that young kid in a drop-top Beamer just doesn't sit well 2) The manual transmission was fun and made the 328i a lot zippier but day-to-day driving became a bitch at times. How are you supposed to text or update Facebook?! 3) I couldn't even fit my backpack in the trunk! With the top up!

No regrets, though...I had a great 5 days. I landed that hot girl at the bar, but the glares and "WTF is she doing with HIM?" whispers  were just too much for me I guess. Maybe I'll try again when I'm 40.

Was she hot? She was...nice...

I was a working man now and it was getting kind of embarrassing to pull into the DivX parking lot in such a beater. Don't get me wrong...the DivX folk are a bunch of techies (especially back then when we were pre-IPO) so they definitely weren't about the bling. In general the DivX lot was split into two major categories: a) the hipsters/hobbyists who drove late model VWs, Audis, Gremlins, classic station wagons, etc. and b) the 'I'd rather spend my money on ridiculous REI equipment and cool gadgets and drive a hybrid or typical Honda/Toyota' crowd.

Since I didn't have a lot of money and I still drove to LA often a lot I figured I needed something dependable so I went with the latter group. My safe choice ended up being a 2002 Honda Accord SE. I bought it used for about $12K with 50K miles on it and it has about 165K miles on it today after 5 years. In true Honda fashion it never broke down on me and has been as reliable one would hope. I added some Jimmyness to it over the years (DivX Certified Pioneer head unit w/DVD-P, two 12" JL subs, 400W amp, MB Quart tweeters, 6.5s, and 6x9s, and limo tint all around), but I never got super attached to the car...it definitely was no 1987 brown Corolla. I guess the best way to describe it is that it's like you're 20th birthday...nothing too exciting, not as memorable as you're 18th, but you need to get through it on your way to 21 (when all hell breaks loose). Maybe I'll appreciate the "Black Widow" more later on as I start having to spend retarded money fixing my next less reliable car. Luckily I don't have to say my final goodbye yet since my sister is taking the reigns (minus the tint).

My First

"Poopsy" was my first in so many ways: my first joy-ride in the 7th grade, the first time I ditched school and drove my friends around, the first time I picked up a girl from her house, my first house party, my first accident, my first time getting pulled over for being brown in Torrance, my first drive down to SD for college, my first day of work at DivX, and the list goes on. So many good times with this car. From the age of 16 all the up to my first year of work after college I drove the shit out of this thing and it never gave me any major problems. I eventually sold her for $500 after years of dependable driving and 250K memorable miles. After all that unconditional love and support, I guess we still end up moving on. Mo' money, mo' problems yo!