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 =)