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#1. RE: Streetable Springs - from marc@plante.com
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:31:22 -0400 (EDT) From: marc@plante.com Subject: RE: Streetable Springs H&R OE Sport Springs will lower your car 1/4-1/2" and stiffen the ride to 200lbs in front vs., I believe, 100 lbs for a stock M3. They're midly progressive which makes them comfortable enough on Washington DC streets, and they have worked very well as street/track combination springs on my 325i for the last 110k mi. I run them with the Konis dead center (3 of 5) car is nicely balanced, rotates very predictably on the track with enough push that I can rotate the car into some of the tighter decreasing radius turns with aggressive throttle work with confidence that the back won't completely snap around on me. (unless I'm on the skidpad and want it to). Marc Plante E36 325i, 214k Vienna, VA
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#2. Re: Alternative front speakers - from Neil Maller
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 08:35:40 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Alternative front speakers on 9/26/03 8:10 AM, Shelhart2@aol.com wrote: > I have blown the tweeter in my drivers door 2 times in the last 2 years. The > dealer replaced 2x under warranty but I'm out of warranty. This is the stock > system and I can't see why the tweeter continues to blow. Any suggestions on > a decent replacement for the tweeter and mid range? on 9/26/03 8:10 AM, "Jay W. Hudson" <jwhud@cdsnet.net> wrote: > BTW, the problem with repeated blowing of factory drivers could very well > be the internal crossover in the factory amp. Not the driver itself. Eg., > if the crossover for the tweeter is supposed to be highpass from 10K and > it's sending full range to the tweeter, guess what happens to that poor > tweeter? That was my thought too. However the crossover is likely external to the head unit, consisting of a simple capacitor soldered on the companion bass driver's terminals. Here's a link on the subject, with info on replacing these capacitors with higher quality units: http://www.geocities.com/christyler5/BMWSoundUpgradeE34E36E46.html Neil 96 M3
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#3. Re: Traffic Ticket - from Neil Maller
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 08:37:33 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Traffic Ticket on 9/26/03 8:10 AM, "Carey Probst" <hcprobst@alum.mit.edu> wrote: > Probably depends a lot on where you live at what the lawyer charges. > > In small town upstate NY, mine charges me $125 to handle it, plus of course > the cost of whatever charge he negotiates it down to. If you live in the > real world it's probably higher. Yeah, but $125 is the rate with your high volume discount, right? <g> Neil 96 M3
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#4. Re: Source for replacement calipers - from Neil Maller
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 08:53:00 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Source for replacement calipers on 9/26/03 8:10 AM, Shelhart2@aol.com wrote: > I've got a decent pull to the right and a nice little squeal going for me. > The car has 81k and could use new calipers. Question, where is the best > source? Turner had them for around $165. Auto Zone has rebuilt for $69 (very > surprised). I don't know that I'd go with rebuilt. Thoughts? I've been intrigued by this option also. A friend just installed rebuilt calipers on his E36 325i race car (110+K miles, much tracked, dragging front caliper) that he ordered through a local specialist brake parts distributor. These turned out to be BMW branded calipers rebuilt by Kelsey Hayes, a TRW subsidiary known for heavy truck air brakes. They came as "loaded calipers," which therefore included pads. The calipers have a plated finish and frankly looked brand new, and came with the bracket (also plated), new seals, new guide pins, and new guide pin rubber bushings. This car is being driven at Mid Ohio this weekend, so we'll soon know if they're OK. If you're there and in any doubt, don't let the "Team Zero - Nothing to Lose Racing" red 325i number 0 car come up close behind you... Neil 96 M3
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#5. RE: In Car Video - from Payet, Bernardo
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 10:07:25 -0400 From: "Payet, Bernardo" <Bernardo.Payet@acs-inc.com> Subject: RE: In Car Video I wanted to thank all of you who responded to my post regarding the Video Cameras. It has been very helpful. I will contact some of you offline to ask a few more questions. Regards, Bernardo Payet
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#6. Balancing R Compounds? - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 10:26:10 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: Balancing R Compounds? I saw the other day that somebody mentioned having their tires swapped side-to-side but didn't have them balanced. Why would it not be necessary to balance R compounds? Does anyone out there NOT have theirs balanced? I always just assumed that all tires had to be balanced but I know what happens when you assume.... -Wayne
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#7. Aftermarket Springs and Chassis Balance - from Ron Buchalski
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 10:29:36 -0400 From: "Ron Buchalski" <rbuchals@hotmail.com> Subject: Aftermarket Springs and Chassis Balance Since most aftermarket springs (non-coilover) tend to lower the front of the chassis more than the rear, doesn't this alter the front-rear balance of the chassis? BMW claims that they strive for 50/50 weight balance front/rear, but lowering the front more than the rear would put more weight on the front. Is this another reason why aftermarket springs tend to reduce understeer? More weight on front = more grip; less weight on rear = less grip. Just curious... Ron Buchalski BMWCCA #76387 1995 E36 M3 1993 E34 525iT 1999 Mazda Miata _________________________________________________________________ Instant message during games with MSN Messenger 6.0. Download it now FREE! http://msnmessenger-download.com
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#8. Re: [E36M3] Balancing R Compounds? - from ChuckBrazeau@aol.com
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:52:17 -0400 From: ChuckBrazeau@aol.com Subject: Re: [E36M3] Balancing R Compounds? I don't balance my racing wheels/tires, never have (not even on my old car with 17x9.5s and 255/40s), and i have never had any problems. However, i only do auto-x, so speeds aren't that high and are not sustained for more than a few seconds. Open track use may be a different story. YMMV. Chuck Brazeau 1995 BMW M3 - Violet on Black SCCA Solo2 - Street Modified #95 http://www.brazeauracing.com/ In a message dated 9/26/2003 10:30:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, m3@waynemiller.com writes: > I saw the other day that somebody mentioned having their tires swapped > side-to-side but didn't have them balanced. Why would it not be > necessary to balance R compounds? Does anyone out there NOT have theirs > balanced? I always just assumed that all tires had to be > balanced but I > know what happens when you assume.... > > -Wayne
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#9. replacement calipers - from Kris Welhart
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:13:39 -0500 From: "Kris Welhart" <kris.welhart@cyou.com> Subject: replacement calipers My Story: I bought the replacement calipers from Autozone for $42.99 with a $50.00 core charge for each. The brand was fenco or something similar, there was a more expensive brand but in my moment of intelligence I bought the cheapest ones. So they come in and I take them home and start installing the first one. It looks a little chewed up, obviously not a factory caliper, (slightly differerent casting when next to factory, no ///M stamp) but ATE is stamped on it. After many, many attempts for the sweet spot on the threads, I can't get started without a little resistance while threading it on, but its not much and its stays consistent until they are tight, so I say no big deal. I go to the other side and they go on much easier and I ignore the previous experience. I go drive the car and I smell brake pads by the time I get to the end of the street. I go back and jack up the car, try to push the piston back in and nothing. Open the bleeder valve and push on the piston and nothing. So I proceed to do what I should have done originally and rebuild my old brakes. I get one done and proceed on the next and see that the piston is very pitted so in my anger I "borrow" one of the pistons from the "new" calipers. Surely they can't screw up a piston right? Go about my rebuild and what do you know, they work perfectly. The resistance felt on the first "new" caliper stripped out a brand new stainless line, thank you very much. Needless to say I did not get my 42 bucks back, but I did get my core charges and refund for the other caliper. My vote is for if you want something done right, do it yourself. Don't buy cheap crap when you know its cheap crap. A lesson learned, but I can tell you where to get pistons for $42. Good luck, Kris -------------------- 4 -------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 21:16:19 EDT From: Shelhart2@aol.com Subject: source for replacement calipers I've got a decent pull to the right and a nice little squeal going for me. The car has 81k and could use new calipers. Question, where is the best source? Turner had them for around $165. Auto Zone has rebuilt for $69 (very surprised). I don't know that I'd go with rebuilt. Thoughts? Shel 1998 M3
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#10. Re: [E36M3] Balancing R Compounds? - from twisty M3
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:11:49 -0700 From: "twisty M3" <twistym3@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Balancing R Compounds? I always balance mine, and they pretty much always end up with at least a couple of small weight used to get the perfect balance. In fact, this is how I recently learned that one of my BBS RKs is slightly bent. With the blancing, I go so far as to also use a small amount of that high-temp aluminum tape to make sure they weights are completely secure. I thought that might be overkill until a recent event when I kept my street wheels on with no tape. On the drive home I noticed a shaking steering wheel and upon inspection I realize that I had melted ALL the wheel weights off ALL the wheels (except for one weight that you could tell just happend to fly over to the opposite side of that wheel and end up in an odd-looking spot). As a side note, I've always taken my car to a local America's Tire to have my wheels mounted and balanced (they do good work, have quality machines and don't mind you loitering around their garage area). I've recently learned that they refuse to even put your car up on a lift if you've got an aftermarket stud conversion. The won't even let you take off wheels in their parking lot to roll them in for them to work on. :( Of course, this also taught me recently that you can pretty easily fit 8 wheels in a 2-door M3. ;) Jonathan L. > >Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:52:17 -0400 >From: ChuckBrazeau@aol.com >Subject: Re: [E36M3] Balancing R Compounds? > >I don't balance my racing wheels/tires, never have (not even on my old car >with 17x9.5s and 255/40s), and i have never had any problems. However, i >only do auto-x, so speeds aren't that high and are not sustained for more >than a few seconds. Open track use may be a different story. YMMV. > >Chuck Brazeau >1995 BMW M3 - Violet on Black >SCCA Solo2 - Street Modified #95 >http://www.brazeauracing.com/ > _________________________________________________________________ Help protect your PC. Get a FREE computer virus scan online from McAfee. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963