Straight outta... Germany?!

[sergov]

the one thing i didn't understand why did u went for plastic looking sideskirt and bumpers
imo if u painted them in the color of the body the car would look much much better
but i figure it's a matter of taste

[German-felgen]

Looks ZUPER!

[Dr.AK]

Yeah styling 32's are great wheels, specially in E34 offset.

Those are from an E38. 8x18 ET20 / 9x18 ET22.

I think the E34 ones are 17s.

[schroedin]

Those look really sick.

[MParallel]

Yeah styling 32's are great wheels, specially in E34 offset.

[Dr.AK]

Stole my dad's wheels to see how 18s would look.

I think I'm in love. My next wheels will be 18s for sure.





Obviously no real stance to speak of here, but imagine it about 1 - 1.5cm lower in the front, 2 - 2.5cm lower in the rear and with a bit more camber and BAM!

[Dr.AK]

Just a small soundfile i shot today after 200kms on the Autobahn... real cheap Supersport exhaust doesn't sound all that bad, but it's too quiet for my tastes... I think next year i'm going to swap to a stainless steel exhaust and a sport cat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDANhfc3xVU

[Chase]

looks great man

[Dr.AK]

Sellin my Azevs right now, want something with dish.

[Dr.AK]

I'm just running OEM bearings now - the others were real cheap ones... I learned my lesson, some things are better not bought as cheap as possible.


Hm... I'm growing bored of the Azevs.
I'm watching a few sets of wheels on ebay right now... if I can score a nice deal, I'll get a new set. After that I'll finally start tackling the rust on the car.

[MParallel]

I think you misunderstood - they sticked out like that because they failed! When I installed them at first they did not stick out at all.

Oh! ha didn't get that no. Wow then hey failed big time.

Maybe try the OEM reinforcement plates next time.

[Dr.AK]

I think you misunderstood - they sticked out like that because they failed! When I installed them at first they did not stick out at all.

[MParallel]

To clarify:

The only real law we have about ride height is the height of the lighting on the car - that has to have a minimum height of xx cm (different for each lighting part... i.e. headlights have to be at least 52cm above the ground, fog lights 25cm and so on).
However, whenever we lower our car, we have to get it approved by the TÜV who then proceeds to write the new approved suspension (each time you lower the height you have to get a full approval of the whole suspension again) into the car's papers - if you don't have this, you're effed when the cops pull you over. That's what happened to me, that's why I said it was my own fault, heh.

That rule does exist, yes. However we also do have the rule about minimum tire sizes... basically the TÜV has a database with all sizes of tires they will accept on a given wheel size - let's take 9x16 for example. 215/40 is common and no one looks twice at that - mount a 205/40 and you're pretty much out of luck because nobody will approve that because it's under the minimum tire size (in thise case 215/40 or 215/35, I'm not sure).

Huh? I mounted these exactly like my stock ones were mounted... the new ones are mounted like this currently also, and they are mounted like this in my dad's compact as well... Haven't had any issues with this...

It's actually quite a bit of work.
To do it properly, you'd have to pull the whole dashboard including heater core (I think that's what it is? The thingie behind the heat controls anyways), I avoided that by cutting the old carpet out from under there and making a few small cuts in the new one so I could just push it underneath from the sides.

Apart from that you basically have to pull apart the whole interior, i.e. at least the lower half of the dash needs to come out, middle console thingie needs to come out, all the seats and all the lower interior trim on the sides. Pulling the carpet itself and inserting the new one is pretty straightforward...

All in all the work is relatively simple, but it's just a bit much...

Thanks, great answers! All clear now about the right height and tyre sizing. I really thought Germany was way more forgiving.

I have done an almost complete interior take-out when I installed the Harman/Kardon radio loom into my car last year. I removed almost everything, bar the carpet itself.
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About the struts. If they were like that in your dad's compact as well, than they are also fitted incorrectly on his car.

This is how it should look, I think this pic says it all:



See, the tops don't stick out above the struttower at all, like yours do.

Also, if you look in BMW's part catalogue, they're picture like so:

(Part 1)

[Dr.AK]

Mein Deutsch is nicht so gut, so here goes

Funny, I thought rules were only so strickt in Belgium, not in Germany. Specially about the ride height. First I see you wrote no official regulations, but you did get busted by that cop to show the rookie? So did you get fined for your ride height?

To clarify:

The only real law we have about ride height is the height of the lighting on the car - that has to have a minimum height of xx cm (different for each lighting part... i.e. headlights have to be at least 52cm above the ground, fog lights 25cm and so on).
However, whenever we lower our car, we have to get it approved by the TÜV who then proceeds to write the new approved suspension (each time you lower the height you have to get a full approval of the whole suspension again) into the car's papers - if you don't have this, you're effed when the cops pull you over. That's what happened to me, that's why I said it was my own fault, heh.

Also wasn't familiar with the minimum tyre sizes. I though the only rule was that the thread of the tire must be under the fender. Hence why the Germans invented the streched tyre thing.

That rule does exist, yes. However we also do have the rule about minimum tire sizes... basically the TÜV has a database with all sizes of tires they will accept on a given wheel size - let's take 9x16 for example. 215/40 is common and no one looks twice at that - mount a 205/40 and you're pretty much out of luck because nobody will approve that because it's under the minimum tire size (in thise case 215/40 or 215/35, I'm not sure).

Oh and when going through your pics and I ready about the quickly worn strut guides (or strut bearing if you want), you do realize you mounted them upside down didn't you?
Or did you do that on purpose to get some "free lowering"? I have to say I have never seen these mounted like that before. I can imagine this puts more stress on them.

Huh? I mounted these exactly like my stock ones were mounted... the new ones are mounted like this currently also, and they are mounted like this in my dad's compact as well... Haven't had any issues with this...

How hard was the carpet switch?

It's actually quite a bit of work.
To do it properly, you'd have to pull the whole dashboard including heater core (I think that's what it is? The thingie behind the heat controls anyways), I avoided that by cutting the old carpet out from under there and making a few small cuts in the new one so I could just push it underneath from the sides.

Apart from that you basically have to pull apart the whole interior, i.e. at least the lower half of the dash needs to come out, middle console thingie needs to come out, all the seats and all the lower interior trim on the sides. Pulling the carpet itself and inserting the new one is pretty straightforward...

All in all the work is relatively simple, but it's just a bit much...

[MParallel]

You don't have to tell that to me, tell it to my country. ...

Mein Deutsch is nicht so gut, so here goes

Funny, I thought rules were only so strickt in Belgium, not in Germany. Specially about the ride height. First I see you wrote no official regulations, but you did get busted by that cop to show the rookie? So did you get fined for your ride height?

Also wasn't familiar with the minimum tyre sizes. I though the only rule was that the thread of the tire must be under the fender. Hence why the Germans invented the streched tyre thing.

Oh and when going through your pics and I ready about the quickly worn strut guides (or strut bearing if you want), you do realize you mounted them upside down didn't you?
Or did you do that on purpose to get some "free lowering"? I have to say I have never seen these mounted like that before. I can imagine this puts more stress on them.

How hard was the carpet switch?