Noble on the driveway! / 1 series pic / MRS old discs pic

Time for another update....

Pic 1 : The rather superb Noble that Ive just bought as a runabout for a couple of mnths....NOT , it actually was driven by a friend of the guy who came to pick up his new car (my old one).
Sounded fab and as ever not exactly subtle :-)
Sob , I can scarcely believe I ever had an M3 at all :-(
I REALLY miss the driving experience ............

Pic 2 : The trusty BMW 1 series I had for a while when the M3 was getting the front end sprayed to remove stonechips. Only a 116i but as Ive said before it was really nice , and even the looks grew on me ! Drove really nicely , so the 135i must be a really swift machine.

Pic 3 : The front discs I took off the MRS (Mk3 MR2). Not the total absence of a decent wear face , mostly rust = gubbed !
The new brakes are so far great , the only downside I can see is that the brake dust produced is more than OE toyota pads. But for the money absolutely brill.
The feel and performance is the same if not better than OE , Im made up.


No word on the Golf arrival date yet............
Looking at maybe getting a car to run about in.
Seen some nice Mk2 golfs , but they are 15 yrs old now!
Ebay is like an aladins cave too , if you can afford to take a risk.

Stay safe out there
J

M3 E46 End of Term Review

Well here we go , an attempt to sum up this car.......

I have owned my (previous) M3 for 18 months , in that time going from 10,000 miles up to 42,000 miles.
A silver grey 04 plate.
I traded in a new Mini Cooper s (modified to 220bhp+) for this car.
Most of these were spent going up and down the motorway between Glasgow and Warrington (450 miles round trip) every weekend.
I regularly saw 32 mpg crusing @ 85 mph motorway, and 27 ish general travelling around.


PLUS POINTS (so many but heres a few!

Very understated looks , only those in the know really notice.
The 'fat' rear track. The twin pipes , BMW got the subtle look just right on the E46 M3 imho.

Fuel economy! ok you dont buy one of these cars for this , but its a huge bonus,
32mpg on the motorway just insane for a 340bhp car.
Can you name another car with this much power that does that?

Practicality , huge boot yet porsche pace. Only issue is making sure you dont damage the lovely nappa leather.

Performance (surprise!), can drive slowly , amazing tractability , or race car pace when reqd
The engine! rpm range is truly brill , workable pull from 2k to 8k.
No more getting caught passing cars having to change gear , 3rd just supreme.
Rate of acceleration above 100mph+ to limiter (private test track of course).
M3 just excels at the point your licence goes out the window.

Never really drove with sport button on , preferred more progressive throttle control

The exhaust noise with rear windows open and a full 7900rpm on the clock :-)

The rasp when its cold (ok no revs allowed but you can still hear it at 2k rpm)

Those polished alloys , a brilliant contrast to a subtle body (polished alloy)

seats are supreme, hold you well , remember settings. I dont think my back ever hurt.

grip (with the right tyres GSD3 F1), feel throughout the car when pushing on , t/c rarely intervenes in the dry.
Interferes too abruptly in the wet , smoother in the wet with it off

Xenon lights :-), std equipment but a must have for any car these days

And the sheer driving 'experience' , no drive was just a trip , every journey was a joy.
Rain , Sleet , Snow (caught around Birmingham in the big snow!),
this performance machine instils total confidence in ALL conditions.

I went from 220bhp FWD to 340bhp RWD and although you do need to respect an M3 , I found the transition very easy


MINUS POINTS

The way they all seem to drive like 'dogs' from cold lol

Costs to keep it in correct 'manner' are significant , but not excessive.

'Acoustic feedback' from the transmission ! I remember the first time I reversed into a parking space and thought the whole diff had destroyed itself!
Most seem to do it , but its easy to drive 'around' it. But I do feel it could have been a bit better.

Clutch is a pain , I think a CDV delete would sort this out. 1st to 2nd was always a excercise in 'patience'
(in fact the manual version drives better when you 'push' on a bit and quicken the pace)

polished alloys , one scrape and ... refurb still not the OE finish.

interior very germanic, to the point of it being 'unexciting', maybe a bit more special (dare I say like the RS4 !)

Engine sounds like its had it, lots of noise lol

Brakes can be made to fade even on road. Never actually lost pedal totally though.

Insurance costs @ Group20 are a serious , but are probably the main reason why M3 are still kept in a specialist market . Although it seems this is now changing.

std fit audio is cr*p beyond belief for a car of this value!

Warranty costs.

Understeer wasnt bad , but I felt could be improved , and some time at Thorneys would soon sort that.

(I have outlined some negatives , but really most of them are just being very picky :-) )


My favourite moment was racing a couple of motorbikes around the roads around the Carbeth Inn nr Glasgow.
(as a former motorbike owner I know these roads :-) ), really good fun and I kept up better than I thought. I even think the bikers were impressed :grinteeth:
The M3 gets better the harder you push it. Rear squats down , tyres dig in , and the package just comes together........

Regrets? none :-) , apart from the fact i wish I had done a track day , but the poor brakes just put me off enough to never do it.



To any new M3 owners, heres some 'suggestions' :

1. Check your tyre pressures
2. Check the oil (regularly!), it may not use it (mine didnt) but just in case...
3. Use good quality tyres (PS2 or GSD3F1)
4. Use 97+RON fuel. For me the M3 felt flat on normal fuel.
5. A noisy engine is just the way it is ;-), dont worry just enjoy it :-)
6. Acoustic feedback is a way of life , just drive around it.
7. Keep up to date on bm3w , its a wealth of knowledge that often pust your mind at rest.
8. Enjoy it and make sure once its warm you exercise the full rev range, inc the brakes. M3 's are meant to be driven and hard (in the right sense)


Will I get one again? Yes I hope so, ideally a CSL in years to come.
Equivalent cars in the market today? none
Nothing matches the sheer all round ability of the M3 E46.
Its all cars to all people.
Sure performance benchmarks have moved on (the M3 isnt as invincible as we would all hope against many of todays hot hatches!)

Thats it my homage , to a car I considered a dream as I was growing up , but now Ive had a chance to enjoy.

The greatest car I will ever own ? Probably :-)

The E46 M3 , what a car .............

M3 sold!!!

Yes , I can scarcely believe its true , but I have just watched my pride and joy drive away this morning.
Congratulations to the new owner , I hope he enjoys the car as much as I did.

So here (for now it ends), car went with 42,000 miles on clock.
I will eventually do a full writeup of M3 experience.

18 months ownership , 32,000 miles and a whole lot of fun.

I loved it , and would recommend everyone to have one at some point in there lives.
Fast, economical (not at the same time!), practical too :-)

Golf not here for 2 months , so not sure where to go from here........

M3 calipers get painted too !

Yep , once you pop you just cant stop...

After seeing the lovely black calipers of the MR2 I reckoned the M3 needed the same (ok yes Im selling it , but visually it will look better! and besides I'll enjoy it).

Got home tonight and got stuck into the M3
Took my time , painted calipers and cleaned and polished the inside edges of the wheels. I have to say the M3 wheels are really light for their reqd usage, I remember the compomotive wheels I fitted to my old mini cooper s (new shape) being much heavier!!
I also cleaned up the front discs to remove any edges , they look so much better.
Ok many will think its a bit an*l but it really is worth doing , and Ive been talking about doing it since I bought the car!

All in all a busy 2 days for car DIY :-)
I love it (although my hands dont ! they really hurt) , and feel the need for more ...... dont expect much todo on the ed30 though.

will try and get some pics up soon.
Enjoy

MR2 Mk3 front brakes renewal

well I finally went ahead and did it!

Quote from toyota was £320, and with money freeflowing out my hands at the moment I need to save some cash if I can. So DIY it is.

front discs , pads and fitting kit bought from some very helpful people at Brakes International the Bolton branch, wasnt sure but recommended by Allan , so if theres a problem I can blame him ;-)
On a side note the customer service was superb.

All in , a frankly ridiculous £72 ! , (and I will be taking the fitting kit back -£13 which is just 4 spring clips I reused old ones).
Quality seems fine , some nice shiny discs , and generic pads (box didnt list MR2 but listed several Yaris models)

Onto the DIY
Found a guide at
Toyota Owners Club fitting guide which at least shows you what to expect.

It clearly shows the rubber pad and metal pad you need to unclip from each old pad an refit to your new pads.
The pad supports are what you get in the fitting kit (4 of in 1 kit),I re-used the old ones , but its up to you.
Dont worry there are NO fixing screws holding the disc to the hub, so it will eventually come off , but it may need some persuading in the form of a large 'impliment'
The discs were wrecked on the inside surface (outer visible through wheel surface looked fine), the inner pad was also down to 2mm material left.

Remember towipe the disc surface to remove the oil and ensuring you dont get any dirt inbetween the important mating surfaces (which may cause vibration etc)

Good cleanup, copper grease used sparingly in the right places (dont overdo it , it will just make a mess).

I would check that the sliders in the carrier work , mine were seized, but quickly freed off with a bit of movement.

I also took the opportunity to clean up the caliper with a wire brush and paint it with satin black smoothrite (yeah I know its not high temp, but from prev experience I know with a good surface prep it works well). Remember and get satin as gloss is a bit too bling lol

If you are feeling keen then its also a good chance to clean the inside edges of the wheels and get some polish on them, visually it can make a huge difference :-)

[pics of old discs to follow]

Push brake pedal to take up slack , then after waiting for the caliper paint to dry I took the car out to gently bed in the brakes. Just some light pedal pressure so far , but what a difference :-)
Will give them about 100 miles then attempt a few big stops to really bed them in.

All in all I took my time and it (so far) has worked out well.
Next job is to get the rear wheels off now and paint those calipers too.

A very simple job that almost anyone could tackle , and the price is right :-)

more M3 pics

sunny evening , car for sale , what else could I do , but wash it and take some more pics :-)

Car averaged 31.7 MPG @ 85 MPH on a run to scotland and back at the weekend which is probably better than I will get in the golf!
Dropped to 28 MPG whilst commuting though.
Now just passed 42,000 miles.






Also ordered some brake discs for the MR2 from brakesinternational (Thanks Allan) , which seems extremely cheap but hopefully good quality.
Will need to remember how to use a socket set :-) , its been a while since I was rebuilding the mini engine lol (its been 10 yrs now wonder where it is now?)

Enjoy