[m3freak86]

NEW OWNERS JOURNAL: http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=438139

Current mods/look as of 10/23/2012

Exterior

Apex ARC-8 18" Hyper Silver w/ Hankook V12 Tires (Summer)
OEM 18" Satin Black w/ Pirelli Winter Snow Sports (Winter)
Vorsteiner 2x2 Double Sided Carbon Fiber CSL Bootlid w/ e90 lights
Tekarbon 2x2 Carbon Fiber CSL Diffuser
Piano Gloss Black Kidney Grills
Piano Gloss Black Side Grills
FXR 3.0 Projectors With Gloss Black Shrouds
Philips 85122+ 4300k D2S Bulbs
Nokya 2500k H7 DRL Bulbs
Nokya 2500k 9006 Fog Bulbs
Cree LED Reverse Bulbs
Invisibulbs for corner lights
Outer LED Tail Light Mod
BMW M3 Black License Plate Frame


Interior

Cobywheel Steering Wheel Black Alcantara w/ M Cross Stitch and Orange Stripe
Cobywheel SMG Black Alcantara w/ M Cross Stitch Boot
Cobywheel E-Brake Black Alcantara w/ M Cross Stitch Boot
2x2 Carbon Fiber E-Brake Handle
2x2 Carbon Fiber SMG Paddles
3M DiNoc Carbon Fiber/Black Wrapped Trim
OEM Black Steering Wheel Trim
Custom Brushed SMG Knob/Ring
Arm Rest Delete
Long Euro Tray
Dice Silverline Ipod Interface
OEM Homelink
Valentine 1 Hardwired Radar
Custom Coding (fog lights stay on w/ high beams, auto lock doors, one touch rear windows, comfort control windows)

Performance

Agency Power V2 Stainless Steel Headers
Custom Performance Rasp Terminator Section 1
Supersprint Race Muffler
Evolve-R Tune
K&N Drop In Filter
Macht Schnell Silicone Intake Elbow
KW V2 Coil Overs
PowerFlex RTABS
Rogue Engineering RSM's

SPECS (wheel/suspension)

Wheels: 18x9.5 et22 front, 18x10 et20 (5mm spacer) rear
Tires: Hankook V12 245/40/18f, 275/35/18r
Fenders: Rears- rolled flat/pulled slightly
Height: 13"f, 12.75"r
Camber: -2 front and back (stock plates/arms, free camber mod on front)
Rubbing: Only on full lock in wheel well plastic up front. No fender rubbing at all.
Evolve-R Tune: Catless Ready, Top Speed Removed, Dyno Mode, 93 Octane

Most Recent Picture/look:



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JOURNAL STARTS HERE:

Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved cars. I always had that strong passion between a man and machine. Something about them always has fascinated me of how they work and how they were designed/built. I always loved taking things apart and putting them back together.

So it was my 17th birthday and it was time to pick out my first car. Being that I was young and didn't have too many choices since my Father was buying the car, I had a choice between a Hunter Green 2000 Honda Accord SE or a Black 1999 Volkswagen Passat. To me, Honda's were too blah and common. The Passat had the more sporty look to it, so of course I chose that. It was a great first car and got me to and from school just fine. When it had to go into the shop, the bill was never pretty though. I kept it stock, minus a few things like the stereo and a few other little things. Sorry no pics on my computer of it. Digital cameras weren't popular back then lol.

After 3.5 years with the VW, I wanted to step into something a bit more powerful and redefined. At this point, my love of cars was developing even more and I knew I wanted something that had a little bit more respect on the road. I ended up choosing a 2003 Infiniti g35 sedan. Got it with 42k miles in 2006. It was in beautiful shape and loved that car since day one. When I got it, I knew modding cars was out there, but I had no idea where to start. Lo' and behold after one year with it, I stumbled upon dun dun dunn.... forums. I became a member of all the g35 forums and that is where my addiction really started. Before I knew it I was addicted to modding cars. Here are some pics of my g35 during it's various stages.






3 years of ownership was coming up fast for my g and I knew after this car what I wanted to step into. I wanted an e46 m3 ever since I was 12 years old. The car always caught my eye where ever I was and knew one day I wanted to own one. I even joined m3forum a year after I bought my g35. That is where the sickness began. I started researching, reading up on issues/what to look for, and drooling over pictures. I decided that no matter how much money I put into my g35, it would never be an m3. So I bit the bullet, sold a bunch of mods on the g35, and ended up selling the g35 October 25, 2009 with 64k miles. Here is a pic of it how I sold it and the new owner driving it away.



Now since the g35 was gone, had extra money from all the mods sold, and saved every penny I could from work, I was on the hunt for an m3. I ended finding an 04 carbon black/cinn with 24k miles, smg, fully loaded. Absolutely gorgeous in South NJ back in July of 09. I went and checked it out, took it for a test drive, and I knew right then and there it was my m. After discussing with the owner for a week or 2, he ended up saying this girl was buying it and that was that. So I was furious, but kept on my search. Checked out a few other m's, but nothing matched the carbon black one. I almost pulled the trigger on an 05 Imola ZCP, but the owner was asking way too much. Fast forward to December 1, 2009. I get an email from the owner of the 04 carbon black. He says the deal fell through with the girl, he was about to put the m away for winter, and wanted to know if I was still interested. Being that is was PERFECT timing, I said absolutely. Within 2 week, I was at his house and picked up my brand new (to me) M3.

December 13, 2009: 2004 Carbon Black/Cinnamon, SMG, Navi, 19's, Fully loaded, with 26,250 miles. Stored every single winter, driven 5,200 miles a year, all maintenance up to date. Bought the car for an amazing deal with all invoices from services and such. Came with a hardwired Passport Sr7 Radar. Everything just checked out perfectly. Couldn't have been happier. My dad and I drove down early in the morning and was driving back home by 8:45am.

Last owners pics that I drooled over until I was able to pick her up.



Unfortunately, it was raining the day I picked it up, but I got her home safe and sound. It was the most amazing hour and 20 minute drive of my life. Here the first pictures I took when I got her home.




Also, Chris (JerseyShorem3), who is my neighbor, came over to check my new m out. He offered to update my navi to the version with the perspective view and the ///M splashscreen. So I drove it up the street and he updated it for me! Immediately, it updated the look of the interior and looks so much better. Thanks Chris!



December 15, 2009: Here are some pics after her first wash and me oogling over it in the garage. Trying to get creative with these pics lol





December 25, 2009: Christmas was right around the corner, so it was PERFECT time to get some "free" mods . Ended up picking up the neccessities: EAS 60 LED Angel eyes, Matte black grills/gills, and Smoked side markers and corners with invisibulbs. Shortly after opening them up on christmas morning, I was in the garage installing them on the car. Immediately it made the car look so much more aggressive.

Here is a pic of the gifts, minus the angel eyes


December 29, 2009: I am not too good with electric/wire work so I PM'd Caesar from Lightwerkz and asked him to install my new angel eyes. I drove up to Clifton, NJ and got to see Caesar do his magic. Install was clean and perfect. Couldn't be happier with how they turned out. One of my favorite mods thus far.

Here is a few pics of the install day at Lightwerkz and a few when I got home






January 4, 2010: Went on a small cruise with locals Chris (JerseyShorem3) and Mike (///MIKE M) around town and took some photos at a place where I used to live.



January 11, 2010: Next up, I noticed my stock bulbs were on there way out. Passenger side had a pink hue to it and was mismatched, so of course, PM'd Caesar and ordered up a pair of his 6000k D2S bulbs. They came 2 days later and had them in that night. PITA to install, but I took my time and they came out great! Love the overall look of them and how they match the Angel Eyes perfectly.

Here is a pic that shows the perfect match


January 14, 2010: Now that all my new mods were installed, I had one more thing to take care of. God awful Orange reflectors. I knew I wanted to get rid of them, but was up in the air of how. At first, I had an idea of throwing some extra tint I had laying around on the stock orange reflectors. Did that and actually turned out pretty decent and would be able to hold me over until I was able to pick up some color matched ones. You can actually see them a bit in the pics from Jan 4 from the cruise with Chris and Mike. However, when light hit them, the orange was still visible. So, I was about to order up some color matched ones, but then my neighbor, Chris (JerseyShorem3), shot me a text and offered an extra set of smoked reflectors he had laying around from ebay. I said absolutely! Walked over to his house and picked them up from him. Required a bit of sanding to get them to fit, but they fit flawless now and really look great. I actually prefer these over the color matched ones on my car since it blends so well with the depo corners and side markers.

Pics of the reflectors




January 16, 2010: I knew I wanted to do this mod at some point, but as I said earlier, I do not feel comfortable working with wires/electrical work. So, I saw that Rob (roobe16) did the outer LED tail light ring mod that Ian (Obioban) wrote up. Being that Rob is about 5 minutes from me, I swung over to his place where he showed me how to do it. Very very simple mod that costs all of 2 bucks. Not too sure why BMW didn't have them like this from the factory. Looks MUCH more unique and actually makes the rear look wider. In about 5 minutes, we were done.





Next up:
Oil Change at 30,000 miles (currently at 27,205).

[CatchMyM3]

Lookin good! Those angel eyes really pop on a black car. And the cinnamon..

Some of your pics show a blue tint to the carbon black paint. Can you see that in person in the sun?

[m3freak86]

Originally Posted by CatchMyM3

Lookin good! Those angel eyes really pop on a black car. And the cinnamon..

Some of your pics show a blue tint to the carbon black paint. Can you see that in person in the sun?

Thanks man. I really appreciate that. The angel eyes are awesome. In person they look so mean coming down the road. My favorite mod so far without a doubt. Cinnamon is gorgeous. I never really considered it until I saw it in person. I was set on getting Imola interior, but I had to have the cinn after I saw it.

Yup. Carbon black has a metallic dark blue color to it. In the daytime/sun it actually looks midnight/navy blue. Very very cool paint. Night time and cloudy days it looks black. I love the look of it in the sun though. It's subtle, but at the same time very noticable and distinct. I get compliments on it everytime someone takes a look at it. I can't tell you how many times my friends said "Wait, is it blue!?" to me lol. It looks more blue than black most of the time too.

[roobe16]

Originally Posted by CatchMyM3

Lookin good! Those angel eyes really pop on a black car. And the cinnamon..

Some of your pics show a blue tint to the carbon black paint. Can you see that in person in the sun?

Metallic paint FTW. So much more unique than a plain black or silver color. Now, I think an E46 M3 looks good in any of the standard/individual colors, but Jet Black IMO is the worst of 'em, the most plain and boring looking. CB is great!

[m3freak86]

Originally Posted by roobe16

Metallic paint FTW. So much more unique than a plain black or silver color. Now, I think an E46 M3 looks good in any of the standard/individual colors, but Jet Black IMO is the worst of all of 'em, the most plain and boring looking. CB is great!

I agree. I don't have anything against any color the e46 m3 has to offer. Except maybe PY lol just kidding Rob. I love py!! I just wanted something a bit different than the average silver or black car out there. It stands out, but not too much. I really have grown to love the color more and more each day. I got my work cut out for me though keeping it swirl free lol. Oh well, I like to detail cars so I don't mind

[dlpfcb]

I love the cinnamon it looks awesome. The only thing i am not a fan of is the smoked reflectors. I prefer the painted matching reflectors. But other than that gorgeous car.

[m3freak86]

Originally Posted by dlpfcb

I love the cinnamon it looks awesome. The only thing i am not a fan of is the smoked reflectors. I prefer the painted matching reflectors. But other than that gorgeous car.

thanks man. I hear you on the smoked reflectors. It wasn't my first choice, but my buddy had an extra set laying around and was generous enough to give them to me. Being that I couldn't stand the stock orange ones, I glady took them. I actually really like them a lot since it fits the whole theme well. Eventually I plan on getting either a euro bumper with the reflectors deleted or go the csl route. I'll see when the time comes. But for now, I am more than happy with how they look. Pictures seem to make them stand out a lot more than in person. You really can't even tell they are there. Oh well, I like em lol.

[roobe16]

Originally Posted by dlpfcb

I love the cinnamon it looks awesome. The only thing i am not a fan of is the smoked reflectors. I prefer the painted matching reflectors. But other than that gorgeous car.

Yeah like Chris said above, the smoked reflectors look a lot different in person. On CB they're barely noticeable in person, they almost look like they are a paint match unless you get up close. Like Chris's thread in the photos section, the best mods are free mods!

[m3freak86]

Originally Posted by roobe16

Yeah like Chris said above, the smoked reflectors look a lot different in person. On CB they're barely noticeable in person, they almost look like they are a paint match unless you get up close. Like Chris's thread in the photos section, the best mods are free mods!

yesss sirrrrr

[JUICINBIMMER]

awesome thread