William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

Purchased an E46 M3 strut brace from a member over on E46Fanatics. It looks to be in great shape with all the hardware and for a good price. That brings my current list of maintenance mods as follows when I get home in June or July:

• Oil change (nowhere near my normal 5k mile interval, but it's coming up on the year interval)
• Brake fluid flush (1 year interval). This may include painting the calipers black, gun metal, or maybe blue.
• Coolant flush (2 year interval)
• Put back on my APEX ARC8 wheels (the car is currently sitting on my Style 135s in storage)
• Install UUC TSE3 exhaust
• Install E46 M3 front strut brace
• Install E46 M3 motor and transmission mounts
• Perform a full exterior detail
• Perform an interior detail with Leatherique treatment
• Swap carpets from all weather to carpet for the summer

Speaking of caliper colors, I thought I would ask you guys for your thoughts (again). I had previously thought about doing yellow, but I'm not sure now. I like the yellow for the contrast since my car has a dark exterior without a whole lot of accents. I'm now leaning more black, gun metal/metallic gray, or a BMW blue they use on brake calipers now in their sport packages. Thoughts? Below are a mock up with my calipers photoshopped yellow, red, and blue, as well as another member's black 330i with yellow calipers and some other caliper colors:

Yellow
http://i.imgur.com/aPTgfDx.jpg

Red
http://i.imgur.com/5AO1126.jpg

Blue (although I am not sure on that shade, I think it would be closer to the blue seen below)

Yellow
http://i.imgur.com/Fr26dKf.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...P/726f887a.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...P/62be406a.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...P/32bb3ff4.jpg

Black:
http://i.imgur.com/8JXbrgY.jpg

Gunmetal/Metallic Gray:
http://i.imgur.com/GSbq9YY.jpg

Blue:
http://i.imgur.com/HvDyHos.jpg

You could go two tone! I did mine light silver for the caliper and black for the carrier and anti rattle and a dark grey for the bolts. Looks really slick, especially with the black bushings. Forgive my wheel which is the dirtiest on the planet. Can't get a wash because it keeps raining.

Edit: yellow looks really good though
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...373f06584b.jpg

Hey William, nice to see an update on your thread.

I am also planning to get new calipers as part of my full brakes overhaul and paint them. I am thinking silver for the caliper and the bracket. Let me know which color you decide to go with.

Damn William, you've been busy! Even though you're not currently even living here, mods are being done on your car haha. I've been so involved with my own ZHP hunt and now my umpteen projects, that I haven't been searching too many other threads, glad I stumbled back upon this one though.

You did mention that you had picked up the UUC exhaust, but you did NOT mention that you also had a Gruppe M intake?! Once you get both installed this summer, I wanna hear this thing, I bet it'll sound awesome. How's the sound with just the intake? Congrats on the ///M3 strut bar too, I'm loving the understated clean look of mine. Looks like we have a lot of similar maint items on our lists, although I hope to have mine done by summer :)

I think you know my opinions on the brakes, but keep us posted on which you decide. In related news, this project thread is 51 pages long...unreal!

you post a bunch of pics, but not really any of your car and nothing recent. what the heck? ;)

haha. :cheers


i'm sure you are going nuts not driving your car. i would be.

i would go silver on the calipers.

I like yellow but since the BMW performance brakes are the same color, I would avoid it... I vote for silver too...


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Yellow, silver or bronze would be my pick.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YoitsTmac

You could go two tone! I did mine light silver for the caliper and black for the carrier and anti rattle and a dark grey for the bolts. Looks really slick, especially with the black bushings. Forgive my wheel which is the dirtiest on the planet. Can't get a wash because it keeps raining.

Edit: yellow looks really good though

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Interesting, I had not considered painting the anti rattle clip a different color or doing a two tone scheme. I'll have to ponder that one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anandoc

Hey William, nice to see an update on your thread.

I am also planning to get new calipers as part of my full brakes overhaul and paint them. I am thinking silver for the caliper and the bracket. Let me know which color you decide to go with.

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Yeah...wish I had more to report for my car. Soon though! Are you buying all new calipers? How come?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cadeez

Damn William, you've been busy! Even though you're not currently even living here, mods are being done on your car haha. I've been so involved with my own ZHP hunt and now my umpteen projects, that I haven't been searching too many other threads, glad I stumbled back upon this one though.

You did mention that you had picked up the UUC exhaust, but you did NOT mention that you also had a Gruppe M intake?! Once you get both installed this summer, I wanna hear this thing, I bet it'll sound awesome. How's the sound with just the intake? Congrats on the ///M3 strut bar too, I'm loving the understated clean look of mine. Looks like we have a lot of similar maint items on our lists, although I hope to have mine done by summer :)

I think you know my opinions on the brakes, but keep us posted on which you decide. In related news, this project thread is 51 pages long...unreal!

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Thanks, man! And yeah, plans are piling up, but that's a good thing. I'm excited; gives me things to do for my car, although first and foremost I just want to get in and let it stretch its legs out in Germantown area. The GruppeM sounds throatier and slightly louder (10-15% louder I would estimate at WOT above 3,500 RPM) than the BMW Performance intake which sounds slightly better than the stock airbox, IMO. If you go back a page you can see what I said about it. The GruppeM matched with the UUC TSE3 sounds great. I heard the GruppeM alone and with the TSE3 on NoVAphotog's car and it's what got me to looking for the TSE3. I'm reaaaaaally looking forward to getting mine on.

The M3 bar just popped up and it looks really clean and has all the caps and everything for a good price so I went for it. I know it doesn't do a whole lot, but it's factory and was in the M3 so I can't complain. And as you say, it's understated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slater

you post a bunch of pics, but not really any of your car and nothing recent. what the heck? ;)

haha. :cheers


i'm sure you are going nuts not driving your car. i would be.

i would go silver on the calipers.

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HAHAHAHA hahaha ha....ha....

I miss my car. So very very very much. But every day I'm in DC makes me thankful I did not bring my car because I wouldn't have much time to drive it, it would sit parked outside, and when I did drive it, it would be a hateful experience 80% of the time (traffic, being in central DC, mostly only have time to use it for errands).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by san

I like yellow but since the BMW performance brakes are the same color, I would avoid it... I vote for silver too...

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The BMW Performance brakes are more Phoenix yellow, are they not? But I know what you mean, not really a factory color.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by holyc0w

Yellow, silver or bronze would be my pick.

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So it seems like the votes are:
Silver: 5
Yellow: 2
Metallic Gray: 1
Bronze: 1

I'm wondering...is it bad to paint the calipers twice? Since I already have the yellow kit, I might just go ahead and do that, then paint over it if I really hate it and do something more subtle. Thoughts? Words of wisdom? Jokes about pickles?

My opinion - but the stock calipers are not large enough to be shown off in a bright color such as yellow. If I saw another E46 with painted calipers in something bright such as yellow or red, I would mutter "sigh...poser". It just doesn't look right. A conservative color such as silver or black would make it look clean and OEM-ish and prevent it from rusting and looking like crap.

Again, this is a personal choice - if painting it yellow makes you happy, go for it!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anandoc

My opinion - but the stock calipers are not large enough to be shown off in a bright color such as yellow. If I saw another E46 with painted calipers in something bright such as yellow or red, I would mutter "sigh...poser". It just doesn't look right. A conservative color such as silver or black would make it look clean and OEM-ish and prevent it from rusting and looking like crap.

Again, this is a personal choice - if painting it yellow makes you happy, go for it!!

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I agree that the stock calipers don't have enough of a presence. With that said, I'd say it still would look great in said colors from a contrast perspective, but you do run into that "just painted calipers" thought that some people get on the street.

Against blue, I'd choose yellow all day long. Black or silver are a bit too boring for my personal taste. Can't wait to get a second car so I can remove my black Wilwoods and give 'em a proper yellow paint job! Of course this matches my personality; I'm far from conforming, like to be unique, and am a bit of an oddball, so highly contrasting colors are what I'm all about. ;)

The best advice I can give is go with what reflects your personality. Do you like to stick out, or are you more subtle?

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