Parky's Black Sapphire Metallic M3

[parky1215]

8/9/2014: First Day

I finally took delivery of sexy BSM F80 M3 with following options/packages.
- Executive Package
- Black Full Merino Leather
- Lighting Package
- M Double-clutch Transmission with Drivelogic
- 19" Black Light-Alloy Wheel Double-SpokeStyle 437 M with Mixed Perf. Tires
- Harman Kardon surround sound system

Suspension (passive) and chassis rigidity are pretty amazing.
Car feels very solid yet it is quite comfortable driving on the freeway.
I can feel where steering lost some connected feeling to the road.
However, suspension and chassis deliver road feeling so well that it doesn't feel too bad. I especially like new rear suspension setup.

Exhaust sounds pretty good, too.
I don’t think I will change it any time soon.

I am going to drop by EAS Monday morning to get some parts installed and go to tint shop on Tuesday to get 40% 3M Crytalline installed.

Here are some pictures that I took today.







David Aviles (SA) parked his Fire Orange e90 M3 right next to my new F80 M3.
As you can see from pictures, F80 M3 has much wider looking fenders.
BMW did really great job making F80 M3 very aggressive looking.









More pictures will be posted as she gets more upgrades

8/10/2014: Few Notes about M3

- Turn in radius on M3 seems worse than my previous e92.
It's little bit harder to maneuver the car in tight parking space.

- I love engine noise from inside the car. It feels like there is lion in the engine bay.
It sounds totally different from my previous n54 and n55.

- I get some weird engine response during first gear when driving in MDM.
When pressing gas pedal, powers comes then immediately gets cut off. Power then comes again and cut off. It does this 3 times in a row in very short amount of time.
It doesn't happen always, but I am holding off using MDM for now.
Update: I think this has to do with S+ mode's sensitive throttle response. I have no problem with MDM if I stay in S.

- I do hear buzzing noise from M3 badge on the seat.

- HUD is beautiful. However, I wish it tells me what gear I am in on standard view mode.

- DCT is not smooth in lower gears.
I expected this since my 335is also had it.
However, it is little bit worse in M3.

- I need to do windows tinting asap!
Driving without windows tint protection is very unpleasant!

- Hood and trunk requires some slamming force to close.
I don't mind about hood but I kind of wish that trunk would close without too much downward force.

8/11/2014: Visit to EAS

She got some cosmetic surgery today from EAS!
IND F80 M3 Painted Front Reflectors
IND F80 M3 Front Grill Surround
IND F80 M3 Painted Side Marker Set
BMW M Performance Carbon Fiber Rear Spoiler
BMW M Performance Carbon Fiber Gear Selector
Macht Schnell - Competition Wheel Spacer kits
Modify exhaust valve flap (always stays open)
Remove charcoal air filter from intake

Beside some cosmetic parts, EAS also performed air intake charcoal filter removal and exhaust valve modification.
I highly recommend charcoal filter removal (US M3/M4 only).
It doesn't cost you any money, but it does improve throttle response significantly especially in low gears. I do also hear slightly more turbo noise.

EAS also modified exhaust valve system so that it always stays open.
While this makes exhaust sound better across all rev range, it makes exhaust drone more noticeable at 1.8-2.1k rpm range.
On DCT car, this falls to about 70-75 mph on 7th gear (usual freeway cruise speed).

Only thing we couldn't get installed today was SS pedal.
I ordered F30 Performance pedal for auto transmission.
However, it looks like I actually need to order one for manual transmission even though I have DCT.
DCT brake pedal shape and size is same as one from F30 manual transmission pedal.

8/16/2014: 3M Crystalline Tint

I hate sun, heat, humidity, and etc.
Driving M3 without windows tint was not good experience to my delicate skin.

After shopping around for which tint to get, I decided to get one of the best tints available, 3M Crystalline.

I yelped tint shops around my area and found a shop called Rods Tint Touch.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/rodz-tint-touch-ontario
This shop had very good reviews so I called and made appointment.

I decided to go with 40% (darkest available for Crystalline) for side/rear and 70% for front.
I had to visit Rodz tint twice because the shop does not carry 70% Crystalline. The owner, Jesse, was nice enough to custom order the film for me.

Price was reasonable, too. Jesse charged me $450 for Crystalline 40% all around (except windshield) and $190 for Crystalline 70% on front windshield.

I used to have 30% regular tint on my 335is.
It is pretty easy to see with naked eyes that 40% is lighter than 30%. However, I wanted lighter tint anyway because I have black car.
I didn't want to go with darker tint and grab cop's attention.
By the way, these 40% and 70% Crystalline tint provides better solar energy rejection than darkest regular tint out there.
It is quite comfortable to drive the car during the day.

40% Crystalline has little bit of bluish chrome shade on the tint if you look from certain angle. It adds nice unique touch to the car.
As for 70%, it is so light that you can barely tell.

I haven't gone to long trip to review the tint yet.
I will eventually update this thread with long term review.

By the way, Jesse is a great guy. If you need 3M Crystalline and live around Ontario, CA area, give him a call.

My M3 in Rodz Tint Touch (2nd visit to get front windshield done)


40% 3M Crystalline Side/Rear




70% 3M Crystalline Front


Tint job completed

8/19/2014: Secondary Cat Delete and SS Pedal

I dropped by EAS today to get two things done.

1. BMW Stainless Steel Performance Pedal
2. Mid-pipe Secondary Catalytic Converter Delete

I was quite disappointed that stock M3 did not come with some fancy looking pedals. Even my 335is had some special pedal installed from the factory.

Initially, I purchased F30 auto transmission SS pedal since I have DCT.
However, EAS noticed that brake pedal on M3/M4 DCT actually shares same shape as those on manual transmission. I had to return it to get the correct one.

Install was quick and looked pretty easy. You do have to drill the stock pedal parts though. Overall, I am pretty satisfied the way it looks.
They also match well with M dead pedal.





I like engine noise inside the car.
However, I wanted it to be little bit louder from outside.
I tried to do exhaust valve flap modification, but exhaust droned when cruising on freeway with valve being always open. I had to put this back to stock configuration.

My next step to make stock exhaust louder was to delete secondary cats on the mid-pipe.

This is actually quite popular mod for 335i/1M owners with N54 engine.
N54 mid-pipe also has secondary cats. However, N55 engine's mid-pipe does not have any. Since the mid-pipe section was virtually identical in shape except cats, N54 owners would purchase and replace their N54 mid-pipe with one from N55 (or just cut and weld straight pipe).

Also, if you take a look at BMW Moto GP M4 Safety Car with BMW Performance exhaust, it has straight pipe instead of secondary cats in its place.

This secondary cat delete mod makes sense if you want to improve stock exhaust volume or if you are planning to get different axleback exhausts (BMW M Performance, Eisenmann, Akra Slip-on, and etc).

My first impression of this modified exhaust... it is pretty awesome!
Obviously, it won't be as loud as those M's with catless downpipe.
However, it is subtle improvement that makes noticeable difference.

Exhaust note is definitely crispier since there aren’t secondary cats to mute some of the exhaust note. I can now hear exhaust better with windows down.

You also hear more exhaust note inside car with no noticeable drone.
You only hear the exhaust when you punch the gas.

I highly recommend this cheap mod!

I captured some video below to show the difference. It may not be so obvious from the clip. I also have drive-by video captured*. I will post that later when EAS puts it on youtube.
*video did not come out well. I will have to recapture it later.

Stock Exhaust Idle Revving

Stock Exhaust with Secondary Cat Delete Idle Revving

This is what secondary cats look like inside. It looks like ceramic 400(?) cell cat.
I thought M3/M4 supposed to have metal cats only. I guess only primary cats are metal?

9/4/2014: Rattle Fix DIY

Interior trim rattle fix DIY is now available HERE.

[E92LNGCGY]

Looks great. Congrats. I didn't realize the performance spoiler is available already.

[///M ARMY]

Love the black. Can't go wrong

[parky1215]

Originally Posted by E92LNGCGY

Looks great. Congrats. I didn't realize the performance spoiler is available already.

F80 M3 uses same performance spoiler part number as F30 3 series.

Originally Posted by ///M ARMY

Love the black. Can't go wrong

Yup, but I am already seeing it covered in full dust after parking outside for 3 hours >.<

[haynstyleM2]

Looks great. Can't wait to see it with those mods. Please post some pics after. Congrats!

[Lynchmob6]

Looks great…congratulations!

[GOLFFRR]

Heck ya!! Awesome glad you finally got it!! Congrats and thanks again for your business we really appreciate it!

[parky1215]

Originally Posted by haynstylem4

Looks great. Can't wait to see it with those mods. Please post some pics after. Congrats!

I will have them ready monday afternoon

Originally Posted by Lynchmob6

Looks great…congratulations!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

Heck ya!! Awesome glad you finally got it!! Congrats and thanks again for your business we really appreciate it!

Everything went very smooth! Thanks for all your help.

[GOLFFRR]

[mpbruin108]

looks great man! Got to see this beast in person today and I must admit, the paint, exhaust and rims are more beautiful than I imagined after the seeing them online only. Seeing it in person really made me appreciate the time BMW put into making this car great.

Can't wait to see the car after you're done with Tom...I mean EAS.

[parky1215]

Originally Posted by mpbruin108

looks great man! Got to see this beast in person today and I must admit, the paint, exhaust and rims are more beautiful than I imagined after the seeing them online only. Seeing it in person really made me appreciate the time BMW put into making this car great.

Can't wait to see the car after you're done with Tom...I mean EAS.

Definitely. Exhaust note was big surprise.
I can't wait to hear this exhaust note at 7500 rpm.

[Alen E90]

WOW, congrats!

[Sir Loin]

Congrats! Black looks good. Great looking pictures! And thanks for your entry to the survey.

[raffyg2388]

Black suits this car perfectly. So menacing and aggressive looking. Looking at the pics with the e92 makes the old car look really dated and the orange paint aint helping either. Wonderful car!

[hyperspeed]

nice!! cant wait to see it after your EAS visit!

[M6-Coupe]

Congrats! you have a beautiful car.

[CatchM3]

very nice!

[Carl L]

Stunning car, Parky. Congrats. The side by side pictures are very telling.

[parky1215]

Thanks everyone!
Just few more hours before my car gets transformed by EAS.

Few note from my M3.

- Turn in radius on M3 seems worse than my previous e92.
It's little bit harder to maneuver the car in tight parking space.

- I love engine noise from inside the car. It feels like there is lion in the engine bay.
It sounds totally different from my previous n54 and n55.

- I get some weird engine response during first gear when driving in MDM.
When pressing gas pedal, powers comes then immediately gets cut off. Power then comes again and cut off. It does this 3 times in a row in very short amount of time.
It doesn't happen always, but I am holding off using MDM for now.

- I do hear buzzing noise from M3 badge on the seat.

- HUD is beautiful. However, I wish it tells me what gear I am in on standard view mode.

- DCT is not smooth in lower gears.
I expected this since my 335is also had it.
However, it is little bit worse in M3.

- I need to do windows tinting asap!
Driving without windows tint protection is very unpleasant!

- Hood requires some slamming force to close.
Same thing with trunk. I don't mind about hood but I kind of wish that trunk would close without too much downward force.

[IND-Distribution]

Congrats!

[jeff@autocouture]

Nice car and review, enjoy it

[1stm3f80]

Congrats. So much fun to drive.