I just bought a 2003 BMW 325i sedan - Sport Package - Titanium Silver -

Congrats and welcome!

What are the best mods for the e46 sedan?

Maintenance! Car looks beautiful as-is. :thumbup:

Oh, and if an automatic, a manual swap.

 

!!

Maintenance! Car looks beautiful as-is. :thumbup:

AGREE with Spannerhead.
Keep it OEM and maintain it! If you swap wheels, swap with OEM 18's. (Just my opinion of course).

Personally, I HATE Spacers!!!!! Had them on my Mercedes E-Class and the car road like sh*t, felt like it was "shimmying" at higher speeds in curves. I would never run spacers again based on this experience.

If the car is as nice on the inside as on the outside, and you only need a new Water Pump and Brake Pads and the car has been maintained otherwise, I think you got a GREAT Deal.

 

Im my mind - there are no 'best' mods as they are in the eye of the beholder. Many young folks like slammed cars where the 18-19 inch wheels have so much camber that only about a inch or 2 of tire rubber is actually on the road looks good. Many others will correcly view it as an abomination.

Mods all depend on what YOU want to do to the car and what looks good to you. Think about what you want and why and go from there.

 

Best mod? Maintenance.

Then in this order; performance tires, high quality brake pads, performance shocks and then headers.

Sent from my tractor.

 

e46 sedan

I am only getting 18's for the wheels. After I get my mods that I listed, I'm going to have a mechanic realign the car and check over it.

- And yes of course, keep some money aside for maintenance.

Here is an actual picture of the 325i that I own ( stock at the moment )

 

The aftermarket 18's rims are +35 offset, so they should be fine . . . NO spacers then

- And it has a manual shift gate . . . no REAL point in getting a true manual...

- And I will NEVER lower it . . . it already has the Sport Package. I don't want to lower it and run into problem after problem ( a-arms, bushings, etc )

 

- And it has a manual shift gate . . . no REAL point in getting a true manual...

Uh huh. :tsk:

Yeah, the fan kicks on for like 10-15 seconds when I first start the car and it is a little loud ( not too bad though )

On cold startup? That's the SAP (Secondary Air Pump), not the rad fan.

I'm not sure why you'd want to keep OEM wheels on the car. They are generally heavy as f@#k. I'd go with some light forged or form flow wheels like you did.

Style 68s are 22 lbs or less per corner. Not exactly what I would characterize as "heavy as f***."

 

I would say electric fan swap Asap, also underdrive ps pulley for tighter steering feel. I have one and like it a lot

 

Yeah, the fan kicks on for like 10-15 seconds when I first start the car and it is a little loud ( not too bad though ). I'm doing some maintenance this weekend ( new water pump. brake pads, and thermostat unit replacement.

 

I'm not sure why you'd want to keep OEM wheels on the car. They are generally heavy as f@#k. I'd go with some light forged or form flow wheels like you did.

 

heavy as f@#k.

Heavy as f@#k, designed by a BMW Engineer, who most likely knew what he/she was doing when the cars were designed by them.

I am sure a lighter wheel is much better, as BMW just does not know how to design anything and just added the extra mass for no reason at all.

But then again, there are guys like me and Spannerhead who like to keep the car as OEM as possible, and then there are others who want to modify just about anything and slam it to the ground.

TO EACH THEIR OWN.

 

K&N air filter for stock air box. Cheapest way to get a little more HP.

 

Don't do this


Or this

Shark injector, second cheapest way to get a little more HP.

A few mods: if it doesn't have projectors, a projector retrofit is a must. If it's a non-sport steering wheel, a sport steering wheel is a must. Maintenance first then suspension and everything else

 

Shark injector, second cheapest way to get a little more HP.

 

In light of recent threads shark injector performance may be.. Overstated.. (Claimed +4hp). Certainly not a cheap option and not the best bang for buck by far.

A set of manifolds can be had for $100 and frees up 10+ whp.

Higher quality brake pads, lighter rims or stickier tires will get you around a track much quicker than what a shark injector can do on its own.

Sent from my tractor.

 

My best sedan mod was selling it and getting a Touring.

 

Must best sedan mod was selling it and getting a Touring.

:thumbup:

 

those wheels are 112x5 pattern while bmw stock wheels are 5x120, you sure it's gona fit?

 

Yeah i noticed that too when I clicked on his link, Hopefully he didn't buy the exact one he linked. OP recheck your order before you mount the wheels.

 

Better tires and shocks, upgrade to Meyle LCAs and replace the RTABs.

I installed bluetooth and bluetooth aux in mine for personal comfort. Best thing to keep in mind is that this is not a valuable car, so don't dump money you're okay with not getting back.

 

Spacers are fine as long as you get good quality. I used ECS brand spacers on my Audi S4 for 3 years and never once noticed a handling issue. And believe me, I drive rather aggressively. I'm planning to get some for the ZHP within the month. Most likely 17.5mm.

 

ok, thanks!

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As for best mods.. my favorite was adding Homelink in the sunroof control panel. No more screwing around with a garage door opener and it looks totally factory.

 

So far some of the mods that I have on my 2004 6 speed titanium silver e46 in the past like 4-6 months

Done so far:
Golf tee mod
Carbon fiber interior trim
Matte black kidneys
Angel eyes
headlight blacked out
added m3 spoiler lip
aftermarket weighted shift knob

Want to do in the future soon:
get the m3 style silver tail lights
aftermarket muffler
possibly ebay headers in the far future
silver side and corner lights

if you have any suggestions for future mods or part recommendations I would appreciate it thanks

 

Ok thank.
By the way, I noticed your name ( Lost In Space.). I just started The Netflix series . . . it's amazing ( maybe the next "Stranger Things" )

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front plate delete

 

You guys are all lucky, ............. NOT in CA, where a front plate is the law.

 

I assume the headlights you got are very very bad aftermarket ones.... can you post a link to them?

I would return them and click on projector retrofit in my sig

 

Are you sure this car has the sport package? The wheels don't show it

 

Ditto. Ride height looks too high for sport package too. :dunno:

 

I'm going based off of what the op said :dunno:

 

From what I recall/read 2003+'s come with sport shocks from factory.

 

Since you are in the snow belt. You can always go the Rally car route.

 

lambo doors
blue led washer nozzles (+15 hp)
underbody neon, preferably color changing and flashing
lift kit and 25" spinners wheels
glow in the dark paint
racing stripes (+10 hp)
high racing wooden rear spoiler (+25 hp)
that's all I got for now, have fun!

 

I like the premium OEM look, short shifter and clutch delay mod. Aux for an ipod or phone is a must the parrot Bluetooth hands free phone is pretty nice. If you're going for performance it's whole other ballgame and I'd say start with an m3 and build on it

 

I like my cars stock, but the mods i would like to do are the tail lights with clear turn signals and black grille. the amber and chrome gives it a date look,