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My new Touring

122278 Views 876 Replies 71 Participants Last post by  Geo31, 
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So last weekend a buddy and I flew out to St Louis to pick up my latest Touring. After having 2 pre-facelift titanium silver cars taken away from me by other drivers, I searched for weeks to find my next one and tried to stack the deck as much in my favor as possible. I located it through the Tourings for sale thread here on Fanatics, and couldn't be happier! Grey Green metallic over sand leatherette, 2003, rwd, 5 speed with sport, preium, and cold weather packages. It has 114,000 miles after the 1100 mile trip back home, and came with a binder full of maintenance history including the original window sticker, customer order sheet, and European delivery paperwork. It also came equipped with an H&R touring cup kit, 18" ASA wheels, and a Racing Dynamics rear muffler section. It needs a few little things addressed, but gave us an uneventful trip home. I'll update as I add a few things to make it mine, but here's a pic of it as I recieved it.
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flipwils11 said:
Congrats! Nice to see the tourings for sale thread is helping people out. I like the mint green.
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Lol! That's what my one buddy calls it, too. He's dubbed it the "Mint Green Machine."

I also have to say that this one is by far the nicest one I've owned. Hopefully it will stay in my possession for a while.
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Well, I've determined this car definitely needs some coding done. I absolutely hate the rain sensor! What is the point of intermittent wipers if the sensor is going to override them? It should have an auto setting, like the headlights. I may also turn the park assist off, and would like to turn the one touch unlock on. Time to do some research!
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Some of it may be that my car has an aftermarket windshield. I'll play with things a little more, but if what would be lowest intermittent setting is lowest sensitivity, then it's getting coded out. Was driving home in what was really no more than the borderline between fog and mist and it had the wipers on low speed. I also tend to keep a good coating of RainX on my windshield, which makes the wipers even less used because they annoy me going across my field of view.
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deathplayschess said:
Glad you like the car! It served me well and I'm happy to see it go to an enthusiast.
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Thanks for making the buying process go smoothly. It is in good hands and will continue to be well loved and cared for. Of the 3 tourings I've owned this one is definitely the nicest and was worth the trip to retrieve!
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Diagnosed a few minor issues today. The first was a low coolant light that had been coming and going, level was low and it's been leaking out around a low quality cap. Topped up the fluid and will grab the OE cap from my wrecked 01 tomorrow until I can get a new one.

Also finally got the car up in the air to give it a quick once over. The car is super dry on the underside, which is fabulous. Found the cause of the minor front end shimmy, both outer ball joints have some play in them. I also found a some play in the LF swaybar link. No big deal, my wrecked car has all components on it to replace the worn ones. Should get to swapping them all out next weekend.

Also noticed a difference between the cup kits. Not sure if one is the Sport while one is the Touring series, but the new car has different color springs. It may just be a difference in the age of the kits, as they both seem to sit at the same height and have similar ride quality.

I also added some cosmetic goodies to my Amazon wish list for the upcoming holiday to help me personalize it.
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Coolant leak is fixed, it was actually the upper radiator hose leaking where the rubber hose is clamped to the fitting at the expansion tank. Had a spare, used hose in my parts hoard, new upper and lower hoses ordered.

Been trying to decide what to do with the front bumper. I'm not a huge fan of the facelift bumper and it needs some love, so I've been trying to decide between the Mtech 2 and the M3 replica from Khoalty. My last touring had the Mtech, and I see it a lot. It certainly doesn't look bad, I'm just not sure it's what I want. OTH the M3 rep isn't as simple an install, but I like the styling and that it's a bit different. The ACS lip isn't a bad look, but not as easy to find or as inexpensive as the Khoalty options. No rush, and I'm open to input.
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I want to keep the fog lights, or I would. Part of why I'm drawn to the M3 rep, it's basically a CSL bumper w/fogs.
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Here's a couple of up to date pics after a quick bath. Going to check the spare wheel and probably swap it out with the RF, as it has a bit of curb rash. They may be the winter wheels, but there's no reason they shouldn't look the best they can. It's also nice to have a full set of center caps, again. Picked up a full set off eBay for less than $50 so I have spares.




Have a few items to give my facelift car a facelift amassing from the holiday. Waiting for the final installment this coming weekend to complete the first stage of personalization.
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Dr Ed said:
Nice looking car. I know you stated you had the H&R Cup Kit for your touring, are these on the sport springs or the race springs?
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Thank you.

On this car I'm not 100% sure as I got no paperwork with it for the cup kit and didn't buy it from the owner who installed it. Based upon the ride height and ride quality it seems on par with my last Touring which had the "Touring" series H&R kit, which uses the sport springs. I plan on swapping the set from last car onto this car, as they have been paired with Koni adjustables. I also will note that the rear springs on my last car had an extra coating, I guess to protect against corrosion (not that the rear springs on these ever break) that this car doesn't have. Otherwise everything appears the same. I'll have to compare part numbers when I swap everything over.
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Got my Christmas goodies installed today after work. Nothing major, but getting it personalized to my tastes. Some smoked Depot corner lights (which are a bit dark), smoked LED fender lights, and some matte black grilles. Still need to get some new headlight lenses and would like do a set of angel eyes at the same time. Also have plans for a bumper update come spring time.


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I'm thinking the dark. I wanted the light, has a much more OE look. I'll have to check the part number.
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To each their own. I'm at the point where the more I look at the Mtech 2, the less I like it.

Starting to come around on the dark smoked corner lights. The more I look at them on the car, the more I like the contrast.
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Onizukachan said:
I have been looking for the light smoked depos, but they are hard to find on facelift/LCI.
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Looks like ECS Tuning has them: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-depo-pa...V8j1Zrg4sVQaXypWJOZqz0gKN9ptHFD4Q-BoCpFTw_wcB

And it is a different part number than what I got. Mine are PXU, not PTU.
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Tidied up a crappy piece of side trim today after work. Feel much better about the exterior now that the passenger front door trim isn't stuck on with sticky tape at one end.


Also got my strut tower brace from the last car installed.


And I am very pleased to report zero oil consumption in 3000 miles. A very nice change from the last car's appetite.

Also grabbed a couple pics of the one cool accessory I haven't seen before, these rear window screens:


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Pic from this morning:
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Figured out the easy fix for my hatred of the rain sensor yesterday, in the rain. When I stopped to fill the tank I popped the cover off at the rear view base and simply unplugged the rain sensor. Easy to reverse, and I have my standard intermittent wiper operation back.
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That is weird. Worked perfectly in my car.

Here's the link to the rear shades/screens from realoem. Maybe you can find a set still available somewhere? At least it gives you a starting point.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=EN33-USA-05-2003-E46-BMW-325i&diagId=03_1738
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As I stated previously, mine were over sensitive. Most likely due to the aftermarket windshield, but regardless, they would auto themselves to low speed in a mist. Everyone has a different opinion and likes different things. Even what speed they like their wipers on. Both me and my dad hated the auto wipers on his 2005 Passat, as well.
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Yesterday I took a few minutes for this touring before tearing apart more of its predecessor. I'd seen a pic or two previously of carbon fiber trim on a sand, or other light brown interior, and decided to install mine to see how it sat with me. I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would. The dark color really gives a nice contrast. Still probably going to hold onto the wood trim, but going to stick with the carbon wrapped set for a while.


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