little things add up. there are pounds and pounds of sound dampening in the rear. My friend in his E30 took out two sound dampening pads in the rear, total of over 100lbs! Im sure theres more sound dampening stuff still in there. Dont forget your full spare wheel. They relocated the battery to the trunk to give it more weight.

THeres lots more; anyone wanna add to this?

 

i'm a big skeptic when it comes to many things. one i thing that i dont understand is how can e46's have 50/50 weight distribution.

the engine is in the front while the trunk is empty. how can the weight be all in the middle?

has anyone ever wondered about this

BMW distributes the weight of the car via positioning of the Engine and Transmission. Ever notice how deep both engine and transmission is stuffed into the car? By positioning the engine further back from the front of the car, BMW achieves near 50/50 weight distribution in the E46. Also the mounting of the battery in the trunk helps.

 

Look at a side profile of the car. (conveniently located in the sig above ^^)
the front wheels are way out front, but the rear wheels are more centered between the front door and the rear bumper. So the engine is mostly behind the center point of the front wheels, so at least half of that weight is split between both axles.
Don't forget about things like the transmission, rear differential and axles, all heavy stuff, and all behind the front axle. The driver is positioned almost exactly in the middle. Also, glass and speakers are heavy, and they are all behind the front wheels.
Also, as people have said, the battery is in the back, now, that might seem like just a 50 pound difference, but not only are you adding 50 to the back, but you are taking it away from the front, so it's like a net difference of 100 pounds


-Jer

 

The average e46 motor weighs only 388 lbs. It being a straight 6 helps too as you stretch the weight out. Tranny, rear diff, the back being a little wider, gas tank all those things add up to just about perfect weight dist.

 

Kart Setup , wheels to the ends, engine/trans near to the middle, diff/bat at the rear...