[brett23]

Hi everyone my first post and want to start of with a big thanks to everyone one this forum. I have just last week picked up my new car. 08 330d Msport saloon. Traded in my 06 A4 2.0T for it and it was mostly down to reading and researching on this forum that made my mind up for me. That and the great price the i beat the dealer down to. Just over 21.5k. Forums like this and the people in it provided a great wealth of information for us un-informed.

My first thoughts on the car WOOOOOOWWWWWW. FAN FREEKIN TASTIC. So much more of a car than the A4. The difference between the two is like day and night. In all aspects not only petrol vs derv. In my opinion a much superior car. Was not sure from the pics about the lemon leather interior but once i seen it thought it was really nice. Goes well with the burr walnut trim.

Below are a couple of pics that the dealer emailed to me. I will post some more artistic ones once i get her all nice and clean. Gotta treat her to some wax.

Already started the mods. Debadged the rear. Gotta keep it stealth. next up are the black grills.

Got loads of questions that i wanna put out there but will get round to it shortly.

Keep up all the good work fellas


cheers

Brett

[CD]

nice car

im sure you will love it even more in the next few weeks with it

if your wanting to do any mods, the best thing i could suggest to improve the superb driving experience even more is to swop to normal tyres and get rid of the runflats ! Ive just gone back to runflats for the winter monthes and there is a massive difference, the OEM runflats are crap !

welcome to the forum ( and the DIESEL group )

Chris

[alcook]

[brett23]

Thanks CD

Yea was thinking about the run flats. Very expensive. On the audi i ran with verdestien sessanta ultras. Good tyre. Heard reports that your insurance is invalid if you change to run flats.
Also to dealer told me when i picked it up that if i changed to normal tyres and tried to trade it back to BMW they would have to replace them with run flats and take that of the trade in price???

[CD]

Originally Posted by brett23

Thanks CD

Yea was thinking about the run flats. Very expensive. On the audi i ran with verdestien sessanta ultras. Good tyre. Heard reports that your insurance is invalid if you change to run flats.
Also to dealer told me when i picked it up that if i changed to normal tyres and tried to trade it back to BMW they would have to replace them with run flats and take that of the trade in price???

the insurance thing is a new one on me anyone else shed some light on this ?

i can imagine the dealer would have to supply the traded in car with runflats as they dont have a spare and wouldnt be able to sell it otherwise. What i did is bought some new alloys with std tyres and then keep the oem wheels with runflats for a few monthes in winter when all the salt and mud is on the roads. Then put them back on when i trade it in.

oh and definately go with the black grilles they look excellent on that colour car

[willhollin]

Welcome Brett and a lovely car, great price too!. Apparently the 330d is the best engine of the whole 3 series and also the quickest. Congratulations!

Next mod on list - sort the rusty hubs out!

[Carrera RSR]

Originally Posted by willhollin

Welcome Brett and a lovely car, great price too!. Apparently the 330d is the best engine of the whole 3 series and also the quickest. Congratulations!

Next mod on list - sort the rusty hubs out!

You beat me to it Will. Christ they are so obvious.

Brett, nice car and enjoy. But you need to see the rusty hub sticky.

[brett23]

Originally Posted by carrerarsr

You beat me to it Will. Christ they are so obvious.

Brett, nice car and enjoy. But you need to see the rusty hub sticky.

Agggghhhh. I honestly didnt notice them............ UNTIL NOW.

Thanks for the quick spot guys. Will check them out in the daylight tomorrow. Have just read the rusty hubs sticky. Since i live i n ireland and bought the car in bonnie scotland i think it will have to be a home diy fix rather than the dealer

[marriedblonde]

Originally Posted by brett23

Thanks CD

Yea was thinking about the run flats. Very expensive. On the audi i ran with verdestien sessanta ultras. Good tyre. Heard reports that your insurance is invalid if you change to run flats.
Also to dealer told me when i picked it up that if i changed to normal tyres and tried to trade it back to BMW they would have to replace them with run flats and take that of the trade in price???

My insurance didn't care that I had swapped to non runflats on BBS rims! I have heard that the dealer will knock the price of 4 tyre off the trade in price come trade in time. I have kept the standard rims and tyres to get round that!

J.

[Porscha!]

Lovely car and the interior colour is very nice (then again I like nice interiors).

"d" for diesel is apprantely the new petrol round these parts, they just can't get enough of 'em ... So have fun

[strongdeo]

Originally Posted by CD

the insurance thing is a new one on me anyone else shed some light on this ?

i can imagine the dealer would have to supply the traded in car with runflats as they dont have a spare and wouldnt be able to sell it otherwise. What i did is bought some new alloys with std tyres and then keep the oem wheels with runflats for a few monthes in winter when all the salt and mud is on the roads. Then put them back on when i trade it in.

oh and definately go with the black grilles they look excellent on that colour car

Not sure what you mean, it seems bloody expensive to buy and maintain 8 tyres (plus a spare) just because you need them when you trade in. can't you put non RFTs on the standard alloys?

[CD]

Originally Posted by strongdeo

Not sure what you mean - it seems bloody expensive to buy and maintain 8 tyres (plus a spare)

ok ...

1) there is no spare wheel supplied with the car ! For the new wheels i bought a couple of canisters of self sealing tyre foam. So i dont have a spare !

2) How is it expensive when i bought the car they came with standard 17" wheels. The price to 'upgrade' (not buy as well as !!! ) to 19" rims was £890, which is a total rip off !!! So i put another £500 towards what i think is a better set of alloys that compliment my car better than the standard choice. They came with 'proper tyres' which increase the quality of ride immensely .... so i now have a 2 sets of wheels and 8 tyres and a far better handling car ... following so far ?

3) how is it expensive to run 8 tyres ? i only do the same amount of miles as i would on 1 set ! But i have the added reasurance that my best set of rims wont depreciate and get ruined in the winter monthes driving in the salt and snow etc and the tyres wont get punctured by all the flint that gets dragged onto the road by the farmers round my parts (i live in the middle of nowhere and the roads arnt the best)

4) i wont loose money when i come to trade the car in as i will have the original runflats on

expensive ? when you think about it, not really is it

comprende ?

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by CD

ok ...

1) there is no spare wheel supplied with the car ! For the new wheels i bought a couple of canisters of self sealing tyre foam. So i dont have a spare !

2) How is it expensive when i bought the car they came with standard 17" wheels. The price to 'upgrade' (not buy as well as !!! ) to 19" rims was £890, which is a total rip off !!! So i put another £500 towards what i think is a better set of alloys that compliment my car better than the standard choice. They came with 'proper tyres' which increase the quality of ride immensely .... so i now have a 2 sets of wheels and 8 tyres and a far better handling car ... following so far ?

3) how is it expensive to run 8 tyres ? i only do the same amount of miles as i would on 1 set ! But i have the added reasurance that my best set of rims wont depreciate and get ruined in the winter monthes driving in the salt and snow etc and the tyres wont get punctured by all the flint that gets dragged onto the road by the farmers round my parts (i live in the middle of nowhere and the roads arnt the best)

4) i wont loose money when i come to trade the car in as i will have the original runflats on

expensive ? when you think about it, not really is it

comprende ?

+1

I have done exactly the same - I bought a set of M6 replica rims and fitted them to the car with a second hand set of tyres with only a couple of thousand miles on them

My OEM set sit in my stores at work, and when it gets near to part-ex time the rims will be swapped back and the M6 reps put up for sale.

They will have only cost me the price of the rims/tyres minus what I sell em for to have had the two years use out of them and the car can be returned totally standard.

[CD]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

+1 .... I have done exactly the same.

ok, this is getting a bit much now !! ...

[strongdeo]

Originally Posted by CD

ok ...



expensive ? when you think about it, not really is it

comprende ?

Hey CD, thanks for that! I am buying a 330i Msport which comes with the normal 18" runflats. Where is the best place to buy some decent BMW 18" alloys/tyres, is it ebay? And how on gods earth do I fit them to my car? I can't do it myself.

[brett23]

Hey Cd

Whats your opinion on replica wheels. I remember looking for a spare alloy for the A4 last year and was told to stay clear of replicas. Apparently they are quite a soft alloy.

Would you use OEM only????

[freon warrior]

Talking about rusty hubs, I have a 58 plate 3201 on loan with only 600 miles on it and the hubs are already starting to discolour with rust!! Cant believe it!

[Porscha!]

Originally Posted by strongdeo

Hey CD, thanks for that! I am buying a 330i Msport which comes with the normal 18" runflats. Where is the best place to buy some decent BMW 18" alloys/tyres, is it ebay? And how on gods earth do I fit them to my car? I can't do it myself.

Take it to your local tyre place they should only charge £10 a corner or you can do them yourself.

[CD]

Originally Posted by brett23

Hey Cd

Whats your opinion on replica wheels. I remember looking for a spare alloy for the A4 last year and was told to stay clear of replicas. Apparently they are quite a soft alloy.

Would you use OEM only????

not really an expert mate

but my 19"s arn't OEM and they have proven to be good so far, but then again they wernt cheap either. I tend to stay away from e-bay etc i think there is a lot of truth in 'its cheap for a reason' i know its not allways the case, but with something as important as wheels i dont think i want to take the chance. But as long as you stick to a good make i dont see there being a problem.

[CD]

Originally Posted by strongdeo

Hey CD, thanks for that! I am buying a 330i Msport which comes with the normal 18" runflats. Where is the best place to buy some decent BMW 18" alloys/tyres, is it ebay? And how on gods earth do I fit them to my car? I can't do it myself.

( sorry if i came accross as a little sarcastic before , didnt mean it that way )

well i got my new rims ( which were fitted with tyres and ballenced etc ) from www.swtyres.co.uk. They have a huge choice of non and OEM styles, everthing from genuine Hamann ( really expensive ) through to their own make. I recomend their service and the price isnt bad either.

Like Porscha says, take them to your local tyre place and they should only charge you £20 or something to swop them over. Try a independant place as a lot of the big chains might charge your over the odds. Having a remapped 335D i know the guys at my small local tyre place on 1st name terms, i got them to ballence my wheels a bit ago and they only charged me £10 total. Where as Bush i think charge £25 ?!

Good luck with buying the 330i , im sure you will enjoy it

[Carrera RSR]

SW Tyres are only up the road from me. They have a lot of wheels on display. I didn't use them as the guy I spoke to took nearly an hour to understand what wheel spacers I needed, phone the distributor and then quote me while I stood in the shop waiting. I am pretty sure he wasn't the person who owned/ran the business.

On the note regarding ebay. I buy a lot of cycling parts made by Bontrager. They have a slogan 'Cheap, Light, Strong...pick two'. My addition is 'you by cheap, you buy twice!!'

[beemerbird]

Congrats - lovely car and still one of my favourite colours which looks stunning waxed up.

Don't know if you're going to bother reading the thread about rusty wheel hubs, but is it worth asking the dealer to sort it........yeah I know others have. I'm being optimistic and thinking some dealers may be more accommodating than others.

Anyhow.........enjoy, it's a great car!