Cars & Coffee Toronto - July 2014

Cars & Coffee is a great opportunity to get out on a Sunday morning in Toronto and meet other car enthusiast and see some very cool cars. I just posted some of the highlights from the July meet. Engineered Automotive always hosts a great event with tons of space and always a few special shop cars. Be sure to leave your envy at home because the turn out is absolutely ridiculous! My favourite thing from these meets is the diversity in the cars that turn up, domestic, import, classic, tuners and everything in between. This is a car event not to be missed.

Arc Angel H8 Bulb Review

Changing a day time running bulb isn't really a big deal in an E90, get a new bulb or pair and pop open the access port and your back in business. I thought it would be a great opportunity to experiment a little; I already knew the dealership would be expensive, and at $90 for a pair I was not disappointed. I then promptly checked my favorite online retailer and was ready to pull the trigger on a set of OEM H8 daytime running bulbs when I remembered I had seen some very inexpensive "upgrade" bulbs. I spotted them on Burger Motorsports and at $30 for a pair with free shipping I figured what could I lose. They additionally promised a longer life and more importantly a whiter light, something that I always hated about the stock bulbs. You have a beautiful set of stock HIDs and these yellow as a mo******** running lights, it never made any sense to me. Now I played with the idea of going LED but never thought it was worth the effort.

The bulbs did teak a while to get to me but given the shipping cost I'm not going to complain; they arrived in perfect condition with attractive packaging.

Installing the bulbs was exactly the same as installing any other H8 bulb and takes about 30 minutes on your first time especially given the small opening to get the bulb in and out from. 

The end result is fantastic, absolutely as promised by Arc Angel - the halo's are noticeably whiter. If you are expecting blue white light as you would get from LEDs you will be disappointed, but if you are like me looking for something to clean up the color inconsistency and sharpen up the lighting color these bulbs are perfect. I have had mine installed since April 2014 with no problems to report of as of the date of this post (I will update as necessary). 

Given my current lack of access to a high quality DSLR I am going to use the comparison pictures from the manufacturer's website. My experience is very consistent with the comparison pictures posted below from BMS. 

Conclusion

For $30 USD (with free shipping) I have absolutely no hesitation recommending these bulbs to every E90 owner who is looking for an easy DIY appearance improvement or to anyone that just needs replacement bulbs.  

Stock vs. Arc Angel

Royal Purple Synchromax Review

It was time to service my manual transmission, shifts were notchy and crunchy and at times I had trouble putting it into first gear and reverse. I wanted to put new fluid in as soon as possible that would replace the degraded fluid and would help clean out the system before I put expensive BMW fluid in. After doing some research on forums and reading I settled on synchromax from Royal Purple. I wrote an email to customer service at Royal Purple confirming that it would be appropriate for an E90 335 manual (and it was). I bought two new plugs, drain and fill for the fluid service and off I went. After getting it done the change in the feel was night and day, as of today I have had it in the car for just over 2,000 km and the smoothness is fantastic. It has made the car feel so much better. I am planning to put the BMW fluid in the vehicle in a month or so after the synchromax has had its chance to work it way into the gearbox and clean out the 98,000 km of grime in there, since the fluid had clearly never been changed before.

Changing out the manual fluid in your E90 or in any car is something I cannot stress enough. Not only for the reason of preventative maintenance and extending the life of your transmission but for the every day feel of your gearbox. Based on how cheap this service is ($20 CAD per bottle of synchromax, you need two quarts) I am definitely adding this on the list of annual spring service no matter how many miles I put on the car; the smooth buttery shifts are worth it to me.

AWD or RWD

To all wheel drive or to rear wheel drive? This is an age old question asked by enthusiasts, especially in cold climates. I do not hope to solve this debate but rather share my perspective on why I chose x-drive on my daily driver. The first major consideration I made was the weather we have here in Southern Ontario, with about 4 months of snow and ice it is not uncommon to get 10-15cm of snowfall in a single afternoon. We also have a fantastic spring and summer where it is often very warm and absolutely perfect driving weather. My other major constraint was that I only had space for one car, in an ideal world I would have run a rear wheel drive sports car for the summer and have a "winter beater" for the rest of the year, however that is not currently an option. I think there are benefits and limitations of each platform that a potential buyer needs to appreciate and ultimately that aside from the scenario where you live in northern Siberia there might not be a right answer.

Pros (compared to the i version of the same vehicle):

• Greater forward traction in inclement weather and on sub-optimal surfaces
• 10 mm higher ride height ( a positive in deep snow and for clearing uneven surfaces)
• Faster 0-60 times typically 0.1-0.2 seconds faster to 60 km/hr
• Able to put power down slightly sooner when exiting turns

Cons (compared to the i version of the same vehicle):

• Reduced fuel economy
• Heavier curb weight (~ 200lbs of difference)
• Higher drive-train power loss ie. the amount of power that is lost from the crankshaft of the engine to what is put down on the road
• More wear items that need to be maintained and serviced and could potentially break down ie. 1) transfer case 2) differential for the front axle 3) drive shaft connecting both sides of the transfer case
• Harder to access certain items under car due to more components ie. bleeding the clutch is impaired due to the placement of the additional drive shaft
• Reduced number of available mods ie. certain exhausts will not fit an xi along with down pipes (in my opinion of 90% of available parts and modifications that work on an i work on the xi)
• Inferior suspension dynamics and options ie. sport and m-sport suspensions are not available on the xi even though the m-sport package was ordered in its entirety from factory. 
• Reduced ability to "get the back end out" and over-steer

Ultimately it would seem that you are trading a lot to have better traction for 12 months of the year and that would be entirely correct. In my opinion all of the 'cons' aside from the suspension characteristics are completely livable and do not pose such a monumental difference when driving two similarly equipped cars back-to-back. The x-drive still allows the driver to have considerable fun and rotate the car when desired, which can be easily achieved by simply disabling dynamic stability control (DSC). The desire to have a car that would provide me with year round go anywhere capability, whilst having the most fun in every season, led me to choose the xi. All I can say is that in the past 2 years of ownership I've had to dig multiple cars out of snow and ice, never once was it my car, but for those that live in California, forget an xi option even exists. 

E90 328i + Bolt On's & Tune - Excellent Daily Driver

This great video put together by the guys at Mod Bargains shows what can be done to a 328 with the N52 inline six. I get a lot of people asking me what a good performance car is for someone new to the German import scene and the E90 328 is almost always what I recommend. I think enthusiasts sometimes skip straight to the 335 without even considering its non-turbo brother. The naturally aspirated inline six provides a satisfying power band, and it is without question a dynamic and engaging car to drive. Without the added complexity of a turbo setup it is also more reliable and is slightly lighter as well. I think it makes the perfect car for someone that needs something that will be reliable as possible. The chip from Burger Motorsports and the BMW performance exhaust really wake up this car without destroying its character. I haven't had the opportunity to hear a BMW performance exhaust on a 328 but it sounds absolutely stunning in this video.

BMW Performance Power Kit Tested

I admittedly was very excited when BMW released the power kit for the E90, a significant power boost while being fully factory backed, is never a bad thing. However I was curious to see how much power the actual package puts down. Well Steve Dinan did an in depth dyno of an E90 with a N55 power pack and the results are quite impressive and in typical fashion were underrated by BMW, which I have always admired them for doing. 

Emergency Tire Repair

After going through a terrible freeze-thaw cycle the roads in Toronto were more dangerous than a 1980's Afghan minefield being completely and utterly littered with potholes. Now hopefully this does not give you the impression that Toronto's streets are normally smooth and a joy to drive on but this instance was truly an exception. Needless to say I accidentally ventured into one of these cavernous pits of doom resulting in a rather flat tire. Here are some takeaways from my adventure.

1) Fix-A-Flat (Spare in a can?) - A can of fix flat could be a good quick fix if you don't live in Canada and its not -20 Celsius outside. Given the fact that the can is most likely to be in the trunk - don't count on it working if its cold outside. In fact the can was so cold that fluid and gas were not even coming out, only after an evening of being inside my house was it working properly. Also consider if you have a burst sidewall or

2) Run-flats Don't Equal Immunity - Don't think you are immune from flat tire woes if you are running run flats. Yes with ultra rigid sidewalls I may have not had a sidewall burst but where would all of that energy gone? Most likely I could have ended up with significant damage to the suspension components.

3) BMW Road Side Assistance. I was fortunate enough to get my flat close to a public parking lot where I parked my car and came back later with a proper jack, tools and a fresh tire. But had it been somewhere more remote the annual price of this service, which surprising not a lot of owners know that BMW offers is pretty cheap at the price.

4) Must Have Tools - If you are an urbanite and lucky enough to be able to pull into a parking lot or somewhere you can leave your car safely for a couple of hours feel free to cut the middleman (tow truck and the like) out of the equation by having a very basic set of tools at home.

• Jack
• Breaker bar
• Jack pad adapter
• Appropriate socket for your make of car
• OPTIONAL but a huge help especially if you are doing the job solo - a wheel hanging tool

E46 M3 CSL

What I would consider to be one of the best street cars designed by BMW, the amount of engineering and technology in this car is absolutely astounding. What makes it one of my all time favorites is the emphasis on weight reduction, bare bones interior, and impressive high revving NA engine- truly a track car for the road.