[E46 in Philly]

I don't think the exterior shot quite does the car justice - but you get the idea. The car really attracts a lot of attention on the road, particularly when my wife drives it (sorry guys, no pics of her). Almost 6 months into owning this thing I'm still continually amazed by how good it looks, and how great it drives. Big ups to German engineering.

 

[E46 in Philly]

Re: where?

awesome car man--what are the specs on those GT3s?

also, where in philly?

-Matt

Thanks Matt.

Actually, they're GT1's (GT3's are similar but are bolted, 3-piece wheels). The sizes are 17x8 front and 17x9 rear. The fronts weigh just under 18lbs while the rears are just above 18lbs.

I live in Center City (the pictures were taken at my parents' house in the western suburbs).

 

[E46 in Philly]

Triple black was my first choice...I shoulda stuck with it.

I wouldn't sweat the decision, that's a beautiful color combo you've got yourself (and I love the BBS wheels).

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

 

[E46 in Philly]

Re: great..

yeah, though i don't actually live downtown all of my good friends live there. Have you seen that young guy driving his his awesome Aston Martin DB7 around the city? I think he lives around 17th and pine (and might own an M3 or a CLK55 or something as well)....unbelievable.

so they're 17's?? nice, how does the ride compare to the M68s (i'm assuming you had them before)? handling, ride comfort? did you have to roll the fenders or anything of hte sort??

Thanks again!
Matt

I'm not too far from 17th and Pine, so I'll keep an eye out for that car. I used to see a DB7 around here a couple of years ago, but that was driven by an older guy. That's a pretty rockin' car for a young guy! There's a fair amount of serious money in the Rittenhouse Square area, so I'm not too surprised to hear it.

I only had the M68's for as long as it took to drive from the dealer to a garage that swapped the wheels for me, so I can't make too much of a comparison. The wheels are nearly the same size as stock (I kept the stock tires), so I wouldn't expect a noticeable difference in handling or ride. Wheels larger than this will fit with no need for fender modifications (18's will fit, and I think some 19's will fit without rolling as well).

 

[E46 in Philly]

Looks great. you finally got the pics up :thumbup:

Very Nice !!!

Thanks! I went out to my parents' place this weekend and borrowed my father's camera. While I was out there I took the opportunity to detail the car (a coat of Klasse for the paint and wheels, and Lexol treatment for the leather). This allowed me to take a fair amount of abuse from my wife and other members of my family. "Are you still working on that thing?" "You're ridiculous". "Isn't it supposed to rain tomorrow?" You're going to take PICTURES of it???" :flipoff:

My father, a Corvette owner (several different vettes since the sixties), is the only one who seemed to understand!

 

[E46 in Philly]

Maybe I'm crazy (rhetorical question), but sometimes I even think my cab looks better with the top up than down.

Anybody else feel that way sometimes, too? :dunno:

Actually, I agree completely. I've had the same thought many times. While the car looks great top-down, it's lines seem to be even better when the top is up. They did an exceptional job with the roof design, and the car looks very sporty and aggressive when it's raised.

I'll still be going nuts waiting out the winter, but at least the car will look sharp while we wait! More importantly, the car drives beautifully regardless of top position.

 

[E46 in Philly]

Yep, I'm with you there!

What we really need is a hardtop to get a true coupe feeling, like our friend johnlew has.

Don't get me wrong because I would LOVE to have it, but I just can't bring myself around to justify the cost of one though.

I'm with you there as well. I can't see spending that kind of cash for a hardtop, when the car is plenty quiet and squeek-free as it is (knock on wood - I've only had it about six months).

I'd also be concerned with added weight. I'm not sure what the hardtop weighs, but the convertible is plenty heavy as it is. Of course, I've never driven with one on, so I don't know what advantages the added stiffness might provide vs. any loss of acceleration from the additional weight.

 

[E46 in Philly]

Re: really quickly.

Well it's entirely possible that I'm very misinformed on this issue, in fact it's probably the case. But, how did you manage to keep your old tires when going from 17" wheels that were 7.5" in the front and 8.5" in the rear to 8" by 9", front and back respectively?? Is there any benefit/disadvantage to this?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm intrigued, what can I say

-Matt.

No problem Matt. The difference in widths of my wheels vs. the OEM's was not enough to warrant another size tire. I experienced this before on my previous car ('99 328i) when I went from 17x8 OEM's to 17x7.5 M Double-spoke 24 replicas. In both cases I checked with the company I was buying the wheels from that the tires I had would fit.

I suppose when you go to a half-inch wider wheel there may be some small difference in terms of the wheel looking more low-profile, and having more contact with the road - but whatever difference there may be is too small for me to detect. I didn't notice any handling or ride differences between the OEM's and the new setup.

The new wheels do have the illusion of being larger (and having lower profile tires), but I think that effect is mostly caused by the design of the wheel rather than the fact that the sidewall is slightly smaller (though maybe it's a bit of both).