New M3 Owner

Salutations à tous! Je suis nouveau sur ce forum. .juste un arrière-plan rapide: avait 1990 BMW e30 (325i) coupé comme ma première BMW. C'était un véhicule incroyable, j'aurais aimé l'avoir encore. Je possède actuellement un manuel '06 330i 6spd. Cependant, j'ai cherché à passer à un M3 aussi longtemps que je me souvienne et dès que mon budget le permettrait. Je suis heureux de dire que j'ai enfin acheté ma voiture de rêve (compétition 2011 e92 M3: LeMans Blue Metallic, Beige avec revêtement en cuir Novillo étendu)...Je suis un peu nerveux cependant, parce que j'ai acheté la voiture d'un concessionnaire Audi en Floride... Je suis dans ATL btw. J'ai le Carfax, et tout s'est bien passé. Je vais avoir la voiture expédiée cette semaine et je me demandais s'il y a quelque chose en particulier que je devrais surveiller (surtout avec le kilométrage sur le haut de gamme 89k)?

I have no advise, but I'd love to see it. I'm a regular at the BWM CCA auto-xs in the ATL. Come on out and say hello sometime. If you've never auto-x I can teach a few things to help you get up to speed. Or just ride-along in my passenger seat and hang on.

I hope the car's exactly what they say it is. Good Luck!

Thanks Randy! I'll definitely make it out to the BWM CCA auto-x, was just waiting on the right time. Looking forward to meeting you.

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Shaun C.

Congrats on the new M3! As for things to look out for, this is where I started: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1418410

Super helpful thread! I'd imagine with that kind of mileage, rod bearings and actuators would be on the checklist. Plenty of great info in this forum.

That’s funny because no lie I have a 2011 E92 Lemans blue (on fox red) competition and I bought mine from an Audi dealer too back in 2013 tho. Only advice get yourself a Carly app and OBD adapter for when things do pop up

Congrats Shaun, lots of Atlanta members so you will be in good hands. Hook up with them and trade off some Bmw expertise with each other and save some money on DIY maintenance stuff. Most is easy and fun to do and you will make some great friends in the process.

Find out what oil the dealer put in there. Non Bmw dealers seem to almost always use something other than 10-60 so you might want to ask the dealer what they used.

Nice find, love the color combination and welcome to the Club! This forum is indispensable as it relates to facts, fiction, humor and contraversey but mostly facts.

You will learn so much about your car and it’s a great environment. Sometimes it reminds me of golf. If you don’t take it too seriously, it’s a lot of fun.

One thing you must do is post pics of your M3 when you get it!

Welcome!

NorCal24 wrote

Congrats on the new M3! As for things to look out for, this is where I started: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1418410

Super helpful thread! I'd imagine with that kind of mileage, rod bearings and actuators would be on the checklist. Plenty of great info in this forum.

Excellent link! Thx NorCal24...hoping the rod bearings and actuators were taken care of under warranty; fingers crossed, but that's the first thing I'll look into.

EJT86 wrote

That’s funny because no lie I have a 2011 E92 Lemans blue (on fox red) competition and I bought mine from an Audi dealer too back in 2013 tho. Only advice get yourself a Carly app and OBD adapter for when things do pop up

Good Stuff EJT86! That fox red on Lemans Blue is a wicked combo!

BOOF-M3 wrote

Congrats Shaun, lots of Atlanta members so you will be in good hands. Hook up with them and trade off some Bmw expertise with each other and save some money on DIY maintenance stuff. Most is easy and fun to do and you will make some great friends in the process.

Find out what oil the dealer put in there. Non Bmw dealers seem to almost always use something other than 10-60 so you might want to ask the dealer what they used.

Thanks BOOF-M3! Yea, hoping to turn a wrench instead of running to the mechanic or dealer. Also, the dealer did send a list of things they did during their inspection & 10-60 oil was used, so I'm good to go there.

timothy2001 wrote

Nice find, love the color combination and welcome to the Club! This forum is indispensable as it relates to facts, fiction, humor and contraversey but mostly facts.

You will learn so much about your car and it’s a great environment. Sometimes it reminds me of golf. If you don’t take it too seriously, it’s a lot of fun.

One thing you must do is post pics of your M3 when you get it!

Welcome!

Thanks timothy2001! Most definitely will post the pics as soon as it arrives

MOVEMNTS wrote

Excellent link! Thx NorCal24...hoping the rod bearings and actuators were taken care of under warranty; fingers crossed, but that's the first thing I'll look into.

Most likely bearings were not replaced, it’s almost impossible to convince the warranty company to replace slbearings without significant proof of a needed service, although few shops were able to do it somehow

MOVEMNTS wrote

BOOF-M3 wrote

Congrats Shaun, lots of Atlanta members so you will be in good hands. Hook up with them and trade off some Bmw expertise with each other and save some money on DIY maintenance stuff. Most is easy and fun to do and you will make some great friends in the process.

Find out what oil the dealer put in there. Non Bmw dealers seem to almost always use something other than 10-60 so you might want to ask the dealer what they used.

Thanks BOOF-M3! Yea, hoping to turn a wrench instead of running to the mechanic or dealer. Also, the dealer did send a list of things they did during their inspection & 10-60 oil was used, so I'm good to go there.

You may get lucky that the TA's were done but there is 000% chance that the bearings were performed under warranty. If they were that means your S65 grenaded. Which would mean you have a donor motor. Now there is always the possibility that a prior owner had the bearings changed out after the warranty was up but they would not have used a BMW dealership as Bmw would only install oem bearings. And the idea is to remove the OEM bearings and replace with non OEM. I made that sound a little complicated but it's not really. Enjoy this thread below, it is a must read.

For New Owners - What I wish I knew when I first bought my E9X M3: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1418410

Mileage is close to scheduled rod bearings, so get that done = peace of mind.
2011 has improved bearings from BMW but aren’t bulletproof.
Otherwise, post some pics...and congratulations.

TomHudson wrote

Mileage is close to scheduled rod bearings, so get that done = peace of mind.
2011 has improved bearings from BMW but aren’t bulletproof.
Otherwise, post some pics...and congratulations.

Thanks TomHudson! Will do!

BOOF-M3 wrote

You may get lucky that the TA's were done but there is 000% chance that the bearings were performed under warranty. If they were that means your S65 grenaded. Which would mean you have a donor motor. Now there is always the possibility that a prior owner had the bearings changed out after the warranty was up but they would not have used a BMW dealership as Bmw would only install oem bearings. And the idea is to remove the OEM bearings and replace with non OEM. I made that sound a little complicated but it's not really. Enjoy this thread below, it is a must read.

For New Owners - What I wish I knew when I first bought my E9X M3: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1418410

Thanks BOOF-M3. Feeling a little paranoid about having to have the rod bearings done as from what I understand, this is one of the most costly repairs. Can anyone give me an idea, roughly of what it would cost?

MOVEMNTS wrote

Thanks BOOF-M3. Feeling a little paranoid about having to have the rod bearings done as from what I understand, this is one of the most costly repairs. Can anyone give me an idea, roughly of what it would cost?

According to Turner Motorsports It’s about 15-17hrs labor and ~$300 in parts. It’s not like every set of bearings that was put in the cars are ticking time bombs needing replacement. New owners are under this idea that you HAVE to do it!!! The factory bearings were improved on 2011+ models (not immune, improved) and the percentage of bearing failure isn’t as high as people think, that’s just a side effect of “news” outlets people hear 6,7,8 similar stories and get the impression they all do it because properly functioning cars aren’t newsworthy or worth remembering

EJT86 wrote

According to Turner Motorsports It’s about 15-17hrs labor and ~$300 in parts. It’s not like every set of bearings that was put in the cars are ticking time bombs needing replacement. New owners are under this idea that you HAVE to do it!!! The factory bearings were improved on 2011+ models (not immune, improved) and the percentage of bearing failure isn’t as high as people think, that’s just a side effect of “news” outlets people hear 6,7,8 similar stories and get the impression they all do it because properly functioning cars aren’t newsworthy or worth remembering

Thanks EJT86! This certainly helps ease my anxiety!

MOVEMNTS wrote

Thanks BOOF-M3. Feeling a little paranoid about having to have the rod bearings done as from what I understand, this is one of the most costly repairs. Can anyone give me an idea, roughly of what it would cost?

Hopefully through the these forums you can find a local shop that has experience in replacing the RBs. I've seen experienced shops offer specials in the forums or at least offer the service like this one: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1364644&highlight=rod+bearings

NorCal24 wrote

Hopefully through the these forums you can find a local shop that has experience in replacing the RBs. I've seen experienced shops offer specials in the forums or at least offer the service like this one: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1364644&highlight=rod+bearings

Cool, thanks NorCal24! That's not quite as bad as I was expecting..

MOVEMNTS wrote

Cool, thanks NorCal24! That's not quite as bad as I was expecting..

Hopefully you find a shop with RB experience. With 89k miles it might be a good idea to get it done soon or at least get the test done. I just got my M3 last month but it barely had 20k miles and it's only going to be a weekend car at best so hopefully I have quite a bit of time before I have to worry about replacement. I figured I'll look into it around 50k-60k miles, maybe more. Plenty of time to save up for it.

Just got my 08 M3 Black on Black 6 Speed car. It currently sits at 84,xxx Miles. Has had extensive service history Throttle Actuators and all other basic service items. This vehicle is my weekend car, but I do also agree on the ROD bearings. Mine haven't been done, but I plan to probably have them done sometime in the summer/fall of this year- it's cheap insurance. Just sent in a Blackstone sample so I'm going to try and get an idea of where I am. I understand the 2011-2013 cars can be a little harder to gauge from an oil analysis due to the different bearing material the rod bearings were constructed with (not copper like earlier models)