2009 Interlagos Blue E90

Since I recently figured out how to post pics I figured I'd create a little thread on my M3.

I found this car on BMW's CPO page back in 2016 at BMW of Cincinnati North & had it shipped to Seattle. I'd planned to keep it mostly stock, but too much time spent on this forum triggered more purchases than I'd originally planned for. But it's been a fun little journey & I've enjoyed the small transformations. I mostly work from home and my family doesn't really like the car (too loud, too small, etc.) so it's mostly a garage queen, maybe 4K miles a year.

The car has every package & option available for 2009 with the exception of extended leather - it even has the sunshades which I find kinda cool though mostly useless in Seattle.

I replaced the rod bearings shortly after purchase with the BE bearings & ARP bolts (along with new motor mounts), and had the Mporium under tray installed. The TA's are original but I don't even think of those, just another part that will eventually fail and I'll have fixed.

My small list of modifications:
OneEighty headlight retrofit
Dinan CF intake
Dinan engine & DCT software
M Performance exhaust
Eibach Pro Kit w/ spacers (15 front, 12 rear)
Mashimarho alcantara steering wheel
Custom coding

Here's a few pics from over the years in various different lighting. I never thought I'd own a blue car, but I've really come to love this color.

How do you like the dinan intake sound with the mpe?

and how can you not like interlagos blue?

Looks great and congrats! Nice bundle of upgrades, too.
Any pics of your wheel?

Looks great! I'm jealous of how good the painted reflectors look on the darker colors. They always look so out of place on white to me (which is what I have any why I still have the ambers). Maybe one day I'll bite the bullet and do the Euro bumper.

Yes, car looks great! Wonder how much those head light angel eyes are..?

Love the colour and stance of the car! Interesting choice with the silver inner housing for the headlights, most people do black

Love it! But I am bias

akkando wrote

How do you like the dinan intake sound with the mpe?

and how can you not like interlagos blue?

It sounds great for my tastes - I'm not into loud setups, drone, etc. I got the intake first, so was able to hear that on it's own prior to the MPE. It's subtle, but noticeable, especially at higher RPMs.

Was always a traditionalist with colors I guess - black, gray, white. This one popped up and checked all my boxes - 1 owner, clean Carfax, dealer maintained, stock, well optioned, etc., so I jumped on it. Wouldn't trade it for any other non-individual color!

//steve\\ wrote

Looks great! I'm jealous of how good the painted reflectors look on the darker colors. They always look so out of place on white to me (which is what I have any why I still have the ambers). Maybe one day I'll bite the bullet and do the Euro bumper.

Thanks! Honestly, the Euro bumper was right at the top of my mod list when I bought this car as I don't like how the front bumper reflectors don't sit flush like on other BMW models. I ended up spending $ on other mods, so it never got done, and now it doesn't seem to bother me anymore.

Helmsman wrote

Yes, car looks great! Wonder how much those head light angel eyes are..?

Around $1500 as I recall I ended up adding on numerous upgrades, I figured the headlights were removed and shipped cross-country, might as well have it done right. Changes include black out corner, LED corner light delete, silver shrouds with OEM projector text, LED coronas, euro clear lens, clear cornering lens, and new OEM headlight covers (those were expensive, but my originals were pretty pitted). No regrets though, the halogen coronas, even with aftermarket bulbs, were never for me.

Drifter2090 wrote

Love the colour and stance of the car! Interesting choice with the silver inner housing for the headlights, most people do black

Thanks, appreciate it. Was aiming to keep an OEM+ look to the car, so went with silver shrouds.

wyatth wrote

Looks great and congrats! Nice bundle of upgrades, too.
Any pics of your wheel?

Thanks! I had a Coby wheel for a few years but decided to try a flat bottom wheel. The quality of this Mashimarho wheel is on par with OEM, though the Coby wheel was a bit thicker.

Wheel looks great.
Also, those AS rubber mats ftw!

3.5 year thread bump!

The world has certainly changed since I last posted in this thread. My car has changed a bit too... not much but a little, so I figured I'd post some updates/pictures.

- replaced the 220's with brand new 359's. I should have done this years ago.
- ditched all the chrome - M performance front grills, and from iND body colored side markers, black roundels, & black M3 badge
- front bumper reflectors deleted + full front end respray (bumper, hood, fenders, & mirror covers) + PPF
- replaced carbon leather trim with OEM carbon fiber trim
- replaced the Mashimarho alcantara wheel with an Aza perforated leather wheel. I've had so many alcantara wheels & always wanted to try perforated leather. This Aza wheel is my favorite wheel yet.

Came in here from another thread, beautiful car! It deserves a bump!

jiggz wrote

Since I recently figured out how to post pics I figured I'd create a little thread on my M3.

I found this car on BMW's CPO page back in 2016 at BMW of Cincinnati North & had it shipped to Seattle. I'd planned to keep it mostly stock, but too much time spent on this forum triggered more purchases than I'd originally planned for. But it's been a fun little journey & I've enjoyed the small transformations. I mostly work from home and my family doesn't really like the car (too loud, too small, etc.) so it's mostly a garage queen, maybe 4K miles a year.

The car has every package & option available for 2009 with the exception of extended leather - it even has the sunshades which I find kinda cool though mostly useless in Seattle.

I replaced the rod bearings shortly after purchase with the BE bearings & ARP bolts (along with new motor mounts), and had the Mporium under tray installed. The TA's are original but I don't even think of those, just another part that will eventually fail and I'll have fixed.

My small list of modifications:
OneEighty headlight retrofit
Dinan CF intake
Dinan engine & DCT software
M Performance exhaust
Eibach Pro Kit w/ spacers (15 front, 12 rear)
Mashimarho alcantara steering wheel
Custom coding

Here's a few pics from over the years in various different lighting. I never thought I'd own a blue car, but I've really come to love this color.

What camber did you have in rears??

This is a dream spec for me ! Your car looks as it was just delivered!

iblue90m3 wrote

What camber did you have in rears??

Whatever stock is, I haven't made any adjustments to the camber.

Honda wrote

This is a dream spec for me ! Your car looks as it was just delivered!

Thanks... the full front end respray made a huge difference . It was heavily rock chipped prior to that.

Man this car is beautiful hope my E90 M gets to level of detail one day. Dis you go with up size tires on the ZCP wheel or stock ?

M3_Legend wrote

Man this car is beautiful hope my E90 M gets to level of detail one day. Dis you go with up size tires on the ZCP wheel or stock ?

Stock - 245/265

Steering wheel #5 - back to alcantara.

I've had a few alcantara wheels in the past (Coby & Mashimarho), but have most recently been using a perforated leather wheel from Aza (pictured above), which is amazing quality, I just prefer alcantara I guess.

Went with something a little different this time - instead of a usual 12:00 align stripe, I went with an F8x CS style.

I like the cs style better then the strip

Love Interlagos blue, especially with silver 359s! The perfect amount of subtle mods on this one, nicely done!

I’ll need to confirm a couple of things, but pretty much fully loaded! jiggz

SM2 wrote

I’ll need to confirm a couple of things, but pretty much fully loaded! jiggz

Thanks for putting this together! I think it's only missing extended leather and the alarm, though I had my dealer add the OEM alarm a long time back.

jiggz wrote

Thanks for putting this together! I think it's only missing extended leather and the alarm, though I had my dealer add the OEM alarm a long time back.

Interior is NCSW, not extended leather on this one.