[eforty6_m3]

Well, folks, I'm back. Some of you may recall that this ain't my first rodeo (The Long Awaited Daily | M340i).

A few years back, early on in the dry ice brainstorming process (TLDR: I started and closed a dry ice cleaning business in 2021/2022), I decided to do the "financially responsible" thing and sell my leased 2021 BMW M340i back to the dealership and pick up a cheaper daily so I'd have a bit more financial freedom/flexibility for business reasons.

On top of the myriad of problems that come with used cars and the lack of "free time" to address them, I've regretted selling back the M340i almost every single day since doing so. It was, in my mind, the perfect daily driver. Nearly 400hp, plenty of room for my family, a gorgeous vehicle, but also economical. But most of you already know that, so I'm just preaching to the choir, here.

Let's now go back to November 2023 and I think by this point, I've bugged my wife enough where she knew I was done with the 2023 Honda Civic Si I had purchased in December of 2022 and wanted back in an M340i. So then began the search (arguably my favorite part of buying a car....in the words of Wayne Carini, "it's all about the chase").

I texted my Client Advisor buddy Luke over at BMW of Warwick (who had sold me the 2021 M340i), as well as my wife's CPO 2019 X5. He said he had a couple of cars in mind possibly coming off lease in the next few months, and to call me the following day when he was back at work.

I call him the next day and leave a voicemail, as he didn't answer. He calls me back a few hours later and the first thing out of his mouth is "guess who I just had sitting at my desk"? Oddly enough, I had a weird feeling that I knew the answer and so I said to him: "the guy who owns my old M340i"....and sure enough, I was right. He was talking to Luke about possibly being ready to trade the car in for something new, ideally an M440i (those grilles.... 🤮 ). Obviously I was ecstatic at the potential of buying my old car back. I had custom ordered that car at the onset of COVID, so it was built exactly how I wanted it, and got an insane deal on it ($10k under MSRP). So Luke began working on the guy trying to facilitate a deal/trade for him, to free up the car for me to purchase.

This battle went on for nearly 2 months. First issue Luke had was finding the right spec M440i for the owner. Then, once he found the car, he had trouble getting sign-on from the guy's wife. She was reluctant to get rid of the M340i because they both loved it and the spec, and didn't love the interest rates currently being offered, which we can all agree they suck! He said he tried everything he could to make a deal happen, but the wife refused to budge. So he texted me at the end of December informing me of the bad news. I told him as the weeks dragged on, I had a feeling it wouldn't work out. I was bummed, but life goes on and so I went flat out in looking for my next car from that point on.

Tried all the usual suspects (CarGurus.com, Cars.com, Autotrader.com, Autotempest.com) and found a few, but nothing that checked all the boxes. I wanted the same color combo (Portimao Blue over Cognac interior), heads up display, M adaptive suspension, remote start, etc. But wasn't having any luck. And so I did what any normal person (?!) would do, I went through the CPO inventory of each and every BMW dealership, starting with those closest to me, then fanning out, state by state. You'd be surprised at how much inventory that does not show up on the car search sites....I went through MA, RI, CT, NH, ME, VT, PA, NY, then got to BMW of Ramsey in NJ.

They had a 2021 M340i Xdrive (my old was one RWD, but I was open to either this time around), in the color combo I wanted, with nearly every option/package. The only thing missing was remote start, but the remote start was a downloadable option through BMW ConnectedDrive (we did the same thing with my wife's X5). The only differences between this new car and my old one were the following:

• the wheels (this one had old man spec wheels...easy fix, more below)
• the interior trim
• no extended shadowline package

The car had only 19,444 miles and is CPO covered through 9/25. And so after some back and forth with a salesman there, I was able to get them to take $1000 off the asking price, and knock off 2 idiotic fees:

1) $399 nitro fee (tires)
2) $399 perma plate (clear coat paint)

Covered transport (I only paid for open transport, so I made out) dropped off the car mid-January:























Needless to say, I feel whole again and everything is right in the universe. I have an excellent 2 car solution (G20 daily and E46 M3 fun car) and now the fun begins getting the M340i dialed in exactly how I want it. More to come...

[eforty6_m3]

I scored a set of used new all-season OEM mats along with a WeatherTech trunk liner on Marketplace all for $80. And found someone else selling a set of brand new OEM all-season mats and what I believe are some variation of the M Performance floor mats (has the stripes, but doesn't actually say "M Performance" like the others I've seen), for $100.

I ended up flipping the set of used all-season mats and put the new set in my car.

Next up was some debadging.

Before


After


Wanting to ditch the old man spec wheels (which will become my dedicated winter set), I also ordered a set of HRE FlowForm FF10's (square setup, 19x8.5, ET25) wrapped in Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 tires (225/40/19):











Knowing these wheels would be a bit tedious to clean, I picked up some Armour Detail Supply Wheel Coating from Obsessed Garage to help expedite the process:



Next on the docket, getting the paint dialed in while I waited for the plates and registration to arrive so she'd be road legal.

I removed the stock rear lip spoiler, as I'd be going in a different direction there:







Used my 3M Magic Eraser Wheel to remove the adhesive (this thing is magical, for anyone who hasn't used it or is on the fence....just do yourself a favor and get it!):











Oh and unfortunately, the car had been drilled for a front bumper. Not only that, but the holes weren't even centered...like what are we doing here, folks?!



So my solution here was to pickup a set of Bumper Plugs:



More on this later.

Also ordered the IAW cold-air intake, as I had the ArmaSpeed intake on my last M340i and needed more turbo noises back in my life, but didn't want to spend the ArmaSpeed money a second time:







Next up, a decontamination wash/iron remover/clay bar session to prep the paint for polishing:







Then back in the garage for polishing:





More updates to come...

[eforty6_m3]

Next up was the paint correction. I don't really have any photos of the process, but for those curious, I polished the paint using Sonax Perfect Finish, installed the Bumper Plugs, then mounted the AA Concepts signature series front lip and Performance Style Trunk Spoiler, then coated all exterior surfaces with 1 coat of GTechniq CSL and 2 coats of GTechniq EXO. As for the windshield, I used Adam's Glass Sealant:























And the coating already showing it's effectiveness with this glorious beading action:

[eforty6_m3]

I ended up finding a deal on FB Marketplace for a used AWE Non-Resonated Touring Edition exhaust in NY. Seller agreed to meet halfway in CT, at 7pm, so a buddy and I took a road trip a few weeks back to grab it. We got there early to grab a quick bite in the New Haven area.

As luck would have it, seller texts me at 5:48pm saying that he's heading out. Not 6 minutes later, I get a text saying that there seems to be traffic leaving the city and that his ETA is now 8pm...like, of course there's traffic leaving NYC...it's NYC. If only there were apps like Waze and Google Maps that could tell you what time to leave a particular area in order to arrive to your destination at a particular time.... 😑.

Anyway, I digress....kid finally shows up around 7:50pm with the exhaust. I got home just before 10pm that night and unloaded it from my wife's X5:



Now, these are the photos he used in his listing:







Annoying, but at the end of the day, I didn't really care about the condition of the metal, knowing I could easily address that. After less than 2 hours, I have it looking like this now:









Buddy of mine offered up his 4 post lift for the install, so hoping that happens sooner rather than later. He just needs to button up a few things on his Evo and we should be good to go. Our biggest concern will be whether or not we can fit the stock exhaust down through the somewhat limited space while on the lift.

Swapped out the cerium grey grille for one in OEM gloss black:







On an unrelated note, I've got a cerium grey grille (w/ camera hole) for sale if anyone's in the market

I also swapped in this little storage cubby that I picked up off eBay, fully realizing I'll probably never put anything in there. Maybe line it with felt or some sort of cloth so I can throw change in there for the random toll, but that's about it:



Also spent some time recently coding the car (Bimmercode) for the usual suspects (start in Sport mode to avoid auto start/stop at all costs and other things).

[eforty6_m3]

WHEELS

My buddy dropped these off last week for me to borrow for a bit, so I can coat the wheels from all our vehicles much quicker and easier than jacking each corner of each vehicle up one by one.





Might also try and install the exhaust on the M340i while it's on the quickjack. My buddy offered up his 4 post lift, but the M340i stock exhaust is basically ONE piece from the downpipe back and with the width and height of the exhaust, we're concerned we won't be able to drop it down and remove it.

Fast forward a few days and as luck would have it, the jack pads on the M340i are TOO wide/spread apart (front to back) for this particular model of Quick Jack. Because of course they are. So haven't actually been able to use it just yet. Looks like the M3's jack pads will fit, though, so I'll do the oil change, coat the wheels, paint the calipers (a project I've been meaning to do for some time), and mount the front lip while it's up in the air and report back!

I spent a few hours this past Friday prepping the HREs. Started by de-nibbing the tires (something I have NEVER done before, but figured why not), then wiping down each tire with Stoners Tarminator to prep for tire dressing, then CarPro Eraser to clean the wheels, and lastly coating the wheels with Armour Detail Supply Wheel Coating. One coat, which I then let cure for roughly 48 hours:













Because the quick jacks weren't an option, I did the wheel swap the old fashioned way and jacked up each corner, one at a time. I swapped on the new HREs, and took the opportunity to clean and coat the calipers and, my word, other than needing a slight drop, the look of this car has been absolutely transformed (mind you, it's dirty):













Looking like I'll need springs (leaning Dinan at the moment, but also considering H&R) and some spacers; all in due time:

[MoeTE87]

Welcome back!

I just got done reading your thread about your first M340. Do you have a picture of the underside of the AA front lip? I know it may be a long shot.

I bought a rep CF front lip off of ebay because I have a steep driveway and wanted to see how it would work when I back out and if I would scrape or not. The underside was pretty much hallowed out. It looked cheap, but for $70..what I expected.

Any other plans for the new m340i?

Thank you!

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Welcome back!

I just got done reading your thread about your first M340. Do you have a picture of the underside of the AA front lip? I know it may be a long shot.

I bought a rep CF front lip off of ebay because I have a steep driveway and wanted to see how it would work when I back out and if I would scrape or not. The underside was pretty much hallowed out. It looked cheap, but for $70..what I expected.

Any other plans for the new m340i?

Thank you!

Thank you! Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the underside, but as you'll eventually see once I get to updating this thread, I have the same lip on this M340i. So I can try and get a photo or 2 for you once the rains lets up.

$70 ain't bad at all, damn. Might look that direction if and when my current lip ever gets damaged.

Yep, I'm updating the thread in between all my meetings today, so you'll see what I already have done and what is planned.

Appreciate you taking the time to read the thread from my first M340i! Cheers, man!

[dhock_holiday]

Welcome back and congrats on the car, the B58 is menace. I can’t go back to driving a 4 cyl now. I could probably go up, but can’t have anything less than 6 cylinders now. New wheels look great

[eforty6_m3]

Welcome back and congrats on the car, the B58 is menace. I can’t go back to driving a 4 cyl now. I could probably go up, but can’t have anything less than 6 cylinders now. New wheels look great

Thanks! And you hit the nail on the head. I went from the first M340i to a 2006 Lexus GX470 (wanted something comfortable with room to bring stuff to/from the dry ice shop), then to a 2009 328xi wagon, then to a 2023 Honda Civic Si and it was at that moment I realized 4 cylinders just weren't for me any longer. And neither was driving a stick for a daily any longer. I've got my E46 M3 for that outlet.

The B58 is simply magical. Decent fuel mileage, tons of power (with room to grow), plenty of space for my family, etc. And I'm with you, from here on out, it's 6 cylinders+ for me.

[peelerec]

Congrats and welcome back to the G20. The real star of the show here is that garage setup. I’d like to see more of that as I too am an OG patron.

[Bmoney2K4]

Love the OEM 18 inch wheels which are vastly underrated. Excellent color choices as well. That's how you do it.

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by eforty6_m3

Thank you! Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the underside, but as you'll eventually see once I get to updating this thread, I have the same lip on this M340i. So I can try and get a photo or 2 for you once the rains lets up.

$70 ain't bad at all, damn. Might look that direction if and when my current lip ever gets damaged.

Yep, I'm updating the thread in between all my meetings today, so you'll see what I already have done and what is planned.

Appreciate you taking the time to read the thread from my first M340i! Cheers, man!

Thank you sir! Looking forward to those photos. Also, with the AA front lip, did it utilize the OEM holes? I'm not looking to drill into my bumper at all if I don't need to.

Post some sound clips too when you get a chance. Would love to hear it!


Thanks!

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by peelerec

Congrats and welcome back to the G20. The real star of the show here is that garage setup. I’d like to see more of that as I too am an OG patron.

Thanks, man! And a fellow OG'er is a friend of mine! My garage is an absolute mess right now (kids come with a lot of crap, by the way), but here's my thread on Garage Journal if you ever want to peruse:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...double.326526/

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by Bmoney2K4

Love the OEM 18 inch wheels which are vastly underrated. Excellent color choices as well. That's how you do it.

I actually despise the style of the wheel, sorry. They'll stick around as dedicated winter wheels, but that's all.

And thank you!

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Thank you sir! Looking forward to those photos. Also, with the AA front lip, did it utilize the OEM holes? I'm not looking to drill into my bumper at all if I don't need to.

Post some sound clips too when you get a chance. Would love to hear it!


Thanks!

We've got rain forecasted through the weekend, so it'll probably be next week before I get a chance to take those photos. Sorry.

Nope, I had to drill into the bumper, but it's on the bottom of the bumper, so really not a big deal. You'll never see the holes if you ever decide to remove the lip.

That said, you can PROBABLY get away with just double-sided tape, but I always like the 2 pronged approach: tape and self-tappers.

Absolutely will! If he doesn't reach out soon, I'm just going to throw the car up on jack-stands and do the exhaust on my back. Won't be the first time and probably not the last time.

[MoeTE87]

Originally Posted by eforty6_m3

We've got rain forecasted through the weekend, so it'll probably be next week before I get a chance to take those photos. Sorry.

Nope, I had to drill into the bumper, but it's on the bottom of the bumper, so really not a big deal. You'll never see the holes if you ever decide to remove the lip.

That said, you can PROBABLY get away with just double-sided tape, but I always like the 2 pronged approach: tape and self-tappers.

Absolutely will! If he doesn't reach out soon, I'm just going to throw the car up on jack-stands and do the exhaust on my back. Won't be the first time and probably not the last time.

Not a problem! Yeah, we have been getting dumped on the past few days here in Cincinnati, OH. So it's all headed your way right now. So thanks!

I have Gorilla double sided tape that I will probably use to be honest. That shit is about 10x stronger than 3M tape. I am just learly about putting extra holes in my bumpers. If it looks to me that it won't hold or sagging at all, then I might..that is a huge if though.

Sounds good! I might get the AA catted dp or the ER catted dp and the MPE. My 2021 is just too quite for me. It sounds nice in Sport / + mode but I need some more volume to be honest.

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by MoeTE87

Not a problem! Yeah, we have been getting dumped on the past few days here in Cincinnati, OH. So it's all headed your way right now. So thanks!

I have Gorilla double sided tape that I will probably use to be honest. That shit is about 10x stronger than 3M tape. I am just learly about putting extra holes in my bumpers. If it looks to me that it won't hold or sagging at all, then I might..that is a huge if though.

Sounds good! I might get the AA catted dp or the ER catted dp and the MPE. My 2021 is just too quite for me. It sounds nice in Sport / + mode but I need some more volume to be honest.

It's been brutal around lately. Non-stop cold and rain...feel like I'm living in the Pacific Northwest.

But dude, you aren't kidding. I started using the Gorilla tape last year and it's WAY better than 3M, for sure!

[eforty6_m3]

Not sure how I almost forgot to mention this, but the other day while taking photos of the new wheels, I happened to notice some blemishes on the front bumper that were absolutely not there when I spent an entire weekend+ correcting and coating the paint. As I looked across the bumper, I found dozens of rock chips, and I have absolutely NO idea where they came from. For all of them to appear so suddenly, my hunch is that I parked somewhere where landscaping crews were doing work and perhaps a leaf blower blew a bunch of debris against my car.

Aside from that, I just don't know what it could be. I don't drive on the highway all that much, granted, the car has only been on the road for less than 2 months. This all happened after the correction/coating and it chewed me up that first day when I noticed it; it's all I could think about. Told my wife that it'll probably result in me having the front bumper resprayed (while taking the opportunity to fill the license plate holes) and then PPF'd, to avoid (or at least reduce) the chances of this happening again. Feast your eyes on this:



























I do have some touch up paint left that I had purchased to address a few nicks/scratches while correcting the paint. So I'll spend some time trying to address the majority of these, but it's still not going to look great, but I suppose better than seeing all the white chips. After all that time I spent on the paint, this was rather heartbreaking to see.

Oh well, could be worse, I guess.

[Tallest]

The car journey looks rewarding right there. Back to where you wanted, just with a pitstop in "reasonable land".

Car rides a bit high, but also I think the tyres you got a rather stretched. Would personally have gone for something way meatier, 265s or something. You are not lowered, which makes it more obvious. I once had that look on my F30 Didnt like it, ended up with fatter tyres, no curbing and good ride, with same wheel diameter.

Other than that, super nice spec, blue on tan, and preLCI has aged very well.

[eforty6_m3]

Originally Posted by Tallest

The car journey looks rewarding right there. Back to where you wanted, just with a pitstop in "reasonable land".

Car rides a bit high, but also I think the tyres you got a rather stretched. Would personally have gone for something way meatier, 265s or something. You are not lowered, which makes it more obvious. I once had that look on my F30 Didnt like it, ended up with fatter tyres, no curbing and good ride, with same wheel diameter.

Other than that, super nice spec, blue on tan, and preLCI has aged very well.

Yep, “reasonable land”, indeed. You nailed it, man!

As for the tires, I went with that sizing based off a recommendation from Fitment Industries. Once I lower it a bit, I think it’ll be fine.

Appreciate the kind words, man! Cheers

[eforty6_m3]

Sunday, I finally got around to installing the Infinite Autowerks cold air intake on the M340i:

IAW intake















And a sound clip:

https://flic.kr/p/2pKzJzb

H&R springs should be arriving today. Might throw the car up on jack stands/ramps and start attacking the exhaust this week, too. We'll see how much free time I get...

[MoeTE87]

Were you able to get a picture of the underside of the CF front lip yet? Thanks!