New Member in NJ

[djmcgarm3]

Greetings! Brand new to the community. In South Jersey near Philly. I am a long time BMW guy, having driven E30's exclusively for the last 26 years. I still have a 90 M3, 89 Vert and 87 MTech 1 Coupe, but I have finally introduced a new series to the stable. I was daily driving the 87 until my daily commute went from 3 miles to 16 miles per day. Looking around for a new daily driver, I stumbled upon a 2004 ZHP Sedan with 150k miles in late January. The car is Imola over Lazer/Antracite with Silver Cube trim. It is an Automatic which is not my preference, but is OK for a daily. I picked it up on the cheap without much in the way of service records, against my better judgement, but I think I did alright. I am the 3rd owner, the second owner had the car for 9 years and traded it in for a Subaru in January. I don't think he was an enthusiast as the car is bone stock and does not appear to have received much preventive maintenance recently. The front spoiler is trashed, it had 2 bent rims and a fair amount of scrapes on the undersides of both side skirts. I suspect that the PO hit some ice this winter and had an off-road excursion maybe going over a low curb. Ironically, everything inboard of the sideskirts show no evidence of damage except a little undercoating having been scraped off. suspension exhaust and drivetrain appear untouched.

So, I registered the car in Late February and so far have replaced the bent rims, tires all around with Conti DWS 06s, oil pan gasket, coolant hoses, fuel pump and filter, (pump failed on week 1), and rear shocks and mounts w/BMW ZHP shocks and Rogue mounts. Aesthetically I have replaced the steering wheel with a used alcantara wheel that is in pretty good shape. Now that I have taken care of the known issues I can move on to the preventive maintenance and aesthetics. I picked-up a replacement front spoiler which I will install after it is painted. For now enjoying the comfort of a modern car...at least 17 years more modern than the driver it replaced. iPhone pic from yesterday.

[san]

Welcome! Post pics of your e30s as well. Nice work done so far!


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[BMWCurves]

Welcome!

[djmcgarm3]

As requested...Stable mates
2962529626

[Vas]

Another Imola member. Good choice.

And those e30 cars look :headbang

[Lorenzo]

Welcome and what a beautiful collection you have!

[704sw]

I now have to explain to my officemates why I'm cleaning drool off my keyboard.

Oh, and welcome. Your collection is stunning.

[mikebmooney]

Welcome and great stable of great BMWs

[ELCID86]

Welcome. Great color combo.


---
"ZHP is a garbage option anyway- just some cosmetic upgrades with a different cam and diff to claw back some of the performance lost fitting those hideous and heavy wheels. Any 330 with a 3.46 diff will smoke a ZHP every time. The whole Mafia thing reeks of childish behavior." - anonymous E46 fanatic

[danewilson77]

Welcome.

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[fredo]

Welcome. Did you notice a big difference with the new shocks ? My car is at 143k miles and I'm thinking about replacing the shocks/struts. But to me it still drives fine. :dunno

[BMWCurves]

Welcome. Did you notice a big difference with the new shocks ? My car is at 143k miles and I'm thinking about replacing the shocks/struts. But to me it still drives fine. :dunno

I'm not OP, but I noticed a significant difference when I put in new shocks struts. Before I got the suspension it drove fine, but it was not great at absorbing small bumps in the road, and it could be unsettled in the rear on uneven ground when going around corners. After the replacement it has a much improved ride quality, especially over small bumps, and is a lot more planted in the corners.

[djmcgarm3]

Welcome. Did you notice a big difference with the new shocks ? My car is at 143k miles and I'm thinking about replacing the shocks/struts. But to me it still drives fine. :dunno
I did. It is more stable and smother around town on bumpy roads. I actually changed them because they looked original even though the front struts look to have been replaced and I was getting a clunk over bumps from the right rear. I thought it was the mount but turns out it was just loose in the mount. Still glad I changed both after 151k miles. The Rogue mounts are nice pieces too.

[Lorenzo]

Welcome. Did you notice a big difference with the new shocks ? My car is at 143k miles and I'm thinking about replacing the shocks/struts. But to me it still drives fine. :dunno

I installed Koni Yellows a few weeks ago and frankly I feel the ride difference is negligible. I was expecting a dramatic improvement since the car had original shocks with 156,000 miles. About all I noticed was the car's ability to bounce back quickly after going over bumps. Previously the after affect of going over a bumpy road would persist longer. But in terms of ride comfort, I don't notice a difference. And since I went from original ZHP to Koni, I thought for sure there be more noticeable difference.

But I seem to be in the minority - everyone else on the forum claims a big improvement.

If you're satisfied with your current ride, I wouldn't spend the money to change it.

[san]

Welcome. Did you notice a big difference with the new shocks ? My car is at 143k miles and I'm thinking about replacing the shocks/struts. But to me it still drives fine. :dunno

The best way to decide would be to drive someone's car who has the same set up as you are interested in. I went with koni yellows too and I though the ride was improved a lot especially over bumpy roads as William said. It's only going to be an improvement (maybe marginal) over what you have.


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[san]

I installed Koni Yellows a few weeks ago and frankly I feel the ride difference is negligible. I was expecting a dramatic improvement since the car had original shocks with 156,000 miles. About all I noticed was the car's ability to bounce back quickly after going over bumps. Previously the after affect of going over a bumpy road would persist longer. But in terms of ride comfort, I don't notice a difference. And since I went from original ZHP to Koni, I thought for sure there be more noticeable difference.

But I seem to be in the minority - everyone else on the forum claims a big improvement.

If you're satisfied with your current ride, I wouldn't spend the money to change it.

You might want to play a little bit with the damper settings. A friend on mine installed koni yellows and made them completely stiff instead of soft by accident and that made the ride horrible.


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[BMWCurves]

I installed Koni Yellows a few weeks ago and frankly I feel the ride difference is negligible. I was expecting a dramatic improvement since the car had original shocks with 156,000 miles. About all I noticed was the car's ability to bounce back quickly after going over bumps. Previously the after affect of going over a bumpy road would persist longer. But in terms of ride comfort, I don't notice a difference. And since I went from original ZHP to Koni, I thought for sure there be more noticeable difference.

But I seem to be in the minority - everyone else on the forum claims a big improvement.

If you're satisfied with your current ride, I wouldn't spend the money to change it.

Interesting. It just goes to show how subjective these sort of things are, and you pretty much have to experience them for yourself to know how you personally will like/notice the change/modification. It's the exact reason I go back and forth on something like underdrive aka power pulleys. Some people say there's a significant difference, other's say "meh, maybe there was a difference but I didn't notice it."

[Sockethead]

Welcome! Where in South Jersey are you?
We Just moved from Wenonah to Charleston last spring. My Wife worked at the Turnersville Auto Mall, First at BMW and then Parts Manager at Acura

[djmcgarm3]

Welcome! Where in South Jersey are you?
We Just moved from Wenonah to Charleston last spring. My Wife worked at the Turnersville Auto Mall, First at BMW and then Parts Manager at Acura

Not far from where you were. Just a little north in Camden County.

[johnrando]

Welcome. Great stable of cars! The ZHP is a beauty.

[Sockethead]

Not far from where you were. Just a little north in Camden County.

We miss Jersey and all our friends there!