E30 Zone

Here is my sport as i bought it. completely standard, just lowered 60mm and a scorpion cat back system.





i drove it for a while and then needed some tyres but my friend had some 14" BBS in grey for £70 with good tyres so i couldnt turn them down. and i prefer these to the silver 15s. also got some free smoked indicators and side repeaters from a friend so fitted those too.






drove it around like this for a while and then smashed my sump on a drain that was sticking up a bit in the road.



luckily i broke down outside some fellas house that happened to have an american 325es parked on his drive that had been sat for 2 years. had full leather in it. some rare bbs wheels with dish on them and a 2.7 ETA engine in it. he asked if i wanted to buy it so i took it at a bargain price just because i wanted the leather and sump. but now going to use the ETA block too.

so fitted the leather.


also had to change my mount from the aluminium one because it split. so changed it to the steel one from the donor car i now have.



anyway thats it for now. comments on what i have done so far?

Nice tech2, my engine mount has split just like yours, got a new pair going on as soon as the snow fecks off.

Nice looking car mate....

The 14s dont look too bad. You may be the only person i know, who has gone from 15s to 14s, looks gud tho

Nice!! good luck

get those 15s back on!!
nice car though mate. and yes, you were lucky with that 325ES

thanks ajsingh and tonybtonyb. i like the 14s because they are grey. plus the 15s scraped on the rear arch when had a full car with it being lowered. and the 14s dont. plus cheaper tyres.

Down spec'ing a Sport Re: the wheels. Interesting.

looks nice mate like the color of the wheels

Had a lot of work done on this recently:-

Head gasket
Cambelt and water pump
new discs and pads all round
new rear protection plates
new handbrake shoes
new fuel tank
new fuel lines
new brake pipes front to rear and the small ones at rear
new ABS sensor due to light being on


other than this i have got a pair of tyres on my original sport alloys and put them on the rear for now which will please some of you. i forgot how tucked in the arches they sat though compared to the 14s. i am going to be getting them refurbished soon with body colour coded spokes and polished rims.

i have just bought some smoked smilies from rav too so they will be going on, de-wipered headlights and a black kidney grill will be going on too.

anyway heres a couple of pics i took quickly today of the rear wheels back on

Nice car but those tires are waaaaay to small...

Tyres should be 205/55R15 and should not rub even with a 60mm drop!

the tyres are 195/50/15 and i put them on because they were free. pair of michelins for free whos going to say no? they are just on there for a while until i refurb the wheels and then i will buy 5 new tyres for them but still going to stay the same size because with 205/55/15 it did used to scrub on drivers side with people in the back. might go 195/55/15 so the diameter is the same still but the width could do with being slightly skinnier for some extra clearance

lukec88 wrote:
luckily i broke down outside some fellas house that happened to have an american 325es parked on his drive that had been sat for 2 years. had full leather in it. some rare bbs wheels with dish on them

What BBS are they, any pics?

i sold them to Dan320is.

They would of looked nice on your sport.

i put them on and they scrubbed much worse than my sport alloys even though theyre the same size lol.

but yeah with the plans i have to do the spokes body coloured and a polished lip they would have been excellent for that.

Those look to be the Rare Motorsport wheels, i think they were only available in Germany.

Why is everything scrubbing your arches?! Standard bbs 15's with a 205/55 tyre and you should be able to put your car in the floor with no issues! Has it had rear arches repaired in the past?
And why the free stuff? I'm lost as to why you'd fit the wrong tyres whether they were free, cheap or otherwise! Sports are sports, I know you can do what you like but I'd have flogged the 14's for cash and bought new 205/55's for the correct rims
Also those 195/50's are going to give you even less clearance with the dreaded cat eyes!

And that looks really, really low for -60mm! Other than that it's nice! And the 2.7 sounds a bargain! Especially leathered up! I'd definitely have kept those wheels though!

why is it such a problem i have fitted a different tyre size? they look much better than having balloon tyres. and give more arch clearance. im not worried about cats eyes, its not that low. i do wish i kept those other wheels now tbh. and i dont know of any arch repairs being done at any point. but then with a 23 year old car you never know whats gone on behind closed doors do you?

FACT! If you car is rubbing with 205/55R15 tyres and E30 fitment 15x7 ET24 BBS wheels there is a problem with your car.

And it doesn't look better with 195/45, it looks ridiculous.

Even 205/50's look shit!

Check your rear beam bushes (suspension)...............
My touring is lowered 60mm, never had rubbing issues, even with a full load.

bss325i wrote:FACT! If you car is rubbing with 205/55R15 tyres and E30 fitment 15x7 ET24 BBS wheels there is a problem with your car.

And it doesn't look better with 195/45, it looks ridiculous.

Even 205/50's look shit!

Ease up Barry. Luke's a young lad finding his way through his project, we've all been there. It's a learning curve and we all made mistakes. Hopefully Luke will read your comments as constructive criticism.

Dan320is wrote:

bss325i wrote:FACT! If you car is rubbing with 205/55R15 tyres and E30 fitment 15x7 ET24 BBS wheels there is a problem with your car.

And it doesn't look better with 195/45, it looks ridiculous.

Even 205/50's look shit!

Ease up Barry. Luke's a young lad finding his way through his project, we've all been there. It's a learning curve and we all made mistakes. Hopefully Luke will read your comments as constructive criticism.

I think Barry could also do better without hitting the "!" button nearly every sentance!!!!

im just not going to bother updating this anymore. ill just use the site for sales and advice. not opinions. its my car if i want smaller tyres because i prefer it then i will have smaller tyres. end of.

lukec88 wrote:im just not going to bother updating this anymore. ill just use the site for sales and advice. not opinions. its my car if i want smaller tyres because i prefer it then i will have smaller tyres. end of.

Don't let anyone put you off sharing your car here, there are plenty who will enjoy reading your updates. Unfortunately the zone has a stigma attached, where if your car isn't standard or wearing OE mods it gets slated.

lukec88 wrote:im just not going to bother updating this anymore. ill just use the site for sales and advice. not opinions. its my car if i want smaller tyres because i prefer it then i will have smaller tyres. end of.

it's always a sore point this so don't take your bat and ball home !!

your springs are just too low hence the scrubbing and smashed sump/engine mounts,

14" BBS on a 60mm drop just won't work properly it must handle really badly with this set up

15" BBS are awesome wheels and very cheap, if you like the lowered look sling some -30-40mm drop H&r springs on there with some 55 profile tyres and you really will transform the car completely,

this has been done to death on this forum I can assure you it will drive/look so much better

Dan320is wrote:

bss325i wrote:FACT! If you car is rubbing with 205/55R15 tyres and E30 fitment 15x7 ET24 BBS wheels there is a problem with your car.

And it doesn't look better with 195/45, it looks ridiculous.

Even 205/50's look shit!

Ease up Barry. Luke's a young lad finding his way through his project, we've all been there. It's a learning curve and we all made mistakes. Hopefully Luke will read your comments as constructive criticism.

ever driven 195.50's 195.45's bazza? I'd suggest you give them a go, it's not all oem homogeneous prattle blanketing the UK, there are still people who have a whole load more fun than the straight laced oem homo crew. Ok I draw the line at welded diffs for the road, but by the cringe my rs's on 195.45's was akin to formula E kart dicking

lukec88 wrote:why is it such a problem i have fitted a different tyre size? they look much better than having balloon tyres. and give more arch clearance. im not worried about cats eyes, its not that low. i do wish i kept those other wheels now tbh. and i dont know of any arch repairs being done at any point. but then with a 23 year old car you never know whats gone on behind closed doors do you?

I can imagine, with a polished dish they would look rude! but hey, I wish I'd never sold the car in my sig so we all make mistakes

your car should definitely not scrub with standard wheels and tyres, even -100mm cars don't rub (apart from the diff on the road!) do you know where it's scrubbing? is it on the inside or outside, if it's the arch lip you can get them rolled, but I'd investigate a bit further, it sounds like it may be pointing to another problem which may be the cause of all your woes!

The undersized tyres look daft, but I can think of worse things he could have fitted/done.

Dan320is wrote:

lukec88 wrote:im just not going to bother updating this anymore. ill just use the site for sales and advice. not opinions. its my car if i want smaller tyres because i prefer it then i will have smaller tyres. end of.

Don't let anyone put you off sharing your car here, there are plenty who will enjoy reading your updates. Unfortunately the zone has a stigma attached, where if your car isn't standard or wearing OE mods it gets slated.

Wouldn't say OE mods or standard.. Can think of many cars far from OE/OE mods that didn't get slated (my old or your turds for example). However shiteness isn't really tolerated very well

Just a thought, he could be trying to give his sport the "south London" look? Bss325i should know all about it ;)

Change ya springs Luke and see what happens.

It does look a tad too low and will be causing all sorts of grief in other areas.

Jhonno wrote:

Dan320is wrote: Don't let anyone put you off sharing your car here, there are plenty who will enjoy reading your updates. Unfortunately the zone has a stigma attached, where if your car isn't standard or wearing OE mods it gets slated.

Wouldn't say OE mods or standard.. Can think of many cars far from OE/OE mods that didn't get slated

see, I'm all for doing mods and it is a learning curve.. but fitting the wrong profile tyres is a bit odd.. bigger wheels yes! but fitting the wrong tyres to try and make your standard rims look bigger is odd.. and it won't help the car's handling especially on a genuine sport! if you had an old howler of a 316 I'd say 'go nuts'..

it's not really a 'mod'.. it's just using the wrong part! (akin to saying 'well the windows weren't tinted enough for my liking but a fiat panda's are so I fitted fiat panda glass in my E30!')

I think you shouldn't have lowered ,but it would look grat with 16-17 inch alpina rims