[ccaarmerciill]

So I had Apex ARC-8's on my car (squared 9"), and they were the motorsport silver color. Which is discontinued I've been told. I liked the wheels, but in that color were a little too bright, and flashy. I am a sucker for black wheels despite many saying they're played out... to me they aren't yet. My next car is going to be an Elise hopefully Chrome Orange, or Safron Yellow and if it doesn't already have black wheels... it will soon after I buy it.

Anyway, I painted my wheels with Plasti-dip today to see how it'd look since very few pictures are around of estoril blue M3's with black wheels. Also because it's reversable if I don't like it. If it starts to chip off, I'll either put it back to the original color, or get them powdercoated black if I still like it after a little while. Keep in mind my car isn't "true" estoril, it was repainted and is a little off from the oem color. But it'll give some a better idea of what it will look like. Here are some before, and afters. The car was just lowered back down before taking these, so the suspension is still setting a little on one side.

BEFORE:










AFTER:













My review: Well I think the car looks much more aggressive with the black wheels. So far I think I like it better than silver, but we'll see how I feel in a few weeks.

[Gsxify]

I like it!

[enderw88]

Nice. I always thought the phrase "played out" was a little too "New York Times Fashion Section" for me.

I am curious about your respray, how far did they go: jambs? engine pull? glass out?

[projectE36]

I like it, what tires are you running and whatre the wheel/tire specs?

[ccaarmerciill]

The paint job was done before I bought the car. (after an accident) they actually did a terrible job. Overspray on the exhaust, windows, aux fan, painted trim, windshield washer nozzles. I did what I could with it to make look as best as it can. But in the fall I plan on spending the $ to get it back to original color with a quality re-paint. Lucky enough the jams, engine bay, etc are still true Estoril.


I'm running squared 9" apex arc 8's with Dunlop star specs 245 40 17 all around. Have 12mm spacers in the front to clear the perches, on koni eibach set-up and vorshlag camber plates running -2.5 camber for my "street" setting.

EDIT: H&R sport springs, and Koni's. I had the eibach set-up on my E46 M3, guess I'm used to saying that...

[rabun1]

I like it!

[projectE36]

Eibach coils or springs? It looks bad ass man, do you think 235/40 would be too small on that width wheel or are the 245s the perfect size. The reason I ask is that your car is the closest thing I can find to being exactly what I want to do with mine, though I may end up running VMRs for the price.

[ccaarmerciill]

Originally Posted by projectE36

Eibach coils or springs? It looks bad ass man, do you think 235/40 would be too small on that width wheel or are the 245s the perfect size. The reason I ask is that your car is the closest thing I can find to being exactly what I want to do with mine, though I may end up running VMRs for the price.

I meant to say H&R sport springs, and koni's... sorry.

I think 235 will be a little stretched on a 9" wheel. 245 fits fine, but star specs run a little wide. You could safely fit 255 maybe 265 on a 9" wheel depending on tire brand. I had to stay at or under 245 to stay in class for auto-x.

[Anubis]

Just FYI - your sidemarkers are swapped (wrong side is installed). Look at the red E36 in the photos - that is how they should look.

I don't mind the black wheels - I think you have to have smoked corners (and preferably tails too) and the black kidneys to pull it off. I wouldn't go this route for my car, but it definitely looks aggressive.

Having read what you said about a respray, and looking more judiciously at the photos, it does indeed look like an unfortunately terrible job.

I don't know if you can really rely on the door jambs and engine bay to provide you with "true" Estoril. The engine bay isn't clear coated, and the door jambs might not give you the accurate color (I'm not sure how BMW sprays them, but I feel like the jambs are always a little lighter than the actual exterior paint - maybe that's just me being crazy, probably is).

Either way, a full respray would be awesome. Make sure you choose the paint formula you want.

Estoril: (regular variant)



Estoril: (darker variant)

[ccaarmerciill]

Yeah, I noticed that about the corners over a year ago. I guess I completely forgot to swap them back after I got the car. The paint is comparable to a Maaco job... In person it looks even worse... Noticeable dust under the clear coat, orange peel, and in a few spots it's already starting to chip. The car has been a project since I bought it, looked for a cheap fixer uper M3 I could buy with cash without needing a car loan. Found this one in great running shape, just cosmetically falling apart. At least I'm not afraid of hitting auto-x cones with it haha. After replacing the entire worn out dove interior for entire black interior, and taking car of all preventative maintenance, reinforcements, and needed overhauls... A good paint job would really finish this car up for me. I've easily spent so much more than just a good condition M3 would have been fixing this car up, and still am left with a great running reliable car with a terrible body. A quality paint job will fix that, but put me closer to $20,000 total invested in this car. I guess I feel I'm at the point of no return though, and I might as well keep the car as long as I possibly can. At least it kept me busy... I had more fun "saving" this car than I ever would have buying one already in great condition.

Thanks for the color info. I think i'd go with the regular "lighter" Estoril.