🔧 BUILD IDAFC21's 2014 BMW M235i

General Information

Yes. I have decided to become a BMW M car knob. And yes, I know it's not REALLY an M car, so at least I still get to piss off all the M car purists who don't believe there should be an M on this car. (Or 17 M's, as the case may be. I've counted :rofl: )

To begin my knobbery, I shall provide a brief synopsis of the car, for the plebs that are unaware of what they're looking at. A few years ago the 2 series replaced the love-it-or-hate-it 1 series coupes as BMW's smallest car in the lineup. It got a complete redesign to make it fall more in line w/ the looks of the 3 and 4 series. It really does look like a mini 4 series. Your early options were a 220i or 228i, which had a 4 cylinder turbo engine, and were boring.

OR. You could go for the M235i. At the time there were no announcements about an M2 model, so this was the most M model you could get for the 2 series. What you got, roughly, were redesigned front and rear bumpers, better wheels and tires, larger M sport 4 piston/2 piston brakes, adaptive suspension, that wonderful M steering wheel, and most importantly, a proper turbocharged straight 6 engine that made 320hp and 330tq. Given the 235's small stature, (relatively) light weight, and near perfect 50/50 weight distribution, there are many who would actually liken this car to a mini e46 M3.

With that out of the way, the car i purchased is a 2014 with a mere 15k miles on it. I found it at CarMax of all places :rofl: and they were asking a very fair price for it, so it piqued my interest. I'd always been kinda interested in these cars, but never really seriously looked into them. I started watching every video review i could find on youtube, and it didn't take long to figure out this is a car I would like to own. Went and looked at it at carmax, drove it, and found that reviews had not been overexaggerated. I offered up my ST as a trade, they gave me what I thought was a pretty fair offer for a trade in, bada bing bada boom, you guys know how car deals work, the ST is gone, and this is now in my driveway.

Last night at carmax.

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This morning at work

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few more random pics

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As you can see I went with God's transmission, the ZF 8 speed auto. I was quite impressed with this transmission, and after 13 straight years of driving nothing but manuals, I was ready for something a little different. With how quick this trans shifts it's almost hard to believe its not a dual clutch. Plus it gets the DSG farts, even tho its not a dsg. And it makes me giggle.

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I'll try and get some more pics this weekend if i get ambitious enough to give this car a decent detail. It definitely needs it after sitting on that carmax lot for god knows how long. Theres a lotta hard water spots on the roof/trunk/hood i need to deal with. Otherwise its actually in pretty damn good shape. Couple scratches here and there, but again, it is a 2014 so i expect a few of those. At 15k miles this thing wasnt driven much more than I drove my ST :rofl:

It was optioned out fairly nice. I had to educate myself on BMW packages, but it does have the premium package, tech package, and driver assist package. I thought it might have had the cold weather package, but i think I just have heated seats. Cuz theres no button on the steering column for the heated steering wheel, and Im not sure if i have the headlight washers. The plates are there, but I think they're there on all the cars whether you have the system or not. Sadly I dont have the harmon kardon sound system, and this standard 6 speaker system just does not compare to the 10 speaker system that was in the ST. I'm also unsure whether I have the optional locking LSD, or the regular open diff. Only way to tell that would be to jack the rear up and try and turn the wheels and see what happens. Or I could just take the car out and try and drift it :rofl:

Overall the way this car was optioned out it was easily a $50k+ car brand new. I did not pay anything anywhere near that :rofl: That was actually one of the complaints people had about this car when it came out. BMW hid a lotta things that probably should have been standard on this car behind their option packages. I would NOT reccomend anyone buy one of these cars brand new, but in the used market, if you can find the right one, I feel like these are quickly becoming the bargain of the century for the amount of car you can get for the money. So far I love everything this car does, and theres so much god damn tech in this car its gonna take me a month to figure out everything this car can do. This morning before I went to work I programmed one radio station in, and paired the bluetooth on my phone, and that was it :rofl:

I still have the GTO at the moment. My ultimate plan was to find a car that could replace both of my cars because I've been growing tired of the 2 car thing. This car is definitely a competent replacement. In acquiring this car, I didn't have to make as much of a down payment as I thought I would to hit my target payment, so it's not AS crucial for me to sell the GTO, but I don't know. It's something im struggling with right now :rofl: But I will say anything is for sale for the right price. This may come a bit out of left field for a select few who thought I may have been headed in a drastically different direction, but I feel like I've made the right choice, as I usually see at least 11 of the OTHER car on every corner on my short 10 minute commute to work every day, and these are definitely not on every corner. Plus as it turns out insurance was way cheaper on this car than it would have been on the OTHER car.

Anyways, TL : DR. ST-OUT. BMW-IN. #Knoblife

IDAFC21

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Seriously though, might I suggest getting a wheel protector socket?

I got some spline lugnuts with my wheels and could not find a wheel protector socket so I made my own. The spline socket only slides into another socket and if you have ever used the they sometimes separate while using and fall into the wheel. I was like that shit ain’t happening with my new wheels so I welded it to an actual socket. I then picked up some 1.5” heat shrink tube and added a protective coating myself.

View attachment 79818

I've already got me one of these doo-dads to not scratch up my wheels


And bmw uses full lug bolts, so there's really nothing to separate
 
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DanJ

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Seriously though, might I suggest getting a wheel protector socket?

I got some spline lugnuts with my wheels and could not find a wheel protector socket so I made my own. The spline socket only slides into another socket and if you have ever used the they sometimes separate while using and fall into the wheel. I was like that shit ain’t happening with my new wheels so I welded it to an actual socket. I then picked up some 1.5” heat shrink tube and added a protective coating myself.

View attachment 79818

Hmmm heat shrink. I have a splined adapter wrapped in electrical tape but that’s a good idea. I’m about to buy a wheel socket before spring also for the standard hex lug bolts.

I've already got me one of these doo-dads to not scratch up my wheels


And bmw uses full lug bolts, so there's really nothing to separate

Let me know how that is. I have the same one in my Amazon shopping cart. Was going to spend almost $70 on a full set of those from Harbor Freight but then realized I only need a 17mm.
 
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IDAFC21

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Let me know how that is. I have the same one in my Amazon shopping cart. Was going to spend almost $70 on a full set of those from Harbor Freight but then realized I only need a 17mm.

I've had that for awhile now, and it has been used more than a few times. Pretty much works as advertised.
 
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greasy

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Hmmm heat shrink. I have a splined adapter wrapped in electrical tape but that’s a good idea. I’m about to buy a wheel socket before spring also for the standard hex lug bolts.



Let me know how that is. I have the same one in my Amazon shopping cart. Was going to spend almost $70 on a full set of those from Harbor Freight but then realized I only need a 17mm.

Don’t buy any heat shrink, I have extra you can have.
 
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IDAFC21

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Hhmm, I think the wheels look good but kinda stock looking. Was hoping for something a little more wild in either design or color.

Yeah, I get that. Especially w/ the color. Havent had it out in sunlight yet but It really seems more gunmetal than I thought it would be, which I dont hate. but it's not much different than the color of my stock rims. I do still want bronze, so eventually I'll seek out a powder coater.
 
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IDAFC21

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Welp my final wheel did not arrive today. Checked the tracking this morning, and...........somehow its in Colorado. :picard: Good ol UPS!!!!! I have no idea what it's doing there, i swear they were ALL in AZ when I looked the other day. And they shipped from Cali. There's just no earthly reason for it :LOL: Soooooooo now it's saying delivery tomorrow. We'll see I guess
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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Seriously though, might I suggest getting a wheel protector socket?

I got some spline lugnuts with my wheels and could not find a wheel protector socket so I made my own. The spline socket only slides into another socket and if you have ever used the they sometimes separate while using and fall into the wheel. I was like that shit ain’t happening with my new wheels so I welded it to an actual socket. I then picked up some 1.5” heat shrink tube and added a protective coating myself.

View attachment 79818

welding maniac !
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IDAFC21

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Got up this morning, checked the tracking again..............now it just says "Delay". These motherfuckers. I don't even know where it is now. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning and then probably contact the company. Bad thing about "Delay" tho is that technically it means its still on the move. So there's really nothing anyone can do until it settles somewhere.........or doesnt.

Well.....at least i'll be able to coat 3 wheels this weekend! :LOL: They'll definitely have plenty of time to cure before they go on the car.

Speaking of, I did get my C5 wheel coating today. So there's that.
 

IDAFC21

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Check it out y'all!! I got 4 wheels and tires now!

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And DanJ DanJ I am glad I went w/ 235's. Tho we'll see once I actually put them on the car :LOL:

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Now since there's one last 90% chance of rain tomorrow, all thats left is to let my horribly filthy car get even filthier, and then hope that it all clears out this weekend so I can clean and coat the new wheels, wash my car finally, get the new wheels on which will hopefully fit like a glove, and then clean up my stock wheels and bag them up for.........i don't know what Im going to do with them.

Once I get past all this I really need to get planning on getting this things paint corrected and coated again. It's a hot mess and i really need to get it done before its hits triple digit temps again.
 

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