🔧 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.

PyYR7Fe.jpg


QpqWgnQ.jpg


zNv41uC.jpg


This morning at work

Jj95a7y.jpg


Y7aAmJC.jpg


iv4fGyV.jpg


few more random pics

BnCKIBM.jpg


LwDJajA.jpg


2BgK3ER.jpg


CxtaTIY.jpg


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.

W0pdIUR.jpg


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

The Broken Regal

BITE BITE, SIP SIP
TCG Premium
Jun 26, 2007
15,394
2,206
Wheaton
It’s kind of a goofy system. I have an aluminum wheel hanger bar I thread into one of the holes that makes changing wheels a ton easier. Before that I’d just hold the wheel up with my foot while trying to get the wheel bolts in.

View attachment 80302
bought one myself, super helpful, must have!
 
  • Like
Reactions: IDAFC21

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
If you've got room for 5-10mm spacers, what if you went 265/35 in the rear for beef and slightly taller to fill in, or are you saying the inner wheel well is too tight up front with the new 235 size?

The 235's in front are just about on the limit, but the spacer makes it manageable so I dont THINK I should have any issues there. I thought about 265 in the rear because I know that pairs better w/ 235's, but I decided to play it safe. And with the minimal clearance I have on those w/out spacers, 265's definitely would have had some issues. But after I get spacers on the rear I shouldnt have to worry about anything. And maybe down the line when it's time for new tires again i'll try 265s
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Broken Regal

DEEZUZ

NO PUKESTERS
TCG Premium
Nov 20, 2008
82,321
94,410
NWI
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 put that shit on everything... Specialty tools are literally bare metal stamped steel bull shit that sharp.. I slide heat shrink over it and bam, the tool no longer cuts into hands
 
  • Like
Reactions: greasy

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
I'm gonna need to see a side by side with you know what.... Get them both out in the daylight!

Yeah sorry brah. There was no daylight once I was done, and I just wanted to get inside and shower and drink. Not necessarily in that order...or even separately.

But wheels are on. I did raise the fronts about 3/8's of an inch, so we'll see how that goes. And I don't know why I kept saying 10mm for my front spacers, I have 12mm in front, not 10. Regardless I slapped those on the rear just to see and.............yeah no. Too much. Way too much.

2V3zjf5.jpg


So I tried out one of the 5mm spacers from my front wheels, and I got distracted and forgot to snap pics, but I liked the way that looked, so I think that's the way to go. Guess I'm ordering more spacers. And wheel nuts :ROFLMAO:

And now I can also mention the thing I haven't brought up yet that I got to finish the wheels off!

wQ2brVg.jpg


Yes, those are the floating center caps :LOL: Before anyone says anything .I did not get these to try and be like rolls royce, and I know that 0% of people on the road are going to notice that my center caps are staying perfectly level at all times while I'm moving (they're too busy looking at their phones to notice me.....or even the road ahead of them) I did this PURELY to satisfy my OCD so that every time I park the car, the center caps will be perfectly positioned. I know. Im sick.

wldBD5E.jpg


So that's where we're at. Went for a quick spin. Nothing immediately jumped out at me as far as anything being really wrong. Over a couple bumps I did hear something that maybe could have been some rubbing from somewhere in my right front wheel, but I'll just have to pay attention to that as I drive more this week. And it didn't sound horrible. Tho when I went for my test drive and drove down my street, I think these brand new sitcky tires picked up EVERY rock and piece of gravel and flung it all over the sides and underside of my car. I forget how sticky these tires are when they're new and actually have grip.
 

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
Car looks awesome and I’m glad you went with an OEM looking center cap on those wheels. Looks factory!

Thanks Jim! And yeah, OEM center cap was a must.

I also want to add this "hyper black" definitely is a curious color. In low light it definitely takes on more gunmetal tones, but out in sunlight the silver really starts to shine thru. Glad I went w/ this. I'll be happy with it until I decide to seek out powder coaters.
 

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
Looks great Paul. Now tint those front windows!

also, what sticky tire are you running? I can feel a little slippage when I whip them corners so I’m starting to think I’m due for new tires soon.


They are tinted ? Obviously not as much as the rears, but the lighting is probably making it look funky.

Tires are Michelin PS4S. And they're awesome street tires. Especially out here since we can run them 365.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChrisRac

Pressure Ratio

....
TCG Premium
Nov 11, 2005
20,303
11,728
Glen Ellyn
The wheels look great on the car. With the spacer in the rear, it should be money. I've been eyeballing the same wheels for my car for a while. I like the look and the color you went with. Works well against the red. I bet the hyper black pops enough in the sun to compliment the red well. Much better than a semi-gloss or flat black wheel for sure.

The floating center caps are just next level. If I buy wheels for my car, I'm totally stealing that from you. :ROFLMAO:
 

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
How did the coating go?

Went great! Super easy. Just hope I got everything covered. It was kinda hard to see where this stuff was going on w/ these wheels, but i THINK I got everything. I do LOVE multispoke wheels but god do I HATE cleaning them :LOL: Hoping this stuff will help ease that burden going forward. And I think they're kinda cheaping out on the application pads. I only got 4 in my kit, and they wern't that durable. It was a stretch to get them to last for a full wheel (outside and inner barrel) I eventually want to do my brake calipers as well for the hell of it, and I still have about 3/4 of a bottle left.

The wheels look great on the car. With the spacer in the rear, it should be money. I've been eyeballing the same wheels for my car for a while. I like the look and the color you went with. Works well against the red. I bet the hyper black pops enough in the sun to compliment the red well. Much better than a semi-gloss or flat black wheel for sure.

The floating center caps are just next level. If I buy wheels for my car, I'm totally stealing that from you. :ROFLMAO:

Do it man. I think I like them more than the actual wheels :ROFLMAO:

doK5ti4.gif


Now for some other business. I'm definitely getting some type of interference noise from my front right when I go over a big bump, like if i drive over the drainage dips in my street too quickly, or if I'm coming down off the speed humps at work too quickly. Its metallic sounding, kinda like a clank. I can't see any signs that the outside of the tire is hitting the fender, so it might be something on the inside but I can't tell what. Tried to take a peek inside but its hard to get a good view w/ the tire on. Just gonna have to monitor that I guess. But on the plus side since I did raise the front 3/8" I no longer scrape the rubber flaps that hang under my bumper on those speed humps at work! So there's that at least.

Now I need order my 5mm spacers for the rear. And damn I forgot how good fresh tires feel :LOL:
 

IDAFC21

WOW.
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 23, 2007
56,948
24,184
Avondale, AZ
rear spacers and lug bolts should both be arriving tomorrow, despite being ordered from 2 different companies :run:

Still need to figure out whats making contact on my front suspension when I come down from larger bumps too quickly and the suspension compresses. Guess I'll pull a wheel off this weekend and see if i can see any marks on anything. I've heard it on both sides now. Seems odd that I would raise the car up and start hearing things.
 

Thread Info