E46 M3 GT part 1
After long and careful consideration I have decided to keep my personal E46 M3. Instead of purchasing a new car I will invest some money in the old M3-- give it a mid-life makeover so to speak. And as great as the car is on the track, I really think the E46 is a better GT car than all out sports car. So my tweaks will take that into consideration. I will not turn the car into a full out track monster (which is not that hard to do, really), instead I will focus on making it a better grand tourer.
Step one: completely and utterly superficial. I replaced the stock chrome bits with all black parts. The car is Alpine white, and as much as I like some chrome "jewelry", I think a black and white theme is pretty darn cool as well (and it will match my all black wheels-- stay tuned).
Turner Motorsports sells a nice set of black kidney grills. They are molded in black and thus will not chip. The satin finish also matches the OEM window surrounds, so you get the impression that the grills are stock.
At the same time I ordered a pair of side grills. Unfortunately they came in a gloss black-- which did not match the new kidney grills or the window surrounds. So I called up a local body shop that I trust to see what can be done. AutoMark Collision specializes in heavy duty repairs of high end automobiles-- plus specialty projects (check this out). Their quality of work is unsurpassed in SE Michigan and they came through again. A quick coat of satin clear coat did the trick and now all the new black bits match.
Stay tuned for more updates!