After looking at five other BMW M3s, Michael finally found his E92 M3.

What made you want to buy an M3 over something else?

So, I had finished a restore on my Mk1 rabbit gti, been like 6 years and really was going to look into a Porsche, either a 911 or a Cayman. Always been a VW guy buy something told me I should go drive an E9X car. I was watching Vin on Hoonigan and his E92 at the time, so I started looking. 

Found a few, including the first one which was a white, six speed, single hump E90 and was like this is perfect, which it turned out to be terrible. Even so, the driving experience of the E9x made me so happy. It was the six speed, rear drive, V8 and the. The wide fenders which got me.

How did you find your BMW M3 for sale?

I had looked at like five different cars, including a good friends. After none of them worked out I was going to just retire for a bit, but one day at lunch with my fiancé I was browsing FB market place and this Space Grey E92 came up in town. I immediately reached out and arranged to meet up. It was a carbon roof car, manual, and liked the grey. Luckily it was a two owner car, lower mileage and fit the bill so I went for it.

What have you done to the car since you bought it?

Since buying the car:

1. Paint correction, restored the carbon fiber roof, ceramic coated the painted, and modified the front bumper by shaving the headlight washers and side markers for the euro bumper look, cleans it up really nice.

2. Added a Seibon carbon fiber CSL trunk and color matched the top.

3. Lowered on BC racing DS coil overs.

4. Cleaned up the brake calipers and painted them.

5. Added the Work Meister S1 wheels. 19×9.5 and 19×11.

6. Black kidney grills

7. LCI taillights (came with the car)

8. Anniversary front rondel

9. Recaro Sportster GT seats

10. Recovered M3 steering wheel in perforated leather

11. Perforated leather e brake handle

12. E46 stylet weighted shift knob

13. IND key hole cover for drive side door

14. Active Autowerks exhaust with Active Autowerks test pipes

15. Tuner Motorsport carbon intake plenum

16. Tuner Motorsport carbon intake

17. Alpine tune

Favorite modification that you’ve done to your M3 and why?

Favorite modification is the Work wheels. I’ve owned a ton of different wheels, but never a proper set of wide Work Meisters. They look amazing and sit really aggressive on the car. The right wheels just complete the look.

Are there any negatives or downsides about your M3?

The gas mileage is not too much fun, and also, I’ve been like really spooked by a lot of horror stories online about the cars, so if there’s a noise I immediately freak out.

Have any advice for somebody who’s looking to buy a BMW M3 that you wish you knew from the start?

Research all of the maintenance. I did my fair share, but as new things come up it’s better to be educated.

What maintenance have you had to?

Anything that caught you by surprise or that you anticipated?

ALL OF IT!

Car needed the rod bearings done when I got it, so PSI in Orlando handled the replacement with BE Bearings and ARP hardware. The throttle actuators went at the same time so replaced those. The valve covers, the motor mounts, a bunch of random seals and gaskets, and a rear diff service.

The biggest surprise was after the valve covers were done I started seeing the Vanos cap issue appear. I started to get worried because my car being a 2008 and around 75k may have been susceptible to the plastic caps cracking (which they were) so I had a friend in town, Alex Miller pull the covers and replace them with Sloan caps.

If you could buy any 3 BMW’s, what would they be? 

Likely an E92 GTS, an M coupe, and a 1M

What other cars have you owned? 

Mainly VWs and Audi:

• 2003 Audi A4

• 2008 VW GTI

• 1983 Mercedes 240d

• 2012 VW CC

• 1996 VW Passat wagon VR6

• 1983 VW Rabbit GTI

What other hobbies do you have? 

Mountain biking, watch collecting, working out, and traveling with the fiancé.

Pictures courtesy of Daniel Levine. IG: klapped.media Just wanted to shout out Precision Sport Industries, Auto Tuning House, Otown Customs, and Clear Cut Detailing for their work on the car as well!

You can follow Michael and his builds on Instagram here

Thanks Michael for taking the time to have us interview you and your E92 M3 build. Best of luck to you during your M3 ownership and have fun! You can check out more feature builds on our blog or by scrolling down and clicking “feature builds” or “M3 Stories” under blog categories here on M3List.