I know what you’re probably going to say – Who in their right mind would simply abandon a BMW M3 E46? This 2002 example has quite a bit of history as it was formally used as a track day experience car. In other words, people paid money to hoon the coupe around a circuit. Needless to say, it has been abused and trashed around for years on end.
It was ultimately left for dead in a pretty bad shape, but thankfully, YouTuber Mat Armstrong decided to bring the M3 E46 back to life. He bought the Laguna Seca Blue performance car in August 2021 before spending many months doing various repair jobs. The good news is the car is back on the road again after a long hiatus. It wasn’t easy to revive the severely neglected M car as there were quite a few things wrong with it.
The top priority was to fix whatever was necessary to make it drivable once again. Consequently, Mat worked on the rod bearings, prop shaft bushings, and gear linkage bushings. He also replaced the steering couplers and differential before fixing the handbrake. After putting the car back together and fixing both taillights, he had to get the proverbial stamp approval from the MOT (Ministry of Transport).
This M3 E46 Has Lived A Rough Life So Far, But Not Anymore
However, he had a couple of problems to iron out before getting the M3 E46 road-approved after a long time. The left-front turn signal was a bit washed out, so he had to replace the bulb to make it flash orange. More worrying was the airbag light, but it was quickly sorted out by using the ODB port to reset the codes.
Finishing touches included CSL-styled wheels and a slightly darker tint for the rear windows. The new shoes required wheel spacers for better fitment since they originally sat too much within the car. Mat, therefore, replaced the black wheels wrapped around racing slicks the M3 E46 came with when he bought it. The end result is quite impressive as the car drives as well as it looks.
Ultimately, a wheel alignment was done and will be followed by a full respray while sticking to Laguna Seca Blue.
[Source: Mat Armstrong / YouTube]
