2019 E46 goals

My E46 in the Angeles Forest.

At the rate that I've been driving, I'm guaranteed to hit 200,000 miles in my E46 this year. I'm very proud of the miles that I've racked up as it is not easy maintaining a high-mileage, out-of-warranty German vehicle. This car hasn't seen the inside of a shop since 2013, aside from receiving alignments. At the time of writing this, I am currently at 191,891 miles. In order to make it to 200K and eat up the remaining 8,109 miles in the coming months, I plan to tackle some work that ranges from basic maintenance to a complete overhaul of some systems.

Basic maintenance. The easy stuff.

1) Oil and filter replacement. I use Mobil-1 0W-40 European Car Formula engine oil. For the filter, I use either OEM BMW or Mann Filter.

2) Tire rotation

3) Differential fluid flush

Cosmetics.

1) Every change of season, I like to clay and wax the paint. I'm overdue for another round. Currently, my preferred wax is Collinite No. 845.

2) Body gaps. Over the years, my front bumper cover has loosened. I hope to tighten up these gaps and make it look like it just left the body shop.

Repairs.

1) Currently chasing a tiny coolant leak after a recent mini cooling system refresh. Haven't had the time to pressure test the system the past couple of weeks, but will hopefully get to it soon.

2) While laying down underneath the front end with the car elevated during that cooling system refresh, I was horrified to notice the amount of steering and suspension work that the car needed. Overall, it hasn't affected steering and cornering very much, but I'm sure it would be happy with some new components.

3) Differential bushings. I've heard that this task is more difficult than swapping a motor in this car. Not looking forward to this and may not even tackle this at all in 2019 as I've heard it isn't too necessary.

Of course, I know I'm overlooking a lot more work, but these are the main points that I hope to get to in the coming months before another brutal Vegas summer hits.