Since having the e46, it's been a good, fun car to drive, but for some reason, one of the previous owners decided to play around with the audio in the car. Needless to say it was a complete mess with certain speakers not working, others sounding blown. All in all, not very good. To add to all that, the paint needed some TLC.
First was a light coat of polish. Auto Glym's dark polish was the product of choice here, and it brought back some of the lost shine. Despite this, it needs a machine on it with some cutting compound.
First was a light coat of polish. Auto Glym's dark polish was the product of choice here, and it brought back some of the lost shine. Despite this, it needs a machine on it with some cutting compound.
Of course, I couldn't put in all that time washing and polishing without a better picture!
Secondly, the car came came with an awful Sony headunit. This wasn't a big deal as the seller included the factory tape player too. This was refitted on the day I picked the car up. It was then when I learnt that the aerial connector has been cut. Why? I've no idea, it's not a big deal for me anyway.
I planned to have an aux-in adaptor to make things simple. Unfortunately the cable I ordered from eBay wouldn't work on the factory tape player without the CD changer...which was missing.
The other plan would be an interface of some kind or retrofit a radio from a newer model with CD and aux already there. Scrolling through eBay, I found they were all up for stupid prices, until I found a CD player for sale on a forum.
Armed with a stereo that has aux in, and the cable it was time to piece together the right solution. Cue the Himbox HB01. Belkin had a similar product, but it was more expensive and the reviews were sketchy at best. Bit the bullet and its been working well so far.
Having a working radio meant I was able to see what speakers worked and what didn't. The car is equipped with the Harmon Kardon system. It's not all that impressive, but it does the job well enough.
With that said though, the front woofers sounded like they were struggling with the lows, so they were swapped out with the woofers from a JBL component set I had laying about. Massive improvement right there.
Next came the subwoofers. The HK system uses two 6x9 woofers as subs and regardless of what setting I have, their output was miserable. Hopping in the boot to take it all apart I noticed that the rear speakers Alpine branded coaxils. Halting all work on the subs, I went back inside the cabin to see if they were wired properly...no surprise to find it was just wires wrapped around the terminals. No proper connectors or solder. Nor was there much of a midbass response or any highs.
Reaching for my 'blown' front woofers, I set about removing the Alpines to find they hadn't even been fitted properly. Just sandwiched between the mounting ring and the speaker adaptor. Fitted the HK woofers in their place and it the improvement was big.
Back to the subs, couldn't find anything wrong with them, the amplifier was putting out power, the woofers had expected resting impedance and so forth. Writing that off to just a weak bass section. I can deal with that now the mids and highs actually sound half decent!
Now on to the tyres. The seller was so excited to tell me that the car has good tread on all the tyres...casually brushed off my comments that they were budget tyres. No big deal though, but with that said, there were a few incidents where on slow roundabouts with standing water, the rear end would step out. Not encouraging to say the least, especially when I wasn't trying to get the back end out. Any way, I had the 108's with decent tyres sitting around from my Z4...so they went on.
Back to the subs, couldn't find anything wrong with them, the amplifier was putting out power, the woofers had expected resting impedance and so forth. Writing that off to just a weak bass section. I can deal with that now the mids and highs actually sound half decent!
Now on to the tyres. The seller was so excited to tell me that the car has good tread on all the tyres...casually brushed off my comments that they were budget tyres. No big deal though, but with that said, there were a few incidents where on slow roundabouts with standing water, the rear end would step out. Not encouraging to say the least, especially when I wasn't trying to get the back end out. Any way, I had the 108's with decent tyres sitting around from my Z4...so they went on.
I think it suits the car well, just needs a little lowering...
Post exams, there will be more updates, actual work in getting the car ready for the track and all that good stuff. However, for now, revision calls.
