I am happy with the power of this car, but I am not very happy with the handling. One huge offender is the run flat tires, but they still have a lot of life left in them, so the upgrade to Kumho XS will have to wait until later.

Speaking of the Kumhos, its a right PITA to find tires that fit this car. The rear wheels are wider, and you have to mix sizes. The car runs 18s. 215/40s on a narrower wheel in the front, and 245/35s on a wider wheel in the rear. Overall height is nearly identical. Width obviously is not.

The front rims will not accomodate more than 225s, so I thought about getting a second set of rear wheels so I could run wider tires in the front and increase grip. Before wasting money buying them, I decided to test fit this theory.


Rears vs. fronts


Wheel bolts are ten thousand times cooler than studs and lug nuts.


Front tire wear is really nice in 5k. I wish my Evos would have worn predictably like this!


Swapped. Checked for contact, did not see any.

At this point, I decided to go for a little drive. I got less than six feet out of the garage and came right back in. There was rubbing.

I had to pull the wheel to see where the contact was. Check this out.

That cute little strip along the outside circumference is black paint from the strut. :stare2: Freaking idiot. Luckily, the damage was minimal since I drove a total of 12 feet. A miniscule spacer would cure, but I have abandoned the idea entirely, because they stick out too far.


Here's the paint rub off on the strut. A little black nail polish from the wife's makeup drawer cleaned that up in no time.

I took lemons and made lemonade out of this situation. I pulled and wheel waxed all four rims, because the OEM brakes dust like mad.




Finishing up.




Right after I took these pics, I also wheel waxed the calipers for good measure.

That's my story. When the runflats wear down, I'm going to get Kumho XS in 225/40 fronts + 245/35 rears, and hope I don't get any TPMS light for the slight difference in size.

At that point, I'll also get a more performance alignment. Together with much better tires, maybe that will help somewhat with the understeer issue.

How does it handle compared to the 335i?

Its a little more nervous than a 335.
Handles nowhere as well as my X did.

I thought about buying this car before i got my X testdrove both Im sure u did the same... for me the funfactor was deff by far the evo x or the handling or the power how come u went with the BMW ?

I had an X first, and traded it on the BMW. I had the bad notchy transmission in the X and paint damage from rock chips. At the end of the day, I thought the X was too heavy and really missed my IX. I miss the SAYC and grip of the X, but not the power.

I went with the BMW, I feel like its a better daily driver. The fit and finish is nicer, the power is a lot better. Its just not the track star the X was. I'm on track like once every two years anyway, so this car makes more sense.

I do regret sometimes, though, because of price difference and the usefulness of four doors. If I'd had waited a bit and got my X at 0%, I'd still have it today.

0 financing deff put me over the edge plus my brother traded his RS4 for the 08 M3 for 0.9 financing thats where i test drove the 135i i did like it but man i dunno if i had a chance to get a new car today i still would go with the X but your right deff the better daily driver is the 135 good luck with it (ull be back to the X heheh)

I have liked the 335i since it came out. I wasn't into the 135i seeing pics on the internet. In person the car is beautiful. Last time I was at the dealer I test drove the 335i coupe/sedan. The dealer had two 135i's, one being test drove and one with a sold sticker. I'd pick up a BMW as a daily. I just can't decide what I want.

Nice pjs!

any type of suspension available for these cars yet?

I just wish they gave the 1 series the 3 series headlights. I just can't grow on them, although I love the car. Still would like to drive one, last dealership I went too all the 1 series were sold so I had to suffice driving an E46 M3

Noize,

Not to throw fire logs into the fire but the 135i ran as fast as the Evo X in more than one road course. The Evo X has superior handling but the 135i manages to reduce any handling differrence with acceleration and good braking. For not having rear LSD I think is a decent fast car.


Carlos

Noize,

Have you tried the Kosei K1 with BF goodrich T/A street drag radials? I reduced my 1/4 times by .5 sec and increased my speed as well. I went with 275/40/17 on the 17x9 josei rims, overall I saved about 14lbs per corner (rear only), your 135i would benefit greatly.

Carlos

I thought the Bilsteins PSS9 (I think) were available, at least they are popular on the 335i. Maybe the KW3 as well.

Carlos

I have to disagree with the wheel bolts, those things make putting wheels back on a major pain in the buttocks.

Yeah - I agree

Just seems easier to align the wheel with the studs.