There are 3 reasons why I decided to go with a 2012 BMW 328i Msport F30: BMW brought back the Estoril Blue finish, all 328i models now came with a 4 banger turbo motor which provided me with more performance and better mpg and personally I feel BMW nailed it with the factory Msport body kit.
After making my decision, I picked up my car the following week: a base model 2012 BMW 328i Msport F30 with no extra options. My plan from the beginning was to heavily modify the vehicle and so I wanted a bare minimum F30 – a blank canvas.
I’ve always been a “performance over looks” kind of guy. If I had $5,000.00 budget, I would spend $4,000.00 of it on performance parts. My main focus was to increase the performance right off the bat, so I hit up Burger Tuning for their JB4 Stage 2, aFe for their Stage 2 Intake, Catback exhaust, and Intake Scoops, and Evolution Racewerks for their 4” Catless Downpipe.
Next thing on the list was to clean the car up a bit. So IND hooked it up with painted front & rear bumper reflectors and I purchased some OEM BMW Performance Gloss Black Grilles. The car was at a good level of clean, but it needed some sportiness. I reached out to JL Motoring and got my hands on the F30 Carbon Fiber Mirror Covers and M Performance Carbon Fiber Spoiler. Next, I reached out to Avant Garde and scored myself a set of M580s in a custom smoked graphite finish and topped it off with H&R Sport Springs.
This is where I started to develop a vision for my F30.
I wanted to develop a DTM inspired, functional, and powerful F30 328i Msport. E46 M3 had the CSL model. E92 M3 had the GTS model. I wanted mine to be a F30 328i Msport “plus” or “race spec”. My build was focused on maximizing everything from power, handling and looks. A production model BMW Sports Trophy F30 328i Msport if you will.
To come closer to that goal, Wagner Tuning supplied their Evo Competition intercooler to keep everything cool. And Evolution Racewerks provided N20 chargepipe with meth bungs just in case I get a methanol setup in the future. I also added carbon fiber front lip (coming soon, contact our Modification Experts today for more information) , carbon fiber side skirt extensions, and carbon fiber csl bootlid (coming soon contact our Modification Experts today for more information).
Frank’s Current List of Parts:
- IND Painted Front Bumper Reflector
- IND Painted Rear Bumper Reflector
- AFE Momentum Pro 5R Intake
- AFE Air Scoop
- AFE Catback Exhaust
- Evolution Racewerks Catless Downpipe
- Evolution Racewerks N20 Chargepipe
- Wagner Tuning Competition Evo Intercooler
- BMS JB4 Stage 2 Tuner
- H&R Sport Springs
- Avant Garde M580 19×8.5 ET35mm & 19×9.5 ET35mm smoked graphite
- Kumho Ecsta SPT Tires 235/35/19 & 265/30/19
- Carbon Fiber Bootlid
- JL Motoring MSport V2 Carbon Fiber Front Lip
- JL motoring Carbon Fiber Sideskirt Extensions
So, what’s next? What other dreams does Frank have for this car?
Performance wise, I’m pretty maxed out except for a methanol kit in the future. Next mods will be Coilover Suspension to improve handling, sway bars to reduce body roll and tighten up the suspension, lightweight 2 piece 18 inch track wheels with sticky r-compound tires, BMW M performance brakes to stop faster, and to dress up the interior with BMW M Performance parts, Recaro Racing Seats, and harness.
Later down the line, if I still have the car, I’m looking to eventually go wide body similar in looks to the M235i Racing Car.
I want to thank my ModBargains family, my sponsors, and friends/family for supporting me and contributing to this build.