Introduction & a few Questions

[binonexus]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster.

I've owned a '99 323i (e46) w/ 215,000 miles for about 5 years, great car, quick and rock solid.

I've recently married and had a baby so I had to get my wife out of her 95 Volvo Turbo 850 and into our new beautiful e53 (2001 3.0i Silver, 100k miles, 9300$ CW package)

The mechanic gave me a great deal about ~3000$ below blue book value and before selling it replaced the valve cover gasket, 2 pulleys and belt, and the water pump for free.

My current e53 problems are as listed.

1. Squeak in rear suspension
Going over bumps I have a loud creaking in my back passenger side suspension, I've tried having a friend bounce on the car and find the squeak and pound it with some white lithium to no avail. From my reading I've found it's probably an upper control arm or ball joint. I would never claim to be mechanically inclined so this will be going to a suspension specialist asap. After the squeak is fixed I am considering an H&R lowering spring kit and would appreciate any input as far as what other equipment should be changed at the same time.

2. Rough idle when stopped at red light for a long time
It doesn't start right away when stopped but once I've been sitting at a stop light for a long time it starts to rumble a little in the steering wheel and from outside the car there seems to be a clanking coming from the driver's front wheel well, From my reading here I'm guessing that's a cv axle and for the price I am figuring I would rather just replace it then fix a boot just to replace it again later. Does anyone have any experience with this and know other possible problems that could cause this?

3. 1 Line of dead pixels on cd player
This doesn't really bother me, eventually I'd like to change this whole set up, really I'd like to change every speaker in the car but we'll see what happens.

As far as I can tell these are the only problems with the car which I am happily knocking on wood paneling about.

Planned Upgrades
1. Powder coating rims
my bro in law has a hook up to get powder coating done @ 40$ a rim, I have 5 full size wheels and will be doing that asap for the "murdered out" look.
2. Light conversions
I have already done the side markers black but eventually would like to do smoked tail lights and de-ambered side markers with angel eyes.
3. Lowering kit / Full suspension work-over
This is where I want this car to really shine, I want the suspension to sit stout and rigid and to handle more like a sports car, I've been doing lots of reading on this but I am very iffy about whether I want to deal with the hassle of aftermarket suspension or get back to how it should be and just updating with new oem parts.

And really that's it, I know BMW's are expensive and a PITA to work with but for some inexplicable reason I have chosen to double the amount of BMW invoked headache I put on myself. I appreciate everyone here on the forums and look forward to reaching the 300-400k club like some on here..

Attached is a picture of my e46 (unfortunately had to take off the tint on the front to pass inspection) and the 2001 e53 for the wife.. More pics to come especially as mods develop.