These cars are old and worn out and many suffer from customizations.

There is one other big issue I can think of, and that is the rear subframe detaching. If it's still in there, it is extremely difficult to check the floor around the subframe mounts for cracks.

People know that an original M3 is worth a lot and they often to try to get premium payment for an old worn out car. Unless it only has 20,000 miles, it's worn out.

As for determining whether the seller is honest and whether the car has been abused, some 4 wheel alignment machines will compute a 'thrust angle' which is ideally zero when the wheel alignment angles are set up to spec. This might be a good substitute for measuring the frame dimensions.

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Ken Fister - Charlottesville, Virginia USA
97 328i, 95 540i, 97 Hino truck
bmwecu.org

• common problems to look for when buying an older m3 - abanjableu 2008-10-04 20:48:32 (81 views)
  • Re: common problems to look for when buying an older m3 - Sean 2008-10-05 13:36:05 (92 views)
    • Re: common problems to look for when buying an older m3 - abanjableu 2008-10-08 22:12:16 (75 views)
      • Re: common problems to look for when buying an older m3 - Sean 2008-10-08 23:07:08 (75 views)
        • Great advice - kfister 2008-10-09 05:19:22 (47 views)
          • thanks for the input guys - abanjableu 2008-10-11 23:22:20 (51 views)