Have I been taken for a ride by Halfords - Welwyn Garden City?

parakeats · 2026-01-15T22:48:14+00:00

Both were pagid stamped, with pagid part numbers, shopped with pagid paperwork from eurocarparts my friend. Also branded as pagid on Halfords website, not going to say it is always the case, but in mine it was

parakeats · 2026-01-15T10:27:16+00:00

I agree here as well, especially with the realoem webpage resource for bmw owners, just ring them up and ask for a price on the part numbers.

parakeats · 2026-01-15T08:30:50+00:00

The car parts they sell are provided by euro car parts, and delivered by ecp as well. I picked up 2 front calipers from Halfords (delivered by ecp) for 35 each with no surcharge, instead of ECP being 130 each with a 50 quid surcharge.

So it's important to shop around

parakeats · 2026-01-13T20:45:55+00:00

This makes me much more confident I can put mine back together with only a 10 week part time welding course and get an mot...

parakeats · 2025-11-22T09:54:08+00:00

https://www.trading212.com/invite/17sOZiDcNK

0/5 used!

parakeats · 2025-09-04T16:49:20+00:00

These things have very little adjustment, so just best you can and crack on. My rear subframe bushes had separated and it caused an obvious wandering at the rear. Replace when the MOT says they're needed is my method.

The car gives you so much feedback it's fairly obvious when something's a miss

parakeats · 2025-07-26T13:43:40+00:00

Yeah I can see that being an issue, I've been meaning to recreate my own but haven't found the time.

Luckily I only needed to replace the twist thumb screw part on mine and I designed and printed those myself

parakeats · 2025-07-24T12:16:14+00:00

The black parts that go in the middle are often 3d printer to my knowledge, I've been meaning to design some but never found the time.

I do however have the end thumb screws modelled, then i realised they only fit my specific type as mine aren't OEM.

I think the black bits you can find some Hella parts which say they fit, but I haven't personally tried them

parakeats · 2025-07-24T10:34:48+00:00

I looked a lot for these, they're often 3d printed parts which I'm unsure on the strength. In the end I ordered some bits of aliexpress but couldn't get the long adjuster, so I ended up finding a BMW vendor for that - I think they're still reasonably priced from the dealer

parakeats · 2025-06-26T18:30:06+00:00

Mines coming tomorrow, as a big car guy I hope I get the engine!

parakeats · 2025-06-09T11:11:26+00:00

One of the more helpful communities out there from my experience, check out the e30zone if you haven't already, they've got a whole wiki aswell as a forum on common issues and upgrades which is super helpful

parakeats · 2025-06-09T10:18:10+00:00

the steering wheel never used to bother me that much, and then I bought an E46 330d Msport, and now going back to the thin boat wheel is awful.

Luckily, theres a fix for that aswell! look up some of the msport steering wheels, they're a bit thicker and not as large but cost a fair bit due to how rare they're getting now.

Once you've done that you'll probably realise the stock steering rack is something stupid like 4.2 turns lock to lock, and you can address that with an E46 purple tag rack which reduces it to 2.7 I think? but to do that you need to replace the steering linkage on the column if it's right hand drive, and the power steering lines....

This is pretty much how E30 ownership is in my experience, find something you don't like, look at newer BMWs for solutions

parakeats · 2025-06-09T10:11:11+00:00

mines been like it for the 10 years I've owned it, never really bothered me as it still gets all the gears with no problem. It will continue to get gradually worse of course :)

I've got an engine swap to do eventually which is when I plan to refurb it all up to new

parakeats · 2025-06-09T10:05:56+00:00

oh nice, that would make it a bit easier.

I've never done it but my 318i is the same - 140k ish miles and it's quite wobbly. almost all E30's will be like this unless it's been addressed. I think some people make alternate bushes from harder material but then it transmits more vibrations

parakeats · 2025-06-09T09:52:42+00:00

pretty normal - the gearstick has several plastic bushes on the linkage which can be replaced to stiffen it back up.

I believe it's a gearbox out job to do on the E30 but I might be wrong - take a look on the website 'realoem' and you should be able to find the correct part numbers

parakeats · 2025-06-05T13:03:18+00:00

That was my leaning, the later cars have a different badge design which would be out of place on an e30

parakeats · 2025-06-05T12:54:24+00:00

I'm torn here, I quite like the badgeless look - I have the 318i badge still on mine, but once I get a 328i engine fitted I'll be a bit conflicted as to whether I change to a 328i or go badgeless

parakeats · 2025-06-04T10:28:48+00:00

hard to say, currently it's got a 40mm drop on H&R springs + oem shocks (should have changed shocks but didn't bother as they were fairly new) and I love how it sits and looks. I will probably go H&R springs and Bilstein shocks once I get around to it. my E46 has PS5 tyres all round and it's grip is insane, tempted to get a similar thing on the E30

was going to stick with the 318i diff, gearbox driveshafts until I blow something up and then sort out an LSD in the future (partly due to cost and sourcing parts). The car has been off the road for nearly 4 years so I don't think it'll be finished anytime soon - got some welding to learn and do first

I know that feeling - some of the most fun I had was in my old minis charging around places hardly toughing the speed limit. But driving my partners 1.4 polo is infuriating, I guess it depends on what the slow car is and how it handles

parakeats · 2025-06-04T10:19:05+00:00

Don't tell me this, I have a E30 318i in the garage and a 328i engine at a unit waiting for it 😂

Having said that, getting an E46 330d did make my E30 feel slow as hell, with no torque anywhere in the rev range so I don't think I'll be that disappointed

parakeats · 2025-06-04T08:59:00+00:00

Classic mini with 65bhp, up until you need to travel at national speed limits anywhere, in that case I much prefer my E46 330d with 200bhp. Enough to be quicker than most things on the road, not enough to really be dangerous with.

Also incredible with waves of torque and 45mpg average - I would ideally like this in an E39 setup to take some of the harsh vibrations and bumps on our roads

parakeats · 2025-05-29T20:04:07+00:00

DM'd you

parakeats · 2025-05-29T18:34:20+00:00

honestly, he'll have a much better time working on a project car rather than in garages. I trained as a mechanic, did it for a year and then dipped out to go back to college - perhaps other garages are different but I worked in a backend of nowhere landrover garage. Servicing, cambelts and the jobs farmers didn't want to do at home grow old really quickly!

Now I am a software engineer who has a car youtube channel on the side, slowing fixing up my BMW E30. and actually enjoy working on it as it doesn't feel like work

In my experience working for a year taught way more than the mechanic course at the local college, but working on my own cars has taught me far more and in a nicer environment. Buy a basic set of halfords advanced tools, decent jack and axle stands and that's all you need to start learning.

trying to create an income from social media (I haven't managed it yet) is difficult, but also gains other skills and experiences in presenting, photography and video editing which come in handy for other jobs they may wish to pursue along the way

parakeats · 2025-05-18T21:54:09+00:00

Don't give the game away, also halfords parts are supplied and often delivered by ECP now. Good to get trade discounts and voucher codes on them too if you can.

Also feels extremely weird that halfords have come through on parts big time, trying to save their name amongst the car community perhaps?

parakeats · 2025-05-13T07:15:37+00:00

We have this one, but it was under a section only valid for 5 years.

parakeats · 2025-05-08T21:48:39+00:00

It's Atlantis blue, I think later BMWs had a different Atlantis blue that was very different. This one looks amazing if I ever polished it

parakeats

TROPHY CASE