By 8 Must-Have Mods for the BMW E9X 335i
In this article, we discuss the must-have mods for the E90 and E92 BMW 335i from 2006 to 2013. This platform has been incredibly popular in the tuner community because of its ability to make a lot of power with just bolt-on modifications. Sometimes being compared to the famed 2JZ, from the Toyota supra. The E9X 335i had two different engine options throughout its model ranges. The N54 was in the car for a little bit longer, but it had a couple of finicky issues like a failing turbo wastegate, and a couple of leaky gaskets, a failing water pump, and some issues in the fueling system. They fixed a lot of that in the N55 motor, which makes the N55 versions a little bit more appealing to some people that are looking for this as a project car, but both engine platforms are fantastic for tuning. Some known issues to be aware of what the N55 generation though, are transmission pan leaking, the high-pressure fuel pump failing, and the intercooler piping breaking.
Either way, between 2006 and 2013 the 335i can be had for somewhere around $7-16K making it again, a very popular option for tuners. All the parts that we talk about in this article are available for purchase at Motoroso.com, where we have over a million other top, name brand products. On our site, you can hit us up at live chat, send us an email for support or call us toll-free at 833.MOTOROSO—we are here to help you with your project builds. Let’s get started.
VIDEO: 8 MUST-HAVE MODS FOR YOUR BMW E9X 335I
1. Intercooler Charge Pipe
Because it’s a known issue right off the bat, we recommend upgrading your intercooler charge pipes. The stock one is brittle plastic and the clamp design was junk. It blows apart at anything over the stock 8PSI. An aftermarket charge pipe is going to be able to handle way more pressure, hold together, and give you a 10 horsepower gain and 15 ft/lbs. of torque right off the shelf from brands like COBB, Burger, or VSRF.
2. Tuner Module
COBB ACCESSPORT
Next up before we get into any other performance mods, you’re going to want to buy yourself a tuner module. This is an absolutely critical tool to have in your arsenal as you do these mods so that you can keep your engine running clean and make the most of the mods you’re installing on the car. You can gain some serious wheel horsepower on the 54 and 55 engines with just a tune. If you just work on the boost alone, you can bump it from the dainty 8PSI up to almost 17PSI, which can start to make some serious power. Keep in mind. On the N55 motor, the turbo gets a little less reliable past 14 PSI. Now you can get yourself a COBB Accessport for around $650, and it’ll allow you to do all the tuning you need to do.
3. Brakes
STOPTECH STREET AXLE PACK
Now, the brakes on your 335i are known to work pretty well, but not last very long and throw off a ton of brake dust. You’ve probably already noticed that you constantly have to be cleaning your wheels. An upgrade like the StopTech Street Axle Pack is going to replace your rotors and pads with higher performance braking so that you can really get after it on the street and at the racetrack, and will not throw off quite as much dust.
VIDEO: STOPTECH STREET AXLE PACK SPOTLIGHT
VIDEO: BMW PADS AND ROTORS INSTALL GUIDE
4. Wheels and Tires
Now that your brakes aren’t thrown off all that brake dust, you can look at getting a set of wheels and tires, and this is one of those mods that almost everybody doing a build is going to do some sort of a wheel and tire upgrade. Tires are critically important when it comes to performance: if you want to drive, you’ve got to have some sticky rubber. When it comes to the style of wheels, it’s an almost infinite number of options, so we can’t really tell you exactly what to do here, but when it comes to the 335i, you can fit up to about a 20” wheel if you want that style. But if you’re doing performance driving, we recommend that you stick with something around an 18”. You can also go as wide as 10” all the way around, and you can fit some damn fat rubber on those wheels. What we recommend here is to come over to Motoroso.com, hit us up on live chat or email support, or call us toll-free at 833.MOTOROSO, and we’ll help whittle it down for you because there’s a lot of options.
5. Coilovers
Let’s turn our attention to enhancing the handling performance of your three 35. Now the sway bars that come on, your OEM 335i are actually pretty good. So unless you’re building a track day or race car, or you hate your spine, you probably don’t need upgraded sway bars. We have upgraded sway bars on Motoroso.com and we’d be glad to sell them to you, but we don’t think it’s actually a must-have.
When it comes to the OEM shocks, your next must-have mod is a set of coilovers because there is a lot of room for improvement in the shocks that come on your 335i. A set of coilovers is one of those mods that is both a styling upgrade and a performance upgrade. It’s going to allow you to control the ride height so you can precisely set the vehicle to the height that you want on the wheels and tires combination and get the exact stance that you’re looking for. On a performance front, you can control the spring preload compression and rebound damping, and control the way that the vehicle performs and handles.
BC RACING BR SERIES COILOVERS
There are a lot of great brands out there that make suspension like KW, and Ohlin’s that offer really high-end sets for the 335i, but one of our favorite values is the BC Racing BR Series Coilover, which gives you ride height, control, damping controls, and that’s all for about $1,000. BC Racing also makes higher-end versions of that kit that offers low speed and high-speed compression, damping, rebound, damping controls, and all the competition level features you might expect from a higher-end version of shocks. But as usual, just reach out to us and we would love to help you pick your coilovers.
6. Exhaust
The exhaust system on your 335i presents quite a lot of opportunity for uncorking some pretty serious power, and it starts with the downpipe. Going with a high-flow catted downpipe or a catless downpipe, which sets you back around $500, can uncork 15 to 20 horsepower and 25 to 30 ft/lbs of torque. In addition, if you move down the line to the cat-back exhaust system, you can uncork another 10 horsepower and 15 ft/lbs of torque. A system can cost you as little as $700, but that would not be the level of materials you are going to want. We recommend spending at least $1,000 on a cat-back exhaust system so you’d get the quality of materials and sound tuning, which is going to help you avoid the tinny, raspy sound that this engine produces.
BORLA ATAK EXHAUST
We’ve pulled together a couple of options that we really like starting with the Borla ATAK Series. Now, this is going to set you back around $1,250. It’s a 3” system and it’s optimized for maximum sound empowered gains. It’s going to be the louder of the two options we’re going to recommend, but it’s made from quality materials. It’s going to be a little bit raspy, but it’s not going to be tinny, which is what we’re trying to avoid.
CORSA EXHAUST
Corsa is known for investing extra time in the engineering of the sound to get the maximum exotic sound that they can get. It’s going to be a little bit quieter than the Borla, but it’s going to still give you great performance gains and is going to set you back around $2,000.
We’re always happy to help you find other systems, but whatever you do, when you get your 335i exhaust system, as long as you’re picking the right materials, you’re going to be pulling up to the Octoberfest turning heads and yelling in German.
7. Air Intake
Every internal combustion engine needs air to go boom. The more air you can get into the cylinders, the bigger that boom is going to be, and the faster you’re going to go. So, your next must-have mod is a cold air intake. And the nice thing about this is going to dress up your engine bay and get rid of that disgusting black plastic mess that was in there from the factory. It’s also going to help you get 16 horsepower and 23 ft/lbs. of torque. A decent intake is going to also give you a better sound because you’re going to get a little bit of that induction bark when complemented with the better exhaust system. And this is one of your best values because it’s only going to set you back somewhere between $300-$500, and we’ve picked a couple of options for you.
INJEN COLD AIR INTAKE
Perhaps better known for their JDM offerings, Injen makes a nice system for the BMW that is very simple. It’s just a tube and a filter. It’ll gain you 13 horsepower and only cost you a little over $300.
AFE MAGNUM FORCE STAGE 2 COLD AIR INTAKE
A little further up the food chain—setting you back around $500— is going to be the AFE Magnum Force Stage 2. This is going to gain 17 horsepower and 17 ft/lbs. of torque and has a roto-molded construction that helps funnel air into the engine much cleaner.
8. Water-Methanol Injection
Our last must-have mod is water-methanol. If you’re not familiar with water-methanol, it is a tank that you will install in the car that combines a combination of water and liquid methanol. This is then routed into the air inlet tube vaporizing the methanol, which dramatically lowers the temperature of the air, makes it denser, contains more oxygen, and leads to much better combustion. Water-methanol can lead to over 30 horsepower gain and more than 40 ft/lbs. of torque. For a mod that can cost as low as $500 and is easy to install, this is one of the best bangs for your buck. One of the best things about it is that it’s 50-state legal. For the best performing kit, look at the Snow Performance Direct Port injection system, it’s a bit more pricey, but includes everything you need for the highest performance possible.
You can shop for all this at Motoroso.com where we have got over a million other top, name-brand products. If you want help shopping for your mods or with anything else going on with your build, hit us up because we’ve got live chat, email support and we’re available toll-free at 833.MOTOROSO, which is 833.668.6767.
