Silver is The New Black: Solomon’s E90

Following Park and Polish, Solomon and I waited for the lot to clear out and then he lined up his car for a few photos. We had been trying to coordinate this for a little while and since we were both at Quarry Park for the show, why not shoot the car there? The car had been cleaned for the show, the sun was out, and we had nothing else scheduled for the day.

One of the UCCarClub mods, Solomon is part of the Euro camp – he initially had a black C Class from which he moved into a black 3 series. That was a couple of years ago, and looking at the photos you may think that he since got a different 3 series; but this is the one that used to be black. Actually, it technically still is black. The matte silver  finish you see is in fact a wrap, and one that was done by Solomon and a friend. With somewhat minimal experience they took on the challenge of covering the entire car and the results are what you see here. Impressive to say the least!

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The chosen colour can be subtle, making it look like a standard silver sedan, but heads turn when onlookers notice it’s not glossy like it “should” be. Along with the OEM panels the vinyl wrap also covers an Mtech rear bumper and an M3-style front bumper; it’s M3 style because the E9x M3s featured a factory widebody while the non-M models did not. Because of this, an OEM bumper would be too wide for the car without retrofitting additional parts.

One exterior part which you won’t find wrapped is an ACS roof spoiler, which Solomon kept black. Painting or wrapping roofs black on E90 and E92s is common practice so Solomon had initially opted to leave it unwrapped as well to achieve the same effect. Recently however, it too was covered to hide the last of the factory paint.

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Helping keep the exterior mainly silver and black are a number of carbon fiber parts scattered around. Up front the kidney grilles were replaced with woven parts, and even the BMW roundels feature silver and black weave.

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The carbon fiber addiction carries on with mirror caps, and around the back of the car a Performance spoiler, Performance diffuser, and even the UCCC license plate frame are made from the material.

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Lighting was also addressed, with Mtec V4 white angel eyes up front and a subtle bit of tinting around the amber reflector.

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LED lighting can be found in the floor, puddle, and license plate lights – never forget the details! Out back the standard tail lights were replaced with the darker Blackline set, though these too will be swapped out soon. If you know what LCI stands for, you know what’s coming next. Teaser!

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Solomon’s E90 isn’t all show and no go however. From the factory these cars were great performers (no surprise there, being a BMW) but that hasn’t stopped him from improving the sedan’s power, handling, and stopping abilities. KW V1 coilovers lower the center of gravity and bring the fenders closer to the Varrstoen ES1 wheels. At 18×9.5″ on each corner they allow for a good amount of tire and don’t look too small or too big on the car.

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Slowing the car down are a set of Stoptech pads and cross-drilled rotors. The red calipers add a tiny bit of colour and also happen to look pretty good peeking though the spokes of the wheels.

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Surrounded by the diffuser are the four tips from the Remus Powersound exhaust, but there’s more to the engine spec list than just that. Behind the aforementioned carbon fiber kidney grilles sit Cyba ram air scoops, directing air towards a carbon fiber (surely you didn’t think it was merely limited to the exterior now, did you?) Simota V2 intake. The car’s secondary catalytic converters and resonator were deleted as well. Along with the hardware comes new software in the form of a BurgerMotorsports ECU tune.

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While the passengers sit in the factory BMW seats, Solomon stays planted in a Recaro SPG bucket seat, mounted with Recaro sliders and Macht Schnell Competition lightweight mounts. The interior trim is often customized in these cars with paint or wraps and Solomon opted to cover his in – can you guess? – carbon fiber vinyl. ACS pedals sit in his footwell and finish off the interior for the time being.

This wraps up Solomon’s E90 (ha!) for now, but more will be seen of it soon once new parts arrive. It should look a little meaner and not surprisingly, there will be a bit more carbon fiber. Solomon knows what he likes!

-Bill

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