Just picked up your G80 M3 or G82 M4? Here are the best first upgrades and mods to make.

In reality, it was inevitable that we would add either a BMW G80 M3 or BMW G82 M4 to our fleet of cars. Introducing the new AUTOID shop car, the BMW G82 M4 Competition xDrive.

Nathan, or ‘@rtwenty3’ as you may know him, recently parted ways with his infamous A90 Supra. Having built the UK's most modified Mk5 Supra, his now set his sights on the G80 & G82 market – you’ve been warned.

If you’re fortunate enough to do so, there is nothing more exciting than the day you collect a brand-new car. It's clean, fresh and untouched. Perfect. Or maybe not.

Now the car is back to the shop and, in *HORROR!* stock form, it’s time to look at the essential first mods for any G80 M3 or G82 M4. 

Essential mods for the G80 M3 & G82 M4

If you’ve just picked up your new M3 or M4, these are the first mods you should consider:

Lower the Ride Height

The car sits too high from factory. This isn’t in dispute. The xDrive variants in particular, run very high. That’s why our first recommendation is to fix this and improve the stance of the car. Better still, with Cobra Height-Adjustable Spring, you can improve the ride quality whilst doing so. In fact, their height-adjustable spring kit not only allows you to tune the ride of your car to your own settings (I’m looking at you front splitter / low drive combo), but also retains full compatibility with adaptive suspension. Cobra have designed a win/win with this system. Highly recommended. We recommend a 30mm drop.

Improve the Stance

And… if you’re doing the lowering springs. You must do the spacers. It's written law. I mean, it isn’t, but it's recommended. Its common knowledge these days that thanks to the actual law makers, wheels sit very far into the arches. Apparently, this saves children, badgers and bank accounts from curbed wheels. It doesn’t look great though. So if you’re doing lowering springs, we suggest spacers – this will really fill out the stance. 

Our recommendation is 15mm front and 12mm rear. In our view, this is the best wheel spacer option for the G80 & G82 platform. 

If you’re looking for more information on spacer options for G80 & G82, our friends at IND Distribution have created an excellent guide on the Bimmerpost forum.

 

Upgrade Rear Spoiler

To be fair to BMW here, they’ve stepped their ‘stock-spoiler’ game since the F80 & F82 series of car. That being said, for a 500+ bhp car, they could go further. Luckily, we do. Our preference is the ‘Ducktail’ spoiler (shown below). It suits the nature and design of the car. The ‘CS’ spoiler is a nice middle-ground though and the more popular choice.

Shop G80 M3 spoilers here, and shop G82 M4 spoilers here. 

Add a Front Splitter

With the aggressive kidney grille design, it’s a little disappointing that the front-bottom edge of the bumper essentially trails into nothing. The car does actually look like a piece is missing from the bumper without a splitter installed. When you spot it, you can’t miss it. Our recommendation is the Essentials Competition splitter. Looks great, doesn’t cost the world and fits excellent.

 

Fix the Interior

A weird quirk of the interior on the Competition model cars (or those that have spec’ed the carbon interior), is that the driver’s side trim is Gloss Black rather than Carbon Fibre. No idea why this is, but no worry, the aftermarket has fixed it. This is a must for all the carbon interior cars in my opinion. 

We’ve just launched an overlay kit, which is a pre-preg carbon fibre trim that matches the OEM carbon fibre trim with the same 2x2 twill. Another nice no-brainer mod.

Improve the Sound

Like almost all modern cars today, the M3 & M4 are struggling in the sound department. It’s a side effect of the restrictive laws placed on manufactures to improve emissions. Luckily, we can pretty much counteract those restrictions by installing a new exhaust system. Our system of choice is the Milltek OBF-back (Axle-back) Exhaust System. This improves the volume and tone of the stock system, retaining warranty and remaining legal.

If you’re criminally inclined, you can go further. Maybe being a criminal is a little far. But if you’re happy with pushing the envelope, you can consider the ‘OPF-delete’ systems. These free up the exhaust even further, thus increasing volume too. They’re not ‘MOT’ approved, so it’s worth considering this. If you’re feeling extra naughty, you could also extend to a high-flow catalytic convertor, or better yet, a ‘decat’. Maximum sound. Angry neighbours.

Our recommendation? The Milltek OBF-Back Exhaust with Cerakote Tips. 

Check out our collection video for our G82 M4 Competition here: