The team at Clickable will be taking a short break from fulfilling orders. Our last day of 2017 will be Friday 22nd of December, and we will be back, better than ever in 2018 from Tuesday 2nd of January.

Our online store will continue to receive orders, and the stock will be automatically allocated as usual to new all orders, ready for our return.

Phones won’t be answered during this time; however, we do have plans to respond to as many emails as possible during our break. Please be patient with us if our response times are slower than usual or we’re not entirely able to help until we are back in the office.

Thanks for a great year! We hope you enjoy your holidays. Drive safe, and we’ll see you in 2018!

Our primary aim here at Clickable is to offer high quality parts for the best prices delivered to your door, wherever you may be in Australia. So we’re introducing some changes to our shipping policy to help ensure that we can continue to deliver on that promise. We have added a new shipping calculator on our store that we feel makes our freight options fairer, more transparent, and easier to use.

Our standard road service shipping remains unchanged as a flat-rate $10 fee within all of Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, South Australia, and south-east Queensland, regardless of the size of the order. For those located in Western Australia, Northern Territory, and country Queensland, the store will now automatically calculate the best rate for standard road shipping, based on the size of the order and the location it’s going to.

Since we opened in 2011, we’ve been heavily subsidising the shipping costs for our customers’ orders, and particularly for those located in more remote areas of the country. We will be continuing to subsidise shipping costs to some degree, but it was unsustainable for us to move forward without implementing some reasonable changes. We’ve put a lot of consideration into how best to make the next step, and we feel this new system offers the best balance overall. Naturally the alternative would be to raise prices on all products to cover our shipping costs, but these changes enable us to maintain our competitive pricing throughout our product range. Our customers in WA, NT, and country Queensland will be paying slightly more to shop with us, but we’re confident that overall Clickable will remain the most trusted and affordable source of quality European parts, regardless of wherever you are in Australia.

We are also pleased to introduce new, competitive Express shipping options. Almost everything from our store now has the option to be upgraded to Australia Post Express, with the shipping rate being calculated automatically during the checkout process. For parcels over five kilos, our Express rates are about half of what you would expect to pay as a retail customer at your local Post Office.

For the past few years we’ve offered returning customers a shipping discount through a special reviews promotion. As well as the changes to how our delivery fees are calculated, we’ve also made an update to this promotion. For customers who take the time to write a review on a product they’ve previously purchased, we’ll now be offering a $10 shipping coupon for their next order over $100. This will equate to free shipping for most customers, and discounted shipping to those in WA, NT, and country Queensland. It also means customers will have the opportunity to enjoy discounted Express shipping on their orders too.

We’ve put a lot of time into designing and testing these changes to help ensure they are fair and reasonable for all of our customers across Australia. If you have any questions or feedback about the changes, please feel free to email us at hello@clickableautomotive.com.au or call us on 1300 739 311.

Project 46 is an ongoing series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci.

After almost three years and 20,000 kilometres, it’s time to bid farewell to our beloved BMW E46 330Ci M Sport project car.

Our original intentions were to use the vehicle as a platform to showcase a wide variety of the products we offer on the Clickable webstore, as well as subtly improving and modifying the car to create a BMW that is practical, but also a little bit more special than most. We also wanted to document the entire process to show how easy the majority of the jobs are, and why we recommend some of them as part of good preventative maintenance. We believe we’ve achieved those objectives, and so it’s time to let a new owner enjoy the car.

It’s been over a year since our last update on the 330Ci, with the project taking a back seat to a number of changes that we were implementing behind the scenes at Clickable -- the biggest being a move into our new, larger Distribution Centre. But before the move began, we bought in a fresh set of coilovers from AP Sport Suspension in Germany to fit to the 330Ci in order to evaluate the fit, finish, and overall performance of the product. We spent months testing the ride and handling of the APs to ensure the quality was as good as we, and our customers, demand them to be.

One area in particular where car manufacturers try to save some money is on shock absorbers. Regardless of the mileage, upgrading to good quality shocks can make a world of difference to the way the car performs. As with most suspension components, once the ageing original shocks fall out of their efficiency range, they place greater stress on other parts, accelerating the rate of wear and further impacting how the vehicle drives. With almost 190,000km on the original shocks, the difference after the AP coilovers were fitted surprised even us. It’s fair to say that these coilovers exceeded our own high standards and expectations.

To give these coilovers the most thorough test possible, we used the car on a daily basis around Melbourne’s deteriorating streets. We’ve also given them a good run down some trying country backroads down the Mornington Peninsula and along The Great Ocean Road on weekends, with a touch of light towing thrown in for good measure. Although the damping rates are technically harder than the originals, their capabilities are far superior to the original shock absorbers fitted by BMW, leaving us with coilovers that improve literally every aspect of ride and handling.

The coilovers were on the 330 for a few months of testing before we made the easy decision to begin offering AP Sport Suspension, and since we launched the new line the feedback from customers has been exceptionally positive. We’re really pleased with the feedback, particularly as AP Sport Suspension is still a relatively unknown brand in Australia.

We first announced Project 46 back in August of 2014, and the very first thing to be swapped out was the pretty horrible cabin microfilter, and we were able to identify a few issues that we wanted to investigate further. In the second post, we chased down an erratic idle, changed the engine mounts, performed an oil service, and gave the leather some attention. From there, we tackled one of the most common E46 problems: the front lower control arms -- and documented the massive difference this simple change can make. We then chased down an oil leak that had been annoying us, and picked up a set of Hankook tyres. Project 46 then had a Superchips tune to get the most from the motor, before we had the wheels refurbished in a darker metallic grey. In the previous instalment, we fitted some parts to freshen up the cooling system, performed an oil change, and had some main body panels resprayed. Finally, we fitted the AP Sport Suspension coilover kit, and gave the car a detail with Autoglym's High Definition Cleanser and High Definition Wax Kit.

The result is we now have a BMW that looks, rides, and handles better than the $100,000 vehicle that rolled out of the showroom in 2003. We’ve spent $7,395 making Project 46 the car that it is today, but only $1819 was actually spent on mechanical maintenance and essential repairs (excluding $925 on tyres). When that cost is amortised over the long term, it’s a small and worthwhile investment for a vehicle that will provide years of reliable and enjoyable motoring to its future caretakers.

We’ve had such a huge response from Project 46 at every point, and it’s been a real pleasure to collaborate with local businesses to bring the car to the level it is today. For those that follow us on Instagram, you will have already seen a sneak peek at our newest project car which we’ll be introducing in the coming months. For the moment though, it’s farewell and thanks to Project 46. The 330Ci that showed us just how easy it is to own a safe, comfortable, and reliable BMW for not a lot of money.

New Mechanical Repairs: Nil

New Non-Essentials: 
AP Coilover Kit - $1199
Autoglym High Definition Cleanser - $60
Autoglym High Defnision Wax Kit - $95

Total Cost of Additions: $1354
Total Cost To Date: $7395

We are very proud to introduce the 100% synthetic Motul 8100 X-power 10w60 motor oil to Australia.

Unlike other 10w60 oils, Motul utilises the very latest knowledge in industrial science and chemistry to produce the highest quality 10w60 oil available on the market today. Combining their own synthetic base stocks with specially developed additives, the X-power has highly impressive technical specifications to suit performance cars. For owners of BMW M models (and other sports cars) that specify a 10w60 weight oil, this is quite simply the best lubrication for protection and performance.

As an oil weight previously only recommended for models from Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lotus, and for use in purpose-built racing cars, BMW began specifying a 10w60 weight oil in the E46 M3 due to the fine manufacturing tolerances of the S54 motor. BMW continued the specification for the V10 motor found in the E60 M5 and E63/4 M6, and for the V8 of the E9x M3. The versatility of a 10w60 allows these motors to be safely lubricated from cold starts, right up to high temperature, high load scenarios. The recognised benefits of 10w60 have meant the oil was adopted by owners of all naturally aspirated M car models who use their vehicles in high performance driving scenarios.

Clickable was chosen to exclusively launch the X-power in Australia, and we feel very privileged to be able to introduce a new era of 10w60 oils to the local community of M owners. It’s no secret that BMW’s M division have produced some of the greatest engines in history, however due to their aforementioned tolerances, these motors can be very sensitive to oils. Motul understood this, and so developed a product with greater oil film strength under load and stress, improved anti-foaming properties, and better resistance against carbon deposits. Motul’s 8100 X-power is the result of a new era of synthetic oils that utilise the latest in proprietary chemical technologies.

Over the past three years we’ve been offering Motul’s motor oils in the Clickable store, receiving nothing but the highest praise from our customers and in-turn creating a loyal fan base of BMW owners in Australia. Add to that the fact that we’ve been using synthetic Motul oils in our own personal fleet of cars for years now, giving us a full appreciation of their products. The practical knowledge we’ve gained simply confirms what the literature says: that Motul’s synthetic fluids are quite simply the best around. We invite you to try Motul’s 8100 X-power 10w60 in your own M car and let us know your feedback.

If you have any questions about the Motul 8100 X-power, or would like to find out what is the right oil to use in your car, please contact us by clicking here.

Available in 5L bottles for $99

Also available in 1L bottles for $25

We recently celebrated our fifth birthday, so we really wanted to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their continued support during our first five years of trading.

Clickable launched in late 2011 from a small distribution warehouse in Port Melbourne with the clear vision to be the store we wanted to buy from, with quality parts, worldwide-competitive pricing, and being the easiest online store to use. We may have started small, but we’ve just moved into our third warehouse in preparation for our biggest period of expansion since we first opened. 2017 will be the year our customers see more parts they need, better stock availability, and an overall more refined experience.

We’re extremely thankful for the incredible support we receive from our customers. It means so much to us that we have thousands of customers from around Australia who come to Clickable first and recommend us to their friends and family.

So, to you, we wanted to say thanks. We will continue to improve and expand and strive to be not only the best in our industry, but the best in any industry. Everything we do is for our customers, because you are the reason we exist. The next five years is going to be a very exciting time for us here.

Clickable will be despatching orders received upto 12pm on Friday the 23rd of December. Any orders received after this point will be shipped from Tuesday the 3rd of January, 2017 when we reopen. As most services we rely on are operating at reduced capacity during the week between Christmas and New Years, we’ll be taking a little break during that time.

Please be aware that as we approach the Christmas period, postal packages will generally take longer to arrive. If at all possible, we ask our customers to plan ahead and order earlier than usual to ensure everything arrives in time. If you do require a part urgently or before a certain date, we encourage you to email us so we can advise of the best way to make that happen.

As always, we will be monitoring emails over the break. The online store will also continue to operate during this period with stock being automatically allocated to customers as they order. If you're needing to receive your parts early in the new year, we're encouraging all customers to get their orders in as soon as they're able to. Please note that our phones will not be answered during this time. We hope you enjoy your holidays. Drive safe, and we’ll see you in 2017!

Update: Congratulations to Michael P for winning the competition!

Clickable is giving away an Autoglym Prize Pack to one lucky person this Christmas! As a big thank-you to our amazingly loyal customers for an incredible 2016, the Clickable Christmas Giveaway is happening once again. The Autoglym Prize Pack includes Leather Cleaner, Vinyl & Rubber Care, Interior Shampoo, Fast Glass, and a special limited edition Autoglym carry bag! That’s $101 worth of Autoglym products!

To enter, simply post a photo of your car on Instagram, tag two of your car enthusiast friends, and follow the @clickableautomotive Instagram account! Be sure to include the hashtags #clickableautomotive #autoglym #australia and you’ll be in the running to win the Autoglym Prize Pack!

The competition will run until 12pm this Friday the 23rd of December 2016. The winner will be announced via Instagram, Facebook, and the Clickable website, and will have their entry re-posted for all to enjoy. Best of luck to everyone!

It’s been some time since our last progress update, so we thought we would give our customers an insight into everything that’s been happening at Clickable HQ recently. It’s been an incredibly busy period for us, with a number of product ranges expanding significantly over the past six months. We now carry a near-complete range of Continental drive belts for BMW models from the early 1980s, which is a big deal for those trying to source rare V-belts for their older cars. These Contitech belts are considered the best in the industry, and are original equipment as fitted by BMW. If there’s a belt you need that you can’t see on the website, please get in touch and we’ll see if it’s something we can help with.

As you may have seen, we’ve also introduced a brand new range of performance coilovers and lowering springs from AP Sport Suspension. It’s really exciting for us to be given the opportunity to introduce a new product range to the Australian BMW community, particularly one with perfectly engineered damping rates, German build quality, and exceptional prices. The AP products are proof that you don’t have to spend the world to get a fantastic suspension set-up for your BMW. It’s still early days, but so far their products have been a resounding success among our customer base, and the feedback we’re receiving has been overwhelmingly positive. Late last year we had the AP Coilovers installed on Project 46, and we couldn’t be happier with how the car is riding and handling now. We’ll be publishing our own in-depth thoughts on the coilovers in a future blog post.

We’re quickly approaching our fifth birthday which is a pretty big milestone for us, so we wanted to say a big thanks for your ongoing support. Quality parts, reasonable prices, and proper customer service remain at the core of everything we do. In many ways it’s still an uphill battle to create our vision for how a worldwide competitive business exists within Australia, but we’re proud to say we’ve made a noticeable impact on the local aftermarket parts industry, trailblazing a path in automotive ecommerce and helping thousands of customers keep their BMWs on the road for less. We’re also acutely aware of our competitors, both local and overseas, who have grown far too quickly for their own good and are now suffering a lot of negative criticism because of it. We haven’t got everything 100% perfect just yet, but there’s always a huge amount of work being done behind-the-scenes to improve things for our customers -- and from the position we’re in now, the future is very exciting.

Our sales continue to grow and exceed our projections as more BMW owners learn about what we do here, which means we’re continuing to encounter stock issues. We wanted to apologise to any of our customers who have been inconvenienced. In an effort to fix these issues, in the near future we’ll be moving into a much bigger warehouse that will allow us to keep more stock on-hand. We’ll be posting an introduction to the new digs once we’re settled, but needless to say we’re very excited about the upcoming move.

As always, we have lots of really cool things in the works for the second half of 2016 and early next year, so please head to Facebook and give us a ‘like’ to be the first to know. Or if you’re on Instagram, follow us here for a behind-the-scenes look into Clickable Automotive.

We’re very pleased to announce that Clickable now stocks AP Sport Suspension products for popular BMW models.

As we’ve said before, we’re steadfast in our belief that owning a BMW shouldn’t mean paying a premium for maintenance, and that goes for performance upgrades too. Equally, there’s no reason why sensible prices must mean a poor standard of quality. We feel our job is to seek out and cherry-pick the very best quality products available in the world today, which is why we’ve chosen to offer AP Sport Suspension coilovers and lowering springs.

In late 2015 we air freighted a set of AP Coilovers in from Germany and had them fitted to Project 46, our E46 330Ci M Sport. We’ll be publishing a blog post in the following days that will go into the upgrade in a little more detail, but needless to say the results far exceeded our expectations. For what is marketed as an entry-level coilover package, the APs displayed a very high level of detail in their manufacturing, which translated to its on-road characteristics. There’s clearly been a lot of considered thought that’s gone into the engineering of these coilovers during the development phase. We’re not really meant to go into any detail, but the real reason is because the AP Coilovers are actually just rebranded and repackaged coilovers from one of the most well regarded German coilover manufacturers. In different colours, these coilover kits normally cost twice as much.

AP Coilover kits allow the driver to adjust the height of the car to their own personal preferences, all while leaning on the experience and expertise of the development engineers in Germany. As the damping rates are pre-set for the perfect ride/handling combination on each BMW, all of the guesswork is taken out of the equation. Each coilover features progressive chrome silicon steel springs, pre-load springs (on some variants), adjustable anodised spring perches, hardened chrome piston rods, and corrosion-resistant galvanized bodies. Unlike many cheaper alternatives, these aren’t just an off-the-shelf threaded universal damper and spring combination.

If you’re the type that enjoys a bit of geeky detail, read on. AP’s range of lowering springs are manufactured from cold wound, heat treated chrome silicon steel. It combines exceptional resilience with high tensile strength, allowing the springs to withstand rapid and repeated shocks over a long period of time without their performance diminishing. The progressive spring design means a more supple ride over road undulations, yet body roll is reduced through cornering. Coupled with an attractive blue powder coating, these AP Lowering Springs are equal in quality to springs you would expect to find from other German suspension makers.

Each set of AP Coilovers and Lowering Springs come complete with a TÜV certificate. TÜV are a German organisation that validates the safety and quality of aftermarket vehicle performance parts. Click here to check out the AP Coilovers for your BMW, and here for AP Lowering Springs. If you have any questions regarding the AP Sport Suspension products, please call us on 1300 739 311 or email us here.

We’re very pleased to announce that we’ve just restocked our entire range of Zimmermann brakes, IPD wheel bearings, and HEPU water pumps. 

One item we’ve been out of stock of for a while now has been the electric water pump for the N54 engine, most notably found in the popular 135i and 335i models. We’ve had these water pumps on backorder for some time, but sadly due to the high failure rate globally, production allocation has been struggling to keep up with demand. These particular water pumps are actually manufactured by Continental in Germany, who are the original equipment supplier to BMW, but are repackaged as a HEPU product which allows us to offer them at a fraction of the dealership price. All electric water pumps we offer now come with the single-use aluminium bolts included.

Although we do our best to avoid pricing changes when possible, we’ve unfortunately had to pass on some modest pricing increases on a few products we offer. As always, our commitment to provide the best quality parts available at the best possible prices remains steadfast. 

It’s been a particularly busy first quarter for us here at Clickable, but we have some very exciting announcements coming in the next weeks and months, so be sure to head over to our Facebook page to be the first to know. If you ever have questions about anything, we encourage you to drop us an email at hello@clickableautomotive.com.au. 

We’re thrilled to announce that we will soon be offering German-made AP Coilover kits and lowering springs for a number of popular BMW models.

For some time now we’ve felt there’s been a hole in our catalogue for our customers who were wanting to upgrade their suspension to coilovers for a reasonable cost. As driving enthusiasts ourselves, we’ve spent a long time searching a company that produces high quality, well priced coilovers with an emphasis on ride and handling, all while allowing the owner to lower the car to their own personal preference. 

A few months ago we air freighted a set of AP Coilovers into Australia and had them fitted to our very own E46 330Ci, which we’ve been rigorously testing ever since. Everyone here at Clickable has been thoroughly impressed with the ride and handling capabilities of the suspension, leading to our decision to introduce the line of AP Coilovers to the Clickable webstore. We’ll be bringing our own first-hand account in a future Project 46 blog post.

Along with their coilovers, we’ll also be offering a full range of German-made AP lowering springs for BMWs. Just like their coilovers, these AP lowering springs are designed to improve driving dynamics without impacting passenger comfort. We’ll be bringing you more on the range of lowering springs soon.

We’re really excited to be bringing our customers AP Coilovers and lowering springs and introducing the Australian BMW market to this high quality German brand. Our first shipment will only have a limited number of sets, so if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your suspension, we encourage you to register your interest here. We’ll be releasing information including launch dates and special promotions for the AP range in the coming weeks, so be sure to either register your interest or keep an eye on our Facebook page.

Congratulations to Mel L from Darwin who has won our Christmas Giveaway for 2015!

Mel’s order was randomly drawn from dozens of customers that purchased Motul products for their BMWs over the past month. He’ll be receiving a set of brand-new Motul mechanic's overalls in the coming days.

We wanted to say thank you to everyone that entered the competition, as well as a big thanks to our friends at Motul Australia for their excellent products and continued support.

We wish the entire Clickable community a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. See you in 2016! 

As a thank-you to our amazingly loyal customers for another great year, our Clickable Christmas Giveaway is in full swing once again. For one lucky customer, we've got a set of super rare Motul mechanic's overalls valued at $150. The denim overalls have been designed to look just like the racing suits used in the top tiers of motorsports, but will ensure you keep your clothes nice and clean when working on your BMW.

To enter, simply purchase any Motul product from the Clickable Automotive website before midnight on December 20th! Every purchase of our oil change kits will receive a free Motul lanyard, and every purchase of our service kits will also get a free Motul baseball cap!

We owe a big thanks to our friends over at Motul Australia for their ongoing support and for providing the goodies for this competition. Be sure to like their Facebook page here to get all the latest product announcements and motorsport news.

We also owe you, our customers, our sincere gratitude. It's been a really big year for us, and we couldn't do it without your support. It's going to be an ever bigger 2016 as we continue to grow Clickable. We're committed listening to what it is you want and need to keep your BMWs maintained. Stay tuned to our Facebook page as we make announcements, and have a safe and happy Christmas. Best of luck!

Clickable will be unable to ship orders received after 12pm on Thursday the 24th of December until we recommence shipping on Monday the 4th of January, 2016.

As most services we rely on are working at reduced capacity during the three days over that period (that aren’t public holidays or weekends), we’ll be going on a little break and closing Clickable during that time.

Please be aware that as we approach the Christmas period, postal packages will generally take longer to arrive. If at all possible, we ask our customers to plan ahead and order earlier than usual to ensure everything arrives in time. Although we do our best to get all orders out the door, the first day back from the Christmas break is by far our busiest day of the year, so we cannot guarantee all orders received will be dispatched that day. If you do require a part urgently or before a certain date, we encourage you to email us so we can advise of the best way to make that happen.

As always, we will be monitoring emails over the break, and the online store will continue to take orders. Please note that our phones will not be answered during this time. We hope you enjoy your holidays. Drive safe, and we’ll see you in 2016!

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. You can find the previous instalments here: Introduction, Idle Issues, Control, Housing Crisis, Tyred & Tested, Tuned, Facelift Part 1.

It’s been some time since our last update, which was the first part of our Project 46 facelift. As we said then, the 330Ci M Sport is a beautifully designed car and tends to invite compliments wherever it goes, particularly so after the wheels were refurbished. But the body was not perfect, and we tended to notice the imperfections and attempted touch-ups by previous owners whenever it was clean and parked in the sun.

We decided to get in touch with some body repair shops about fixing the exterior issues. One workshop we spoke to specialised in very high-end marques, and although we’re sure the work would have been exceptional, the quote was significantly more than what we had budgeted for for some fairly minor work. Another smash repairer we spoke to had a good reputation and quoted a reasonable price, so the decision was made to book in the 330Ci with them. The work itself took a little over a week to complete, and we became really excited to see how the car would turn out.

Approaching the car in the bright sun, our black 2003 BMW E46 330Ci looked stunning. A massive improvement, with the stone-chipped and rashed front spoiler, dinged bonnet, and scratched rear bumper all repaired and repainted in the original metallic Sapphire Black. The front bumper grille and badge were also replaced with brand-new parts as the car had originally come to us with a cheap aftermarket roundel, and the plastic grille had faded to grey and suffered some broken spokes over the years.

Unfortunately when we were up close, the quality of work started to become more obvious. Besides some wet sanding marks and grit in the paint, someone had left remnants of dried polish on parts of the body. After we pointed it out, a dirty rag was used to quickly polish the areas clean, scratching the new and soft paint in the process. For most people picking up their family car after a bingle, the work would have been perfectly fine, but as a restoration job it lacked a little attention-to-detail. Better than it was, not as good as it could have been. Maybe we under-emphasised our expectations, or maybe we over-emphasised our budget. Maybe the reality is you just need to spend twice as much to get that little bit more.

We weren’t unhappy with the results, but we weren’t exactly jumping on the phone to book the car into the next concourse event. More concerning for us however was after we jumped back in the 330Ci, we were astonished and disappointed to discover the handbrake cable had been stretched significantly. Having being young once upon a time, we know the likely scenario of how that came to happen.

Shortly after the body repairs were completed, the car was given its first official roadtrip to Byron Bay. We were lucky enough to drive the 330 through some absolutely spectacular roads in the backcountry of New South Wales which made us fall in love with the car all over again (with our thanks to a bad GPS route). Each step of Project 46 has been small, but it’s all added up to a vehicle that is far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s an incredibly capable tourer, with enough power, agility, comfort, and safety to allow the driver to sit back and enjoy the roads and the scenery, yet it’s equally capable as a town runabout. The E46 is not without its flaws, but when it is working well it’s a beautiful machine. Truly, one of BMW’s best.

In the months since, we didn’t really touch the car except for running local errands around Melbourne. Recently though we noticed the E46 began to increase its coolant consumption, with drips forming on the ground after the car had being driven at temperature. The leak appeared to be coming from the thermostat housing, so we put aside a Saturday and swapped the part over with our one of our Wahler units. We then noticed another coolant weep as we were under the car, so we swapped out the faulty lower radiator hose with a new one from Vaico. As we were bleeding the air from the system, we accidentally snapped the plastic bleed screw in the top radiator hose. It’s a pretty common thing to happen with those older plastic bleed screws, so we changed out the top radiator hose with another Vaico item which includes a brand-new screw. Although there was likely nothing wrong with the old expansion tank cap, they play an important role in regulating pressure and reducing the chances of a hose blowing out if the motor is low on coolant. For peace-of-mind we swapped it for a new Behr-Hella cap, and with that same thinking we also replaced the fan switch which has a tendency to fail without notice.

But then as we were bleeding the air from the cooling system (again), we noticed the main drive belt was not spinning true, and a quick inspection revealed that the plastic power steering pulley had cracked. An unbalanced pulley can quickly destroy the internal bearings within a pump, so we grabbed one of our replacement aluminium power steering pulleys from URO. When we were bolting it on we discovered that the centre hole in the pulley was slightly too small, so we spent a few minutes with a file to allow a better fit. The aluminium pulleys don’t suffer from the same sort of ageing problems of the original plastic versions, so this one should really last the life of the car.

Earlier this year Motul released a new motor oil product that is designed to be a road-oriented version of their flagship 300V range, which in itself has a huge motorsports following across the globe. The 100% synthetic Motul Sport 5w40 is designed for high performance turbo vehicles, and we believe it would be a good fit for owners of 135i & 335i models, particularly for those who have modified their engines for more power. We’ve been running Motul’s 8100 X-cess 5w40 in the 330Ci religiously, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to test out the new Sport 5w40 and see how it performs on a naturally aspirated straight six. Along with the new oil, of course a MANN oil filter was replaced, and we put in a new MANN air filter too.

Like any project car, there’s still a ways to go before our 330Ci is finished, but we’re getting there with each step. Including the non-essential repairs we’ve spent $6,000 since Project 46 was purchased a year ago, but it’s beginning to feel a lot more like the $100,000 car that was driven away from the dealership in 2003. When we’re finished, we’re confident we’ll have one of the nicest examples of an E46 in country.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Thermostat - $75
Upper Radiator Hose - $35
Lower Radiator Hose - $40
Aluminium Power Steering Pulley - $29
Expansion Tank Cap - $15
Fan Switch - $20
Oil Filter - $10
Air Filter - $15
Total Cost of Repairs: $2744

New Non-Essentials:
Body Repairs - $900
Total Cost of Additions: $3297

Total Cost To Date: $6041

It’s been some time since we played with Project 46, our black E46 330Ci M Sport project car, so we thought we would fill the void and bring you something a little different this time. It’s no secret that we’re pretty big BMW enthusiasts, and that definitely includes some of the older and lesser-known models. One such BMW is the E34 535i, which is a bit of an underrated driver’s car in our opinion. By today’s standards it’s not at all that fast, but in late 1988 it was certainly well beyond its time, being one of the quickest and most luxurious sedans available anywhere in the world.

At the time reviewers commented on the excellent build quality, comfortable ride, and beautiful handling of the 535i. Its only real downfall was the recirculating ball steering, providing lacklustre feel and weight to the driver. These days, that poor steering response is only exacerbated by old and loose suspension components. Considering most E34s still on the road now have quite high mileage, it’s very common to find the bushings and ball joints in the front of these cars have completely worn out. This can lead to a significant amount of steering play, along with shudders, shimmies, and all manner of odd reactions when the car travels on our typically poor Australian roads.

In late 2014 we travelled to Frankfurt, Germany to visit a number of our current suppliers, as well as seeking out some new relationships. One range of suspension components we were particularly impressed with was Bendix by Honeywell. Most people in Australia know Bendix for their range of brakes, but it's worth mentioning that the Bendix branding has nothing to do with the brake company, other than a licensing agreement. The parts are actually made by another very well known suspension manufacturer and simply packaged as a Bendix part by Honeywell.

Over the past six months, we’ve been trialling Bendix suspension to see whether it’s something we want to add permanently to the Clickable store. We continue to be impressed with the quality and value of the parts, but we’re not yet certain if there is a place for Bendix suspension parts in the local BMW community. We’re looking forward to receiving feedback from our customers who have fitted these parts before we make a decision on its future.

One of our mantras here at Clickable Automotive is that we will only ever offer parts that we would be happy to fit to our own BMWs. With the steering and suspension of my personal E34 535i gradually worsening, it seemed like a good time for a major front-end freshen up, as well as taking the opportunity to upgrade a few components to compliment the Bilstein B6 shocks previously fitted to the car.

With the steering and front suspension components dropped out of the 535i, we discovered the car had already been fitted with polyurethane bushes in the upper control arms. Poly bushes are an attractive modification as they are generally cheap and offer good longevity, as well as improving handling and feedback. Although suspension is entirely subjective, when poly bushes are fitted to the upper control arms (especially those that take much of the brunt from potholes as they do in the E34), they can change the character of the car dramatically. As well as detracting from ride comfort, these hard bushes would have transferred greater stresses onto other suspension components, amplifying the rate of wear and generally making the problems worse. This was particularly evident on the tie rod ball joints, which were well overdue to be replaced.

A brand-new Bendix centre steering rod (drag link), Bendix tie rods, and a Meyle idler arm were all bolted together and lifted into the car and reattached to the pitman arm, along with Bendix sway bar links. Rather than going for standard control arms, we decided to borrow some upgrades from BMW’s own engineering department. The new Febi-Bilstein upper control arms had E32 750iL bushes pressed in, which use a harder rubber compound than the originals, improving the 535’s handling while still maintaining its trademark BMW ride (or in this case, restoring it).

For the lower control arms, it was an easy choice to go with the E31 8 Series versions which are an improvement in every way. Firstly, these are fully aluminium, providing half a kilo of (unsprung) weight saving over the original steel arms, which contributes to improved ride, handling, and braking. The E31 arms also have spherical bearings in place of the rubber bush, allowing almost zero movement -- even less than polyurethane bushings. However, unlike the poly bushings removed earlier, these bearings are mounted ahead of the front wheels and don’t take the full impact force over bumps, simply improving feedback and steering without disrupting the ride comfort. Finally, the ball joints in the arms are designed to be used with the heavier V12 motor of the 850CSi, so they’re a lot stiffer than the original ball joints that came on the E34. A big plus with these upgrades is that they bolt straight in without any modifications, utilising the original suspension geometry. But the best thing is that these parts were originally designed and tested by BMW and released on their flagship models.

When bolting in the control arms, the suspension was placed under load before the nuts were tightened to ensure the stress transferred from the road is directed through the rubber bush correctly (though it wasn’t necessary for the spherical bearing of the lower control arms). One way to achieve this is by driving the car up onto ramps so you can still get access to the underside.

We took our time doing this job, removing the old components over the course of a lazy Saturday and fitting the fresh parts on an equally lazy Sunday. Anyone with the right tools and basic mechanical knowledge could finish the job on their own in a day, though it’s worth mentioning that the car will need a professional laser wheel alignment after it’s been finished.

With the entire front-end back together, we hit the road in the 535i and discovered the car had been completely and utterly transformed. Steering went from a significant amount of slop between 10 and 2, to fairly minor play between 11:45 and 12:15 (the usual amount for an old recirculating ball). The heavy-duty ball joints in the E31 control arms combined with the brand new steering components have significantly improved the weight and feedback through the steering wheel. This now allows the car to be placed far more accurately on the road, particularly when pitching it into a corner and following an apex. Despite pads and rotors that are about due to be replaced, braking performance was still improved noticeably as the suspension was no longer taking the slack at initial bite. The car also thankfully became less harsh with the new bushes installed, with no discernible difference in handling. Coupled with the Bilstein B6s, the front end now steers and handles better than it ever did from the factory, but still retains its quintessentially BMW ride. Despite the steering remaining the weakest part in the car, replacing all of the components has improved it dramatically. The front-end refresh has breathed new life into the beloved E34, making the car both a lot safer and a lot more enjoyable to drive.

New Mechanical Repairs: 
Front Upper Control Arm - Left - $75 
Front Upper Control Arm - Right - $75 
Sway Bar Link - Front - $25 x2 
Front Centre Rod Assembly - $89 
Aluminum Front Lower Control Arm - Left - $199 
Aluminum Front Lower Control Arm - Right - $199 
Tie Rod Assembly - Front - $39 x2 
Idler Arm - $29 
Total Cost of Repairs: $794

It’s been a little bit quiet on the Clickable blog recently, but that’s because we’ve been completely focused on developing our latest major website upgrade. You might not notice any visual differences at a quick glance, but there are two significant changes that will make finding the right parts for your vehicle much, much easier.

Our redeveloped ‘Quick Finder’ system now allows you to enter in the exact model of your BMW, filtering out irrelevant parts that don’t fit, as well as displaying customised messages that are tailored to your specific car (so if you’re buying for more than one car, just be sure to re-enter the details of the second model into the ‘Quick Finder’ box to confirm suitability!). These messages contain targeted fitment information such as compatible date ranges, transmissions, and body styles, all in a succinct and easy-to-understand format.

This update is something that we’ve wanted to do for some time, and we were in a good position a few months ago to begin the project and dedicate proper resources to it. It’s taken hundreds of man hours to get this point, with over 700 parts on the website being individually researched and cross-referenced to ensure the most accurate information is being provided to our customers. Some people don’t realise, but BMW almost always change and redesign parts throughout the life of a model, and often on completely random dates. Parts can also change according to country -- particularly with Australia, as we’re a ‘hot climate’ country with right-hand-drive vehicles -- so figuring out the correct fitting information meant independently verifying the data for every single part that we stock. As many parts are unique to Australia, you may notice that we recommend different parts to those that are offered by other online stores based overseas.

We’re really proud of the new update, and we believe we have now developed the most accurate parts fitment guide in Australia, second only to BMW themselves. But despite our best efforts, there will of course be things we’ve missed and mistakes we’ve made, so we really appreciate the help and understanding from our customers in this early stage of implementation. As we always say though, if you own a personally imported BMW or you’re ever unsure about the build date of your model, feel free to email us your VIN and we’ll be more than happy to confirm everything on your behalf.

As well as the upgrade to the ‘Quick Finder’ system, we’ve also introduced a mobile-friendly, responsive update to the website. This now makes navigating the Clickable store on a smartphone or tablet much better than it’s ever been. These are just two steps that we’ve delivered as we actively try to improve the experience that our customers have with Clickable Automotive at every level.

One of the more noticeable things with the new ‘Quick Finder’ system in place is how it highlights some of the limits within our catalogue. There are three main reasons for this: firstly, our focus is on mechanical maintenance parts, so we don’t offer things like interior or exterior trims, or performance parts. The second is that the store no longer displays irrelevant parts that simply don’t fit the model that’s been selected. Finally, and most importantly, we almost never offer more than one option for a part. We see it as our job to seek out the highest quality aftermarket parts for the best prices we can offer, so we don’t really understand the point of offering poor quality products or overly expensive products as alternatives that nobody wants. Our entire range is curated so that every part is as good as or better than what was fitted by BMW at the factory, and the guess work is taken out of it for our customers when it comes time to buy.

In the past we’ve written in-depth about our stock shortages, explaining the reality behind these gaps and how we’ve been working hard to resolve them. We feel we’re doing a better job at reducing these shortfalls in terms of both number of products that are out of stock, as well as the length of time that they’re unavailable. But there’s still a lot of room for improvement, and we acknowledge that. We don’t want to appear to be making excuses, however we do like to give our customers some behind-the-scenes insight into Clickable. And one of the reasons we haven’t been able to resolve the stock shortage issue completely is because sales continue to exceed our own expectations, even with projected growth accounted for. As far as problems go, this is one of the better ones to have, and we’re humbled and excited that more and more people are trusting us to look after their BMWs.

Accurately forecasting sales is made more difficult due to the fact that a significant proportion of our stock arrives to us via sea, so any purchasing decisions must be made around six months in advance. Air freighting in smaller shipments to cover the shortfall is an option that is available to us, but it’s an expensive option, and the truth is that the margins just aren’t enough for us to be able to consider it in most cases. We really want to avoid raising our prices whenever possible, so that means working to find the right rhythm to meet the demand from our customers.

It’s worth noting that since we first launched in 2011, we’ve avoided making across-the-board price increases on our product range, even with the Australian dollar working against us. The reality is that these stock shortages will unfortunately continue in the short-term, but the long-term advantage is that we’ll have a larger and better product range and it will allow us to uphold our current pricing structure for the foreseeable future.

However, even as we attempt to increase our stock levels, another significant factor continues to be that our suppliers simply cannot keep up with demand. None of these are issues that can be fixed overnight, but things are constantly improving, and we’re grateful for the patience and understanding from our community as we sort through them. Our goal has always been to create the type of online parts store that we would want to buy from, stocked only with parts that we would be comfortable fitting to our own BMWs, and that continues to be our motivation.

If you have any comments about the new ‘Quick Finder’ system or the changes to the mobile-friendly functionality, please drop us an email to hello@clickableautomotive.com.au.

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series, here for part two, here for part three, here for part four, here for part five, and here for the last instalment.

We’ve gone on about this in previous articles on Project 46, but we think our 330Ci M Sport is a pretty good looking thing straight out of the box. The black-on-black colour combo, coupled with the shadowline trim around the windows, the subtle M Sport bodykit, and the beautiful Style 135 wheels all work together perfectly with the lines of the E46.

But one thing that’s annoyed us since we got the car has been the wear and tear on the exterior. Owning and using a car means that scratches and dings will happen from time-to-time, no matter how careful you are. And although the previous owners did an okay job of looking after the car, there are areas that show its age and really take away from the overall aesthetic of the vehicle. Predictably, the rear front and rear bumpers suffered from scratches, gashes, paint chips, the bonnet has minor dings, and the wheels had the usual gutter-rash.

The ethos of Project 46 has always been to update it with the best available parts. Sometimes that means fitting parts that are of equal quality to those fitted from the factory, and sometimes that means upgrading parts that make the car better. Subtle upgrades that all work together to make one of the best all-rounders on the road.

We got in touch with Alex from Advanced Alloy Wheels Repairs in Moorabbin to see what they could do with the scuffed alloys on the 330Ci. Every wheel on the car had gutter-rash that stuck out like a sore thumb whenever they were cleaned. Alex arranged for the loose wheels to be picked-up from our warehouse, and we asked him if it would be possible to paint them in a darker metallic grey, matching the colour of the wheels that come standard on the BMW F20 M135i. Advanced can repaint wheels in almost any colour for no extra, and we thought the darker grey colour would change the tone of the vehicle slightly, without ruining that original, factory look that we love so much.

Three days later the wheels were dropped back to us, and we couldn’t believe the difference. The team at Advanced absolutely nailed the job, fixing the wheels to be as good as new, and finding the perfect paint to match our request. We couldn’t be happier with the results.

Although the E46 is a great all-rounder, it does tend to lack a bit of storage practicality. So a couple of months ago we began our search to find a towbar package that doesn’t require a lot of modifications and will be virtually invisible when not being used (which is most of the time). As we discovered though, the vast majority of aftermarket tow kits out there require a big ugly hole to be cut into the middle of the M-Sport bumper. There’s no point in making the car look good if you’re just going go and cut up the panels. Although, if you don’t have the M-Sport kit on your E46, the search for a tow kit is a bit easier.

Eventually we came across the Bosal vertical detachable towbar for the E46, which uses a U-shaped tongue and ball that lifts into the mount from below. Unfortunately the tow kit is not available to buy in Australia just at the moment. Although a more expensive option, it was a small price to pay to import the kit from the UK, rather than buying a kit locally that we think would have a negative impact on the car’s looks. In other words, all of the other tow kits we found locally just looked a bit crap.

With the rear bumper removed, the Bosal kit bolted to the chassis and replaced the normal bumper shocks. There was a small amount of cutting to be done with a Dremel tool, but that was on the underside of the bumper, meaning the modification cannot be easily seen unless you’re underneath the car. By far the most difficult part of the installation was the wiring. The kit itself is designed to plug directly into the electronics on the 330Ci, but the wiring must be routed to the front of the cabin, past the headlight switch, and into the fuse box behind the glovebox. One long Saturday, a lot of patience, and one broken interior trim piece later, and the kit was fully installed.

Probably our biggest complaint is that the safety chain coupling is a little fiddly to get to, but it’s a small compromise for what is actually a brilliantly engineered tow kit. The extra cost that was spent bringing it over from the UK will be easily recovered when the car is eventually sold, as it’s made the vehicle significantly more practical, but still retains its factory look. We’ve already used it to clear a trailer-load of pallets from the warehouse and it performed just as well as we’d hoped. The indicators do have an erratic flash when a trailer with LED lights is used, but we suspect the trailer itself needs some resistors soldered into the wiring loom. If you’re considering bringing in a tow kit from overseas, please check to see if it complies with local regulations and design rules.

Recently we also put in a call to our friends down at Brighton BMW. A little while ago BMW issued a voluntary recall notice for the passenger-side airbags in E46 3 Series models. Though they apparently haven’t had any incidents of airbags malfunctioning in E46s, BMW announced a global recall purely as a precaution. We booked the car in and took it down to Brighton BMW, where they replaced the potentially hazardous air bag for us at no charge. If you own an E46, we recommend checking with your local dealership about the recall notice.

Now the car is safer, more practical, and looks better than it ever has. If you’re in Melbourne and want to get your alloys refurbished, call Advanced Alloy Wheel Repairs on 03 9555 6893 and mention that you’re a Clickable customer for a very generous 20% off* the retail rate. Or head over to their Facebook page to see some of the wheels they’re working on: https://www.facebook.com/advancedalloys

*Advanced Alloy Wheel Repairs reserve their right to change or cancel the offer at any time.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Airbag Recall - $0
Total Cost of Repairs: $2505

New Non-Essentials:
Refurbished Alloy Wheels - $840
Bosal Detachable Towbar - $950
Total Cost of Additions: $2397

Total Cost To Date: $4928

For those that have been waiting patiently, we’re very pleased to announce that we’ve just restocked our range of Zimmermann brakes across all models, and have added a few more too. Click here to find the brakes for your BMW.

We’ve regrettably been out of stock of many of our most popular brake parts for some time now, and we’ve been working through a number of supplier issues through the later part of 2014 to correct this. This latest shipment should mark the end of the majority of stock issues for brakes, and we should now have the supply to meet the demand.

We wanted to apologise to customers who have been inconvenienced as a result of these issues, but we also wanted to thank the Clickable community for their patience and on-going support. Over the coming months we’re also expecting a number of new shipments to arrive which will restock some different product ranges, as well as helping us to expand to cover more models of BMWs.

We also wanted to give a bit of insight into what we’ve been up-to at Clickable HQ. Recently we’ve had a number of discussions with manufacturers about how unsustainable the current distribution model is in Australia for automotive parts. Unfortunately most companies view the Australian market as very small, but we’re doing our best to explain that the vast majority of BMW enthusiasts (of which there are many) buy from overseas due to the uncompetitive nature of the local industry. This artificially skews the numbers and makes our market seem insignificant. It’s an uphill battle at every level, but we’ll be continuing our efforts to bring the best quality parts to our local market. It’s only because of the support of our community that allows us to advocate on your behalf.

We’re often asked about whether we’ll be stocking a certain brand or another (especially when it comes to performance parts). It’s an unfortunate truth, but most of the popular brands that owners want to fit to their BMWs are controlled by distributors in the region. Most people don’t realise, but these distributors usually on-sell to other parts suppliers, who then on-sell to retailers and mechanics. At each step there’s generally a pretty significant margin added, which goes some way to explain why most parts that are sold in Australia are so much more expensive than those found overseas. It also means that in order for us to offer parts at reasonable prices, we’re forced to buy a significant proportion of our parts in from other countries and side-step the middlemen. This of course means that if we happen to sell-out of an item (which can happen as our prices are so much cheaper), it can take months before we’re able to restock. It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation for us, but we’re doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to try and predict local demand so that we can eliminate or minimise the stock gaps the future.

We’ll be keeping you updated as these shipments arrive. If you haven’t already, please head over to our Facebook page and give us a ‘like’ so you can see the latest news as it arrives. As always, any questions about anything at all, please send us an email to hello@clickableautomotive.com.au.

Having a good quality product at a good price is one thing, but making sure it gets to our customers safely and quickly is another. One of the main reasons we choose Australia Post is because the service they offer is flexible and convenient for the vast majority of our customers across the country, and fewer parcels go missing. Their systems are, for the most part, reliable and quick, which is an important consideration when trying to streamline the warehouse side of Clickable. The more efficient we are, the more orders we can get out the door every day.

Recently AusPost introduced a few more services that we think could be of some interest to the Clickable community. One of the biggest announcements has been MyPost, which allows recipients to change the delivery address of a parcel online, even after it’s already been picked up from the sender (that would be us!). For a small fee, you can also nominate the exact time and place for delivery, which we know will be a welcome feature for many of our customers who need to plan their busy days. Having a MyPost card also allows for quick pick-ups at post offices if you happen to miss the initial delivery.

But if you don’t like post offices, there’s another option for you now, too. If you haven’t noticed them popping up around the place, Australia Post have begun introducing their 24/7 Parcel Lockers. These self-service lockers allow you to pick up your package at any time that suits you, day or night. The best part is that they’re completely free (and should have shorter lines than at your local post office!). We’ve mainly seen them being introduced at 7-Eleven petrol stations, so keep an eye out in your area over the coming months.

Australia Post are also trialling options for Saturday deliveries for intrastate Express Post parcels, which we’ll be keeping an eye on. As we mentioned a little while back, we’re in the middle of conducting a review of our shipping policies, but it may be an option in the future for our customers in Victoria to receive packages on Saturdays.

Of course, there are always going to be some hiccups from time-to-time, but we’ll always do our best to try to ensure the inconvenience to our customers is kept to a minimum (especially if the part is keeping the car off the road). With such an expansive organisation as Australia Post, customers' experiences will also vary greatly based on the area they’re in. But our general feeling is that Australia Post are able to deliver the best courier service for our customers across the country at this point in time.  

If you want any more information on the above, head to the Australia Post website. And if you have any questions or feedback about our shipping, please feel free to email us at hello@clickableautomotive.com.au.

We’ve always been very fortunate to have customers willing to share their buying experience with others. We thought it was worth taking a moment to say how appreciative we are of everyone who has gone to the effort of writing a product review (or those who have posted elsewhere across the internet about our store). It has really helped us to find new customers and get the word out about Clickable.

A very basic review system was added to our website shortly after launching Clickable. It wasn’t the most intuitive or easy to use system, but it allowed customers a quick way of sharing what they did or didn’t like about our products, helping others to make a more informed decision. Of course, it also gave us some insight into where we needed to improve, as well as what we were doing right. Over time we’ve developed the review system to be a little more sophisticated and easier to read.

We recognised early on that we needed to give something back to everyone that has taken the time to write an informative review of a product they’ve purchased and their experience with us. For a while now we’ve been running a promotion where you can receive free shipping on your next order over $100 for any review submitted to our website, and you only need to be a registered Clickable customer.

Product reviews are really important. One of the main concerns we find potential customers have is whether the parts we offer are of the quality they expect. Some people equate cheap prices with poor quality, but that isn’t the case with our products. Our priority is ensuring that everything we offer is of the highest quality, but we also try to keep our pricing reasonable too. Most Australian businesses don’t work that way, so it’s easy to understand the apprehension that’s felt when people first come across the Clickable store.

Thankfully, in the four years we’ve been around and of the thousands of parts we’ve sold, we’ve only had one part that has ever experienced a common fault. The reason we’ve had such a good run is because we take the time to carefully curate the parts that we sell. We simply refuse to sell products that do not meet our high standards of quality. Our customers have recognised this, and that’s evident in the overwhelmingly positive product reviews.

If you’re wondering what to write for your own review, we recommend the following:

- Write about the issue you experienced with your car

- Talk about the quality of the part and how it compares to the one that was removed from the car

- If you noticed any changes to the way the vehicle performed after it was fitted

- Feel free to mention any pricing research you conducted before making a decision

As always though, if you ever have a problem with a part we’ve supplied, please get in touch with us immediately so we can see if there’s a way we can fix the issue for you. We monitor our emails after-hours and over the weekend, so feel free to shoot us an email at any time.

We wanted to also acknowledge the fact that we’ve been out-of-stock of many product ranges recently. We’re still trying to address a number of supplier issues that we’ve experienced as a result of growing quite quickly over the past twelve months. These aren’t simple things that can be solved overnight, but we wanted to say that we really appreciate the patience and understanding that everyone has shown as we work through these problems. We’ve been able to offer alternatives to many parts that our customers need urgently, and we have been coordinating with suppliers to provide short-term solutions to our product shortages. If there’s something you need quickly that isn’t in-stock, please email us and we’ll do our best to help.

At some point in the future we will be phasing-out the free shipping coupon, but we’ll be making specific announcements when that time comes. Most of all though, we wanted to say a big thank you to our customers for their on-going support, and for their excellent product reviews.

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series, here for part two, here for part three, here for part four, and here for the last instalment.

When the E46 330Ci was released in the late 1990s, the car received glowing reviews from all over the world. It took the highly respected E36 3 Series platform and developed it even further, creating a stiffer, better handling, and an overall more comfortable vehicle.

In the time that we’ve had the 330Ci, we’ve fixed some of the basic issues that tend to plague that era of 3 Series. In doing so, it’s really brought the car back to a good, factory baseline. In getting to that point, though, it made its weaknesses more obvious to us.

The E46 seems to straddle the line between the pointed, connected feeling that is commonly favoured in older cars, and the sturdy, strong, and insulated feeling of modern vehicles. After replacing the control/castor arms and bushes and matching the car with a decent set of Hankook tyres, Project 46 now turns in with a beautifully neutral balance right down the chassis. The thick-rimmed M Sport steering wheel gives a surprising amount of weight through corners (especially when compared to cars of today).

The driveline is one of the more modern aspects of the 330Ci. The torquey 3.0 litre straight-six mated to a low ratio five-speed automatic transmission means the car will do almost anything asked of it with very little effort. It’s certainly got some power in reserves, and the gearbox tends to get its predictions right most of the time. Our biggest complaint comes with the drive-by-wire throttle, which provides some pretty poor throttle response. It’s one of the only downfalls of such a sweet driveline. With the restored suspension now allowing the driver to turn the car into corners quickly and with confidence, the hesitant throttle makes it quite difficult to drive the car out smoothly from the apex.

With those things in mind, we put a call in to John Robinson at Tigersoft Performance to see what he could do for us. We’ve known JR through the BMW community for nearly a decade. Around four years ago he walked away from his long career at IBM and opened Tigersoft, which among other things is an authorised reseller of Superchips UK products. Unlike most grease-monkeys that buy a laptop and call themselves a tuner, JR has extensive experience with writing software code and dealing with computer hardware. Superchips UK began in the late 1970s, remapping early fuel injected BMWs, and have been at the forefront of the industry ever since. Together, Tigersoft is probably the best placed BMW tuner in the country.

There are probably chip-tuning companies out there claiming more power from the 330Ci than the Superchips software, but we weren’t chasing every last horse from the motor -- in fact, for us, it wasn’t about power at all. The 330 has perfectly adequate power. What we wanted to achieve was, firstly, improving the driveability by sharpening the throttle response and smoothing out the flat-spots, and secondly, lowering the fuel consumption numbers wherever possible. We also wanted to achieve that with a tuning company that has modified hundreds (if not, thousands) of 330s throughout the world, as we wanted a tune that didn’t compromise the reliability of the engine for the sake of a few more kilowatts on a dyno.

JR told us to bring the E46 down to the Tigersoft workshop one afternoon. It was as simple as plugging his laptop into the universal diagnostics port under the steering wheel and downloading the original factory software from the car’s computer. Once that was done, he simply sent the file off to the boffins at Superships UK HQ. On a normal day, he would have received an automated email back from Superchips with the modified file (at any time of the day or night). Unfortunately on this particular day the system was down, so we decided to bring the car back again later.

A couple of weeks later we were back at Tigersoft for our tune. The process to upload the Superchips file back into the car took less than fifteen minutes, and we were on our way.

The difference was immediately noticeable. As mentioned above, the stock 330Ci tends to have a slight delay from when you apply pressure to the throttle, after which it supplies a surge of torque (as if the computer is trying do its best to catch up). That delay was almost completely eliminated with the tune, and the surge on take-off just turned into a fat, linear torque curve that now pushes the car down the road without any of the previous flat-spots.

In what was already a fairly brisk car, the tune made the car smoother and really enhanced that feeling of effortlessness. It felt like the car was given 10% more of everything (and the claimed numbers from Superchips certainly back this up). Of course, it’s worth mentioning that if you’re looking for turbo-like performance, you’re going to come away disappointed -- but if you’re looking for just that little extra from your car, then this could be exactly what you need.

It’s still early days, but we noticed the fuel economy numbers already beginning to fall on our way back to Clickable HQ. It seems counterintuitive, but because the car has more power and more torque at lower RPMs, the motor isn’t working as hard to do the same job as it did before. That equates to better fuel economy. Of course, your fuel economy is always going to depend on how and where you drive the car, and whether you’re enjoying the extra performance that comes with the upgrade. But we’re no longer trying to drive through the flat-spots, so our right foot is a little lighter when accelerating to the speed limit.

For $599, it’s an excellent upgrade for enthusiasts looking for something a bit more. The only difference is that you’re required to use 98 octane fuel all of the time, but as you’re also getting better fuel economy, it extra cost tends to balance itself out.

We’re pretty sure there are going to be more than a few Clickable customers that are looking to upgrade their BMWs, so Tigersoft has offered 10% off any Superchips tune*. Simply visit www.tigersoft.com.au, or call JR on 0411 592 157 and mention that you’re a Clickable customer.

*Tigersoft reserve their right to change or cancel the offer at any time.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Nothing this month!
Total Cost of Repairs: $2505

New Non-Essentials:
Superchips Tune - $545
Total Cost of Additions: $607

Total Cost To Date: $3112

Congratulations to Aaron P from Bundeena NSW, who has won our Christmas Giveaway!

Aaron’s order was randomly drawn from dozens of customers that purchased Motul products for their BMWs over the past month. He’ll be receiving a brand-new Motul chronography by Fossil in the coming days.

We wanted to say thank you to everyone that entered the competition, as well as a big thanks to our friends at Motul Australia for their excellent products and continued support.

Have a Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Years.

Clickable will be unable to ship orders received after 12pm on Wednesday the 24th of December until we recommence shipping on Monday the 5th of January, 2015.

As most services we rely on are working at reduced capacity (during the three days in that period that aren’t public holidays or weekends), we thought it would be a good time to take a little holiday. As it turns out, it’s the first break we’ve taken since our doors opened in 2011!

Please be aware that as we approach the Christmas period, postal packages will generally take longer to arrive. If at all possible, we ask our customers to plan ahead and order earlier than usual to ensure everything arrives in time. If you do require a part urgently or before a certain date, we encourage you to email us so we can advise of the best way to make that happen.

As usual, we will be monitoring emails over the break, and the online store will continue to take orders. Please note that our phones will not be answered during this time.

We have lots of new stock arriving early in 2015, so it's going to be an exciting time for us. Drive safe, enjoy your holidays, and we’ll see you in the new year!

With so many presents to deliver across the world next month, Santa made his usual early visit to the Clickable Automotive headquarters to grab some Motul X-clean oil for his 520d GT, and to drop off some gifts from Motul Australia! As a thank-you to our amazingly loyal customers for another massive year, our Christmas competition is in full swing again.

Get ready, as we’ll be giving away this awesome Motul chronograph watch by Fossil to one lucky Clickable customer next month. This analogue timepiece has a date window, is water resistant to 50 metres, and features the classic Motul logo on the dial. With a stainless steel case and rubber dive strap, it’s valued at over $220. But you can’t buy it at any jewelers.

To enter, simply purchase any Motul product from the Clickable Automotive website before December 21st, and you will also receive a free Motul lanyard. Every purchase of our Oil Change or Service Kits will receive a free Motul baseball cap! Quantities are limited, so it's first in, best dressed!

We owe a big thanks to our friends over at Motul Australia for providing the goodies for this competition. Be sure to like their Facebook page to get all the latest product announcements and motorsport news.

We also want to thank every one of you for your support throughout the year. We can’t wait to bring you some exciting announcement for 2015 that will make next year even bigger. Until then, have a safe and happy Christmas, and good luck!

Terms & Conditions:
Entries close at 12:00am on 22/12/14. The winner will be randomly selected on 22/12/14 and notified via email, and will be publicly announced on the Clickable website and Facebook page. The competition is open to Clickable Automotive customers who have purchased a Motul product via www.clickableautomotive.com.au from 12:00am on 21/11/14 to 12:00am on 21/12/14. One entry per total order placed. Motul lanyards and baseball caps are subject to stock availability.

It’s been six months since our last update, so we wanted to let everybody know what we’ve been up-to behind the scenes and what we have in store for everyone in the future. Firstly, we need to acknowledge and apologise to our customers for our current inventory issues. You may have noticed that many of our most popular products have been out of stock recently, and we wanted to let everyone know we’ve been working very hard to try to resolve the problem as soon as possible. As a stopgap, we’re air-freighting in a huge amount of products in the next couple of weeks so that our customers can have their BMWs ready for the Christmas holidays.

To give some insight, a major reason for our stock issues is that some of our suppliers are simply unable to keep up with our demand. In September we travelled to Germany for a few days to meet with a number of companies, and we have a number of exciting things in the pipeline to be announced soon. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and on our blog for news.

One of the more common questions we’re asked is about our returns policy. Like everything we do, the way we process returns specifically has our customers in mind, and we want to make sure that we keep it flexible and fair for everybody. We think one of Clickable’s greatest advantages is that we’re local, making any mistakes fast and easy to fix. If you’ve accidentally purchased something from our online store and you want to return it unused, the best thing you can do is either call or email us before sending it back. If you send us your VIN, we can also check to see what the correct part is and if we’re able to replace it for you. We do ask that any parts returned to us are packed within a strong cardboard box to help ensure the product (or its packaging) isn’t damaged on its way back to us. It’s an unfortunate reality that most businesses these days charge a ten or sometimes fifteen percent restocking fee for any returns. We really want to avoid having to introduce any sort of restocking fee, and that can only happen with help from our customers. We pack every order by hand so that they are properly protected during transit, and we ask our customers to spend the extra two minutes to  ensure that anything they send back has the same sort of care and attention. It means we can keep the product in-stock for longer, and helps us to keep our returns policy fair for everyone.

We’re also in the process of reviewing our current shipping policies and processes. Our $10 flat-rate shipping charge is certainly one of our most popular features, so that won’t be going anywhere. At the moment though, it only covers around 1/3rd of our own delivery costs each month. By subsidising those costs, it limits our ability to do other things, such as improving the website and introducing new products. Our hope is to create a more transparent shipping policy that gives our customers a much better idea of when they can expect their order to arrive, as well as giving more options for how their order is sent. We’ll be announcing any changes to our shipping policies in the coming months.

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series, here for part two, here for part three, and here for the last instalment.

A car is only as strong as its weakest part. Fitting the best suspension components is useless if the tyres aren’t very good, and the tyres on our 330Ci M-Sport have been a major complaint of ours since we first picked the car up. We’ve been itching to get them swapped over to a good set of rubber so we can finally have a good baseline to work with and improve upon. The problem was that our E46 was fitted with three different brands of tyres -- two Kumhos on the front, and a Michelin run-flat and a Continental on the back. Different levels of grip, different levels of sidewall hardness, different levels of material quality. Not only that, but the wheels were horribly out of alignment, making the car unpredictable and dangerous on the road. After fixing up a lot of suspension issues that the car had in previous instalments of Project 46, it became obvious just how bad the tyres were.

We began doing a some research on what ultra-high performance tyres would best suit the E46, and eventually decided to order in a full set of Hankook Ventus S1 evo2s. Hankook have been original equipment suppliers to BMW and Mercedes-Benz for years, as well as being the exclusive tyre supplier for the DTM racing series. These tyres feature low-weight steel cords that they developed for DTM, meaning the tyres aren’t as heavy, which lowers the unsprung weight and improves economy and handling. To further validate our decision, the tyres won the prestigious iF Product Design Award when they were originally released. More recently though, these Hankooks have been chosen as the tyre to be released on the latest BMW 3 and 4 Series models. If you also consider that a set of the evo2s have a RRP of $1200 (or almost half the price of their main European competitors), the decision starts to make a lot of sense.

We knew there would be a bit of a change with the new tyres on, but we weren’t expecting the difference to be as significant as it was. The amount that the tyres have improved the driving quality is bordering on the ridiculous -- they’ve completely changed the way the car drives. It now bites at initial turn-in as it should, but it’s the mid-corner grip that is the biggest surprise for us. The extra lateral grip allows the throttle to be leaned on more heavily than before, without fear that the front will push into understeer (as it used to). With the traction and stability controls turned off, there’s less unwanted wheelspin off the line and a more linear and predictable level of play when the rear end does begin to step out. Braking has also been greatly improved.

When we changed the control arms and bushes, we said that it brought the car back to a good baseline. In doing so, it improved the handling characteristics in some major areas, but it also really demonstrated how poor the old tyre set-up was. With the Hankooks on, the car is now handling and reacting like an E46 330Ci M-Sport should. Of course, a big part of the improvement in the handling and confidence has been because of the laser wheel alignment. The spec sheet that the tyre shop gave us afterwards proved just how laughably out of alignment the wheels were to begin with.

But it’s hard to deny the extra grip on the car and the confidence that it’s brought. We can pitch the car into a corner in the knowledge that it will be balanced, predictable, and fast. Hankook clearly spent a lot of time on creating their flagship tyre, and we’ve been incredibly impressed with how they’ve performed. We’ve only had the tyres on the car for a week so we can’t really comment on long-term wear and noise, but we’re looking forward to testing their longevity.

While we were under the car admiring the new tread, we also decided to do the Golf Tee Mod. The mufflers of many of the E36 and E46 3 Series models have a valve that opens up the exhaust when the motor is under load. The vacuum hose that controls the valve can be removed from the actuator and blocked with a golf tee (or a loose bolt). The result is a (subtly) bassier tone at idle, and a bit more rasp on low-throttle acceleration.

Clickable have no plans to start selling tyres (or golf tees, for that matter), so if you’re in the Melbourne area we recommend getting in touch with Donnellans The Tyremen in Collingwood. They’ve kindly put together a package deal for our Clickable customers that also own the E46 330Ci M-Sport. For a set of four Hankook Ventus S1 evo2s  (225/40R18 fronts, 255/35R18 rears), they’ll supply and fit the tyres for $870*, with the option of a full laser wheel alignment for $55. Call Rocky at Donnellans Collingwood on 03 9417 5527 and mention that you’re a Clickable customer, even if you’re after the Hankooks in a different size.

*This offer is only valid for 12 months from publication. Donnellans The Tyremen reserve their rights to change or cancel the offer at any time.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Hankook Ventus S1 evo2 tyres - $870
Wheel Alignment - $55
Loose Bolt - $0
Total Cost of Repairs: $2505

New Non-Essentials:
Nothing this month!
Total Cost of Additions: $62

Total Cost To Date: $2567

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series, here for part two, and here for the last instalment.

The oil filter housing gasket is the second most common area to develop a leak on modern six cylinder BMWs, with the main culprit being the rocker cover gasket. If you think about how many times an engine will heat up and cool down over a period of a few years, it’s a lot of expanding and contracting for a little rubber housing gasket to endure. They become hard, thin, and brittle, and aren’t able to cope with the pressures of a modern oil system.

We knew there was a minor oil leak coming from the oil filter housing gasket when we picked the car up, but recently we’ve noticed more of a leak developing under the vehicle when it’s parked. With a bit of investigation, it was confirmed that the oil leak was coming from the oil filter housing, just as we had suspected. The first step was the jack the car up and remove the stone tray. It’s not absolutely necessary to do this, but you’ll probably have to clean the oil from the tray, and it also helps if you happen to drop a bolt. The fan and shroud needs to be removed, as do the belts and pulleys. (We’re often asked about the fan removal tool for the fan clutch -- we simply used a 32mm wrench and smacked the handle with a hammer to get the fan clutch off.) The complete airbox and alternator also need to be removed, and the power steering reservoir can be pushed aside. From here, only a few sensors and cables that need to be unplugged before the oil filter housing can be unbolted.

As everything was being put back together, we used a bottle of Autoglym’s Engine & Machine Cleaner to clean up the grease and grime that tends to find its way onto everything. The water-based biodegradable cleaner is safe to use on metals, rubbers, and plastics, meaning you can be a little carefree when spraying it under the bonnet. And unlike most aerosol degreasers, it’s not flammable, so there’s no danger with overspray getting onto a hot exhaust.

Although we didn’t do it this time around, we often have customers combine the job with installing our Cooling System Overhaul Kit so as not to double-up on labour. With the $5 gasket replaced on our 330Ci, everything was put back together in reverse order before the motor was topped up with a little more of Motul’s X-cess 5w40 oil. We still had half a litre left over from the Oil Change Kit we put through the car in the last Project 46 blog post. Now that the oil leak is sorted, we can get back to making the car ride and handle the way it should. Stay tuned for our next instalment.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Oil Filter Housing Gasket - $5
Total Cost of Repairs: $1580

New Non-Essentials:
Autoglym Engine & Machine Cleaner - $26
Total Cost of Additions: $62

Total Cost To Date: $1668

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series, and here for the second instalment.

One of the primary advantages of owning an E46 3 Series is that even though it is fundamentally a reliable car, it’s few faults are well documented and can be pinpointed easily. When we originally drove the 330Ci, it was clear that the vehicle displayed the classic E46 symptoms of worn control arm bushings and ball joints, with poor turn-in response and soggy feedback during cornering.

The Front Control/Caster Arm Set is one of our favourite products, for a few reasons. Firstly, the set makes installation quick and simple. You don’t have to pre-press ball joints and bushes onto the arms, meaning it’s just a matter of unbolting the old ones and bolting up the new ones. That’s a huge plus in our book, as you don’t need speciality equipment or a lot of skill to be able to do the job, other than a ball joint separator and a bit of patience. Secondly, as the arms are aluminium, it reduces unsprung weight, improving ride and handling in vehicles that weren’t optioned with the M Sport suspension. Finally, the ball joints in the Sport versions are designed to replicate the M Sport option, improving feedback and responsiveness. 

With the original control arms removed from the car and sitting in the light, it was clear just how tired the ball-joints were and the extent to which the control/caster bushes had deteriorated. The ball joints look worse in the photos because of the force used to remove them, but they were physically very loose. With the car already on stands, we also decided to put a new flex disc (aka guibo/rubber donut) on the driveshaft. Although very soft, the original flex disc wasn’t particularly worn, but we know that once they start to go it can create a snowball effect, deteriorating quickly and placing undue stress on other more expensive components. This job is a little more labour intensive as it requires removing the exhaust and driveshaft, and might make life easier if you have a friend to help.

Once the Front Control/Caster Arm Set and new flex disc were installed, we hit the road to see the results. The most apparent and by far most surprising improvement was to the braking. We’ve never had any qualms with the way the 330Ci braked since we picked it up, but we were blown away with just how much more effective they became with the new arms installed. Braking improved because the chassis now has so much more mechanical grip, transferring the stopping power to the tyres, rather than the worn rubber suspension components absorbing the slack. It’s also much better now as the wheels no longer pitch forward, putting undue stress on other components, and allows the vehicle to grip on the correct area of the tyre. It’s a little hard to explain without a whiteboard, but the result is much better initial bike, and greater braking consistency on uneven surfaces.

As we expected, initial turn-in has also been restored. The front wheels can now be confidently loaded-up when coming into a corner, and without the fear that they will push wide as before. The steering is now more centered and doesn’t follow the camber of the road, and the flex disc has removed almost all of the driveline vibration. It’s made a huge difference to how the vehicle reacts on the road and how it responds to driver inputs.

These simple changes have brought the vehicle back to a good baseline, allowing us to shift our focus to other areas of the chassis. It’s also allowing us to now think about upgrades that might improve upon what we already have. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page so you can be kept up-to-date with Project 46.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Front Control/Caster Arm Set - $449
Flex Disc (Guibo) - $69
Total Cost of Repairs: $1575

New Non-Essentials:
Nothing this month!
Total Cost of Additions: $62

Total Cost To Date: $1637

Project 46 is an on-going series that demonstrates common fixes and preventative maintenance tips, as performed on our own E46 330Ci. Click here to read our introduction to the series.

As we mentioned last week, one of the first things we noticed when we took the 330Ci home was the erratic idle. We initially replaced the mass airflow sensor which fixed the cruise control and made a noticable difference to the way the vehicle drove, but the idle remained unsettled. After last week’s blog post, we pulled the DISA valve out to inspect it. The DISA valve is one of the more common parts to fail on the E46, so it was no surprise to find the internal flap completely detached from its housing. More concerning was the locking bolt just sitting freely in the intake manifold. Had that bolt been sucked into the motor, it could have caused a catastrophic engine failure. Not an ideal scenario after a week of ownership.

While half the components were off, we also decided to take a look at another weak area on the E46: the crankcase ventilation system (also known as the oil separator system). In the few days since we took delivery, the car had developed an odd and inconsistent clanging noise from somewhere at the top of the motor, which we realised was related to a problematic CCV. We found that the dipstick hose was completely severed and the upper oil separator vent tube had developed a crack, causing a vacuum leak. With all the parts being very brittle, some of them snapped during removal. A good reason to replace all four hoses when doing the job. As well as all oil separator hoses, the crankcase ventilation valve and the DISA valve were all replaced with brand-new parts from Vaico. After removal, it was clear to see just how clogged the original crankcase valve was with oil sediment.

Once everything was back together, the vehicle was started and the idle settled into a familiar purr, without any sign of that horrendous clanging noise. With the DISA valve installed, the engine delivered noticeably more low-to-mid range torque, improving the drivability of the car considerably and fixing the idle issue once and for all.  

When replacing the DISA valve and the crankcase ventilation system, we also noticed that the left-hand engine mount had disintegrated (something that really should have been noticed when the roadworthy was done the week before). Both engine mounts were swapped with replacements from Febi-Bilstein, fixing a background vibration that had been felt at idle and on acceleration. It’s always best to replace all engine mounts at the same time.

As our hands were already greasy, we decided for peace-of-mind to put one of our popular Oil Change Kits through the motor. The kit includes a new oil filter from original equipment manufacturer Mann, and BMW Longlife-01 approved oil from Motul. The X-cess 5w40 motor oil is 100% synthetic, providing greater heat stability and resistance to oil burn. Although it’s not the cheapest oil on the market today, we consider it to be cheap insurance. It’s a good thing we decided to perform the oil service as the oil filter we removed from the motor was very dirty and had started to collapse in on itself.

This week also saw the interior get a bit of attention. The seats, although generally in good condition and not yet to the point of cracking, were still quite dirty and noticeably dry. After a going-over with Autoglym’s Leather Cleaner, some Autoglym Leather Care Balm was applied to the seats. The job provided some much-needed moisture, in-turn restoring some lustre back into the black leather, and also immediately reinstating a rich leather smell to the BMW’s interior. As well as extending the life of the seats, it made the cabin a much nicer place to be.

It’s worth mentioning that the 330Ci we purchased is actually in very good condition, with basic maintenance performed fairly regularly by past owners. The components we’ve replaced were exactly what we were expecting to need replacing as they are the most common parts to go on the E46. Now that these simple components have been replaced, they won’t have to be looked at for another decade.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Oil Change Kit - Motul X-cess 8100 - $147
DISA Valve 3.0 - $265
Engine Mounts - $160
Crankcase Pressure Regulator Valve (Oil Separator) - $55
Upper Oil Separator Vent Tube - $30
Crankcase Ventilation Hose - $25
Crankcase Ventilation Hose - $15
Oil Separator Return Pipe - $28
Total Cost of Repairs: $1059

New Non-Essentials:
Autoglym Leather Cleaner - $24
Autoglym Leather Care Balm - $26
Total Cost of Additions: $62

Total Cost To Date: $1121

For a while now we’ve been discussing the idea of a project car that brings together some of our most popular products. Well, we’re very happy to introduce a new member of the Clickable family, this 2003 BMW E46 330Ci M Sport. We had the opportunity to purchase an E46 that wasn’t completely neglected, but is at a point in it’s life where it needs some improvements to bring it back to its former glory. In the coming weeks and months we’ll be fitting a whole range of products that we offer on our online store to every area of the vehicle. We’ll be fixing known issues and replacing parts that commonly fail as a part of good preventative maintenance, and documenting the entire process.

It’s a common misconception that parts for BMWs are expensive and the cars are difficult to work on. Neither of those things are true, but people are often scared of the prospect of having to repair their BMW when something needs to be done. Often overquoted, we know many people simply decide to upgrade to a newer model when faced with a repair bill. In many cases the issue can take a few minutes to diagnose and fix, with just basic tools and know-how. The aim of this project is to help demonstrate that even on a limited budget, slightly older BMWs can be restored to a point where they can provide years of enjoyable and reliable driving. We wanted to find a clean and honest car that had was a good basis for our project, allowing us the opportunity to showcase our products and how easy it is to bring a car back to life. A good example is the fact that the car was delivered to us with three different brands of tyres. The car also has the usual stone chips and scratches that you would expect on an eleven year old car. We like that, as it shows a certain level of honesty in how it’s been cared for and maintained over the years. In the coming weeks we’ll be performing a complete paint restoration, coupled with a full detail inside and out. There are also a few obvious jobs to be done through the car, such as the rocker cover gasket. It’s clearly been replaced at some point recently, but the person who did the job was a little careless with the liquid gasket sealer, with bright orange remnants throughout the engine bay.

One of the first things to be done after purchasing a car is to check the filters, as they can give  a good indication of the car’s general condition. The cabin filter was the first thing we changed on the car, as the one we pulled out had the valleys completely clogged with dirt, hair, and debris. Replacing it with a new charcoal-infused microfilter from Mann has already made a big difference to the smell of the interior. We generally recommend replacing the cabin filter every twelve to eighteen months at most.

Driving the vehicle for the first time, the classic E46 suspension wear was quite obvious. It displayed soft, indirect, and off-centre steering. The wheels certainly need an alignment, as they tend to follow the seams and camber of the road. It very common for us to see customers overlook the severity of worn suspension components like this. Without a point of reference for them, they become accustomed to the gradual deterioration of the parts.

After taking the vehicle for its first drive we also noticed that there were some performance issues, with an erratic idle particularly noticeable. The cruise control was inoperative, and we quickly traced both issues back to a defective mass airflow sensor. The one we removed from the car looked as if it had been replaced with a used item from a wrecker. We pulled a brand-new VDO MAF from the shelf and fitted it along with a new Mann air filter. The cruise control immediately began working as it should, but the idle is still somewhat erratic. When the MAF stops working, the computer adapts to protect the motor, enrichening the fuel mixture which may have in-turn masked another issue. We have a good idea of what we think the problem might be, and we’ll be investigating it further in the coming days.

We’re really excited to be able to bring this project to you and showcase a whole range of products that we offer on our store. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for the latest announcements.

New Mechanical Repairs:
Mann Cabin Microfilter - $35
Mann Air Filter - $15
Mass Air Flow Sensor - $279
Power Steering Cap Seal - $5
Total Cost of Repairs: $334

New Non-Essentials:
Autoglym Ultimate Screenwash - $12
Total Cost of Additions: $12

Total Cost To Date: $346

We try to walk the balance of offering high quality parts without the high price tag. Our mission is to allow BMW owners to keep their cars running as they came from the factory and without breaking the bank. Not many people realise, but BMW don’t make the majority of the components that are fitted to their cars. They mostly have other companies make the auxiliary parts for them, usually with a BMW Roundel logo stamped on the side, before fitting them at their own factory.

For this reason, we seek out BMW suppliers as it ensures consistent quality. Sometimes it’s not always feasible to do so, but for a lot of the products we sell, they will actually come directly from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). For example, we stock a full range of oil, air, fuel, and cabin filters from MANN. We also supplement some additional filters with stock from Hengst and Mahle. All three of those brands supply the original filters that BMW fit to their cars when new. Our radiators and thermostats come from BEHR Hella, who supply cooling system components to BMW. All of our brake pads and rotors are Zimmermann, who are a brake supplier to BMW.

What we sometimes find is that the part that is made by the OEM supplier has had the BMW Roundel manually etched off, allowing the part to be sold as an aftermarket item. Sometimes an aftermarket supplier will even rebox parts from a different OEM supplier. Vaico, who do not supply to any car makers themselves, often buy excess BMW Genuine stock and rebox the parts as their own. The wheel bearings we offer have a similar story. Most are made by FAG, Koyo, or SKF, but have been reboxed as IPD, who also rebox INA pulleys and tensioners. The electric HEPU water pumps that we offer for sale are simply reboxed Continental water pumps that BMW fit to their cars at the factory.  

The end result is a store full of parts that are equal in quality to those found behind the spare parts counter at your local BMW dealership. The only difference is that because they’re not in a BMW Genuine box, they’re significantly cheaper.

Offering reboxed OEM parts isn’t always the best option, however. We offer many Meyle-HD suspension components, particularly for the E46 3 Series, for example. Not to be confused by the standard Meyle range, their HD line of products has actually been re-engineered to be superior to the original design. The company looks at parts that suffer from high failure rates, and tries to find a way to make them better. Sometimes there isn’t a better option though. As we wrote in our previous blog post, there currently is no better maker of window regulators than BMW themselves, and so we insist on offering BMW Genuine replacements.

We’re steadfast in our belief that owning a BMW shouldn’t mean paying a premium for maintenance. Equally, there’s no reason why sensible prices must mean a poor standard of quality. We cherry-pick our parts from all over the world to bring our customers the best quality for the best prices, and back that up with a 12 month Australia-wide warranty.

Here at Clickable, our main focus is on offering general mechanical maintenance parts and replacement common-fault items. Everything we do is to ensure that we are providing high quality aftermarket products at reasonable prices. For the majority of items we sell, the quality is equal to that found behind the spare parts counter at any BMW dealership. But without the price tag. In many cases, the parts we sell are actually BMW Genuine items that have had the logo removed before they’ve been reboxed by an aftermarket supplier.

Our aim is to continue to expand our mechanical maintenance product lines, introducing more parts for more models. We’re only happy to sell aftermarket products if we consider the quality to be good enough to fit to our own cars. In very isolated cases however, the quality of some particular aftermarket replacement parts do not meet those quality standards. Window regulators are one such product.

Window regulators are a little bit different to the usual products we offer. We don’t have any short-term plans to offer a full range of window regulators for all models at the moment. But we had the opportunity to offer BMW Genuine regulators for E36 and E46 models to help out our customers. The window regulators on E36 and E46 have a particularly high failure rate, and locally there weren’t many options to buy quality replacements at sensible prices.

After many years, we still haven’t been able to find an aftermarket supplier of window regs that live up the quality standards we expect. For that reason, we only supply BMW Genuine window regulators. Although they do cost a little more than the alternatives out there, they still seem to be the best option available on the market today. If you consider that a BMW Genuine window reg has such a high failure rate, the failure rate of the cheaper aftermarket unit must be considerably more. Certainly the feedback we’ve received seems to back-up that theory.

If the window on your 3 Series has stopped going up and down as it should, it’s very likely that the regulator needs to be replaced. Check out our range here, or email us at hello@clickableautomotive.com.au.

Not all owners are aware that BMWs can be different depending on which country they’re sold in. There can be dramatic changes that depend on whether the model is right-hand-drive or left-hand-drive, whether it’s a US or European specified vehicle, or if the car is going to a hot or a cold climate. It’s quite common for Australian owners to find that a part they’ve ordered from overseas doesn’t actually fit their BMW, due to the cooling system being designed for a hot climate, or because of the different configurations under the bonnet.

Hot climate BMWs tend to have a beefier cooling system, like those found here in Australia. The cars need to be able to withstand temperatures found anywhere across our country. Conversely, we also don’t have to live through months of below-freezing temperatures like in Europe and North America, so antifreeze is often unnecessary. In the lower east of this continent, frost on the windscreen during winter can be common, but if you’re in the warmer parts of the country then your car will probably never see anything close to freezing temperatures. If that’s the case, then you don’t really need to run antifreeze coolant at all. It’s more important to keep the temperature of your motor low, so as to improve the longevity of the plastic components that can turn brittle with prolonged heat exposure, and to help the overall efficiency of your engine. A cooler motor is a happier motor.

Motul has a pretty cool product available that suits our warmer climate conditions perfectly. Designed to be used instead of coolant concentrate, their MoCool radiator additive can lower the engine temperature by as much as 15°c. In very rough terms, that translates to your engine running approximately 10% cooler than normal. MoCool is so effective that it’s actually been banned in some forms of motorsport as it can give an unfair advantage during race conditions. MoCool works by improving the flow rates and heat transfer of the liquid in your cooling system, making it more efficient at what it’s doing. It also contains rust and corrosion inhibitors to help protect the insides of your motor and cooling system.

If you happen to live in an area where you think an antifreeze coolant is necessary, then you can always add a small amount of MoCool to your usual antifreeze to help lower your average engine temperature. You should perform a coolant flush on your car every two years to ensure that it’s properly maintained. We recommend using Motul Inugel coolant, which is quite possibly the best aftermarket coolant available for BMWs, and comes with BMW approvals. Performing a flush also gives you the opportunity to cast a closer eye across your cooling system components. Visually check for cracks and leaks at the radiator, expansion tank, thermostat, and water pump, and feel the hoses for internal splits. Doing this can save a lot of time and heachaches in the future. If you do find something that looks like it’s on its way out, feel free to send us an email and we’ll do everything we can to help get you the right part for your car.

Motul MoCool can be purchased here. 

We’re not really ones for rocking the boat. But when we see local prices for parts that are completely unjustifiable, we think it’s only right for us to do what we can to correct that. At the same time, when we see our industry purporting things which are untrue, we want to do what we can to dispel the myths and provide some insight to help our customers form their own opinions. Brakes are a contentious issue. Nobody wants to compromise on their own safety or the safety of their family. So when a mechanic says something needs to be done to the brakes, most people are happy to just get it done, no questions asked. Warped brakes are a term that’s thrown around often, but it’s not something that is well understood by drivers.

Shudder

Everyone will experience brake shudder at some point. Brake shudder can either be felt through the steering wheel or through the brake pedal itself. During light braking at low speed it’s actually possible to feel the contact point hit the brake pad as the rotor turns. It’s an especially common symptom on modern cars, with the solution being to either machine (or ‘skim’) the discs, or replace them with a brand-new set of rotors completely. The shudder is almost always attributed to warped discs. Despite being so widely accepted throughout the automotive industry, warped discs are a myth. Warped discs are an easy explanation to a complicated problem, but one that is so often accepted simply because you can sometimes feel the ‘potato chip’ effect under your right foot. But it’s not quite as simple as it seems.

Causes

Most common brake rotors are thick cast iron, making them extremely strong and durable. It would take significantly more heat and pressure than what is possible with a standard braking system to make cast iron soft enough to reach the point of being susceptible to warping. Brake pads, however, are not as tough. A composite friction material, brake pads convert motion into heat. Every brake pad has a different effective working heat range. Racing pads can withstand extreme temperatures, but must have a lot of heat in them before they work correctly. Normal street pads have a low working heat range, but become far less effective when they are heated beyond that working range. Because of the heat absorption of the disc during hard braking, it can cause pad material to melt onto the disc when the vehicle has stopped. With the brake pad clamped onto the extremely hot disc, it creates what is known as a hot-spot, leaving behind pad material on the rotor. Although the pad material left on the rotor is only a few microns thick, it creates an uneven surface which is amplified by the hydraulic braking system. This is what causes the shuddering that the driver experiences.

Fixes

Prevention is always better than cure. Correct bedding-in procedures when installing brakes will treat both the pads and the rotors, helping to avoid the issue later. You can read our article on brake bedding-in procedures here. Bedding-in creates a uniform ‘transfer layer’ on the rotor. Typically city drivers will experience brake shudder more than country drivers, as their driving conditions demand a more aggressive braking style. Braking harder and later can lead to hot-spots on the rotor, whereas doing the majority of the braking earlier will help keep the temperatures down and the transfer layer consistent. Being careful not to clamp the brakes hard once you’ve come to a complete stop and by inching the vehicle forward, you can avoid hot-spots from developing. If you do find your vehicle developing a shudder during braking, you can follow the bedding-in procedure for new brakes. This can help remove pad material from the disc. Of course, machining the disc will remove the material and create an even plane across the rotor, but this can significantly reduce the life of the disc at the same time. As some service centres charge labour as well as a fee to machine the brakes, it can often be cheaper and quicker to just replace the rotors altogether. Whatever you decide to do, at least you can go forward with a better understanding of the complexities of brake wear and the causes behind brake shudder. 

Replacing your brakes is just part and parcel with owning a car. But most people don’t realise that the bedding-in procedure is one of the most important aspects to replacing brakes. Not only does it help to mate the entirety of the pads to the rotors, but it goes a little deeper than that. Most rotors these days come with a layer of oil to help combat surface rust (though it’s worth noting that most of the Zimmermann rotors we have available are not oiled, but have their own special Z-Coat anti-corrosion coating). Brake pads also come with their own sealant painted on to help prevent damage during transit. The surfaces on both the pad and rotor must be cleaned off before the brakes can be used in normal driving conditions. As well as cleaning the unwanted material from the brakes, there are also resins in the brake pad compound that must be cooked out. These resins are added during the manufacturing process and can interfere in the braking performance needed in an emergency situation. But possibly the most important reason for correctly bedding-in brakes is to transfer an even layer of pad material onto the face of the rotor. Ensuring there is an even ‘transfer layer’ across the face of the rotor helps to prevent the brakes from developing uneven pad material deposits in the future, which is the main culprit behind unwanted brake shudder (despite being commonly blamed on warping). Without correct bedding-in, brakes are less effective and can become noisy. Although the purpose is to prepare your brakes, it has the added benefit of allowing you to practice your emergency braking, and helps you to better understand the braking capabilities of your vehicle.

The Preparation

Firstly, it’s of utmost importance that you perform this bedding-in procedure in a safe location. You will need a long and straight piece of clean asphalt with no trees, pedestrians, animals, or other traffic. This typically means going out into a country area. It’s recommended to use a wider piece of road, just in case the vehicle pulls to one side during heavy braking. Only perform the procedure during the day and in dry conditions. If you’ve just installed a new set of pads and rotors, changing your brake fluid before performing the procedure is a good idea to help avoid the fluid from boiling (brake fluid should always be changed every two years). Check your tyres are in roadworthy condition before you leave, and that the wheel bolts have been torqued correctly. It’s worth noting that the following procedure is only designed for standard street brakes, and that any brake fade can be dangerous. Do not attempt to perform the procedure unless it is safe, with lots of room to slow the vehicle with diminished braking performance.

The Procedure

Driving to around 90kph, you will brake heavily (just before the point of the ABS engaging), bringing the vehicle down to around 10kph before releasing the brakes and accelerating again. It’s extremely important that you do not bring the vehicle to a complete stop. Repeat this procedure another six to nine times without allowing the brakes to cool, and depending on the braking capabilities of your vehicle. More stops may be required for slower or lighter vehicles, but it’s important to discontinue if your brakes can no longer stop the vehicle. Also, please be aware that even if your brake fluid is brand new, you will still get some brake fade. This is known as ‘green fade’, and is a result of the resins inside of the pads being turned to gas. A strong smell and even some smoke is normal during this procedure. After completing your first set, take the vehicle for a drive at freeway speeds, allowing the system to cool for a while. Then return to your nominated piece of road and repeat another identical set of aggressive slowdowns before taking the car for another run at freeway speeds to help cool everything. A third set can help, but is usually unnecessary.

The Result

The first lot of slowdowns will ensure full-width contact between the disc and the pad, and clean them of their unwanted coatings. It also prepares the disc by distributing an even layer of pad material across the face. This helps to reduce brake noise and significantly reduces the chance of developing hot-spots across the rotor. The second lot of ten is designed to cook the resins inside of the brake pad. In normal day-to-day driving, and before they have had a chance to be brought up-to temperature, the pads are quite abrasive. Over time they can wear-down the transfer layer on the rotor, creating brake noise and diminished performance. If this becomes the case, then another round of bedding-in will be required.

It’s been a few months since we began the expansion of the Clickable online store. We said 2014 would be about broadening our product range, and we certainly hit the ground running. Since the beginning of the year we’ve doubled the parts selection available on our website, but we still have a long way to go before we get to where we want to be. We’re focussed on building the business that we want long term -- that is, one that we would want to buy from. For us, Clickable is about creating sustainable value to our customers and not about simple, perceived short-term gains. We’ve undoubtedly met friction and difficulties in certain areas and ruffled a few feathers since we opened our doors, but we hear every comment and suggestion and we continue to work towards building out a complete range of parts for all modern BMWs.

As you would expect, with any dramatic expansion there are always going to be some growing pains, and we recognise there are still areas that we need to improve. Inventory is one aspect we’re working to fix, as some new products have proven to be incredibly popular, far exceeding even our own expectations. As many of these parts are on back-order with our overseas suppliers, it can mean some months before we can restock, putting us in the unfortunate position of having to turn our customers away. There’s a fine balance when trying to order the right amount of product in from suppliers, especially when we haven’t sold those parts in great volumes before. We’re finding ways of doing a better job, and each phone call and order we receive from you helps to give us a better understanding of what parts we need to keep more of on our shelves.

It’s important to note that we have no plans to offer bodywork parts, interior trims, or motors. Almost all of those types of parts can almost only be sourced through either a wrecker or BMW dealership. Part of our expansion included offering more value-add products such as our Autoglym selection of car care products, and to a lesser extent, our premium selection of Motul oils. We are hoping to continue to release more mechanical maintenance parts that provide greater value and convenience to our customers, as well as eventually offering some performance-oriented options. As enthusiasts ourselves, we’re keen to begin offering performance parts in the long-term, but right now our focus is on our core business. That means building a complete range of high quality maintenance parts at reasonable and logical pricing.

But reasonable is a subjective term. We’ve always been frustrated by the high prices for BMW parts locally, so we see it as our job to find that sweet spot between great OEM alternatives and offering reasonable pricing. Anyone that buys online understands that there more options available than ever before, and we’ve always viewed our pricing as an overall cost when compared with overseas suppliers. Being an Australian business however, our biggest advantage still comes from our quick delivery, our 12 month warranty, and our parts that are specifically designed for Australian-delivered (hot climate, right-hand-drive) BMWs. Getting our pricing right is absolutely something we take seriously, but our reputation still stands on our commitment to quality.  

The second half of 2014 will be about continuing this momentum. In the coming months we’ll be offering even more radiators and thermostats from original equipment supplier to BMW, Behr Hella, as well as working on improving our packaging. Parts and pricing are just one aspect of Clickable -- making sure our customers enjoy their buying experience is paramount in everything we do.

We’re lucky enough to have built a strong customer base in the almost three years we’ve been open. There’s no mystery surrounding it, we simply strive to offer a great customer experience together with good prices and quality parts, and our customers recognise that. We want to reiterate that we truly appreciate the patience that our customers have shown us during our early years, and during the growth yet-to-come.

When we made the decision to switch over from LIQUI MOLY to Motul oils a few months back, we knew it was going to be a challenge. We launched with LIQUI MOLY almost three years ago, and at that time it was also a relatively unknown brand of motor oil in Australia. It now has a loyal following, particularly in the BMW community, so our decision to move away from the brand may look a bit odd from the outside. Although we still hold LIQUI MOLY in very high regard, we believe Motul oil -- and particularly their 8100 series -- is some of the highest quality motor oil in the world today. That’s what it came down to. We’ve had a lot of questions and scepticism from our customers as to why we’ve made the change, so we thought it was important to go into detail and thoroughly outline our decision. We also thought it would be useful to provide some insight into the manufacturing process, and what makes a truly excellent oil.  

It’s also important to note that we don’t consider oils to be our core business. People don’t come to us for oils. We have a particular focus on providing our customers with OEM-equivalent maintenance parts at reasonable pricing. Products like our Motul oils and our recently-added Autoglym range allow us to provide greater value and convenience to our customers.

The Decision

This isn’t simply a marketing gimmick. We’re real car enthusiasts here, and we spend considerable amounts of time researching the products that we use and sell. We stand by the fact that we will only sell products that we would fit to our own BMWs.

There really are hundreds of options for oil on the market today, all of which are widely accessible, and most of them are perfectly fine for people that view their cars as nothing more than A-to-B transportation. We discussed whether we should offer our customers a standard, cheaper oil, but we decided it made more sense to differentiate ourselves by offering our customers what is simply one of the best oils available. We should sell what we put in our own BMWs.

Motul is known widely throughout the motorcycle racing and high-end Japanese tuner communities, but has never been closely aligned with BMW owners, despite their 8100 oils meeting BMW’s own Longlife approvals. Some may label it as arrogance, but we would rather introduce an alternative brand and help educate fellow owners about its benefits, than just offer a better-known brand that is simply not as good. We don’t make decisions based on what will look good for our sales numbers. For us, it’s about providing the best quality, at the best prices, and the rest will follow from there. We know that Motul isn’t the cheapest oil that we can offer our customers, but we believe that quality is worth paying for, and makes for cheap insurance. Here’s why:

The Science

It’s worth noting that the word ‘synthetic’, when in the context of motor oils, refers to the process and not the material. The quality of oil is determined right at the beginning, with the ingredients for the base stock. Almost all high-end oils sold at the retail level in Australia are based on Grade 4 stock, which is a synthesised petroleum-based oil (derived from crude), and made in high volumes by companies like Exxon-Mobil. Very few motor oil manufacturers use a Grade 5 base stock (the highest grade available), which are called Esters and are commonly synthesised from vegetable oils and animal fats. The base stock used in the top tier Motul motor oils is a Grade 5 synthetic Ester that is predominantly derived from coconuts. Motul manufacture their own base stock, which, although more expensive, means they can ensure the quality right from the beginning.

The Benefits

The main advantage over other grades is that these Grade 5 Esters are polarised, which is to say that they are magnetised. They are attracted to metals and form an electro-chemical bond, whereas lesser oils only form a lubricating film at operating temperatures. The Esters leave a film of oil molecules over metal components, providing far superior lubrication during start-up, where most engine damaged is caused. This film of oil also helps safeguard from engine failure in situations where there is a drop in oil pressure. All commercial jet planes use synthetic Ester-based lubricants in their turbines.

One of the biggest advantages is that Esters also have far greater stability in high temperatures over other grades of oils, and have greater oil film strength. Petroleum-based oils evaporate when they exceed their operating temperature, carbonising and sticking to components. Even if burned, Esters do not leave deposits in the motor. Motul also add special anti-foaming properties to their oils, which is important for high-revving motors. This improves the lubrication and cooling of the motor under extreme stress, making these oils a particularly good choice for track work and spirited driving.

Motul’s series of oils combine the best base stocks with the very best additives, as well as using a special type of proprietary ingredient blending technique that makes their products superior to anything currently on the market today. This is why we sell, use, and recommend Motul oils.

We’re always reviewing the products that we offer to our customers, and one area that is important to all car enthusiasts is engine oil. The market is flooded with options from countless sources, so it’s understandably quite easy to be overwhelmed when looking into what is best for your BMW. Because of the great many options available, we have made the decision to offer what we believe to be the finest oil currently being manufactured. We’ve spent hours analysing independent research and comparing brands of oils to see what is generally considered to be the best oil available on the market today, and we are very proud to announce that Motul has been added to our online store.

Motul was established over 160 years ago and has built a reputation and legacy that is hard to match. Their products are widely used throughout the motorcycle and motorsports communities, and are the preferred choice for the top Japanese high-performance vehicle tuners.

A higher quality product starts with the best formulas and ingredients, and that means that unfortunately our pricing will not be as competitive as most alternative brands. We don’t expect that every owner to be willing to pay a premium when compared to lesser oils but, for the most discerning enthusiasts, there should be no substitute. When you can buy so many average oils down on your local street corner, we believe it’s important to differentiate ourselves by offering an alternative that is so often only chosen by those in-the-know.

But Motul isn’t just about oils -- they offer a full range of vehicle fluids. As with many of their motor oils however, their Inugel Expert Ultra coolant meets BMW’s own approval standards and uses a formula that makes it the highest quality aftermarket coolant available today. Being a concentrate, it can be blended with demineralised water down to a 33:67 ratio, meaning better value for your money.

We’re really happy to be able to offer our customers a select range of Motul products for their vehicles. This addition to our line-up means that we will also be working on offering more service kits on our website for more popular models, so be sure to keep an eye out on our Facebook page for more announcements in the coming months.

Having a properly maintained car is paramount to having confidence in its ability when you’re out driving. But if it’s your pride and joy, the look of the car is just as important.

We are very pleased to announce that Clickable now offers a full range of Autoglym products on our online store, and with free shipping for all orders. As we gradually expand our product ranges, we thought it was time we offered car care merchandise to our customers, alongside maintenance items and spare parts. We know that many people will give their BMWs a wash after giving their car a service, so it was an easy decision to make.

Autoglym was specifically chosen for two reasons. The first was that the quality of their products is nothing short of exceptional. Unlike many of the more mainstream car cleaning brands available, Autoglym invest in research and development to ensure their formulas are highly effective, but aren’t harsh and won’t cause long-term damage to the vehicle. The second reason was that their products are very reasonably priced. Many of the high-end car care brands cost silly amounts of money. Autoglym is the best of both worlds.

With our own passion for car detailing and the exceptional quality that Autoglym is renowned for, we believe this partnership is a perfect fit. Autoglym have been producing some of the finest car care products for the past four decades, supplying their goods to the likes of Jaguar, Aston Martin, Morgan, and Mercedes-Benz.

To celebrate, we will be offering free shipping for all orders that include Autoglym products. Simply add one of their items to your shopping cart, and your entire order will automatically receive free shipping at check-out!

Late last year a small number of our customers experienced issues with a particular brand of camshaft sensor that were purchased from our online store. We wanted to publicly and sincerely apologise to the 20 or so customers that purchased the product, and who trusted us to provide them with a quality, long-lasting replacement part. In an attempt to offer a constant supply of this M52/M54 intake cam sensor, as well as maintaining low prices for our customers, we made an error in judgement and changed brands. In hindsight, this new sensor was not at an acceptable standard for us. We soon received a small number of complaints that the sensors were failing shortly after installation.

To our knowledge, three customers experienced a failure of this particular brand of cam sensor. When the second failure was reported to us, we immediately pulled the product from our website and began steps to rectify the issue. All customers that purchased that brand of sensor have been contacted with a personal apology, and offered either a replacement or store credit to the value of the original. Of the three customers that experienced failures, one customer was provided with a full refund, and two were immediately sent BMW Genuine replacement sensors at no cost to them.

There’s a fine line to walk when providing products that are of a high quality, but at a cost that we would deem reasonable. Finding products that meet those requirements (and that we are able to constantly source) is something we take seriously and we spend a lot of time researching. We thought we would highlight this case to apologise for our error, and to give some insight into the methods we employ in order to provide our customers with confidence in our business. Our customers must have confidence in both the products we sell, and the experience they have during the sales process as well as after the sale has been completed. Customer trust is at the very core of everything we do.

We have since moved our camshaft sensors across the VEMO brand. Their Q+ stamped sensors are OEM-quality, with many of them being actual BMW Genuine sensors that have been reboxed (but cost around 1/3rd of the price of a replacement sensor from a dealership). We want to assure our customers that these replacements are the highest quality aftermarket sensors available, and reaffirms our commitment to providing the best parts at prices that are fair to Australian BMW owners.

If you have any concerns about a part that you have purchased from Clickable, we encourage you to get in contact with us by calling us on 1300 739 311 or emailing us here.

Continuing our commitment to expanding our product range with high quality replacement parts, we are very pleased to announce that our range of Zimmermann brakes are now available in the Clickable online store.

Zimmermann are renowned within the aftermarket BMW community for their quality and performance, so it was inevitable that we would offer their products to our customers here in Australia. For over five decades Zimmermann have been manufacturing OEM-quality replacement and upgraded brake parts. As an original equipment supplier to BMW and Porsche, Zimmermann pride themselves on their quality management systems, ensuring all of the pads and rotors that come from their facilities in Germany are of a particularly high standard. Their dedication fits well with our own philosophy of only supplying parts that are of the highest quality. As with all products that we sell, we will only offer replacement products that we would be happy to fit to our own BMWs.

One of the advantages of Zimmermann is that the majority of their discs come with their own special Z-Coat anti-corrosion treatment. This coating ensures that unsightly surface rust doesn’t appear on the hubs and the edges of the disc.

Brakes are a cause of much debate amongst enthusiasts. Quality is key, but personal preference for brake feel and performance varies from one driver to another. Zimmermann brakes offer excellent pedal feedback and consistency, which is one of the reasons they’ve become a favourite of E46 M3 owners around the world. It’s also one of the reasons that we’ve chosen Zimmermann as our preferred manufacturer of OEM-replacement brakes.

The addition of Zimmermann brakes to our product range is just part of our commitment to bring our customers the very best parts available for their BMWs at reasonable prices. If you have any queries about your brakes, we would love to hear from you (click here to email us!).

Customer satisfaction is at the core of everything we do here at Clickable. We’re constantly reviewing our systems to try and find ways of making the process of buying BMW parts as easy as possible. One of the most vital aspects of any online business is how well delivery is fulfilled. We’re very aware that this is a matter of concern for many people, which is why we guarantee all deliveries. It’s also why we closely monitor the performance of the couriers we use.

In order to evaluate the best options and outcomes for delivery, we’ve been using three different courier companies for some time now. Though we’ve never been dissatisfied with any of the service provided, it’s clear that our clientele prefer the reliability and convenience of Australia Post’s express service for smaller items.

Australia Post allows us to deliver products the day after the order is made (if placed before midday) and to any address in the country that is within their express map -- including post office boxes. But we believe the greatest benefit of moving to Australia Post is the convenience of local pick-ups. It’s often easier to visit your local post office in your own time than it is to arrange for someone to be waiting at home to sign for your package. Having that flexibility of a local pick-up (especially when you consider most post offices are open on Saturdays) is a great options for our customers. And in the rare circumstance where you may have to return an item, we can arrange for this to happen through Australia Post so that you’re not inconvenienced further.

The move also allows us to increase our weight limits for overnight express service, meaning bigger and heavier items will now be delivered even quicker. For all other bulky items (such as fluids, larger suspension components, and brake discs for example), we use TNT for their reliable road delivery service. As always, we offer a $10 flat-fee for all items to anywhere in Australia.

Everything that we do here is under constant review, and this change will be monitored to ensure the transition goes as smoothly as possible for our customers. We’re confident our decision to move to Australia Post for all of our overnight orders will be a positive one. If you are ever in need of BMW parts in a hurry, or if you have any questions about how this change might affect your next order, we encourage you to get in contact with us.

Throughout December we ran a competition for the Clickable community. Just prior to Christmas we announced our winners on our Facebook page, with first place going to Zac Soden and his Z4. We wanted to share Zac’s winning entry:

“I buy all of my standard servicing consumables for my Z4 (filters, spark plugs) from Clickable Automotive and then get my local BMW dealer to do the labour, retaining the perfect dealer logbook history at a much lower cost. At my recent service I was advised that my driveshaft flexible disc is wearing out so I ordered a replacement from Clickable and will be doing it DIY this coming weekend! Clickable Automotive provides flawless, prompt service with excellent communication and best of all great prices!”

Zac scored himself a blue magnetised MEYLE-HD front quarter panel vinyl protector to keep his BMW free from scratches when he’s playing under the bonnet. We also sent Zac (and the other prize winners) an oil filter out with their goodies.

Our thanks to everyone who entered!

A few weeks ago we announced our commitment to expanding our product range to cover all 3 Series and 5 Series models built after 1981. As of today, we have a full range of HEPU water pumps and IPD wheel bearings covering all popular and modern BMWs. These now compliment our wide range of radiator expansion tanks.

We’ve chosen to supply water pumps from HEPU for a very simple reason -- the build quality. There are a lot of options on the market for water pumps, but there are very few that we would consider fitting to our own BMWs. HEPU pumps are of OEM-quality but at a fraction of the cost, making them the best option to stock.

The interesting thing with HEPU pumps is that not all of them are manufactured by HEPU. Some have actually had the BMW roundel removed, meaning that they are the same as you would buy from the parts desk at a BMW dealership, but have been repackaged in order to be sold as an aftermarket unit. In the case of an electric water pump for later model BMWs, the pump still has Continental emblazoned across it (just as you would find on the OEM unit), but comes in a HEPU box and is around a quarter of the cost that you would expect to pay from a dealership.

It’s the same story with IPD wheel bearings. The bearings have been manufactured by either FAG or Koyo, both original equipment suppliers to BMW, but come with all the hardware needed and then repackaged in an IPD box.

It’s always satisfying when we’re able to supply our customers with parts that are equal to, or better than OEM-quality, but at prices that don’t leave a bad aftertaste. We’ll continue to strive for a full range of parts that meet our own quality and pricing expectations.

If you’ve ever decided to replace the struts on your E30 3 Series, you’ll know that there’s a frustrating amount of conflicting information on strut sizes. The BMW E30 was designed with a strut housing that held shock absorber inserts, rather than the shock mounting directly to the chassis at the top and to the suspension arm at the bottom. These strut housings came in two sizes: 45mm and 51mm. Knowing which size your car came with is important when buying strut inserts. So how do you find out what your E30 has?

Depending on what you read, some parts of the internet will tell you that vehicles made before a certain date had the smaller struts, whereas others will tell you that smaller engines came with smaller struts and bigger engines with the bigger struts.

As bizarre as it sounds, the truth of the matter is there isn’t any rhyme or reason as to which E30 models came out with which strut size. With no strict rules, there’s understandably a lot of misinformation out there. It seems from the outside as if the BMW factory had two suppliers of each sized strut, and would simply fit whatever they had in stock to the vehicles that rolled past them on the production line.

The only way to be sure which one you have in your E30 is to get under your car and measure it (and because both were fitted, even RealOEM provides both sizes after entering an E30 VIN). To make things a little easier for our customers we visited E30 guru, Graeme Bell of Bell Motorsports in Hastings, to put together this simple guide. For our friends in the US, a dollar bill works just as well.

Once you’ve measured your strut size, you can choose from a number of Bilstein shocks that we stock in our Melbourne warehouse. If you want to go with standard replacement struts, then we recommend the Bilstein B4 that have been designed to OEM specifications. For those wanting more, the heavy-duty Bilstein B6 has been designed for performance driving scenarios, maintaining a predictable and precise connection with the road under trying conditions. The Bilstein B8 utilises the same mono-tube technology as the B6, but has been made for lowered suspension, suiting the needs of most E30 enthusiasts.

We work a little differently from the common parts supplier. Whereas most will offer at least three different options for each part, we tend not to. Others will generally offer a cheap option, an expensive OEM option, and something in-between. For the majority of parts we stock, we will only present a single option on our website.

Although some customers are only looking for the cheapest option (or at the other end of the spectrum, looking only to fit factory parts), most people want something of decent quality without having to mortgage their home for it. Offering a bunch of options is great for sales numbers, but can often come at a cost of the customer’s disappointing experience with a failed part.

Our philosophy is one that you’ve heard spruiked a thousand times, but is rarely backed-up. Our intention is to stock the highest quality parts at reasonable and logical pricing. And though personal standards will always vary, Clickable Automotive will only ever stock parts that we would fit to our own BMWs.

We look at every single part that we stock in our warehouse and judge the quality for ourselves. In most cases we’ll find that the quality varies dramatically across each brand. For example, some parts manufacturers produce excellent suspension components, but then we find that excellence doesn’t carry over into their filters. We cherry-pick the best quality from a number of local and international suppliers, ensuring a certain level of quality is maintained.

With all of that in mind, I’m happy to introduce you to Vierol. This German company has been in the aftermarket industry for decades, specialising mainly in parts for German cars. We recently began stocking their products and have been impressed with the quality across their Vemo and Vaico brands -- particularly their Q+ stamped parts, which are at an OEM-level of quality (but at a fraction of the cost). We now stock Vierol in some products ranges where, up until recently, we would only be comfortable selling BMW Genuine due to our own standards not being met by other aftermarket manufacturers. In some cases, such as with the notorious DISA valve, the only option for customers was a ludicrously expensive BMW Genuine replacement. Vaico have come to the rescue with a quality alternative that is less than half the price of the retail rate.

Cherry-picking from a range of suppliers gives us freedom and confidence. It means we are confident in what we sell, and it means our prices remain truly competitive. That translates to confidence from our customers in what they’re buying from us and how much they’re paying. All of which comes down to a positive experience for our customers.

Driving a Damast Red F07 520d Gran Turismo named Rudolf, Santa made an early visit to the Clickable Automotive warehouse this week and dropped off some goodies! As a thank-you for a great year, we’ve decided to run a giveaway for all of our customers. Simply follow the steps below to win one of Santa’s awesome prizes!

1. ‘Like’ our Facebook page, found at https://www.facebook.com/clickableautomotive

2. Tell us what product you bought and why you chose Clickable Automotive

3. Post your entry along with a picture of your BMW to our Facebook wall

First Prize:

Magnetised blue MEYLE-HD front quarter panel vinyl protector

Second Prize:

Men’s medium MEYLE-HD black polo shirt (JPS owners are encouraged to enter for this one!)

Third Prize:

Bilstein sticker pack

Entries close at 11:59pm on 18/12/13. Winners will be chosen on 19/12/13 by our esteemed judges and notified via Facebook.

Terms & Conditions:

Entries open to Australian residents. Winners must provide an Australian residential address or PO Box for their prize to be mailed to.

Clickable Automotive is expanding its product range!

You may have noticed that over the past couple of years we’ve deliberately focussed on parts for the E46 3 Series, with some crossover into the E36 designation. It’s been frustrating that we couldn’t cater to everyones needs, but the support from our customers has been overwhelming. We knew outgrowing ourselves too quickly wasn’t the answer. That would have meant our customers would have suffered -- and here, our customers come first.

We very much appreciate your patience while we’ve grown to this point. We feel we're now at the stage where we have the facilities and the human resources to allow us to begin catering to more and more BMW owners around the country.

We are very pleased to announce that in the coming weeks we will be stocking an expanding range of quality parts for all 3 Series and 5 Series BMWs from 1981 onwards (our apologies to E21 owners, you’ll have to wait just a bit longer!). All parts are stocked here at our new facility in Collingwood (Victoria) and deliveries, as always, are sent reliably through TNT & Startrack Express with a flat-fee of $10. It’s worth noting that Startrack Express also allows us to deliver to your PO Box.   

Keep an eye out on the store as we release new products for your BMW, or never miss a beat by subscribing at the bottom of this page. Alternatively, if you can’t find the part you’re after, feel free to send us an enquiry here and we’ll get you an answer.

We have moved! With almost two years in our Port Melbourne location, we were sad to say goodbye to the original home of Clickable Automotive. But with modern offices and a massive warehouse, our new home in Collingwood gives us the opportunity to welcome in a new era in the company’s history.

With over 500m², the space allows Clickable Automotive to stock even more parts for even more models of BMW. As always, all parts are reliably delivered overnight with TNT & Startrack Express.

Keep an eye on the website over the coming weeks as we make more announcements (and put this extra space to good use!).

Clickable Automotive is happy to announce that the family is growing. Ben Zachariah joins the team with over a decade of experience in sales and marketing, and many years dedicated to specialising in the BMW brand.

As an avid BMW enthusiast, Ben has owned a number of models over the years, but has a particular fondness for the E34 5 Series. After returning from a recent road-trip across North America, Ben is relieved to be back on the correct side of the road, and is excited to be joining a company that shares his passion for the marque. This addition marks the beginning of an expansion at Clickable Automotive.

In the coming weeks and months there will be a number of announcements as the company sees in its next chapter. Watch this space.

A recent addition to BMW’s portfolio of vehicles is the BMW 520d GT, a 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo-charged diesel, which is essentially a hatchback version of the 5-Series sedan. The 520d GT was released in Australia in July of this year, and is considered by the company to be an entry-level vehicle for BMW’s luxurious yet popular 5-series range.

The vehicle, which features a semi-MPV body, has received a mixed reception. While, the interior of the vehicle has been very well received, with features such as elegant leather upholstery and a full-length glass roof being offered in the standard model, there has been a general feeling, particularly among BMW enthusiasts, that the direction the company has taken with the bodywork is not one of which to approve. 

Having said that, BMW have nevertheless introduced some new features to the vehicle. Driveability has been improved from previous models, with BMW’s patented Driving Experience Control being a standard feature. This enables the driver to select from three predefined settings of steering, suspension and drivetrain configuration. Other new feature included is an upgraded safety system, with BMW’s Active Protection Safety Package also now fitted as standard. This system identifies potential collisions via a front-mounted camera, and compensates with emergency braking or distinctive over or understeering. The 520d GT does not scrimp on power for the size of the engine. The 2-litre engine produces 135 kW (184hp) of power, and enables acceleration from 0-100 kmh in under 9 seconds, and can push the vehicle to a nifty top speed of 212.5 kmh.

The 520d GT features BMW’s Efficient Dynamics technology, which has been adopted across the 5-Series range. BMW claim that this system has a significant impact on both the amount of distance per litre you can get out of the vehicle, and carbon dioxide emissions. However, Car Enthusiast Magazine described the 520d GT as “too big, too ugly and too expensive...[BMW needs to] introduce a more efficient, cheaper to buy (and run) entry-level car”. 

However, the vehicle has not met with a particularly enthusiastic response in Australia, with sales apparently pretty meagre. Many BMW enthusiasts consider the 5-Series GT to be a rather ugly car, with none of the practical appeal of the Estate version of the same vehicle. It doesn’t seem to clearly fit the genre of being a ‘family car’, yet it probably wouldn’t really appeal to those wanting something sporty. It does not appear to have either the classic style of some of the older 3-Series vehicles, nor even any particularly enviable characteristics or specification that would mark it out from several existing BMW vehicles.

That said, this particular BMW model appears to be like Vegemite, as while some have criticised the design, pricing and efficiency of the vehicle, others are completely sold on it. Autocar described the 520d GT as “competitively priced, refined, efficient...it is our favourite Five yet”.

So which camp are you in? Is this a refined, spacious, high-spec, powerful vehicle, or an ugly, bulky, superfluous one? 

Textar actually celebrate their centenary year next year, having been originally inaugurated as a company in 1913, just one year before the First World War. The company has seen phenomenal changes in automotive technology over its 99 years of trading, but one thing hasn’t changed; Textar has been throughout this period, in its own words, “the leading supplier of friction to the world´s car and commercial vehicle manufacturers”.

Textar pads are manufactured by the TMD Friction Group, probably the world’s leading producers of automobile brake technology. The TMD Group currently employs some 4,752 people at fifteen sites in eleven countries, spread across four continents.

Textar is not only a supplier for BMW; it in fact produces brake pads for every vehicle manufacturer that you could care to name. The Textar brand has become synonymous with the quality of its equipment, the level of performance and safety it provides, and the length of serviceable life of which its products are capable.

In terms of its BMW brake pads, these have been particularly accredited for their quality. The contrast between a high-quality pad such as those provided by Textar, and some of their lesser competitors can be quite marked, with Textar pads providing a high level of initial ‘bite’ and torque, very low fade for the street, and a high level of feedback to the driver, enhancing the driving experience, and simply making the vehicle easier, more enjoyable and safer to drive.

Textar brake pads are the favoured pad by BMW’s manufacturing and design team, and are fitted straight into BMW’s vehicles at their manufacturing plants. It really cannot be emphasised enough that fitting and utilising Textar brake pads will enhance the driving experience of any BMW car, giving a more authentic feel to the vehicle.

At Clickable we rate Textar’s products very highly, and consequently we will be adding many more over the coming months. We supply Textar brake pads for the BMW 3-Series E36 and 46, and both the Z3 and Z4. You can begin browsing all of the high-quality brake pads that we have available at Clickable by clicking here or by contacting us.

Bosch is a German engineering company founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart, Germany in 1886, which has been involved in the manufacturing of engineering products since its inception over a century ago. Today, Bosch is the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of components for the motor trade and automotive industry. 

Given its size and German base, with its contemporary headquarters being located in Gerlingen, Germany, Bosch is a natural choice for BMW to forge a strong relationship and partnership with. Consequently, the company has supplied parts for BMW vehicles for decades, and will continue to do so for years to come.

Furthermore, many advances in automotive technology have been achieved by collaborations between the two German companies, for example in the 1980s, Bosch and BMW working together developed the world’s first traction control system. Bosch is frequently chosen by the German manufacturer of luxury cars to join forces to work on major projects, with the companies recently announcing their intention to develop a common data platform for electric-vehicle charging.

Here at Clickable, we know and value the quality and reliability of Bosch’s technology for all of BMW’s vehicle range, and thus Bosch feature strongly in our range. Spark plugs, ignition coils and alternators are just some of the many Bosch products that we supply here at Clickable, so why not check out our Bosch product range today.

There was good news for BMW, as figures released today indicated that its sales in China rose by 59% on the year ending in September. The figure was considered particularly encouraging given the recent slowing down of Chinese economic growth. Figures indicate that the German manufacturer sold nearly 30,000 of its vehicles in China over the twelve month period beginning in September, 2011.

The Chinese market is considered particularly important for car manufacturers – and indeed most manufacturers of goods – owing to the fact that the Asian nation is a huge growth market, and set to become the world’s biggest economy over the next decade. China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy in February, 2011.

While there were previous indications that sales of BMW’s fellow German competitor Audi had also increased, figures indicate that BMW’s growth has been considerably more rapid and that they have significantly closed the gap on Audi in China. BMW continue to comfortably outperform fellow luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz.

BMW’s stock responded by trading 3.3% higher in the European markets.

The 2012 Paris Auto Show recently took place in France’s très chic capital city. With representatives and buyers present from every major manufacturer, from every nook and cranny of the globe, BMW were predictably well represented.

One of the biggest announcements from the German auto giant at the show was the release of the latest i3 Concept car. The i3 is an entirely electricity-driven vehicle, which features passenger cells constructed from carbon fibre reinforced plastic. The interior also features wood and other materials intended to be 100% sustainable, and overall the i3 Concept is intended to set new levels of environmental-friendliness in a motor vehicle.

In a similar vein, another vehicle which caught the attention of show attendees was BMW’s unveiling of the Active Tourer concept vehicle. The Active Tourer has a compact semi-MPV body, quite unusual for a BMW vehicle, but is more obviously characterised by its petrol hybrid drive-train, which can be powered up for nearly twenty hours to run off only electricity after a charge-up from mains power. Nothing is spared in power terms, though, with a top speed of over 200 kilometres per hour, and a total power output of 190PS (140kW). BMW states that the vehicle “presents a real opportunity for the continued growth of the BMW brand”. Above all else, it should be noted that this is BMW’s first ever front-wheel drive car.

 Elsewhere, there was more news on the co-operation between BMW and Toyota, which will see the German firm providing advanced engineering work and diesel engines to some of the Japanese manufacturer’s car models. Furthermore, both companies have agreed to collaborate on the production of petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell technology.

The company also announced that BMW’s most recent three-cylinder engines will be distributed in the United States. There were reports coming out of the Paris show that BMW’s three-cylinder hybrid engine will be used in all future Mini models, as well as the company’s own i8 hybrid sports car.

Finally, the company was also promoting its BMW-themed boutique shop in Paris, located on the infamous Avenue George V. With a location on Paris’ most luxurious shopping district, the shop sells a variety of BMW merchandise, as well as enabling consumers to arrange deals to purchase its vehicles. The company have described this store as “mark[ing] the launch of a new generation of BMW brand stores”.

At Clickable we like things with a simple focus. We feel that being on one side of the fence or the other is a good thing. And when finding the right replacement parts for your car, known quantities you can trust are important. So as we’ve said before — and we’ll most likely say again — we spend a lot of time dedicated to making sure we are only offering the highest quality parts at excellent prices.

MEYLE-HD?  Their focus is simple. Create parts that simply last longer.

It’s not hard to see way we like them. And we’d only wish there were more manufactures like MEYLE-HD that are as dedicated to creating an improved, heavy-duty version of parts for cars, that in some cases that have been out of production for 20+ years. Enthusiasts like us should all rejoice at such initiative.

In developing their parts, a team of engineers at MEYLE-HD assess a bunch of data — like recall statistics and information from workshops — and use their partners at the German technical inspection organisation TÜV to filter down to the parts that are most need a redesign/rethink to how a part was originally developed to create a better alternative. By not being under the same pressures demanded by car manufactures to reduce the engineering cycles and the costs of materials used, MEYLE-HD is able to arrive at a much more sophisticated solution.

Still not convinced? Let’s take their control arm sets for the E46 3 Series for example. Every area has been evaluated and improved upon from the factory pieces — from being made from reinforced aluminium and adding replaceable ball joints to the non-replaceable factory design. So the next time your ball joints need replacing (...Remember, they’ll last longer to begin with!), you don’t need to replace the entire arm, just the ball joints. Stopping there would be premature, so they include control arm bushings with new brackets pre-pressed onto the arms to make the installation child’s play.

The best news about MEYLE’s heavy duty parts — besides a more robust design, higher-grade materials or a better geometry in how the rubber-to-metal is positioned — is that they are all created without compromising ride quality, cabin vibrations or how the car feels. So you get happy motoring ahead. 

On or off the track, maintaining momentum is always important. So last week we released a new website to address some important areas we thought we could improve. 

While it’s true you can’t build the foundations on sand, some tough decisions needed to be made just before our launch in November last year to release our store without the polish we set out to differentiate ourselves in the Australian market.

Frankly, it was embarrassing in some areas and we’re really sorry to anyone who experienced any technical difficulties when using the old site! Hopefully, those days are now behind us.

To cover a bit of the back story, we approached our launch last year by deciding to launch the basics first, with a plan of quick iterations that would be the best method to create, and maintain something great long term. What was the result?

Well, leaving the things ‘that could wait’ meant we ended up doing them better. And by not taking educated guesses on what we thought would work, and what wouldn’t, we were able to see the results unfold before our eyes and knew that was the direction to go in. It’s amazing what perspective does.

With the help of Inchoo — an eCommerce developer/consultant — enlisted, we ended up changing most things under the hood to bring a better shopping experience. But, without getting too geeky, we focused our attention on the main constraints — mainly the navigation of products, cross-browser compatibility and providing detailed information on what parts each model fits.

Now, with a much better template to start building on, we’re already busy getting ready to add a lot of new parts for the E36 3 Series to cover all those great mechanical maintenance and common fault parts we keep getting asked about. Oh, and with a few exciting performance aftermarket parts, we hope you will agree it’s a welcome addition.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks!

There’s nothing like common interests. At Clickable we assume everyone shares our passion for quality products and using only the best for our cars. When it comes time to make decisions about what products to carry in our store we go by a pretty simple rule: “if we wouldn’t be happy installing this part on our cars, why sell it?”

So when it came time to decide on a brand of lubricant to put our name behind, Germany’s Liqui-Moly was an easy choice. With Liqui-Moly’s 50 year track-record working with European manufactures to develop, test and certify their oils to the exact standards you would expect from a leading German manufacturer, we were certain they offered the latest in OEM approvals and specifications.

While Liqui Moly’s brand recognition is just starting to gain traction in Australia, last year they reached the milestone of becoming the highest selling oil brand in Germany – out performing their rival Castrol. We expect big things to come.

For every kilometre your engine runs, the oil it is running plays a huge role in the efficiency and longevity of its life. Using the correct oil and also changing it frequently enough to maintain the appropriate viscosity goes without saying. And with a topic as heated as what oil weight, brand and schedule to use for replacement, the best advice we can give, is to chose an oil that meet the strict manufacturers specification for your car. We advise you to choose an oil that is formulated from a high quality base stock and additives.

For newer BMWs with ‘Condition bases servicing’ we recommend you change your oil no less than every 12,500 kilometres, in order to reduce wear and prevent sludge from building up. So when it comes time for your next oil change, why not try Liqui-Moly for yourself and let us know what you think?

So, it’s finally autumn! What better time to begin blogging and fill you in on all things Clickable.

The response since our launch last November has been exceptional. It will come as no surprise to hear that we’ve been up to an awful lot since then. In the coming months we will be refreshing the look of the website and overhauling its backend to clear up many useability, navigation and browser comparability issues that we’re currently limping around with. Creating a problem-free site isn’t nearly as straightforward as it should be (or we would like it to be!) and we’re sorry for any inconvenience. Maintaining the site’s usability is definitely a team effort, and we’re very thankful to all our customers who have given their time to let us know of a fault or who have suggested how we can improve our shopping experience. We like to think we’re good listeners ☺

Now with suppliers for over 30 of the highest quality brands like Textar, Zimmerman, Febi-Bilstein, MEYLE, Lemforder, and others, we are widening our product selection to cater for the other BMW models. In the meantime, for those makes and models we’re yet to cover: it’s important to note that we’re able to source parts for your Audi, BMW, VW and Mercedes at the same great prices we feature for the E46. Simply get in touch with us and we will see how we can help! We’re contactable by phone, email, fax, carrier-pigeon (that is, if you train the bird, and can wait long enough for us to figure out how to send it back to you!). No reason to be shy.

In January we moved our freight to TNT Express and have seen impressive results. Finding suppliers and service providers who can live up to our demands when it comes to reliability and speed is never an easy task. Unfortunately it can take a bit of trial and error to find the right fit. With TNT we’re now able to offer next day, time expected service to meet your exact needs. Basically, our goal is to get you the parts you need when and where you need them. We like to think that’s not too much to ask.

Let us know what you would like to see or hear about in the comments bellow. We’re all about blog suggestions!

It’s fair to say we’re pretty proud of what we do at Clickable, and sometimes we like just to show it off! While we currently only operate online or over the phone, we have been more than happy to accommodate pickups by appointment for customers when needed.

When we moved into our premise in Port Melbourne, we knew we had to do something to make our presence known: and last week we did just that! The results, as they say, speak for themselves.

What an amazing start we’ve had at Clickable! I wanted to quickly reflect on the week that’s been and thank everyone for the overwhelming support, positive feedback, and time that you’ve given to share your thoughts and comments.

Now with a steady stream of orders going out across Australia, we’ve gained important insight into exactly what customers are after – and importantly, where we need to improve.

One area is, of course, customer confidence. Clickable will soon be a TRUSTe privacy certified site, and have VeriSign’s EV SSL Certificate (Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer – a mouthful, we know!) displayed on secure pages, such as login, checkout etc. You’ll notice this change with the green website address bar on secure pages and seal icons in the page footer.

The growth of the Facebook activity has been great to see. At the time of writing we now have 140 people that ‘Like’ our Facebook page. All in a little over a week. This must be what being one of the cool kids a school felt like. Nice.

I also wanted to extend our apologies in regards to the few bugs customers might have experienced – bugs that unfortunately weren’t noticed during our testing process. We are of course working busily to correct them and I hope customers will continue to call or email to us with their concerns and suggestions on ways we can make the website even better.

Lastly, I want to touch on the growing list of customers who have inquired about all the parts that we are yet to include in our store, but will be appearing with time. It’s clear that there is a big demand for us to broaden our product range to attempt to match our overseas competitors. While we feel it’s important to control the launch just at the moment, we’d love to continue sourcing the specific parts you need right now (wherever they happen to be) on an individual basis. Simply get in touch with us by sending through an email or giving our office a call – we look forward to hearing from you!

We’re certainly a bit late to the party in announcing the news of the new 991-911 on our blog, we know! But it’s important to celebrate the truly clean sheet design to finally come out of Porsche; these moments don’t come around that often. We know it can seem at times like Porsche releases a new variation of the 911 every few weeks, but the outgoing 997 owes its legacy to the 996 launched all the way back in 1998. The continuous improvement from then is on show in the new model, and is coming from some of the most epic race and road cars ever created. Cars that I suspect will go down in history with the greats, like the 2.7RS and 969. The new 991 will continue the story of the 911 on for the next 14 years. For now, Porsche gives us the Carrera and Carrera S, leaving the more exciting GT3s and Turbos for later. With a slightly longer wheelbase (100 mm) and wider front track, the use of an all-new aluminium-steel composite body nets an extra 45 kg in weight savings. Other highlights reveal the first ever production 7-speed manually operated gearbox and a shift from hydraulic to electric power steering.

We wouldn’t be car enthusiasts without spending at least some our time on Porsche’s website building our own 911. My ‘modestly’ configured Carrera S happened to add a mere $47,640 in options! Bargain.