Oh dear Japan, if you only knew the love we have for you! As if all the slammed Hakosukas on Watanabes and Cimas rocking -20 degrees of camber wasn’t enough, lately you’ve also been showing us just how well you can build German vehicles! But what exactly do you get when you mix Japanese and German? Thankfully we have just the car for you. Take this particular E46 that belongs to our good friend Naoki Matsumoto. For us it was love at first sight, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it took some getting used to for a few of you.
Photos By: Naoki Matsumoto exclusively for StanceNation.com
What once started as just another 320i has completely been transformed into something “refreshing and unique“. The most drastic change were those radiused an widened fenders you probably first noticed. 1.2 inches in the front and 2.4 inches in the rear of radiusing to be exact. With that came the space some aggressive wheels so Naoki mounted on a set of Work Equips in 18×9.5 (-12) with 215/35/18 up front and 18×10.5 (-12) with 225/35/18 rears. Stretching of tires and widening of fenders wasn’t quite enough to clear those wheels so Naoki set the camber at -8 degrees all around and dropped the car on D2 Coilovers. Which reminds us, this was the same BMW that blew its transmission pan at the recent HF event at Fuji Speedway. Things like that are bound to happen when the lowest part of your car hangs just 0.8″ off the ground.
Front bumper comes off of the M Sport Coupe E46 while the rear is completely original. Clean and relatively simple appearance even after all the work that was put into it, that’s what we love about Japanese builds. Hardly ever do their cars look “tacky”. With that said, we would love to hear what you think of this clash of styles. We’ve included a few more photos for you to check out below so make sure you click that Read More button to check them out. Big thanks to Naoki for everything!
