v_therussian

I had recently convinced my best friend to purchase an E36 M3 Vert. After a lengthy search, he found an electric blue 1999 one-owner car in San Diego area. It is definitely not an abused example - one owner, only one minor accident. But 125k miles is 125k miles - no matter where you're from. After driving the car here (to New York) by himself, he was concerned that his alignment was really off: the rear end was sliding all over the place on even the smallest bumps and - long story short - he called me up asking where to look for bushings, control arms, who's a good alignment guy, and so on. I immediately told him about Rogue Engineering, for two reasons: 1. my brother-in-law actually had met the guys who own/operate it and they are the real deal, and 2. they are located close to NYC in North Jersey. My friend looked at their site, did some research and decided to get in touch with them.

I didn't know this, but Rogue Engineering recently started catering to local customers and perform some work in-house. When my friend called up Ben at Rogue, he convinced Ben to squeeze his E36 vert in for a complete bushing replacement on a very short notice (no doubt, arguing that he's afraid to continue driving the car as it was). So Monday morning we set out on a little drive - my friend to get his car to handle like an M finally, I went for the pilgrimage to the Rogue Engineering facility.

We pulled up to the shop (just off Route 17 in Upper Saddle River), that looks little like a racing shop and a LOT more like a research and development facility - which it is in fact. Ben greeted us promptly, apologized that they don't yet have an area where we could sit and wait while the work is being done and proceeded to drive the M3 into the shop area. Even better - gave me an excuse to hang around the shop while the car was being worked on

Few words on what we saw inside the shop first: there was what looked like Rogue's own racing E36 M3 with a full cage and slicks jacked up off to the side. There was also a customer's E46 M3 with a full cage, extensive carbon fibre treatment, BBS LM's, which Ben went into a little detail about - telling me they are doing some insane modifications to this customer's other E46 M3 - something to the tune of a full racing prep, including the entire suspension, engine tune and God knows what else. This "other" E46 M3 was unfortunately not on hand to view - Ben said it was getting painted - but it is probably a real beast. Just one detail to give you an idea of how much modding that car will receive - it has a full carbon fibre wide body, that was purchased from a racing outfit (not sure if I can just drop names here) and custom-fitted to the car. There was also a previous-shape Z4, which looked stock, aside from some BBS rims. Outside - an E60 M5 sitting on stock 166s, but with a drop that was not unlike that you'd see when you throw KW v3's on an M5. That was it.

So back to my friend's E36 M3 vert. Ben took the car into the shop (donning what looked suspiciously like a lab coat, mind you!) and proceeded to immediately put it on the lift and got to work. Their bushings aren't cheap - altogether, with work done by the actual guy who develops these parts (which is invaluable), the four bushings that were installed ran close to $600. The work took very little time, and Ben worked on the car himself, like I said. I got to talking to him a little bit in the process - which he didn't seem to mind too much, thankfully. He shared with me that he started in this business trying to make a short-shifter kit for himself. That led to him starting UUC Motorworks, which he subsequently left to start Rogue Engineering with another partner. Keep in mind, this guy comes off more like a Physics PhD, than a dude who makes racing parts - he is extremely knowledgeable and supremely confident. Immense pleasure to deal with and super nice, as well. The work took about 2 hours total, part of which included him actually custom-fitting one of the front bushings to make the fit perfect. The parts quality struck me as impeccable - which it really ought to be, since these are hand-fabricated, custom-made, precision-machined parts that are designed by a guy who races cars that employ his parts. I really don't know if it gets better than that.

Here's a pic of the front bushing installed:


The biggest bummer, of course, is that the only parts that Rogue Engineering makes that can be used on an E60 are the spacers. I examined several spacers that were on hand and they are extremely light-weight and produced an impression of a super high-quality product. Fabricated from high-quality aluminum and I think they are coated with some sort of anti-corrosion solution, though I didn't think to ask when I was there. The only other mod that Rogue can do to an E60 is for a 535 - engine tune that adds 60hp at the wheels. Not bad, but I'm still out of luck with my 530. I did ask if he would mind if I bring my car in sometime for him to take a quick look at it and recommend what direction to take with making the suspension more precise, when I install the KWs. He was (not surprisingly) somewhat uninterested in my E60, though he did say that I can come by and he'd be glad to help me out. When I asked him how come they don't make any parts for E60, he said that there is not enough market for it to justify the type of R&D that they put in. I rebutted with a standing offer to submit my car to him as a guinea pig for ANY possible R&D and testing he could think of. Again, not that interested - no surprise there.

All in all, my impressions from this pilgrimage left me longing for an E46 M3. I have NEVER before seen such dedication and professionalism when it comes to modding. The shop itself looks like you could eat of the floors. The lifts look brand new, there is no clutter of any sort, the few people that are walking around all have the look of a defined purpose on their faces (and again, lab coats). I just wish they made some parts for my 530Xi...

I may be stopping by there again, in which case, I'll be sure to ask Ben if I can take a few quality pics so I can share with y'all. But in the meantime, this story will have to suffice. Also, looks like my friend's M3 is shaping up to be the real deal. With the new bushings the ride is positively more precise. The handling became tighter (infinitely so compared to his ride before the bushings - since the original bushings were destroyed) and it was the first major mod also. He's planning to swap out the suspension next, so we'll probably try and do a proper photo shoot then.

Best,

V.

rkhettry23

Rouge is great. Right up by me.