"These build journal entries are part of a Special Series covering BMW M's most popular wing designs.

Written in collaboration with Silvano at CarbonProduction GmbH, I take you into the historical development of these wings all the way to my unboxing impressions of the GTS, GT4 and M235/240i Racing wings. 

In this entry, I finally make up my mind on wing selection for the E92 M3. I went full circle  and sourced a GTS carbon wing, yet it still missed an OEM touch."
- Matt

Full circle. 

In the initial entry to this series, I started with the first ever AoA wing put on a street car: the GTS wing. 

I opened up the entry stating BMW went at it the wrong way: they tried turning a street legal wing into a motorsport product and failed. 

The GTS wing was intended for the street, it's where I most use my E92 M3.

Importing the quasi-original. 

In the Summer of 2022, I ended up sourcing a GTS wing from Germany. Silvano had it in stock on the shelf as it had been discarded during quality control due to finishing imperfections. 

The wing showed up within a few days via UPS, as usual, it was very well packaged. 

The wing came mounted with the end plates on. It looked great, from afar. 

The imperfections.

The gel coat hadn't been clear coated due to finishing errors. It was cloudy, as seen by the grey'ish appearances. 

It wasn't Silvano's best on the underside as well. He knew it and was transparent about it. 

Bringing it up to OE spec. 

No matter the imperfections, Silvano's wing are actually finished in raw carbon, with optional gloss or matte clear coat

The original GTS was satin black to match the front lip kit and ZCP wheels. That's what I planned to do with ExclusivAutomotiv. 

The original plan was to paint and fit the wing with the CSL carbon trunk in the Fall of 2022. 

The wing got prep'ed and painted in black with a 2 component satin clear coat matching the GTS front lip kit. 

The main visual difference with the OEM GTS wing are the end plate bolts. The OEM wing is recessed whereas Silvano's end plates are flat, with the bolts sitting on top.

The end plates were removed for paint work and bolted back using Silvano's titanium hardware. The black coating does tend to wear over time. 

The finish looked immaculate, covering the gel coat imperfections after properly preparing the surface for paint. 

Luigi, where are the mounts?

Back in the Spring of 2022, I worked a few contacts and sourced a set of OE replica GTS mounts instead of Silvano's lightened GTS mounts. 

I wanted a GTS like OEM appearance down to the mounts. 

We lost the mounts, somewhat. They were put in a box we lost track of for the whole Winter.

Luigi found them as Summer '23 came around and we did a quick test fit. 

Pardon the makeshift bolts. Silvano provides the bolts for his own mounts and we didn't have any handy. 

You have to give it to BMW M for designing a controversial wheel that still respect basic design principles.

The carbon board width and end plates align with the trunk to quarter panel gap. 

Up next: it's time to drill. 

We drill the trunk, fabricate some reinforcements, and bolt the wing.

I'm eager to see the final aesthetics, and if it will clog up my rear view.