Dropped the car off at the shop today, ahead of the impending inclement weather. She goes under the knife on Monday.
At least she won’t be alone.
Dropped the car off at the shop today, ahead of the impending inclement weather. She goes under the knife on Monday.
At least she won’t be alone.
That E39 brings back memories. I had a 525iT for a year or so and loved that car. Sadly had to donate when a bunch of stuff started failing at once and I could not get it to pass smog. Awesome thread!
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atlex (01-17-2022),kung fu jesus (01-16-2022)
I love the BMW wagons and still monitor them for future purchase.
Nothing to show, but it was nice and unexpected to receive an update from the shop. They have the rear subframe removed and are documenting it. It’s my understanding they do this job in “batches” to maximize the fabricator’s time.
The short shifter might not happen due to supply chain issues, and that’s ok. I’ll be happy with the stock shifter being rebuilt as an alternative.
Big day! Pics of the subframe:
No cracks! Zero, nada. Great news! This car is a confirmed, babied cream puff.
You can see black outlines of where the reinforcement plates will be welded in.
Gotta admit, I’ve seen pictures of ‘babied’ cars with cracks. I was Ok with some hairline fractures, but this is better and a big relief!
HarryB (01-19-2022)
Nice! Would double-check their work in terms of sealing once the reinforcements are welded on. Ideally would like to coat both surfaces (frame and inner side of plates) with weld-through primer, plus meticulously apply some sealant around all edges. Water ingress and rust in multi-layer sheetmetal structures is the devil.
kung fu jesus (01-19-2022)
That’s what is expected and discussed. They send me daily pictures in an email.
Full weld, etching primer, and epoxy undercoating.
Looks like a contaminate got in at the start of the weld above. They took care of it, I asked.
Agent☣Orange (01-20-2022),HarryB (01-20-2022),MaRcOp01o (01-20-2022),MiataQuest (01-22-2022)
I picked up the car tonight. It feels very, VERY nice, exceptionally OEM+. The rear tracks with the fronts noticeably better. The driveline feels more direct.
Altogether, the chassis feels more taunt.
The short shifter did not arrive in time, so I had the stock unit rebuilt. Wow. The 6sp already felt better than my previous BMWs, but this is just really smooth.
I had the transmission mounts done as well.
Here are the pockets that were cut open from the trunk to weld in additional gussets to compliment those welded underneath:
These are covered by the removable spare tire cover and carpet.
All-in-all I am very pleased. It was pricey, but these future-proofing and OEM+ updates are worth it.
HarryB (01-25-2022)
I bought a coding suite for the car that will allow me to customize each of the car’s modules, individual trouble codes, live data, and specialized dealership/technician troubleshooting/repairs.
It’s like a hyper-charged OBD2/Carly/dynamic data logger. Maybe a better analogy is like DIYAutotune TunerStudio, but not just for the Engine computer, ALL the computers in the car.
Should be pretty cool and helpful!
Agent☣Orange (02-01-2022),HarryB (02-01-2022),Slampen (02-01-2022)
Ooh, I like that! I read that newer BMWs come with a lot of cool features but owners have to pay a monthly subscription to use them.
No todo que es oro brilla.
These cars, and others, come with a lot of factory settings you can change. They set them based on the options and landing country it is being shipped to. This car has a lot of options so I have a bunch of settings I can change.
I can also do a lot of stuff I would have to pay the dealer or a shop to change.
6:30a, Monday, backing out of the garage.
“That sounds odd…”
Too close to the shoulder to repair. Guess who had a chat with the GC renovating the house about debris?
Welp, I went ahead and replaced all the tires. I was *hoping* to wait until the autumn,and probably get something in a summer tire, but reason got the better of me.
They were aging out at being nearly 5 years old and the left rear catching a screw sort of forced my hand. The stability control was kicking in more frequently with the fresher tire.
I commute about 50 miles round-trip 3-4 times/week. I drive primarily on the expressway in arguably one of the most aggressive driving cities in the US. I routinely drive 80 mph in heavy traffic and it rains frequently and heavily here. Also, we are about as far south as you can get and still have all four seasons (some snow and ice).
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 A/S. There were Pilot Sport 3 A/S on it previously and I liked them as much on this car as I did on my e30. I’m a bit of a tire snob and I hate cheap tires that get loud soon after break-in.
I think the plan now is to get another set of OE BMW wheels and mount sticky tires on those for fun at the track or the mountains.
Also, I passed the initial settling of the new bushings and work done on the rear last month and it was time to get it aligned, It was getting a little twitchy at speed out back and I knew it was time to get it corrected:
New tires and fresh alignment feel good at Mexican speeds!
Agent☣Orange (02-11-2022),HarryB (02-13-2022)
Been having some trouble with the high beams on the car staying engaged (on). They are bi-xenon which means when the high beams are switched on, a shutter over the bulb lifts and aims more light higher. Mine are engaging momentarily before switching back to low beams:
Using the scanner and software, I am able to look at all the computer/modules in the car, including the Lighting Control Module (LCM).
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Choosing the LCM, I can pull up the features and settings.
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By merely un-checking the "bixenon" box, the LCM reverts to using the inner halogen bulbs for high beams instead of flipping the shutters up on the xenon bulbs:
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Using this software, I was able to run diagnostics to see if the issue was the LCM or the combo/stalk switch on the steering wheel. It is the LCM. I have a few more tests to run, but in the meantime I have operational high beams (yay!)
Agent☣Orange (02-15-2022)