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Nodoze posted:Anyone have experience swapping out the radio in a Mini ? I have an 03 Mini S with the H/K radio and I have heard it's a big pain in the rear end to remove that and get another system in. My thought was it would be cheaper to just replace the head unit with one that has a USB input than to get the mini iPod adapter since it's like 350 bucks, but I think I might also lose the steering wheel controls if I do that. Cheaper option is to just get the Auxilary unput kit since that's only like 40 bucks, but then I have to mess with the player to change songs and such. It's a massive pain in the rear end and honestly getting the iPod adapter is probably the best choice even if it's expensive.
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Apr 24, 2011 15:53
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I'm thinking of selling my 2010 Civic Si and taking over a guy's lease on a 2011 135i with the M-sport/premium/nav package. I checked back like 10 pages and didn't see anyone talking about the 135's bursting into flames at 20,000 miles or anything, but are there any red flags I should be looking for, or a reason to avoid the 2011 135?
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Apr 25, 2011 01:26
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135i is a very nice little coupe. Don't expect too much out of the backseat. It's fine for short trips but I wouldn't expect to haul 4 adults across country :P You'll love it.
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Apr 25, 2011 01:36
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Nitr0 posted:135i is a very nice little coupe. Don't expect too much out of the backseat. It's fine for short trips but I wouldn't expect to haul 4 adults across country :P Thanks! The Si isn't exactly roomy in the back, either, so I'm used to getting dirty looks from passengers. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of getting back into a German ride.
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Apr 25, 2011 02:45
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I've read a lot of problems with the high pressure fuel pumps on the N54 being a very problematic point on the engine, sometimes failing within only a few thousand miles of replacement. Last I heard, they were still replacing broken ones with the same flawed design, ensuring another failure down the road. I'm not too up on the subject though, so maybe someone else can chime in on the problem and the current status.
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Apr 25, 2011 05:53
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HPFP is under a 10 year warranty now. There may be a problem that you'll have to go to the dealership sometime down the road to have it replaced but I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker by any means. For what it's worth the HPFP has been replaced once on my N54 with 40k miles
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Apr 25, 2011 06:00
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Any tips at looking for good deals? There seems to be a high demand for E46s here (SF Bay Area) and not many places seem to carry them. Ones that do, have roughly 130k miles and they want way over KBB. I saw a 2000 323i w/ 120k asking 9k which I thought was absurd.. Private parties seem to want even more. I don't have any experience buying used cars -- would they bat an eye if I offered people ridiculously low amounts (slightly lower than KBB retail)? Or are their stickers purposely that high to get suckers?
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Apr 25, 2011 06:29
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Bank posted:Or are their stickers purposely that high to get suckers? Pretty much.
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Apr 25, 2011 06:53
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tesko.pk posted:Do some cross-referencing at realoem.com, but I think you're safe. Personally I wouldn't go with a kit from Pelican, nothing against them, I just prefer Meyle HD components, they're really worth the extra cost IMO. The suspension refresh on my E46 is; Meyle HD FCAB's, Meyle HD Front End Links, Meyle HD rear shock mounts, RSM reinforcement plates, tie-rods, front strut mounts, spring pads all around, Koni FSD shocks, H&R sport springs, and a carbon fiber BMW performance strut brace for the cherry on top. One of these days some Sway Barbarians from UUC are supposed to show up but after 6 weeks im still patiently waiting Who do you shop at for Meyle HD stuff? I found some things on UUC, but their site design is ehhh. Turner seems to have good prices on the springs/shocks/struts but their options for RSM/FSM are limited. Also, if you had stock suspension, when you switched to the sport shocks and springs how much rougher was the ride. Obviously the little blurbs say it's not a big change, but I do commute in this thing so I need it more than bearable.
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Apr 25, 2011 07:12
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Deceptor101 posted:Who do you shop at for Meyle HD stuff? I found some things on UUC, but their site design is ehhh. Turner seems to have good prices on the springs/shocks/struts but their options for RSM/FSM are limited. Also, if you had stock suspension, when you switched to the sport shocks and springs how much rougher was the ride. Obviously the little blurbs say it's not a big change, but I do commute in this thing so I need it more than bearable. ECS Tuning is my main go-to for OEM parts and more, they've done really well by me every time I've ordered (Which is likely up to $1500 over 5 orders so far?), and decent rates to Canada (USPS!!). The RSM reinforcement plates I bought off a guy on E46 fanatics (vendor / supporter of some kind). I was on stock, non-sport suspension, and I did the H&R sport springs last summer, the ride was pretty bad since I didn't swap in aftermarket shocks AND I was running 19" wheels. I've got those Koni shocks going on next weekend and I've already since made the switch to 17" wheels. I will say that the lowering of the car resulted in better handling, but don't do it on stock shocks, on stock sport-shocks I'd say it'd probably be fine. If ride comfort is a factor (I daily drive my E46 as well), I'd suggest either the Bilstein HD's or the Koni FSD's, if you want to go aftermarket. I will definitely report back how my FSD's handle.
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Apr 25, 2011 07:34
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Myele suspension stuff is pretty meh...a good friend of mine is the parts guy at an indy bmw shop and he stopped carrying myele products due to quality issues and switched to lemforder only. Also UUC is amongst the worst bmw vendors around...try rmeuropean or azautohaus instead.
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Apr 25, 2011 17:12
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Bank posted:Any tips at looking for good deals? There seems to be a high demand for E46s here (SF Bay Area) and not many places seem to carry them. Ones that do, have roughly 130k miles and they want way over KBB. I saw a 2000 323i w/ 120k asking 9k which I thought was absurd.. Private parties seem to want even more. Depends how long they private parties have had the car up for sale and of course whatever price they post is negotiable. When you post a car for sale on Autotrader you really don't want to post it as the cheapest car as I think most people would assume there is some problem with it or it was involved in a wreck or something. I had posted my 2001 330ci coupe the lowest back in 2003 and that's exactly the questions I got from the potential buyers. So most people just post the average asking price and expect to be talked down a bit. In parallel with Autotrader/Craigslist, etc you also might want to check the various E46 bulletin boards as well. I will add that Bay Area dealers are universally pretty much douchebags (they may be better now) waiting for new money morons to walk in and hand over whatever the dealer wants. I always ended up getting my cars in Santa Barbara or LA for that very reason. Even on the pre-owned rusted out lease returns they buy from the east coast a place like Weatherford or Peter Pan will usually not budge on the price. Keyser_Soze fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Apr 25, 2011 |
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Apr 25, 2011 17:48
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Bank posted:Any tips at looking for good deals? There seems to be a high demand for E46s here (SF Bay Area) and not many places seem to carry them. Ones that do, have roughly 130k miles and they want way over KBB. I saw a 2000 323i w/ 120k asking 9k which I thought was absurd.. Private parties seem to want even more. I'm also in the Bay Area and I've found the opposite to be true. BMWs here are a dime a dozen and everyone wants the latest and greatest, so the used market is much better than most of the country. I've got some killer deals on them, just wait for the right one to come along.
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Apr 25, 2011 18:03
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The Third Man posted:So my dad just had me drive his 328Ci, and he is getting a pretty violent shake in his steering wheel that starts at about 30-35mph and gets worse as you climb in speed. Normally I would simply think that it is an alignment/balance issue, but oddly enough, it only starts to happen after you've been driving for 10-15 minutes. I drove it for maybe 5-6 miles before I started happening. What could be causing this? Is there something that would go out of alignment after the engine/tires warm up? Any chance this is a tire issue? Maybe a bubble in the tire that gets worse as the tire heats up?
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Apr 25, 2011 18:12
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McMadCow posted:I'm also in the Bay Area and I've found the opposite to be true. BMWs here are a dime a dozen and everyone wants the latest and greatest, so the used market is much better than most of the country. I've got some killer deals on them, just wait for the right one to come along.
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Apr 25, 2011 18:27
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Bank posted:Any recommendations on where to look? I've been looking on Cars.com/Autotrader/Craigslist for over a month, and can't seem to find a clean E46 for a decent price. I live 10 mins away from the local auto mall, so just for kicks I went to a couple of dealerships this morning and they scoffed at my offers (I always offered 100 under KBB Retail). I did see on the news last night that the used car market has shot up, so that probably has something to do with it..which is quite sad seeing these E46s being sold over KBB (and KBB is too high as it is IMO). I guess I will just keep looking as I'm not in a rush. I've found 2 on Craig's List and one through a friend, so it sounds like you're on the right track. There will always be jokers who think they have the diamond-in-the-rough big bumper E30 that's worth $5K, but prices here seem to reflect how saturated the market is with Bimmers. A friend from back in PA ran some prices by me and he was looking at a huge premium over this area. Like I said, just be patient and the right deal will come along. Also, I've found that there's no point in trying to talk sense into the people who grossly overvalue their cars. I've tried it before and they always have a reason why theirs is so much more valuable than what KBB says.
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Apr 25, 2011 19:07
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So I've got an E39 and my front bumper is a little messed up after this treacherous winter. It's ripped underneath, cracked a wee bit in front and is missing a wheel well cover on the right. This got me thinking, should I just go for an M5 bumper? Those look considerably nicer, and since I have a reason to fix it up, why not? No retarded ///M5 stickers or anything, just asking if it's too tacky for a 525i.
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Apr 25, 2011 19:25
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Keyser S0ze posted:I will add that Bay Area dealers are universally pretty much douchebags (they may be better now) waiting for new money morons to walk in and hand over whatever the dealer wants. I always ended up getting my cars in Santa Barbara or LA for that very reason. Even on the pre-owned rusted out lease returns they buy from the east coast a place like Weatherford or Peter Pan will usually not budge on the price. I walked into Peter Pan the other day to test-drive a 1-series. Last time I ever go there to even talk to them about cars. They barely even looked my way when i was showing particular interest for a car.
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Apr 25, 2011 19:33
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I got my 99 328i at 140k for $6200, which was right about the book value for good-excellent condition. Single owner, all records, garaged, etc. I think it was an awesome find. That being said, I looked for 3 months just to even find one in a stick that hadn't been modded, crashed or whatnot. I'm in the East bay area and yeah, there' a ton of lovely deals out there but keep looking 
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Apr 25, 2011 19:44
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Shadowhand00 posted:I walked into Peter Pan the other day to test-drive a 1-series. I spy two mistakes in the above sentence.
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Apr 25, 2011 19:48
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awesome-express posted:So I've got an E39 and my front bumper is a little messed up after this treacherous winter. It's ripped underneath, cracked a wee bit in front and is missing a wheel well cover on the right. This got me thinking, should I just go for an M5 bumper? Those look considerably nicer, and since I have a reason to fix it up, why not? No retarded ///M5 stickers or anything, just asking if it's too tacky for a 525i. I wouldn't say it'd be tacky at all, unless you added a lip on to it as well, without doing sideskirts and rear bumper it'd look out of place in that case. Trouble will be finding a replica bumper with good fitment, remember to ALWAYS check fitment before getting it painted, I'm not too familiar with E39 parts so that's all I can suggest.
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Apr 25, 2011 20:50
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I should have learned by now that this car is never going to be "done" and is just going to constantly require attention. I noticed today that taking hard or long right hand corners causes fuel starvation and long or hard left hand corners causes it to blow super rich black smoke so something with the carb isn't tuned properly. The water temp gauge in the factory gauge cluster is totally borked and swings around wildly, giving no clear indication of what the temperature may actually be. I had to order an Auto Meter gauge today and now I'll have to figure out a place and way to mount that in the car. *sigh*
Catastrophe fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Apr 26, 2011 |
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Apr 26, 2011 00:59
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What's the cheapest and most effective way of removing old rubber e30 rear subframe bushings? I got half of one out using the manual pullers and a drill(lol).
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Apr 26, 2011 01:55
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RapeWhistle posted:What's the cheapest and most effective way of removing old rubber e30 rear subframe bushings? I got half of one out using the manual pullers and a drill(lol). Torch it out.
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Apr 26, 2011 02:12
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:It's a massive pain in the rear end and honestly getting the iPod adapter is probably the best choice even if it's expensive. That's what I thought, thanks
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Apr 26, 2011 04:09
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awesome-express posted:So I've got an E39 and my front bumper is a little messed up after this treacherous winter. It's ripped underneath, cracked a wee bit in front and is missing a wheel well cover on the right. This got me thinking, should I just go for an M5 bumper? Those look considerably nicer, and since I have a reason to fix it up, why not? No retarded ///M5 stickers or anything, just asking if it's too tacky for a 525i. Do it! You may want to get the one with the T-bar in the big front gap, it seems to balance and tone down the look a little.
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Apr 26, 2011 07:56
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On the off chance that someone here has experience with diesel BMWs: I'm considering a 2003-ish E46 320d wagon. (It's the car du hour, I'll probably change my mind about the time my left mouse button returns to the unpressed position. ) My daily commute is 11 km and takes 15-25 minutes, and while I sometimes drive longer/farther, this is the everyday trip that my car will take. Am I retarded for considering a diesel? Will the mileage be crap for me on these short trips?
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Apr 27, 2011 09:43
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Shadowhand00 posted:I walked into Peter Pan the other day to test-drive a 1-series. Last time I ever go there to even talk to them about cars. They barely even looked my way when i was showing particular interest for a car. In May 2000 I was trying to order a 330Ci with manual transmission and went to PP and was basically told to haul rear end unless I wanted to pay $5k OVER MSRP for one of their "allocation spots" and they also asked if I would be "paying in cash." Granted this was at the height of dipshit dotcom billionaires walking in and buying an M5 for each day of the week with cash but still. Got my car from Cutter in Santa Barbara for a much better deal and no bullshit.
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Apr 27, 2011 18:51
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So I found an E46 yesterday (2000, 323i w/110k) for 6k at Wheels and Deals of all places. Test drove it and something didn't seem quite right during the warm up period; the RPMs were fluctuating from 1-2k. I let my mechanic buddy drive it and he said it was probably a Vanos issue. What was funny is that someone drove it right after me and bought it. I don't think they noticed the RPM fluctuations as it didn't show during a warm start. I probably should have picked it up anyway and put in a Beisan repair kit since it was priced right, but whatever.  The search for a clean E46 in the Bay Area continues. I have a couple of test drives scheduled this weekend, but I'm getting anxious, and worried I may end up overpaying on impulse.
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Apr 27, 2011 23:49
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I'm also looking at buying an E46, and all of my research and recommendations have indicated to avoid 323/328s and stick to 2002+ models with the much improved M54 and less-prone-to-failure rear subframe mounts. Personally, I'm keeping an eye out for a clean, stock, loaded, relatively low miles mid-year 2003 or later 330Ci with a manual and some semblance of maintenance history. And preferably not in boring and ubiquitous silver. Unfortunately that means I'm probably going to be looking for a while.
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Apr 28, 2011 00:25
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Just finished a 2 week battle with my E30's rear wheel bearings. Took longer than it should have, but it's finally got two shiny new FAG wheel bearings.
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Apr 28, 2011 00:25
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Yerok posted:Just finished a 2 week battle with my E30's rear wheel bearings. Took longer than it should have, but it's finally got two shiny new FAG wheel bearings. Of course. 
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Apr 28, 2011 00:36
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Viggen posted:Of course. Only plebs work on their own BMW's. Someone seriously needs to make a smug roundel.
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Apr 28, 2011 03:37
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Yerok posted:Just finished a 2 week battle with my E30's rear wheel bearings. Took longer than it should have, but it's finally got two shiny new FAG wheel bearings. What problems did you have? I'm about to be replacing these, among many other things.
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Apr 28, 2011 03:44
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Bay area BMW dealers are all pretty terrible. Weatherford was by far the worst, some annoying little old bitch of a woman there tried to get me to sign a contract stating I would purchase a car for a specific price before she would even run my credit report. I went in there several times over the years, always hating the people who worked there when I left. BMW of SF has a good service department and one non-rear end in a top hat in the sales department. The day I was buying my car another salesman badmouthed the dude I bought the car from after asking who I was working with. At least the salesman I was working with got promoted to manager as of the last time I was in there. I like using the brand's used car search engine against dealerships when shopping used. It's really hard to argue with you when you're showing them a significantly lower price for a comparable car a $150 flight away.
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Apr 28, 2011 06:02
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I've encountered the rudest salesmen I've ever met in BMW dealerships, but I've also met some of the nicest ones there too. The key, it seems, is to find a salesmen who genuinely loves cars in general, and particularly the cars he's selling. That means he's an enthusiast, and knowledgeable, and oftentimes you can establish a rapport of mutual respect through your shared interest in the brand. At one BMW dealership, I met a great salesman who pointed out his own 330ci convertible and talked about how much he loved it, and discussed the various quirks of the E46. And at a Mercedes dealership, I met a middle-aged guy who'd been selling Mercs forever and still dumped all his extra cash into autocrossing on the weekends. I managed to sit at his desk and have a good conversation about 20 years of racing for 45 minutes- sadly, I didn't end up buying a car from him, but I really enjoyed the experience and would recommend that dealership to anybody else I know. Of course, it helps to go when they're not very busy, since most salesman will be pushier and more selective when they have a tank full of chum to pick from.
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Apr 28, 2011 12:21
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Das Volk posted:BMW of SF has a good service department and one non-rear end in a top hat in the sales department. The last time I drove to their parts department in my 2002, one of the sales guys came out and was asking about it. He was pretty stoked to see an older model still getting regular road miles. I haven't bought a car from them, but I have bought a shitload of parts, and so far my experience has been real easy.
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Apr 28, 2011 17:49
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Bank posted:So I found an E46 yesterday (2000, 323i w/110k) for 6k at Wheels and Deals of all places. Test drove it and something didn't seem quite right during the warm up period; the RPMs were fluctuating from 1-2k. I let my mechanic buddy drive it and he said it was probably a Vanos issue. You'll be glad you waited on a more powerful engine if you find one. Also as far as dealers go, I haven't tried to buy a car from Weatherford, but their parts dept guys are all really cool and will just talk with you about repair jobs if need be. Except for the one guy who suggested I wasn't cool for not burning half a quart of oil. "You must not be driving the car hard enough "
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Apr 28, 2011 18:35
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Deceptor101 posted:You'll be glad you waited on a more powerful engine if you find one. Is it weird that my car started out burning oil and gradually stopped?
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Apr 29, 2011 04:10
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RapeWhistle posted:What problems did you have? I'm about to be replacing these, among many other things. Plan on either buying a press set from Bavauto or Pelican, or making your own. I tried a couple pullers before I went to Fastenal and picked up a 5/8" diameter threaded rod, a couple nuts, and some washers to fit just inside the outer race's diameter. Besides that I used a steel bar and a piece of wood to set up an improvised press with some impact sockets. Once I figured that out it took me all of 5 hours to wrap it up. I'll take a picture of my setup if you want. Also, the best way to get the wheel hubs out of the bearings is with a 30mm impact socket, an extension, and a big loving hammer. I ran into the issue of the bearing's inner race getting stuck on the hub on the passenger side and was able to solve it with a cut-off wheel and a cold chisel. Pressing the new bearings in is easy, because the old wheel bearings serve as a perfect pressing surface.
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Apr 29, 2011 04:42
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