Discussion
When we bought the M5 from MDifficult, it was in really good condition for a nearly 10 year old car, but having done 90K, the leather was looking a bit the worse for wear, on the drivers seat outside bolsters especially.
I've recently been watching quite a bit of M539 Restorations on Youtube, and in one video, Sreten demonstrated some great results using Colourlock leather care products. So that prompted me to invest £110 in their repair kit for Silverstone Merino 2 leather plus a couple of other useful items. That's quite a lot of money, but it seems that the colour matched dye is the expensive component at about 50 quid for a small bottle.
It all arrived today and I spent this afternoon having a go at freshening up the seat and door armrest. I didn't get a full set of before & afters, and I still need to put the Leather Protector on which will seal it all with a matt finish, but so far I'm pretty impressed with the results for someone who's generally completely talentless at this sort of thing. There is still some damage visible on the worst areas, but the existing finish was pretty far gone, and I think it would need the additional Leather Filler stage to repair this fully. For the less damaged areas, it's covered up the cracks really well, and overall it looks way better than it did. The colour match is excellent.
After sanding and cleaning:
Dye applied:
I've recently been watching quite a bit of M539 Restorations on Youtube, and in one video, Sreten demonstrated some great results using Colourlock leather care products. So that prompted me to invest £110 in their repair kit for Silverstone Merino 2 leather plus a couple of other useful items. That's quite a lot of money, but it seems that the colour matched dye is the expensive component at about 50 quid for a small bottle.
It all arrived today and I spent this afternoon having a go at freshening up the seat and door armrest. I didn't get a full set of before & afters, and I still need to put the Leather Protector on which will seal it all with a matt finish, but so far I'm pretty impressed with the results for someone who's generally completely talentless at this sort of thing. There is still some damage visible on the worst areas, but the existing finish was pretty far gone, and I think it would need the additional Leather Filler stage to repair this fully. For the less damaged areas, it's covered up the cracks really well, and overall it looks way better than it did. The colour match is excellent.
After sanding and cleaning:
Dye applied:
Frosty forecast by the end of the week, so I took the CSL out for a quick blast round West Berks before the salt goes down for the next three months and the car has to hide in the garage. So it'll be M5 rather than M3 for the Sunday Service at Thruxton I think.
Last week we dropped into Podium Place in Newbury, where they're selling a low mileage CSL for £150K
.
I know which one I'd rather have, and it's not the one that's probably too valuable to drive.
Last week we dropped into Podium Place in Newbury, where they're selling a low mileage CSL for £150K
. I know which one I'd rather have, and it's not the one that's probably too valuable to drive.
JakeT said:
Is Podium Place good? I see it regularly but haven’t stopped in yet.
The cafe is nice enough, nothing exceptional, and it does tend to be populated by smart casual designer stubble business guys having sales meetings.. Worth a visit though if you're passing and feeling in need of a coffee as they always have a few nice cars in there.outnumbered said:
When we bought the M5 from MDifficult, it was in really good condition for a nearly 10 year old car, but having done 90K, the leather was looking a bit the worse for wear, on the drivers seat outside bolsters especially.
I missed this update! I can’t tell you how many times I ummed and ahhhed about either getting those bolsters reupholstered or trying what you did! In the end I didn’t get the nerve to do either but delighted it’s worked out so well - cherry on the cake! The CSL still looks mighty - I may well have used the very same bridge for a few photos myself.
I’ll be at the Sunday Service with the 1M on the skid pan so look forward to seeing you and catching up
The M5 has just thrown its first big bill at us, although it's not actually an M-related bill, just a complicated and unreliable modern parts type bill.
What an adaptive headlight is supposed to look like:
What the other adaptive headlight looked like:
This is a common problem on F10s, the seals on the units go, water leaks in, and eventually collects in the electronic modules underneath and writes those off too.
So it went to our favoured local independent to be fixed. From the local BMW dealer the part was over £1100 plus VAT, but we managed to get them down to "just" £850 plus VAT after getting a competitive quote from another dealer well away from SE England. Looks like we got away without any module damage. Now waiting for the other side to go
...
What an adaptive headlight is supposed to look like:
What the other adaptive headlight looked like:
This is a common problem on F10s, the seals on the units go, water leaks in, and eventually collects in the electronic modules underneath and writes those off too.
So it went to our favoured local independent to be fixed. From the local BMW dealer the part was over £1100 plus VAT, but we managed to get them down to "just" £850 plus VAT after getting a competitive quote from another dealer well away from SE England. Looks like we got away without any module damage. Now waiting for the other side to go
...outnumbered said:
The cafe is nice enough, nothing exceptional, and it does tend to be populated by smart casual designer stubble business guys having sales meetings.. Worth a visit though if you're passing and feeling in need of a coffee as they always have a few nice cars in there.
Good to know. Thank you.Shame about the headlamp, too. The condensation looks bloody rubbish, too.
Scratchface Lane- quite a fun road, if a little narrow in parts. Some good driving roads around there to stretch the M3 legs a bit.
Hope you nipped into Renegade! They do a Cars & Coffee type event now and again if that's your thing- https://www.facebook.com/people/West-Berks-Cars-Co...
Hope you nipped into Renegade! They do a Cars & Coffee type event now and again if that's your thing- https://www.facebook.com/people/West-Berks-Cars-Co...
ka90 said:
Scratchface Lane- quite a fun road, if a little narrow in parts. Some good driving roads around there to stretch the M3 legs a bit.
Hope you nipped into Renegade! They do a Cars & Coffee type event now and again if that's your thing- https://www.facebook.com/people/West-Berks-Cars-Co...
I only went as far as the bridge, too narrow and muddy further down! Looks like the brewery FB page features PH's own MDifficult in the Atom: Hope you nipped into Renegade! They do a Cars & Coffee type event now and again if that's your thing- https://www.facebook.com/people/West-Berks-Cars-Co...
https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=pfbid...
CSL looks fab….they always do. Shane so many are expensive now which means that they won’t ever get used.
I used the Colourlock kit on the seats on my 130i and was impressed. It’s pretty easy and yields good results for sensible cash.
Annoying about the headlight.
I’ll be at Sunday Service too this weekend and am booked on the skid pan at 12:30.
I used the Colourlock kit on the seats on my 130i and was impressed. It’s pretty easy and yields good results for sensible cash.
Annoying about the headlight.
I’ll be at Sunday Service too this weekend and am booked on the skid pan at 12:30.
Oh dear. M5 trouble.
We had a low coolant warning a couple of months ago, I refilled it and after a thousand miles or so it happened again.
Seems there's a leaking hose at the front near the radiator, and a leaking seal on the rear of the engine for which the gearbox has to come out for access
Another proof point that the minimum ever bill on one of these things is a grand !
We had a low coolant warning a couple of months ago, I refilled it and after a thousand miles or so it happened again.
Seems there's a leaking hose at the front near the radiator, and a leaking seal on the rear of the engine for which the gearbox has to come out for access
Another proof point that the minimum ever bill on one of these things is a grand !I'm starting to approach clicking this thread with a little trepidation - headlight and now a 'gearbox out' seal. Sorry 
Interesting note on the M5, when I first got it after a few weeks it popped a 'low coolant' warning. I checked the coolant level in the obvious coolant expansion tank and all good. Weird. I checked the user manual (remember those!) and yup, I'd done the right thing.
A bit of Googling and it turns out the M5 has two separate cooling circuits, one for the engine/turbos and one for the charge air cooler & DME. But the second circuit's existence, how to fill it and to what level was entirely omitted from the user manual. Literally, not mentioned once!
They updated the user manual a few years later to rectify
I hope you're still enjoying it despite the 'grand' challenges.
Interesting note on the M5, when I first got it after a few weeks it popped a 'low coolant' warning. I checked the coolant level in the obvious coolant expansion tank and all good. Weird. I checked the user manual (remember those!) and yup, I'd done the right thing.
A bit of Googling and it turns out the M5 has two separate cooling circuits, one for the engine/turbos and one for the charge air cooler & DME. But the second circuit's existence, how to fill it and to what level was entirely omitted from the user manual. Literally, not mentioned once!
They updated the user manual a few years later to rectify
I hope you're still enjoying it despite the 'grand' challenges.
Well, we had nearly a year without any bills, so that's not bad.
It's bizarre that the main coolant circuit can officially only be refilled by a dealer. There's some super-complicated procedure in the maintenance manual that explains how to do it. I wonder if it's just badly designed, so is at risk of airlocks otherwise. Hard to imagine they intentionally made it that way.
outnumbered said:
Well, we had nearly a year without any bills, so that's not bad.
It's bizarre that the main coolant circuit can officially only be refilled by a dealer. There's some super-complicated procedure in the maintenance manual that explains how to do it. I wonder if it's just badly designed, so is at risk of airlocks otherwise. Hard to imagine they intentionally made it that way.
Unless I’m mistaken I think it was intended to be ‘lifetime’ coolant in the M5? Might explain the ‘dealer-only’ flush and refill procedure. Not sure which came first though, the chicken or the egg on that one It's bizarre that the main coolant circuit can officially only be refilled by a dealer. There's some super-complicated procedure in the maintenance manual that explains how to do it. I wonder if it's just badly designed, so is at risk of airlocks otherwise. Hard to imagine they intentionally made it that way.
The CSL has a big trip coming up at the end of May, so I wanted to take it out for an outing to check everything's still working after winter in the garage. Fortunately it all seems OK. A few CSL owners had arranged to meet at the Ultimate BMW meet at Gaydon yesterday. The pop&bangs w
kers were out in force again, and have put most of us off from going back next year. Apart from that, there were a lot of very nice cars to look at.
Some very nice cars:
Blue
BMW dealer forecourt from the early 80s
Nice Alpina
Not another fking car show
kers were out in force again, and have put most of us off from going back next year. Apart from that, there were a lot of very nice cars to look at.Some very nice cars:
Blue
BMW dealer forecourt from the early 80s
Nice Alpina
Not another f
king car showGassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff