My first M car. E39 M5
Discussion
PowerslideSWE said:
I had the car in for an as it turned out very necessary 4-wheel alignment, not really a surprise when basically the whole chassies is new. One rear wheel had .18 degrees of toe and the other one zero and the front was equally out of whack, so handling was a bit nervous. Now it's rock solid on a smooth road, on rutted motorways it tramlines quite a bit, but that's to be expected I guess with fat tyres and stiff suspension.
The mechanic took his time, grumbled alot but got the tyres aligned perfect within factory specs, what he didn't manage was to keep the steering wheel straight... So it has to go in on friday again.
Haha - I've taken two cars to be tracked and both times the steering wheel wasn't straight at the end. The second time I was wise to it and didn't drive the car away before noticing and pointing it out! The mechanic took his time, grumbled alot but got the tyres aligned perfect within factory specs, what he didn't manage was to keep the steering wheel straight... So it has to go in on friday again.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Wednesday 28th June 09:57
Fantastic thread but photobucket appears to have thrown a spanner in the works - any chance of a repost of the pics / sort photobucket? I'd love to see it.
First I had an imola red 528 sport which was great, but then upscaled to a 2000 year titanium E39M5 - I had some Schnitzer bits on it - front flippers, subtle roof spoiler, full Milltek Exhaust, B&M Short shift, and an amazing ram air induction kit which made it a motorway monster.
Oh I miss it, why did I sell it, blah blah
Anyone know where W82 JUP is???
Oh I miss it, why did I sell it, blah blah
Anyone know where W82 JUP is???
PowerslideSWE said:
Interior:
Misc: Car is not on the ground, nor on it's correct wheels yet. It's not being cut and polished either, mirrors are oem, but in primer, will be painted in body colour again.
ts - how to hasten their decline, charge people to cross link pics (the only reason they used it!)
Ill re-upload att the pics using a different provider.`Just got photobucket and it does this? Did I read that right? $399 a year yo be able to upload to a 3rd party? Laughable...
A few during renovation/tinkering/fettling.
Delivery bonding wash
At home
It's been off the road for 3 years, so it needed an MOT, passed with zero advisories
Misc
No dead pixels, was fixed by PO
Rare'ish Alcantara/nappa interiour
Not show quality obvs but very clean for a 17 year old car, and dry, diff seals replaced
Better view of the Borla cat-back and x-pipe, those of you with better knowledge about these may correct me, but there is supposed to be a resonator where the X is right? Car is loud on start-up and when lit but very quiet on low load even at high speed.
Tow hitch cover removed in the pic, they test that at the MOT, probably never used by the look of it, still specced like that from the factory..
Bilsteins, stiff but still rather comfy, sure they are a little bumpy at low speeds but perfect on a roll
Stock airboxes re-installed
Being aligned
I have since the alignment driven the car a bit more at higher speeds and it's more stable than before but still a bit nervous, I'll probably end up taking it to another shop to redo it again when I find a suitable set of wheels, but this shop will have to straighten the wheel for me..
And the car has stopped drinking any oil, it had quite the thirst tbh when delivered, but after 300 miles or so it has stopped burning any, probably needed to run some after being stored for 3 years,
All is not well however, since last saturday when I took my nieces on a drive the ice-cold AC has stopped working, it went from the north pole to zero pressure in the system basically over night, I will have to get that adressed asap, luckily in that regard this summer continues to suck and hardly produces temperatures above 15c so I don't need the AC anyway, but I like some cold air on my face while driving.
And the paintwork, even though it may look shiny in the pictures is in shambles, it's been repainted fairly recently I guess concidering the lack of stone chips, but it must have been an insurance job concidering how bad it is... It the car is a keeper I'll have to get that fixed by a proper painter....
A few during renovation/tinkering/fettling.
Delivery bonding wash
At home
It's been off the road for 3 years, so it needed an MOT, passed with zero advisories
Misc
No dead pixels, was fixed by PO
Rare'ish Alcantara/nappa interiour
Not show quality obvs but very clean for a 17 year old car, and dry, diff seals replaced
Better view of the Borla cat-back and x-pipe, those of you with better knowledge about these may correct me, but there is supposed to be a resonator where the X is right? Car is loud on start-up and when lit but very quiet on low load even at high speed.
Tow hitch cover removed in the pic, they test that at the MOT, probably never used by the look of it, still specced like that from the factory..
Bilsteins, stiff but still rather comfy, sure they are a little bumpy at low speeds but perfect on a roll
Stock airboxes re-installed
Being aligned
I have since the alignment driven the car a bit more at higher speeds and it's more stable than before but still a bit nervous, I'll probably end up taking it to another shop to redo it again when I find a suitable set of wheels, but this shop will have to straighten the wheel for me..
And the car has stopped drinking any oil, it had quite the thirst tbh when delivered, but after 300 miles or so it has stopped burning any, probably needed to run some after being stored for 3 years,
All is not well however, since last saturday when I took my nieces on a drive the ice-cold AC has stopped working, it went from the north pole to zero pressure in the system basically over night, I will have to get that adressed asap, luckily in that regard this summer continues to suck and hardly produces temperatures above 15c so I don't need the AC anyway, but I like some cold air on my face while driving.
And the paintwork, even though it may look shiny in the pictures is in shambles, it's been repainted fairly recently I guess concidering the lack of stone chips, but it must have been an insurance job concidering how bad it is... It the car is a keeper I'll have to get that fixed by a proper painter....
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Saturday 1st July 22:54
Last year I bought a Maserati 4200 , it had a set of falkens on that were on about 3mm
It tramlined really badly on the motorway so as the tyres were low I changed them for a set Michelin pilot sport four and it was a transformed car so I'd look at the odd budget tyres as a source of the bad handling
It tramlined really badly on the motorway so as the tyres were low I changed them for a set Michelin pilot sport four and it was a transformed car so I'd look at the odd budget tyres as a source of the bad handling
wack said:
Last year I bought a Maserati 4200 , it had a set of falkens on that were on about 3mm
It tramlined really badly on the motorway so as the tyres were low I changed them for a set Michelin pilot sport four and it was a transformed car so I'd look at the odd budget tyres as a source of the bad handling
These are brand new, they have maybe 300 miles on them at the most. Kumho Ecsta LE Sport, so they are not some ultra high end tyres, but hardly bottom of the market either. The odd/crappy tyres were on the BBS Challenges, and they are sold.It tramlined really badly on the motorway so as the tyres were low I changed them for a set Michelin pilot sport four and it was a transformed car so I'd look at the odd budget tyres as a source of the bad handling
The current ones will also be sold as soon as find a set of 65's or some other 18" BBS wheel that I like.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Sunday 2nd July 19:50
Looks great! I'll let you know next time we're in Valdermarsvik. I ended up getting an E46 M3, as I've never had one and thought I should cross it off the list. I'll probably bring it over to Sweden at some point, though I don't think it will be this summer.
A lovely M5 you have there, much better than either of the two I've owned!
A lovely M5 you have there, much better than either of the two I've owned!
Mr Tidy said:
Glad you have finally got ownership OP. 
But a shame there are a few niggles to be sorted.
Even so, you still have a fantastic car - hope you can get it how you want it but still enjoy it in the meantime!
Thanks But a shame there are a few niggles to be sorted.
Even so, you still have a fantastic car - hope you can get it how you want it but still enjoy it in the meantime!
Yes, the AC situation is no fun, the paint is ok unless you look really hard, I can live with it for now.SuperVM said:
Looks great! I'll let you know next time we're in Valdermarsvik. I ended up getting an E46 M3, as I've never had one and thought I should cross it off the list. I'll probably bring it over to Sweden at some point, though I don't think it will be this summer.
A lovely M5 you have there, much better than either of the two I've owned!
Please do, I'll enjoy meeting a fellow PH'er on home turf A lovely M5 you have there, much better than either of the two I've owned!
I'd love a tidy 46 M3 too if I'm honest, cracking cars.
Took the car for a rather long drive today, I can't remember the last time I did that, pootled around listening to the V8.
Realized that the suspension is a tad stiff on bumpy country roads, but the ride height seems spot on, no scraping or bottoming out despite some rather brisk progress (when not pootling about) it feels very safe and sure footed however, so my fears that the Bilsteins wouldn't suit me is gone.
My average MPG despite driving it to and from work seems stable at 22.5 mpg, sure, it's no prius but compared to the e38 750's I had in the past it's frugal.
I'll try to get the alignment re-done this weekend to cure the not perfectly straight steering wheel as it's driving me nuts, and I'll have the AC looked at on tuesday.
Realized that the suspension is a tad stiff on bumpy country roads, but the ride height seems spot on, no scraping or bottoming out despite some rather brisk progress (when not pootling about) it feels very safe and sure footed however, so my fears that the Bilsteins wouldn't suit me is gone.
My average MPG despite driving it to and from work seems stable at 22.5 mpg, sure, it's no prius but compared to the e38 750's I had in the past it's frugal.
I'll try to get the alignment re-done this weekend to cure the not perfectly straight steering wheel as it's driving me nuts, and I'll have the AC looked at on tuesday.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Sunday 9th July 21:21
Updates: RE: the AC, took it to a mechanic friend yesterday, he runs an AC business to have it looked over, of course there was a massive hole in the condenser, in a very odd location according to the mechanic -almost like someone punched it with something sharp, I was told... The odds of the massive hole being made by flying debrees are as massive as the hole itself concidering I've not even driven the car 500 miles since purchase.
So new condenser ordered and I got quoted somewhere around £300 for the part and the labor, could be worse...
I have no intentions selling the car yet, still I have it advertised at a very high price due to the fact that there is an 80.000 mile, 2 owner 1999 850 ci with the M73 version of the V12 for sale up north, Royal red with black individual nappa leather on BBS RC090's.... I'd grab that in a heartbeat if I had the cash laying around.
You can see why I'm concidering a sale right here..
So new condenser ordered and I got quoted somewhere around £300 for the part and the labor, could be worse...
I have no intentions selling the car yet, still I have it advertised at a very high price due to the fact that there is an 80.000 mile, 2 owner 1999 850 ci with the M73 version of the V12 for sale up north, Royal red with black individual nappa leather on BBS RC090's.... I'd grab that in a heartbeat if I had the cash laying around.
You can see why I'm concidering a sale right here..
TheAngryDog said:
I'd keep the M5 tbh. I'd be keeping mine if if didn't need work doing to it. I can understand the allure of an 850, but it is no M5.
True, it's no M5, this is just a longshot however. I'll probably end up keeping mine as I really like it But there are things that need doing on it that will prove expensive..Your thread purchase however didn't help despite the fact that a decent e55 is twice as expensive in Sweden than what you paid for yours, which looks awesome btw
PowerslideSWE said:
TheAngryDog said:
I'd keep the M5 tbh. I'd be keeping mine if if didn't need work doing to it. I can understand the allure of an 850, but it is no M5.
True, it's no M5, this is just a longshot however. I'll probably end up keeping mine as I really like it But there are things that need doing on it that will prove expensive..PowerslideSWE said:
Your thread purchase however didn't help despite the fact that a decent e55 is twice as expensive in Sweden than what you paid for yours, which looks awesome btw
Haha, quite the opposite here, this E55 was cheaper than a good M5! Cheers! I need to change the grill, but the wheels are staying as they suit it!
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