E61 BMW 550i Touring

[Court_S]

Some good updates OP; sounds like it’s largely treated you very well especially given a few decent work outs on track!

I managed to get CarPlay working in my old CCC nav system using a box from Integrated Automotive who I’m sure do similar for the later systems.

[alistair267]

Court_S said:

I managed to get CarPlay working in my old CCC nav system using a box from Integrated Automotive who I’m sure do similar for the later systems.

Thanks, that’s helpful. I’d been looking at Integrated Automotive, as well as Droid UK.

There will be an update in due course on brakes as I have gone down the upgrade route

[Court_S]

alistair267 said:

Thanks, that’s helpful. I’d been looking at Integrated Automotive, as well as Droid UK.

There will be an update in due course on brakes as I have gone down the upgrade route

There’s also a company called Veehive who produce something that looks very similar to the Integrated Automotive solution, only cheaper.

Bavarian Automotive have a solution too but it lonely works with the 3/5 series (I found it the hard way despite checking first).

[alistair267]

Brake upgrade

After I first bought the car, I bought Zimmerman discs and Brembo pads for all 4 wheels, and I have since put some better brake fluid in. The car is unsurprisingly a big, heavy beast (no doubt worsened by some of the extras like the soft close doors and active seats) and whilst braking improvement was improved, it still lacked a bit, which was highlighted by the recent trip to the Nurburging: they did not even make the end of a vigorous lap.

I read about an E61 M5 brake swap, but in the end bought a set of front calipers, discs and pads from an M sport G30 5 series, which a mate installed on Saturday. They are 4 piston calipers, as opposed to the 2 piston ones that were standard, but I have kept the drilled Zimmerman discs on for the moment, which are the right size (348 mm).

Otherwise it is an easy fit - you just have a to splice together the E61 and G31 brake pad sensor cables as they do not have the same fitment at either end.

I have yet to take it out properly, but already the brakes seem much stronger and I look forward to giving them more of a test at motorway speeds.

Before


After


(ignore annoying brake fluid leakage)

[Court_S]

The big Brembo callipers from the later cars are a popular retrofit on the older E series cars, trouble is they’re now priced accordingly too.

[matrignano]

Cheeky how they've made the calipers look huge, but actually half of the size is extra metal at either end that seems to serve no purpose other than look "good"?

[Court_S]

matrignano said:

Cheeky how they've made the calipers look huge, but actually half of the size is extra metal at either end that seems to serve no purpose other than look "good"?

That’s fine by me! it’s the main reason I want to upgrade the callipers in my 130; they work really well they just look a bit crap.

[alistair267]

They’re not that noticeable behind the spiders on my car but am really pleased with them, the more they bed in the better they are getting

[alistair267]

MASSIVE update

OK, perhaps not so massive, but definitely satisfying. I have a new plastic string attached to my fuel filler cap.



The PistonHeads community is going to be awestruck. In other news, I have had to do a couple of journeys up to the office in central London in my ULEZ compliant V8. That and some other solely-London based driving has returned 10.9 mpg, which is a bit of a record. Testing the new brakes has probably not helped that figure.

[bolidemichael]

10.9 'beats' my L322 FFRR, which has the 4.4L AJV8.

I returned 14.7mpg over 160ish urban miles. I'm a little deflated now.

In other news... how did you replace the 'string'? It has perished on all of our cars -- though I'm not minded to replace on either the E500 of the FFRR, as it's dead handy to wedge the petrol pump open when filling up.

[anonymous-user]

Brakes look good, I might do the same on my E61 535d. Straight swap? Anything else needed other than the pad sensor wiring?

[Court_S]

bolidemichael said:

10.9 'beats' my L322 FFRR, which has the 4.4L AJV8.

I returned 14.7mpg over 160ish urban miles. I'm a little deflated now.

In other news... how did you replace the 'string'? It has perished on all of our cars -- though I'm not minded to replace on either the E500 of the FFRR, as it's dead handy to wedge the petrol pump open when filling up.

I’ve managed to replace the same in our various BMW’s via eBay (delivered rom China for a couple of quid each posted).

[wolfracesonic]

Weird, my Touring’s a post lci like yours but the fuel filler cap has a spike on it that fits in holder on the fuel filler door. Interesting….

[anonymous-user]

wolfracesonic said:

Weird, my Touring’s a post lci like yours but the fuel filler cap has a spike on it that fits in holder on the fuel filler door. Interesting….

Mine too, 59 plate LCI 535d

[Demelitia]

alistair267 said:

Brake upgrade

After I first bought the car, I bought Zimmerman discs and Brembo pads for all 4 wheels, and I have since put some better brake fluid in. The car is unsurprisingly a big, heavy beast (no doubt worsened by some of the extras like the soft close doors and active seats) and whilst braking improvement was improved, it still lacked a bit, which was highlighted by the recent trip to the Nurburging: they did not even make the end of a vigorous lap.

If the lack of staying power is down to heat, the following link may help a little ?

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6...

The backing plates mentioned in it have scoops built in to fire air to the centre of the disc and out through the vanes.

Whether these exact ones will fit with some modifications, or if there’s a similar oem part that would do the trick On your car I couldn’t say.

If not, I’ve seen a few DIY attempts that perform the same function that involve a small duct flange being riveted over a hole drilled in the backing plate.

[ATM]

Mac. said:

wolfracesonic said:

Weird, my Touring’s a post lci like yours but the fuel filler cap has a spike on it that fits in holder on the fuel filler door. Interesting….

Mine too, 59 plate LCI 535d

Snap

55 plate 550i so pre LCI

[alistair267]

bolidemichael said:

10.9 'beats' my L322 FFRR, which has the 4.4L AJV8.

I returned 14.7mpg over 160ish urban miles. I'm a little deflated now.

In other news... how did you replace the 'string'? It has perished on all of our cars -- though I'm not minded to replace on either the E500 of the FFRR, as it's dead handy to wedge the petrol pump open when filling up.

Very proud to have beaten a FFRR to this accolade! Takes some doing...

As for the string, I googled "BMW fuel cap tether" or something similar, and as @Court_S says, you can get them on eBay for not very much

[alistair267]

Mac. said:

Brakes look good, I might do the same on my E61 535d. Straight swap? Anything else needed other than the pad sensor wiring?

Thanks. It was very easy, pretty much a straight swap save for the pad sensor wiring, and you need a few washers for the inside of the caliper just to make sure that it's a good fit.

I got them from VYS in Leamington Spa who specialise in BMW brake upgrades and were very helpful about the process. You can also upgrade to M5 floating discs but the discs are much more expensive.

[alistair267]

wolfracesonic said:

Weird, my Touring’s a post lci like yours but the fuel filler cap has a spike on it that fits in holder on the fuel filler door. Interesting….

I have the spike and the holder on the filler door too, I suppose the tether is just there to stop you dropping it. It makes little difference to day to day life, but the broken string was just annoying me.

[alistair267]

Demelitia said:

If the lack of staying power is down to heat, the following link may help a little ?

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6...

The backing plates mentioned in it have scoops built in to fire air to the centre of the disc and out through the vanes.

Whether these exact ones will fit with some modifications, or if there’s a similar oem part that would do the trick On your car I couldn’t say.

If not, I’ve seen a few DIY attempts that perform the same function that involve a small duct flange being riveted over a hole drilled in the backing plate.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I will look into this. I think heat is the main culprit