E91 Straight Six Bearding

[ferrisbueller]

PTF said:

ferrisbueller said:

I think those are E46 only. Could be non staggered. Also wrong offset.

They don't have to be staggered though? My E91 325d had a square setup of 225/45R17

Correct. But they were (probably) the right wheels for the car.

IME a staggered set up makes a noticeable difference to handling, FWIW.

[Lowtimer]

Mind you, staggered wheels are just silly on a car like that. Far better on 225/45 R17 all round.

[phil_cardiff]

Matt_N said:

phil_cardiff said:

This has got my wallet twitching. Are those sports seats? But the wheels look wrong to me?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Ha I knew it would be that one!

That's local to me and pretty much what I want too.

Sports seats yes, an option on SEs and the wheels are Style 68 first introduced on the E46 I think so potentially still offered as an option on E9x.

Edited by Matt_N on Monday 16th October 09:41

It's all your Matt, I don't need it. But I do want it

At first I thought it was cheap but really I'd want to put some 'proper' 17s on it and upgrade the speakers so that's another £1000 plus. And I'd want to see a waterpump change in that FSH too...

Edited by phil_cardiff on Monday 16th October 11:07

[zippyonline]

This auction has just finished. I think someone has themselves a good deal and a fairly rare model!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302504750524

[phil_cardiff]

zippyonline said:

This auction has just finished. I think someone has themselves a good deal and a fairly rare model!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302504750524

Seems like great value to me.

[PTF]

zippyonline said:

This auction has just finished. I think someone has themselves a good deal and a fairly rare model!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302504750524

Yeah that's a good one. Good price. N52. Manual. Shame it's got the old nav, i'd prefer no nav at all, but it can be upgraded (at a cost).

[JakeT]

cerb4.5lee said:

I remember the winter of 2009 and we were living in Berkshire in upper bucklebury, and the snow was really bad and the house was at the bottom of a broken road and I had no chance getting the 330d up it for the reasons you mention, it was a terrible car to move in snow even on flat ground!

Small world. I'm in the next village over of the Southend persuasion. X5 came in useful then!

[cerb4.5lee]

JakeT said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I remember the winter of 2009 and we were living in Berkshire in upper bucklebury, and the snow was really bad and the house was at the bottom of a broken road and I had no chance getting the 330d up it for the reasons you mention, it was a terrible car to move in snow even on flat ground!

Small world. I'm in the next village over of the Southend persuasion. X5 came in useful then!

Nice one

We kept having to be towed by a neighbour in his Land Rover! My next car after that experience was an X5 as well.

It's lovely around there and we'd love to be still down there that's for sure, we don't see any snow where we are now so I suppose that's one bonus.

[ATM]

ATM said:

ATM said:

Bought some EBC yellows and ordered some Goodridge flexis. Just need to decide on brake fluid now. Any recommendations?

Just waiting for the Fluid to arrive now.

The above was posted on the 5th October and I am still without my 335i, Surely my mechanic can fit the new brake discs, pads and flexis soon. He did say he'd ran into a problem with the hard lines and needed to replace all of them too. In anticipation I picked up some 17 inch OZ wheels which I hope will fit as my winters. Once installed this will give me a feel for the car with go flat tyres. If I like the setup I might stick with 17 when Spring comes around.

[helix402]

The common hard line problem is the union will be seized to the brake pipe. Mechanic tried to twist union and the hard line snaps. Also common on the E90/1 etc is the rear brake pipes corrode near the rear subframe.
You can avoid the seized union/snapped pipe problem by just turning the caliper instead of the union. The seized union prob is very common on the E8/9 models, oddly very rare on the older E46.

[zippyonline]

helix402 said:

The common hard line problem is the union will be seized to the brake pipe. Mechanic tried to twist union and the hard line snaps. Also common on the E90/1 etc is the rear brake pipes corrode near the rear subframe.

I've heard of this, and underneath mine I can see my rear lines are just starting to bubble. My car came with a set of braided lines fitted to the front, but the rears hadn't been fitted yet and just came with the car loose. I've bought the hard lines to replace the bubbly ones when I get around to changing to the braided lines (and the F3x brembo's on the front).

The other week was a bit déjà vu pulling the rear suspension apart again, but fitted my warranty replacement powerflex bushings for the lower lateral arm to chassis bush.


282 (09-10-2017) by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

It's a lot happier now, but think I need to do the subframe bushings next. That said, I think I need to do the upper shock mount bushing as it's making a small clunking noise in the boot - almost like loose luggage, and it really is the only bit I haven't done in the last year. I did the spring pads and lower shock bushing the last time, and every single other bushing has been replaced with either powerflex or lemforder bits! Getting quite efficient at it all now!

Oh and today, I've renewed my gtechniq G1 screen coating, that should ward off all but the worst frosts.

In other news - who here does this affect?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/bmw-recalls-million-vehic...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41862153

[ATM]

zippyonline said:

helix402 said:

The common hard line problem is the union will be seized to the brake pipe. Mechanic tried to twist union and the hard line snaps. Also common on the E90/1 etc is the rear brake pipes corrode near the rear subframe.

I've heard of this, and underneath mine I can see my rear lines are just starting to bubble. My car came with a set of braided lines fitted to the front, but the rears hadn't been fitted yet and just came with the car loose. I've bought the hard lines to replace the bubbly ones when I get around to changing to the braided lines (and the F3x brembo's on the front).

Can you buy the hard lines from any old parts store and how much are we talking?

[helix402]

You can only buy the ready made hard lines from BMW, they are fairly cheap. Or you can make your own up.

[zippyonline]

Yeah, it cost me along the lines of £30ish for the two lines that run along the subframe. Think it was something like a fiver for the shorter one, and £25 for the longer one, which to be honest is worth it for not spending having to copy a line and I haven't got the flare tool either.

No's 8 and 9 on here: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=VS32-...

[ATM]

My car is ready. What do we think is reasonable in terms of a charge to change front discs, all pads, all flexis and some hard lines if I provided all parts?

[zippyonline]

ATM said:

My car is ready. What do we think is reasonable in terms of a charge to change front discs, all pads, all flexis and some hard lines if I provided all parts?

One of those jobs that could be a doddle if everything comes off easily, or an arse if something is a bit seized in a hard to reach area. Timescales, I've only really got myself working on a driveway to compare (and I always get carried away cleaning something to the nth degree and doing other little things whilst I'm there), but I'd expect something like half a day, maybe a day tops if it turned out to be a real ball ache.

[ATM]

zippyonline said:

ATM said:

My car is ready. What do we think is reasonable in terms of a charge to change front discs, all pads, all flexis and some hard lines if I provided all parts?

One of those jobs that could be a doddle if everything comes off easily, or an arse if something is a bit seized in a hard to reach area. Timescales, I've only really got myself working on a driveway to compare (and I always get carried away cleaning something to the nth degree and doing other little things whilst I'm there), but I'd expect something like half a day, maybe a day tops if it turned out to be a real ball ache.

That's what I'm thinking and best case half a day equates to what nowadays for a back street type garage - I'm being changed £350. At that price I should of done it myself.

[phil_cardiff]

ATM said:

zippyonline said:

ATM said:

My car is ready. What do we think is reasonable in terms of a charge to change front discs, all pads, all flexis and some hard lines if I provided all parts?

One of those jobs that could be a doddle if everything comes off easily, or an arse if something is a bit seized in a hard to reach area. Timescales, I've only really got myself working on a driveway to compare (and I always get carried away cleaning something to the nth degree and doing other little things whilst I'm there), but I'd expect something like half a day, maybe a day tops if it turned out to be a real ball ache.

That's what I'm thinking and best case half a day equates to what nowadays for a back street type garage - I'm being changed £350. At that price I should of done it myself.

7hrs at £50p/h?

[ferrisbueller]

How many hours did they bill you for?

What's the going rate? 50-60 an hour?

[ATM]

phil_cardiff said:

ATM said:

zippyonline said:

ATM said:

My car is ready. What do we think is reasonable in terms of a charge to change front discs, all pads, all flexis and some hard lines if I provided all parts?

One of those jobs that could be a doddle if everything comes off easily, or an arse if something is a bit seized in a hard to reach area. Timescales, I've only really got myself working on a driveway to compare (and I always get carried away cleaning something to the nth degree and doing other little things whilst I'm there), but I'd expect something like half a day, maybe a day tops if it turned out to be a real ball ache.

That's what I'm thinking and best case half a day equates to what nowadays for a back street type garage - I'm being changed £350. At that price I should of done it myself.

7hrs at £50p/h?

Without the new hard lines i think its a 3 or 4 hour job surely.

Anyway she is back and in service. Have not had the chance to really stamp on the brakes but hope to soon.