E91 Straight Six Bearding

[ferrisbueller]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Mine went in last week to have the front bumper tidied up. It had been hit a couple of years ago - just a low speed parking bump i think, which had deformed the sharp creases to the left of the number plate. Wasn't that obvious so I left it but over time it started to lose paint. Along with the usual age related stone chip rash, which had got fairly bad, it just meant it was looking a bit scruffy from within 6ft or so.

I assumed it would be a new bumper skin job but no - they reckoned it was repairable to as good as new. Pretty chuffed with the end results I must say.



The only thing is those chromed bolt heads showing under each side near the splitters. I assume there should be a fixing here (I've never looked that closely) but that they should be black - looks that way looking at realoem

Looks good. Did they remove the bumper or paint it situe with everything left on it? Expensive?

[Swervin_Mervin]

I don't actually know as the main guy had gone home I'll when I went to pick it up. Fairly sure it was bumper off so they could reshape the deformed plastic areas. Not too bad price wise - £600 ish plus vat. New bumper would've been over 1k once painted

[ferrisbueller]

I was considering similar on mine, including buying a secondhand bumper in good nick and just swapping it over.

[zippyonline]

Swervin - you seem like you're in for a penny, in for a pound at the moment! Top work.

Given I'm on 217k miles, and I'm pretty sure the bumper is original (had to replace a fair few of the fastenings on the underside!) - it's absolutely peppered, scuffed underneath, and has a very slightly misshapen bit from possibly anything.

It scrubs up well enough, and whilst the bodywork is fairly good and it's original paint all over, it's got plenty of stonechips and a few door dinks. For 14 years and 217k miles, it's petina - it shows battle scars, but still looks well kept, I'll live with it!

It looks a bit dated compared to a new M4...


200 (19-07-2019) by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

But holds it's own in your average eurobox car park...


235 (23-08-2019) by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

[Swervin_Mervin]

zippyonline said:

Swervin - you seem like you're in for a penny, in for a pound at the moment! Top work.

Certainly seems that way! This was planned - the ecu not so much!

There is reason for all this however, and that's that i want it tip top ready for sale. After 7yrs and 70k (the longest I've owned a car by about 3yrs) I've decided I need to change. If I don't do it soon, I won't do it at all by choice. If i had the space I'd keep it as i love it so much. But there are other cars I want to try whilst we still can.

I'm not in a rush to sell - I'm pretty set on a 650i GC so going to wait out for the right one to come up. Plus the Mrs wants a new kitchen so i sort of need to make progress a bit with that before rocking up in a 6.

All that said, if anyone is especially interested, then by all means get in touch. I'd love it to go to a fellow enthusiast. With a refreshed chassis, and most of the other big jobs done I'd hope it should be easy to move on at a decent price.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Zips, yours looks bloody brilliant for almost 100k more than mine!

[rallycross]

This has just come up for sale rarer than a rare thing a 335i sport manual with an lsd already fitted - manual E91 335i are rare enough without also having the lsd,

Sounds like a nice car.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

[stevesuk]

My wife commented last week that our heated rear screen didn't seem to be working. This has happened before, and the usual candidate is the battery being a bit low on charge (found out the hard way having paid a BMW "specialist" two hours labour a few years back, to not figure out why it had stopped working ) - so I left the battery hooked up to a charger overnight.

However, clearing off the ice this morning, it's definitely not working.

The mirrors are heating up nicely, just not the rear screen. Does the rear screen have a separate fuse or relay to the heated mirrors - or am I looking at a possible wiring fault?

[ferrisbueller]

rallycross said:

This has just come up for sale rarer than a rare thing a 335i sport manual with an lsd already fitted - manual E91 335i are rare enough without also having the lsd,

Sounds like a nice car.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

I assume that's the one mentioned a little while ago on the thread.

[zippyonline]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Zips, yours looks bloody brilliant for almost 100k more than mine!

Cheers – I do think they hide their age well. I do prefer the front end of the pre-lci!

rallycross said:

This has just come up for sale rarer than a rare thing a 335i sport manual with an lsd already fitted - manual E91 335i are rare enough without also having the lsd,

Sounds like a nice car.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

That was up not too long ago…maybe it didn’t sell because the photos seem familiar.

stevesuk said:

Does the rear screen have a separate fuse or relay to the heated mirrors - or am I looking at a possible wiring fault?

Top candidate is a poor earth to the tailgate. (I don’t know much else beyond that).

[stevesuk]

zippyonline said:

stevesuk said:

Does the rear screen have a separate fuse or relay to the heated mirrors - or am I looking at a possible wiring fault?

Top candidate is a poor earth to the tailgate. (I don’t know much else beyond that).

Thanks ... will check. Everything else on the tailgate seems to work (rear wiper, numberplate lights etc.). But I guess the heated screen consumes more power than the other items.

[MajorMantra]

stevesuk said:

Thanks ... will check. Everything else on the tailgate seems to work (rear wiper, numberplate lights etc.). But I guess the heated screen consumes more power than the other items.

The other possibility is a broken wire in the rubber sheaths are squashed when you shut the tailgate. It's a common problem on these cars, and often the cause of central locking and radio reception issues (ask me how I know...).

A proper fix will be time consuming (and expensive if you get someone else to do it), or you can do like I did and cut into the sheath to access the wires for repair.

[tenmantaylor]

Garage cant source the Bilstein B12s and are offering KYB or genuine BMW OEM parts (brand not mentioned, assuming standard Bilstein?).

Anyone recommend/advise against KYB? They are coming in nearly 300 quid cheaper for all 4 corners.

It's a 2009 e91 320d M Sport.

MOT is up Wed, only thing concerned wont pass is 3 leaking shock absorbers.

[ferrisbueller]

OEM Sachs I think.

[ATM]

tenmantaylor said:

Garage cant source the Bilstein B12s and are offering KYB or genuine BMW OEM parts (brand not mentioned, assuming standard Bilstein?).

Anyone recommend/advise against KYB? They are coming in nearly 300 quid cheaper for all 4 corners.

It's a 2009 e91 320d M Sport.

MOT is up Wed, only thing concerned wont pass is 3 leaking shock absorbers.

If you order from Germany yourself you'll save a few quid.

£577.99

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/383199399711

[tenmantaylor]

Awesome, thanks for that.

Could pay for a hire car for a week and still have change for a curry whilst they ship too.

[f1ten]

Best sports back box for 325i petrol?

[tenmantaylor]

Getting a bit annoying with my local indy now as they:

a) won't warranty any work done with parts I free issue to them and

b) they can't/won't source the Bilstein B12s from any source I quote (including Euro car parts who are listed as Bilstein's official UK supplier of this part on the Bilstein website)

I'm now tempted to buy the ones above from ATP and find someone else to fit. BUT MOT is due before I can get parts...

Edit: Have found another recommended local who can do it next week. He has mentioned as long as the car is booked in somewhere to do the work it's ok to carry on with an advisory. In this case is there any point putting the car in for MOT before expiry?

Edited by tenmantaylor on Monday 2nd December 16:43

[stevemcs]

I would say put the car in at least 10 days before expiry, that way if it fails you still have remaining MOT and gives chance to get the repairs carried out - unless its a dangerous defect do not drive. Most common failures for BMWs are tyres or angel eyes.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Talking of MOTs - passed with just 4 advisories. Slight oil leak, slight PAS rack leak (misting), front pads getting low and o/s rear tyre down to 3mm.

That'll do me. Independent told me the two leaks were next to nothing and pads wpuld probably still last me months!