E91 Straight Six Bearding

[cerb4.5lee]

iacabu said:

This is my first time posting in here, but I recently sold my 535d and I'm on the hunt for a new car. An e91 330i manual is on the list.

Reading this thread backs up my search results...they aren't an easy find.

I accepted my E90 330i auto for what it was, and it did what I needed it to do. However given my time again I would definitely hold out for a manual though. The N52 engine deserves a manual gearbox in my opinion.

[Court_S]

iacabu said:

This is my first time posting in here, but I recently sold my 535d and I'm on the hunt for a new car. An e91 330i manual is on the list.

Reading this thread backs up my search results...they aren't an easy find. Perhaps someone on here is contemplating selling? There is a cheap auto available at Binca but I'm not sure I want auto this time round. There's also a 335i touring manual on eBay ending just before lunch time today, but I don't think I fancy the risk or to buy unseen

For a bit of history, I've owned the following BMWs amongst other things: e60 535d, e46 328i touring auto, e46 325i se auto, e46 330ci auto

An E91 330i is hard enough to find, let alone a manual. Add in wanting a decent spec and it gets even harder - mate of mine lucked out finding a decent E91 330i with xenons, heated seats and nav. He had to settle for silver with black leather and an auto though. He's had the gearbox remapped and thinks its much better as a result.

Good luck with the search.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Forgot to post this the other day but chaps - this is your annual reminder to check behind trims and seals and give everything a good clean out. In particular your boot hatch trims where sludge builds up behind the trim clips and does this



I'll need to have a crack at sorting this soon before it gets too bad.

[helix402]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Forgot to post this the other day but chaps - this is your annual reminder to check behind trims and seals and give everything a good clean out. In particular your boot hatch trims where sludge builds up behind the trim clips and does this



I'll need to have a crack at sorting this soon before it gets too bad.

Do those trims break instantly on removal like the E46?

[Swervin_Mervin]

helix402 said:

Do those trims break instantly on removal like the E46?

I've managed to get both mine off, a few times now, without breaking anything thankfully.

I make no promises though

[pmorg4]

Court_S said:

An E91 330i is hard enough to find, let alone a manual. Add in wanting a decent spec and it gets even harder - mate of mine lucked out finding a decent E91 330i with xenons, heated seats and nav. He had to settle for silver with black leather and an auto though. He's had the gearbox remapped and thinks its much better as a result.

Good luck with the search.

This is the key point. I wanted an E91 330i manual and had a list of options that were necessary to me, the usual stuff like xenons, heated seats, etc. After browsing the market for a while I concluded that I'd be waiting an awfully long time to find that car, as there are so few E91 330i manuals to begin with, and very few of those are well optioned for whatever reason.

I ended up settling for a pretty basic spec car, but it treated me very well over the 2-ish years I owned it. I've since sold it due to replacing it with an E91 335i partly as the latter is much better optioned than the 330i was, but I do find myself questioning whether I should have kept the 330i given the much greater bork potential of the N54!

[JakeT]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Forgot to post this the other day but chaps - this is your annual reminder to check behind trims and seals and give everything a good clean out. In particular your boot hatch trims where sludge builds up behind the trim clips and does this



I'll need to have a crack at sorting this soon before it gets too bad.

I’d remove the trims on mine, but I’m not sure I want to see what’s under there. The boot lid is getting scabby on mine now. Lots of corrosion under the back window, and it’s starting to go around the handle. I’m weighing up a new bootlid, or facelift the rear of it.

[Mr Tidy]

iacabu said:

This is my first time posting in here, but I recently sold my 535d and I'm on the hunt for a new car. An e91 330i manual is on the list.

Reading this thread backs up my search results...they aren't an easy find.

I tried to find one twice and failed!

First compromise was a manual 325i, second and current one was a manual 330i but it's an E90! Still I got lucky finding one with the split/fold rear seat, Xenons and sunroof!

[pmorg4]

Court_S said:

pmorg4 said:

Thanks. I'll see what my nearest ECP has in stock.

I bought a Febi calliper from Parts in Motion recently. It was forty quid with a discount code for signing up to their newsletter. Arrived quickly too.

Just following up on this, I ended up going for the Febi caliper from Parts in Motion. It worked out at around £65 with the discount code so clearly prices have risen somewhat, but I’m still very happy with that. It arrived in a few days as promised, and quality looks near identical to the original caliper.

Fitted it during my “working from home” lunch break on Friday. The old caliper was pretty solid, although thankfully it wasn’t too much effort to free it off enough to remove it with the help of some large pry bars. I also took the opportunity to flush the entire brake fluid as it was due a service anyway, using the £30-ish pressure bleeder recommended on here, which made the job a breeze. All sorted and normal service is resumed.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions

[Court_S]

pmorg4 said:

Just following up on this, I ended up going for the Febi caliper from Parts in Motion. It worked out at around £65 with the discount code so clearly prices have risen somewhat, but I’m still very happy with that. It arrived in a few days as promised, and quality looks near identical to the original caliper.

Fitted it during my “working from home” lunch break on Friday. The old caliper was pretty solid, although thankfully it wasn’t too much effort to free it off enough to remove it with the help of some large pry bars. I also took the opportunity to flush the entire brake fluid as it was due a service anyway, using the £30-ish pressure bleeder recommended on here, which made the job a breeze. All sorted and normal service is resumed.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions

No worries.

The Febi calliper I fitted to the 125i has been fine so far.

Parts in Motion have been good when I’ve used them in the past; they dug me out of a hole when changing the eccentric shaft sensor on my 130i and I discovered that the rocker cover was cracked. New part arrived the next day and that was between Christmas and new year.

[dhutch]

Good work, I've used Febi parts plenty in various cars and areas within issue.

[christhreadgill]

I'm eyeing up a few sets of style 216 (BBS) alloys on ebay for the 335i - what seems to be the general concensus on welded repairs to alloy wheels?

Nearly all of the sets either have small cracks on the inner shoulder that need repairing, or already have had welding done.

I'm sure they're perfectly fine to run with weld repairs - but would you guys run them?

[sam.rog]

christhreadgill said:

I'm eyeing up a few sets of style 216 (BBS) alloys on ebay for the 335i - what seems to be the general concensus on welded repairs to alloy wheels?

Nearly all of the sets either have small cracks on the inner shoulder that need repairing, or already have had welding done.

I'm sure they're perfectly fine to run with weld repairs - but would you guys run them?

Im sure they would be fine but I wouldn’t put them on my car.
Unless you know the welder is st hot or can NDT the wheel after to confirm the integrity of the weld i’d not fit them.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Same. I ditched a cracked alloy and got new, as I just wasn't personally happy to run on them. I spoke to a few of the local wheel refurbers at the time, as I was also looking for a general refurb and most said that in their experience the welds would rarely last. Seemed like a false economy to me. And it's not like the roads have suddenly got any better is it?

[christhreadgill]

Swervin_Mervin said:

Same. I ditched a cracked alloy and got new, as I just wasn't personally happy to run on them. I spoke to a few of the local wheel refurbers at the time, as I was also looking for a general refurb and most said that in their experience the welds would rarely last. Seemed like a false economy to me. And it's not like the roads have suddenly got any better is it?

Interesting, thank you. They pretty much all appear to have cracks, so finding a set that is in good condition may be harder than expected!

[d_a_n1979]

christhreadgill said:

I'm eyeing up a few sets of style 216 (BBS) alloys on ebay for the 335i - what seems to be the general concensus on welded repairs to alloy wheels?

Nearly all of the sets either have small cracks on the inner shoulder that need repairing, or already have had welding done.

I'm sure they're perfectly fine to run with weld repairs - but would you guys run them?

Yup; as said, I wouldn't run them at all... Just my choice

[ATM]

I think most cracking was caused by Run Flats. I know they have apparently got better with time and development but I still hate them. I had a friend with a 335d E90 with 19 inch BMW optional wheels in around 2008/2009. The ride was absolutely shocking. Really Really bad. I'd therefore imagine all e9x BMW of that era with 19 inch were cracking left right and centre - excluding M cars which never had RFT. I thought I heard a rumour that BMW stopped replacing cracked alloys as they started blamed our roads.

[Court_S]

christhreadgill said:

I'm eyeing up a few sets of style 216 (BBS) alloys on ebay for the 335i - what seems to be the general concensus on welded repairs to alloy wheels?

Nearly all of the sets either have small cracks on the inner shoulder that need repairing, or already have had welding done.

I'm sure they're perfectly fine to run with weld repairs - but would you guys run them?

Personally I’d wait to find a mine cracked set. On the 1 series, those wheels seem to be pretty solid so I’m surprised that there are so many cracked ones out there. I’ve always looked at them as better than the usual BMW OE wheels.

They’re one of my favourite BMW wheel designs.

[christhreadgill]

I’ll just have to stick my hands deeper in my pockets then, when a decent set comes up!

Option B would be a set with a singular, small crack, and then get it repaired at a place I trust. I’d imagine that’s better than buyer a pre-welded item when I don’t know who did the repair!

[Jakg]

christhreadgill said:

I'm eyeing up a few sets of style 216 (BBS) alloys on ebay for the 335i - what seems to be the general concensus on welded repairs to alloy wheels?

Nearly all of the sets either have small cracks on the inner shoulder that need repairing, or already have had welding done.

I'm sure they're perfectly fine to run with weld repairs - but would you guys run them?

I wouldn't buy a repaired set of wheels, and like you have struggled to find a straight set of 216's!

But my RenaultSport Megane had a welded wheel when I bought it and it was fine the whole time I had the car.