The E39 thread

[Max M4X WW]

sparks_E46 said:

I did, and they are great cars. They just seem to need a lot of care as they get older, a lot more than most cars including other BMW’s. I wouldn’t rule out having another but it wouldn’t be a car I’d want to rely on.

Fair enough and agreed. As I said above, my new one has done 50k less miles than the previous, has 2 fewer cylinders and is only intended to be used occasionaly so hoping for a better ride.

[Stu08]

I'm on my 4th E39.

I've had: 525i SE Auto, 528i SE Auto, 528i Sport Auto and now I'm on a preface 535i SE. I think the Sports look great but prefer a good clean SE lowered on nice deep dish or concave wheels.

I'm rebuilding parts of my interior at the moment and will do the oily bits next year.

[Max M4X WW]

Stu08 said:

I'm on my 4th E39.

I've had: 525i SE Auto, 528i SE Auto, 528i Sport Auto and now I'm on a preface 535i SE. I think the Sports look great but prefer a good clean SE lowered on nice deep dish or concave wheels.

I'm rebuilding parts of my interior at the moment and will do the oily bits next year.

Any photos of your current one?

[80quattro]

Great to see some E39 owners on PH.

Here's a couple of photos of my facelift 530i manual. As I bought it, and as it is now. Some may prefer the 'before' look, but I have in my mind the 65 year old farmer that I bought it from !! I've owned it for 2.5 years, and done just over 20k miles in it. Best car I've ever owned.

[d_a_n1979]

80quattro said:

Great to see some E39 owners on PH.

Here's a couple of photos of my facelift 530i manual. As I bought it, and as it is now. Some may prefer the 'before' look, but I have in my mind the 65 year old farmer that I bought it from !! I've owned it for 2.5 years, and done just over 20k miles in it. Best car I've ever owned.

Get them Style 32s back on (or get the Style 37s resprayed silver); it'll look less 'bling' then However, that's my taste! It's your car, do what you want with it...

Can't beat a 530i though

[80quattro]

d_a_n1979 said:

Get them Style 32s back on (or get the Style 37s resprayed silver); it'll look less 'bling' then However, that's my taste! It's your car, do what you want with it...

Can't beat a 530i though

I can put the car back to old farmer look easily. I still have the staggered style 32's, and the window film can come out. I probably wouldn't want to retro fit chrome trims though, the shadow chrome looks so much better. The style 37's transformed the handling though... I'm lucky the car has the factory sport suspension option.

[Triumph Man]

Well my 530i is all back together and driving like a BMW should again, following the front suspenion re build and alignment! New rear tyres tomorrow!

Edited by Triumph Man on Tuesday 13th November 16:29

[njw1]

80quattro said:

Great to see some E39 owners on PH.

Here's a couple of photos of my facelift 530i manual. As I bought it, and as it is now. Some may prefer the 'before' look, but I have in my mind the 65 year old farmer that I bought it from !! I've owned it for 2.5 years, and done just over 20k miles in it. Best car I've ever owned.

That's a coincidence, as I've done the same to mine;

[tobinen]

525i Touring owner here. I have a reader's thread on the go.

[Max M4X WW]

tobinen said:

525i Touring owner here. I have a reader's thread on the go.

Why did I not know you had this? Looks like you are the first Touring anyway!

[tobinen]

Red wine and eBay. Sometimes a happy combination, sometimes not. It's not that bad but I wouldn't have bought it sober. I'd've held out for a 3 litre or bought a V70 / 9-5 Aero

[njw1]

tobinen said:

Red wine and eBay. Sometimes a happy combination, sometimes not. It's not that bad but I wouldn't have bought it sober. I'd've held out for a 3 litre or bought a V70 / 9-5 Aero

I'm not the only one who's bought an e39 whilst drunk then!

[Max M4X WW]

njw1 said:

tobinen said:

Red wine and eBay. Sometimes a happy combination, sometimes not. It's not that bad but I wouldn't have bought it sober. I'd've held out for a 3 litre or bought a V70 / 9-5 Aero

I'm not the only one who's bought an e39 whilst drunk then!

The only 9-5 I drove wasn't great, I like the Volvo's though.

[tobinen]

The weather forecast is looking sunny tomorrow so I think I will take the opportunity to switch to winter tyres. I bought some 2nd hand style 66s to replace thr M5 replicas on there now. I will take some snaps.

I think it should have had 66s from new; it is a 2001 Sport. Hopefully I'll be able to shift on the reps on one of the E39 FB pages.

[Lowtimer]

My Touring is a 530i manual, SE trim, December 2000 build, and serving exceedingly well in every capacity from the tip run to 400 mile vaults over the mountains to Scotland and back

[JakeT]

I had a pre facelift 530d manual for a little while before selling it to a friend. Bought it from the first owner with 219,000 miles on it, and with a massive stack of history. Was a fine old beast, but needed dampers to feel like an E39 should. Best bit was that it was 10 minutes down the road from me. Still running with the made it went to, and he loves it. Makes me want a 528i manual with Style 5 wheels.

[johnwilliams77]

That's a gorgeous colour - shame about the non leather.

[tobinen]

I've put my 66s on at the weekend but I am missing two centre caps.

Are they 68mm? Seems to be lots of eBay sellers with them

Edited by tobinen on Monday 19th November 19:41

[helix402]

These are the latest BMW ones which fit your wheels:

[Max M4X WW]

helix402 said:

These are the latest BMW ones which fit your wheels:

I'm waiting to impulse purchase a set of these.. (genuine BMW I may add)