What have you done to your BMW today?

[christhreadgill]

Got the new NSF hard brake line fitted today. Fiddly little job needing to take several bits of scuttle & heat shielding off - but needed to be done as I had cut through the end of the old one when I had to angle grind the flexi pipe off when removing the caliper.



Hat tip to Joe @ BMW Park Lane (Battersea) for the parts supply as always!

Also made a start cleaning & masking the NSF hub ready for paint.

[d_a_n1979]

Managed to get the F31 and the Racing Jazz both washed and dried off this afternoon.. No time to go over the interiors as it started to mizzle as always

Did get to try out my new quick fit snowfoam cannon from Directhoses.net for my Nilfisk and trialled Bilt Hamber Touchless snowfoam. Very impressed with both

[Court_S]

Cleaned the 125i and found so I didn’t want to find….a small blister in the paint by the rear wheel arch.



It’s quite hard to see, but it is there. I think the rear wheel arches have collected a lot of mud behind the arch liner, so I’ll get that off in the coming weeks and clean it. Luckily it’s on the same side that needs some paint.

[JakeT]

Court_S said:

Jake that E36 looks remarkably good underneath. I’ve seen newer cars that look far, far worse.

That brake bleeder works a treat. I’ve used it twice now and not died! For £30 it’s an absolute bargain especially when you consider my local dealer wanted £112 to do it!

Thank you. I was surprised too, as most are in a sorry state now. The high mileage £100 318ti i had certainly wasn’t.

I agree. I thought about buying an expensive Motive one years ago but never did. Doing brake work and being able to add some pressure to the system to bleed and check for leaks is handy.

Court_S said:

Cleaned the 125i and found so I didn’t want to find….a small blister in the paint by the rear wheel arch.



It’s quite hard to see, but it is there. I think the rear wheel arches have collected a lot of mud behind the arch liner, so I’ll get that off in the coming weeks and clean it. Luckily it’s on the same side that needs some paint.

Sadly as these cars age I think we’re going to see more of it. While they’re far better protected than their predecessors they won’t last forever. My E91 has the O/S arch getting a couple of bubbles. The bootlid needs sorting too due to corrosion. That said it’s 18 years old in August and has done 193,000 miles. Most of the older stuff wouldn’t have faired so well.

[V 02]

d_a_n1979 said:

F31 up on axle stands; all 4 winter wheels off, wheel arches snow foamed, scrubbed, rinsed and dried off/plastics treated

Summer Style 405Ms back on

Cars absolutely filthy; but temps have gone from -3ºC overnight and 1.5ºC during the day at the beginning of the week to 12.5ºC today!

It's the right time to move back to the summer wheels

Those wheels are gorgeous…

[Court_S]

Popped to Sytner to grab a few fixings that were missing from the underside of my car - hoping that will solve a slightly annoying noise at low speeds which I'm hoping was the undertrays flopping about.

[RichardM5]

Been doing some work to fix some minor niggles.

Replaced the closing panel as the sound insulation had seen better days and has been bugging me for ages. The part is NLA and E34 M5 specific, so I had to find the best used one I could. It's a bit of a bugger to get at the 6 small screws that hold it on as there's not a lot of room.

Before



After



Work at the front end has mainly been taking things apart for access so far and is still work in progress, almost ready to start putting things back together again.

[McGee_22]

E34 work here too; replaced both front struts after a crack through corrosion was found in one. I bought two good clean second hand and refurbished them, then swapped over the Alpina bits; springs, shocks, callipers and discs.

[4004]

Have Classic not been inundated with pleas of taking people's money and manufacture another batch?

[McGee_22]

Classic seem only to be interested in making exhaust pipe trims - they are dreadful at sorting out the bits people really need.

[RichardM5]

4004 said:

Have Classic not been inundated with pleas of taking people's money and manufacture another batch?

So many parts are NLA now even on E39's let alone E34's or older. They seem to have no real interest in supplying parts for older cars once they run out of stock. If they do have a new batch manufactured, often it is of inferior quality, even to the point where it is unusable.

[cerb4.5lee]

Drove it with intent on my favourite quiet country roads because it has been the first time in months that I've been able to use full throttle. 15 degrees and dry/clear roads gave me the opportunity again which I was greatful for. Great fun!

[V 02]

Went to Park Lane service dept for the first time today…. Exceptional service. Really so much better than all the franchises.. looking at you Group 1

[nickfrog]

V 02 said:

Went to Park Lane service dept for the first time today…. Exceptional service. Really so much better than all the franchises.. looking at you Group 1

I had been a fan of Chandlers (Group 1) for a while but things have gone downhill from a customer experience POV of late. They were managed like a local business but now they seem to have gone full corporate and not giving a st anymore.

Have you add issues with Group 1?

[V 02]

nickfrog said:

V 02 said:

Went to Park Lane service dept for the first time today…. Exceptional service. Really so much better than all the franchises.. looking at you Group 1

I had been a fan of Chandlers (Group 1) for a while but things have gone downhill from a customer experience POV of late. They were managed like a local business but now they seem to have gone full corporate and not giving a st anymore.

Have you add issues with Group 1?

Speaking on the local Group 1 branch, which was previously a Barons, which was previously a Spire, which was previously a Scotthall

I can’t be bothered with them anymore

Rude and unpleasant , can never be bothered to pick up the phone and when they do they can’t even be arsed to even pretend they give a st. (receptionists)

They talk to you like you are a baby that doesn’t know how anything about your car, which to be fair to them, most customers don’t, but every advisor then gets irritated/offended when you correct them or disagree with anything that you say (service advisors)

Went there to look at an F30, was spoken to like a baby and they made many subtle remarks that I couldn’t afford it (I’m 20) and I was wasting their time, kept pushing me towards a 1 series instead. (salespeople)

Took my business elsewhere, bought my 330e at a good price from a no frills car supermarket, meanwhile the manager were crying down the phone trying to sell me another car after I told them that I wouldn’t bother with their service again.


Sadly I didn’t learn my lesson when my car got recalled in December for the starter motor, I was away at uni so I dealt with them over the phone and arranged for my mum to hand it in and pick it up.
After spending ages on the phone booking it because the idiot on the other end didn’t know what I was on about (I was speaking in plain English - “hi, my car is showing up as needing a recall and I would like to book it in”) I assumed the troubles would end there. We had previously agreed that they would pay my mum’s cab fare due to not having a courtesy car available, and the woman put a note down. When my mum got there to drop the car they denied all knowledge of this, so she stood around for ages, she’s not that confident with arguing or whatnot so she jsut stood around in silence.

On the way to collect the car, she was told to wait around yet no one thought to come and tell her the car was ready or give her the keys so after only much haranguing of the receptionist did some dopey service advisor come down to tell her the car was ready and here are the keys etc etc.


Oh no, I still didn’t learn my lesson. I called them other day to enquire about some new bump stops and after calling repeatedly did I enquire about the part no. where I was met with “computer says no…” - (they are M3 bump stops). At this point I just finally couldn’t be arsed anymore and called Sytner who immediately answered the phone, gave me updates on my order and when I went there a friendly parts guy came over to me by name etc greeted. All well and good.

Similar good experience today at Park Lane.

[RESSE]

Replaced the mismatched boot lamp clusters (nearside was incorrect and offside had faded).





Replaced the scratched ashtray and storage unit (not perfect but an improvement).

Edited by RESSE on Wednesday 22 March 16:48

[pills]

Got it serviced at the excellent local indy and found out I need my NSF shock replacing!

[Court_S]

Git it dirty….another trip to Holyhead with a pit stop at Coed y Brenin for a ride on the way home.



The car continues to run well; it averaged 30mpg today over 350 miles with some spirited driving when the weather allowed. In 1,800 miles since it was with the indy, it’s not put a foot wrong.

[Deano_BMW]

Not today, but picked up another F11 535d so had a few jobs to do on it. Fitted the MMi box, gave it a full service and took care of a couple of other little jobs.

Still got a decent list of things i need to do!

[Glasgowrob]

in at the workshop at the moment, G31-520d

Gearbox flush and service, diff oil change. service, prop donut pair of back tyres and a wheel refurb from Black to Hyper Silver as why not.

on the to do list get the front bumper painted and then convince myself i dont need a hybrid turbo and a uprated intercooler