My 97' BMW 540i
Author
Discussion

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Hi Guys and Girls,

My first post on here, I've spent a while browsing as a guest. Some really great cars on here and now I'm going to stick up pictures of my standard BMW smile

So, I bought this car back in June 2010, paid the higher end price for one of these due to alot of electrical stuff, extensive history and everything worked! (and still does) Got a few miles on it but that didn't really bother me.

I changed the wheels from 16" Style 33's (turbines) to the 17" Style 32's, the lights from amber and faded to the genuine hella facelift lights, clear repeaters, depo rears and facelift kidney grilles straight away.

These are quite new pictures below, from this week as I had the wheels professionally refurbished last week, I wanted a shadow chrome, as opposed to the OEM silver.. they came out quite dark but I really like the way they look on the car.

This is the longest I've ever owned one car and the most I've ever spent on one as well! I am starting to fancy a change, looking towards a 330i Sport Touring but see what happens.

Some pictures..

















Thanks for looking.

Lee

BriC175

961 posts

209 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Hi Lee,

Cars looking good! Welcome to PH.

BriC (also on forum.bmw5)

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
quotequote all
Cheers man..

There are alot of seriously cool cars on here! Just makes mine seem average.. tongue out

BriC175

961 posts

209 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
quotequote all
Lee540 said:
Cheers man..

There are alot of seriously cool cars on here! Just makes mine seem average.. tongue out
Yeh, the good thing about PH is there are a good variety of different cars, and it's a very big community!

Max M4X WW

5,027 posts

211 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Lee540 said:
There are alot of seriously cool cars on here! Just makes mine seem average.. tongue out
Lots of Barge fans on here though smile

Another Hello from forum.bmw5!

daymoon

23 posts

213 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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I love E39's!

Would love a V8 one but can only afford to drive a straight six diesel frown

lupy

54 posts

174 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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My partner has a 1998 540i, he bought it at 80k miles and it now has 200k+ miles on the clock, it's so easy to drive, the auto gearbox is so smooth and it really shifts! biggrin He gets around 24mpg but who cares as it costs practically nothing to run and service, it's been so impressively reliable (touch wood!)

Awesome car, super quick and reliable. Great choice! cool

Mouse1903

839 posts

182 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Looks great, far from looking like a 15 year old car

GTiFrank

629 posts

213 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Fantastic Barge! Would love a manual one of these!

How have you got that anthracite look on the wheels or you buy them like that? thumbup

Welcome to PH btw biggrin

BriC175

961 posts

209 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
quotequote all
GTiFrank said:
Fantastic Barge! Would love a manual one of these!

How have you got that anthracite look on the wheels or you buy them like that? thumbup

Welcome to PH btw biggrin
There's one on ebay at the moment! biggrin

sparks_E39

12,738 posts

242 months

Tuesday 17th April 2012
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Looks great! I need a set of those wheels on my E39.

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
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Thanks for all of the comments guys!

GTiFrank said:
How have you got that anthracite look on the wheels or you buy them like that? thumbup
sparks_E39 said:
Looks great! I need a set of those wheels on my E39.
I've had the Style 32's for ages!! I bought them needing a refurb, but left them looking tatty till a couple weeks ago.

Alloywheel Clinic in Cornwall, not far from me did a full refurbishment in Shadow Chrome, like the OEM E39 M5 wheel finish.. darker than I'd expected but growing on me now smile

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
Looks great, far from looking like a 15 year old car
Cheers! I'm going to fit facelift front bumper with the little round fog lights when I figure out how to keep the black shadow line trim as I dont want it colour coded. smile

bmthnick1981

5,320 posts

245 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
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Very nice, I like the darker finish on the wheels but probably would have opted for the 18" style 32's to fill the arches a little more. Either way very nice motor.

For lots of barge chat have a look here; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
quotequote all
Thanks for the link..

Personally didn't know that 18" Style 32's were an e39 option until recently, I thought they were an e38 fitment only, obviously then with a centre bore too small and wrong offsets..

I love my 17's..

VumGarda

4,485 posts

204 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
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Lee540 said:
I've had the Style 32's for ages!! I bought them needing a refurb, but left them looking tatty till a couple weeks ago.

Alloywheel Clinic in Cornwall, not far from me did a full refurbishment in Shadow Chrome, like the OEM E39 M5 wheel finish.. darker than I'd expected but growing on me now smile
How much for the full refurb? I have the same wheels on my 540 and I'm thinking of having them redone, but in the original colour (or as near as damn it).

Nice car, btw.

Jw Vw

4,920 posts

192 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
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That interior is lovely cloud9

Max M4X WW

5,027 posts

211 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
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lupy said:
it costs practically nothing to run and service, it's been so impressively reliable
He's been lucky biglaugh

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
quotequote all
VumGarda said:
How much for the full refurb? I have the same wheels on my 540 and I'm thinking of having them redone, but in the original colour
Nice car, btw.
Yes mate, I was going to go original till I saw all of the samples!!

I paid £55 per wheel

Lee540

Original Poster:

1,586 posts

173 months

Wednesday 18th April 2012
quotequote all
Max M4X WW said:
He's been lucky biglaugh
Agree! Parts are expensive, fuel is expensive.. Great reliability keeps costs down, mine has been superb... touch wood, these past couple years