Eagle

Forums started to die when facebook etc became the new medium. Most of the older members moved onto other things as you tend to do when you age. Forums owners stop being involved and big car meets/cruises were getting harder to pull off for various reasons which accelerated things. Forum is only as good as it's members. This place would actually be dead if not regulars contributing. Lots of lurkers for sure some of which are only after parts or car deals.

5-6 years seems to be the average suggested time to replace and what id call old myself, 2 years\10k ain't old and ive never seen anything that states 2yr\10k results in any noticeable performance loss. Last 2x sets of PS4 had no noticeable less grip than new in the dry or wet when they were at 2-3mm and a couple of years old, only real advantage would be been aquaplaning resistance. Ive seen a test where a worn 2mm tread Michelin beats a cheap tyre in all conditions. Yeah cheap stuff has improved but so has the high end. Unfortunately big wheels are one of those dumb modern trends that you pay for. I likely wouldn't be putting on high end rubber on either if i had to own something with 19\20's, lots mid range options that have been tested so least i have an idea of what going to give me the best price vs performance.

Indeed hence the question. The odds are it was written off because insurance companies and most people can't do this, easier said than done. I would assume a vehicle like this would have been valued by a reputable vehicle valuer, so probably has a more realistic market value rather than an owner inflated one in a buyers markets.

End of the day it a safety issue to me. You dont need grip until you do and its very easy to buy on price with things like tyres. If you had do an evasive brake or maneuver in wet a good tyre is going to give a far better chance and enable stability control systems etc to work the best they can no avoid crashing. As above i bet tyres rarely get blamed for accidents even though they would probably prevent lots of them. I don't see any major manufacturers using any of these inferior brands and they always want to save money.

What do you estimate the cost range would be to repair it for someone with no contacts? Surely this thing wouldn't be worth more than 40k in this current market given its crash repaired status.

If the wiring colours match up with the diagram then its probably accurate. If you insert a pin, paper clip etc into the back of the green\yellow connector so it touching the metal (the one that connects directly to the mirror, under plastic trim?) You should read +12V with the multimeter set on 20 position with the red lead on the pin yellow\green wire and black lead grounded to bare metal (screw\bolt on body\roof) I think its a connection issue with your pins but i you'd need to post photos of what you are talking about regarding the connectors above as im not familiar with E63 wiring or what you trying to do exactly. Id just install one of these - https://www.jaycar.co.nz/double-standard-blade-fuse-socket-wire-tap/p/SF5115?pos=3&queryId=2eea1039fdd6f7f968f4337ac7e42a5f&sort=relevance&searchText=Fuse Socket Wire Tap Running a wire from fuse box, up pillar trim isnt that hard and you shouldnt have to take off much besides pillar trim, maybe the glove box then at least you got a perfect connection with a separate circuit These work well but never seen them in NZ

Ive never used those style leads, only wire or fuse tap, they dont look secure to me but if you sure the pins are making good contact then you probably need to probe the wires and verify 12V with the meter. Is that wiring diagram accurate? If you do have power on the green\yellow then its probably not making a good ground connection so id go for the above or wire tap. Not sure what are you saying about the plug. You can only really tap into the back of the harness connector (carside) with what you are using

Looks ok . Never seen a BMW where brown wasn't ground. You'd need to insert a pin etc first into the back on the mirror connector to find 12V because normal multimeter leads are too big. You can always put a terminal on the ground wire and use an existing screw\bolt around the area to ground it to the roof\body, i think that was i did with mine to avoid to avoid using another tap,

What was the reasoning? From what i saw the decreased wear rate was the main selling point. I know the grip was suppose to be slightly improved too but you probably couldn't tell them different unless you had measuring equipment. I went thru 2 sets of PS4's on my old E39 530i and they only lasted me 25-30,000km but wasnt easy on them. PS4 have a ST version too which is suppose to be quieter\softer than the regular RE003 used to be my go to but the only area i found RE003's found superior to the PS4's was steering feel\response. They were cheaper than RE003 for ages, maybe still are?. They are still plenty capable but are quite old entry level tech now with Bridgestone having quite replacements.

Yep everything has gone up. Advantage (Beaurepairs) price for a Michellin PS5 225/40R18 on Nov 2022 was $360-70 and now $406 ($456 non special). PS4's at the time were around $300 iirc. Bigger sizes seem to have gone up even more. Hyper had 225/45R17 PS4's $240-$260 deals for years. A PS5 is now $317 or $365 (no special) at Advantage. Really need trade discounts now. Guess ive been lucky paying around $250 a tyre for decades.

So you are saying you pulled the compressor plug and have no power when pressing the A\C button? You can manually test the clutch by applying 12V. If its not working then you either try another clutch from a wrecked unit or another compressor.

Being one of the OG sh*t tyres the construction tech maybe they worse than the average Chinese etc flavor of the month. I still remember them squealing going around corners at fairly slow speeds and people always looking.

Purple tag is a must, may have to adapt your turn in as its so precise when the rest of your steering\suspension up to scratch. I am curious what the LF20 feels like with the purple tag rack. My E46 is a bit light in the steering.

My W140 S600 came on brand new linglongs, you could barely move if you had to do a hill start because ESP kept cutting the power. My Pirelli P7's on the compact are reviewed to be poor in the wet compared to other main brands but i felt they were ok. Lots of subjectivity, environment and vehicles variables with tyres for sure. RE003 at least get very noisy when worn too. Michelin are my goto these days for car and bike tyres, they arent the best in all areas but always near the top.

Yep i always tell people the different between expensive and cheap tires in the wet is typically massive. Almost a guarantee a lot of these wet weather car accidents are from sh*t\old tyres.

As above they are pretty robust and you rarely hear of them failing. As long as the power steering oil has been changed at points be they would probably go forever only needed seal replacement. Current one has done 320,000km and my old E39 had ~290,000km on it with the original pump. A new OE FZT (LUK replacement) one is around $600-700.

Quality gear oil or ATF in the right viscosity would work fine. Dont think Repco really stock higher end stuff from what ive seen, possibly some Castrol stuff but you'd need to look at the tech specs. Redline MTL or MT-90 was my go to oil till it got too expensive. I use this now and am happy with shift quality on my ZF and Getrag boxes. https://1stparts.co.nz/product/torco-mtf-manual-trans-fliud-1-ltr-gl4-spec-replaces-sae30-10w30-or-gl4-light-viscosity/

Repco got reasonable savings on bigger quantities of oil. Sale ends midnight today though so you have to click and collect to secure it. https://www.repco.co.nz/oils-fluids/engine-oils-fluids/engine-oil/penrite-hpr-5-5w-40-engine-oil-20l-hpr05020/p/A1196840

Probably just spot welded. E36's have a couple which you can drill out for engine etc replacement.

Ive got a custom one made from a door stop or something, but i found the E36 M3 clutch setup engages right off the floor by default, better feel than E46 setup but also needs more pedal effort which isn't the nicest in stop\start traffic

I'd have to re-watch the video too but off the top of my head - didn't reprogram the DSC for the new diff, should of used M3 or better RSMs, better subframe and maybe rtabs for track car, subframe inspection/reinforcement appeared to a bit lacking, did he do strut tower and shocks tower plates? Bending the subframe trying to push out new bushings made me laugh. Heating them and knocking them out is by far the best method.

Feels like a realistic market value price to me. All these people asking 40+ are dreaming these days.

Just added security really but speeding tickets are mostly just luck in my experience. I had zero demerit points from nearly 3 years then i had 55 in a couple of months. Most of my tickets are from going slightly over the limit especially after passing, it may of saved me from that but as above its situational dependent. Value for money its far better value than most tech devices given it still performs its job for a long time without being obsolete.

Basically lots of tweaks, custom name on start up etc. Its a donation ($20 at the time for me) and he will send you the firmware file type deal. R7 is probably the model id buy if i was buying one today Mithheru is the guy and here is his latest R7 firmware thread - https://www.rdforum.org/threads/124085/

Sreten would probably never go to the level of detail you have gone to given all his other projects etc. He does good work but certainly a lot of things he doesn't do optimally which i noticed in his E46 builds.