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BMW Performance Alcantara steering wheel insert... and look closely... ...because proper conventional paddle shifters... And they work as expected, total WIN! ??

1985 Mercedes W123 230 TE Station Wagon. 225, 000 miles, not kilometres AS IS WHERE IS. SPARES OR REPAIR. Gave this car to a garage to sort out a few jobs for a warrant, they did the jobs then managed to sieze the engine.. After a couple of weeks with oil down the bores etc they managed to free the engine. Unfortunately, they totalled destroyed the engine doing so... So it needs a replacement engine, Ive been talking to a guy who's got a good engine for $750. Apart from the engine issue she's got a few bits of bodywork to sort out, nothing structural, mainly around the windows and front scuttle.. This car owes me $3500, I'm not putting any more money into it. The price is $2500.

$45k for a time bomb? No thanks. Subframe needs proof of doing, VANOS and pump hub need proof of doing, SMG pump and accumulator seals need proof of doing and then it's a $35k car at best. All these people selling 'quick' BMW's seem to be dreaming, whether it's an E30 M3, E36 M3, E46 M3, CSL, Z3M etc, etc, they're crazy prices. How many are actually selling? E60 M5's are selling for less than 25k, that 1M will sell for less than 50k... more realistic.

This thing just keeps getting better, and my smile wider. The pretty slick auto with these paddles seems to me to be the best of both worlds, with a bit of imagination it's both an auto and a manual, a poor man's SMG if you like. The new shifters are from https://www.nelsonracingwheel.com/ and I had to take a bit of a punt as they never got the e87 or the 130 in the US so compatibility was a risk. In the end I opted for the "pre-LCI" ones for my LCI and they proved to be the correct ones. You disassemble the existing paddles, swap in some new framework and attach the actual aluminium paddles - all of the original BMW electrics and micro stitches are reused. Then you swap the down (push) wire on the left and paddle into the up (pull) terminal and voila right is pull up, left is pull down and you can't press either paddle. Took me about 40 minutes. The action is firm and has a satisfying dull 'click', the aluminium paddles both look and feel great, I couldn't be happier. They felt immediately intuitive to me, I'm already comfortable reaching for them with opposite hands if I'm turning the wheel a lot. New lock nut set from @Lewis91 turned up in less than 24h, how sweet is that? A few more small things still on the way, it's working out well for me so far. Edit: oh and bonus, any BMW or aftermarket DCT shift paddles will work with these new switches, pull existing ones off, slide new ones on, 60 seconds.

As per before, its a 525ee ETA model, Auto. I keep thinking about engine swapping it, but it drives so nice i cant do it, 98% of the time it just sits in my garage, I'd daily it if I didnt have a company car. It has aircon and all the bits, rides on BC gold coilovers, I also have full stock suspension that goes with the car, and the factory flares on the lips. the sunroof has some rust bubbles but I have new seal and was keeping my eye out for a good second hand sunroof Has fresh paint to get rid of the peel look. newish wof, about a month old, log reg... im not a kid, this is a clean car, but I want to swap a manual into my z4 and put and LSD in it so something has to go. Oh it has a amp sub and new headunit and speakers. Interior is clean and brown stripes, really cool old wagon. Im not really negotiable, but try your luck, $7500, that is in my opinion bloody cheap for a cool summer cruiser, everytime i take it out i end up getting into long chats with young and old.

Up for sale is my 1995 BMW 318ti. The car is New Zealand new, factory 5 speed manual and blessed with a m42b18 four cylinder engine. I purchased this car with the intent on using it as a daily driven/ drive to track situation however my hobbies have changed from track racing to skiing so I must sell and try to find a nice 'ix' of some description for the snow. Over the years since it was bought new from coombes Johnston BMW it has had a lot of work done to a high standard with good quality parts. This is no 'pearla' of a vehicle, be it that there is a few bumps and grazes, clearcoat coming off of the bonnet, however the drive train is sound and the majority of the paintwork polishes up to a nice alaskablau shine. If you are interested please take a look at the photos where you will see that I have included screenshots of the previous owners trademe listing, outlining some of the work that he has had done to the vehicle. The car is currently sitting at 260,000k's and will go up from daily use. I am accepting offers close to $3000 If this does not sell I will likely set aside some money and look for a 325i donor vehicle and 6 cylinder swap the car.

Okay, so I got back to the diff... In park, both rear wheels in the air and handbrake off, can't turn the wheels by hand. Thanks for the advice on that test Glenn. And for further confirmation: https://itstillruns.com/identify-limited-slip-differential-7805308.html In neutral both wheels spin in the same direction. Conclusive? If not, the fact that I've never seen the DCT light blink surely adds weight, I'm not driving like a nanny. Now, what ratio? Could well be stock but I just don't know.

Large premium being asked but they seem to hang around for years. No doubt they're great cars but 50k is still too much for what it is in my opinion.

Given the dealer I’m surprised to not see it decked out on black rims and low-cost tyres...

Ah, ok. When were your runners and tracks in the window mechanism last lubricated? If the motor draws too much current it triggers the safety function and having dried up scummy old grease in the mechanism can be enough to push it over the edge. Take the door card off and put some new grease in the runners where the window carrier slides, and a little bit on the drive gear, then run it up and down a few times, it should help.

Sold Jon. You can relax.

I don't think so, it's been on trademe a long time. Was initially at 20k

There's not much to go wrong with them apart from rust, check the bottoms of the doors, boot floor, around the tail lights, around the door hinges, sills, floor, inner guards, etc, etc

Everyones trying to be as cool as me! Its good seeing all these 130s snapped up, welcome. Car looks good, xenons/manual/sunroof - Good options. Pull that ebay M badge off the grill though ? https://www.mdecoder.com/decode/ps89205

Hey Team Long time no post, well Happy new years I cant believe we are already 11 days in. so have had a few things going on that werent really related to this build but still bimmer related. Me and Conrad coverted this to manual and flicked it off to help get some more funds for these other builds. But also got these Hamman custom 3 piece wheels finally finshed, they were meant to be for the other e34 car, Unfortunately the didnt fit due to the offset. Fronts et0 and rears et-5 so now i will be putting them on the m3. Also done some work to the e46 wagon v8. I changed the mags to some Mpars. fixed a few electrical issues with the fan, ordered a oil catch to catch the oil and vapour coming from the drysump oil reservoir. replaced the steering rack with a purple tag due to the old one having quite a bit of play , new front lower control arm bushings. But long story short I said to Conrad last year whos into his drifting with his e36 sedan. I'll get my car up and ready for the next drift event that you enter if you get yours ready. This was to help him get motived to get his car up to scratch as well. So i stick to my word and after speaking to a few drifters they recommend a welded diff. There was no way in hell i was going to weld the m3 diff so managed to score a rolling body 330i sedan from Beemwr. I took the whole rear end which i will be swapping into the wagon at some point and getting the diff welded. Conrad took the front brakes for his car. So thats we are so far, once i get the wagon drivable again ill do a proper sound clip of the exhaust. Thanks Team

dash cams front and rear,record while parked option

Not sure what you mean by "bench mark", it's certainly not the highest price reached, but for what it was the price would seem to be in-line with the world wide market. There have been a number of over-priced examples on TradeMe for a while, which have started to have their asking prices dropped. It's a buyer's market at the moment on E30 M3s!!

Hi all, I'm Nigel & have a 2002 E46 M3 cabrio with supercharger, upgraded suspension & interior. I've had this since 2016 and it's my second BM after a 735iL a few years ago. Super happy with it, but am looking to have it converted from SMG to manual. Does anyone know a good workshop in the Auckland area who have done this before? Cheers!!

I've noticed as I'm sure others have, lots of old/dead stickied posts that make the place look like it's unmaintained. I reported a fair few of these last year but no one seemed to be home (quick to delete my for sale post as I was trying to edit with a pic tho). How about a clean up / take out the trash? A couple of examples - there are more General discussion - Car Folie (pinned) - created 8 Jan 2011, user indicated business has closed on 15 Nov 2018 General discussion - Bimmersport Downtime - created 22 May 2016, last post 20 Dec 2016, hopefully resolved by now? News - Bimmersport News RSS feed - created 2 Jul 2007, unsurprisingly this no longer works. The FORUM RULES (yes all caps) - created 19 Nov 2008, the formatting of the post is awful and there's some real strange stuff in there (e.g. Warez - good memories) For Sale - Bimmersport 2013 Wall Calendars on Sale Now - 28 Nov 2012, yea For Sale - Bimmersport T-shirts - 8 Feb 2007, assuming no longer available, etc. Thoughts? And before the usual about how busy the mods are with family, etc. I'm happy to do this.

Also, feel free to make nominations for anyone who is active on the forum that you think would be well suited. Sadly I’m a bit out of touch with the membership these days.

Andy and I are not on here these days. I just jumped on today because someone emailed me. We’re keen to hand over the site to the right person to breath some love back into it. To build and manage a forum moderator team, sign up some sponsors and get some events happening. If you think you’re that person Email me ollie@bimmersport.co.nz or call me 027 544 8699 Would love to chat

Then again, anyone reading this should probably read the following to see what's up.

Have to say this forum has always been great but seen better days. Being an IT guy know it gets hard to manage things especially as time goes on but its still alive. I would have no issues to offer some hours to help do a clean up/re-orginise a bit as i have had so much help off here in the early years we need a place that isn't full of stupid comments like FB haha

I have gone through and removed and un-pinned a lot of the old stuff at the top of the various sub-forums. Some stuff is pretty old, but still quite relevant / helpful so I have left it at the top. If there is anythig i have missed, let me know - either post it in here or drop me a pm and i'll have a look.

Agreed its not the most well maintained but it works and i can chat with people on it no problem and it doesnt cost me anything so im happy.

Nope. I agree with @Blackie - and since he (and others) have volunteered there are no excuses.

I agree Rob. But the owners and most of the admin don't seen to give a sh*t anymore unless it suits them apart from Jon. I've tried negotiating this previously and got nowhere . It's also a reason why we have lost so many knowledgeable and professional members and have now got all the copy and post know all's strutting there finger skills