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217XXX km the saga continues... Second hand steering box from @BM WORLD installed by Jon at Auto38. R/H strut orientated correctly wheel alignment Stilling pinging/clunking when front suspension is loaded up, coming from the RH side either when on the brakes or turning from left to right. Saw it's younger, beefier sibling too @Olaf

The car is so close to being in tip top shape, it's driving so smooth... Things still to do. Get rid of this clunk noise Re-spray Bonnet Door seals - they are well worn, not letting moisture in but look tatty Exterior window front and back window seals Celis rear tails. The pair I got off trade me are corroded and don't work...surprise surprise ? ) New floor mats - would freshen up the interior Facelift tri spoke multi function steering wheel

Well I guess I should wrap this up as the M3 has been sold, I would have liked to keep it but with a lack of shed space and other interests (BMW related) it was time to put that money to use else where. It only took 2 days to sell, and the two guys chasing it were the someone who had done a lot of work on it for Charl (two owners before me) and the previous owner whom I brought it off, it ended up going to back to the previous owner. This is the 2nd BMW ive had that was sold back to the previous owner. I guess if you find a good one you regret selling it, and im sure I will. Anyways It was a fun two years and if you have the opportunity to own an E46 M3 I would suggest you jump at it.

Sssshhh!!! Don’t tell everyone.

152,053 kms. Quite a bit of love spent on Jane over the last couple weeks: Vanos seals refreshed Auto transmission serviced Rocker cover gasket replaced Sump gasket replaced Heater hose replaced Oil change I had these jobs done by Jon at Auto 38 two weeks ago. I've done 2,000kms since then, meaning I've had some time to get a feel for the results, and I'm really pleased. When people say that refreshing the vanos seals makes for a great improvement in their cars, they aren't lying! I drove from Wellington to Whanganui (200kms) after the seals were done which bedded them in nicely. The biggest takeaway is how much perkier the car feels; it's far more lively and torquey in the lower rev-range. Whereas before she would have chopped down from 5th into 4th when accelerating from 70km/h up to 100km/h, she now just pulls in 5th. And with only 150kms on the clock when this was done, I'm sure my vanos seals were in far better shape than others'. Highly recommended upgrade for anyone with these cars! Also running smoother and is slightly smoother on cold start, although not completely as smooth as I'd like it. But a great result nonetheless. Transmission service also returned great results. As soon as I took off from Auto 38 I noticed a change. Firstly, the shifts are far smoother (and they weren't rough to begin with!). And additionally, the up-shifts seem to come sooner, which could be the reason I've seen my petrol consumption drop from 10L/100km to 9.7L/100km! Sump gasket had a minor leak, so the gasket was replaced. Also got the rocker cover gasket done as one of those '"while you're in there" jobs - no record of it being done in the service history. Jon noticed the heater hose was getting quite soft, so replaced that to avoid any side-of-the-road-E39-coolant-system-failure moments! Hard to believe I'd already done 8,000kms since the last oil change in late November, but it was time for one of those as well! Overall, got a few of those checklist jobs done and the car has never run better. I chased an E60 M5, E92 M3 and E39 M5 over the Paraparas last weekend, and Jane held her own (although struggled a bit on the straights!). Love driving this car, and looking forward to putting many more miles on the clock Next on the to-do list: Replace folding radio wood trim with an uncracked piece (have the piece, just struggling to find the time to get the swap done), New rubber (I hear a set of Michelin PS4's calling Jane's name), Potentially a bit of suspension work. Undecided on how much I want to spend on suspension at the moment, when it's far from being buggered. Have a clunk that appears occasionally when coming to a halt. Might look into that soon.

Hi Everyone, My first post here. Currently living overseas in Japan and wanting to come home to this car in September. I have spoken with a kiwi exporter who lives here and we are currently looking for one to bring home with me.. BUT I would prefer to buy one NZ new with a full history and save the hassle. Have about 30 - 35k for april/may spending And about 40 - 50k for june/july and onwards spending. Will happily fork out mid 40's for the right car. Can't see anything nice on trademe and wanting to get into a well cared for model that hasn't had 7+ owners. Not to fussed on options/colour. As long as it's got that sweet manual and a full service history. Am prepared to be patient and wait for the right one to surface. So if you're thinking of selling to someone in the near future who's going to look after and care for your car, please contact me.

Hi all, I have some left over parts in a box that i dont need. they came off our 2005 E91 325i wagon that had done 45,000kms. I decided to refresh the front end suspension with all new lemforder/meyle parts and then car was written off. original control arms tie rods links etc all here in a box. no shocks/springs. If anyone needs them let me know. located auckland pick up only or you pay for the freight Free

Its not a 320d. It's a 325d with the 3ltr N57. The ad is a cluster f**k.

Went to see @Autoglym a wee while ago and bought a few products that I've been meaning to put into use. I finally got around to spending a day getting the Oxford Green paint to sparkle. Washed (with AutoGlym shampoo), clay barred, washed again, polished, and finally waxed. Also bought some leather cleaning product online and attacked the leather, before conditioning it. This was the most in-depth car clean I've ever done, and I'm pretty chuffed with how it's turned out. The paintwork is uber smooth to touch! And the leather is much less shiny, and nicer to the touch as well. Took this pic after labouring on her for an entire day:

Ah I should have said it was the suspension air bag It went pop and gangster low. Chinese replacements are super cheap, but it would seem the quality is questionable.

Running MAF-less uses really tolerant maps so yeah, it can run better (although it's not likely to be economical). If it runs fine with the MAF disconnected then it's likely to be a faulty MAF or a vacuum leak. If the second MAF you used was known to be good then it's likely a vacuum leak and most of these won't throw a code. Have a good look at all the rubber (non-fluid) pipes you can see on the intake side of the engine, this will require removing the intake up to the throttle butterfly (pretty simple, just clamps) so you see right under there. Some cracks aren't noticeable by eye and the next step is a smoke test for leaks which you should be able to get done for under $100.

Difference between measured air, and what's actually going into engine. No MAF, no measured air.

Here's some reference pictures of how good these wheel look insitu...

Welcome Wolfgang and great to hear you're loving the 550i

Great presentation/photography! GLWS...

Spent a couple of hours making her look pretty. Took a photo of her sitting there looking rather pretty.

Have you checked the intake piping from the MAF to TB for cracks? Sounds like an intake leak.

I love them, too. If we had the money... Perfect car for a student. Edit: Gone off the idea. Re-read the ad and "A great opportunity for someone to acquire a rare variation of the fast appreciating..." just stood out. Good grief... Was the ad written by a real estate agent?

Lol, there is a super tidy big $$$ e30 build for sale in town, with a rotor no less. Tempting but my time and energy is tied up with getting sideways these days.

It's not a case of winning or losing, but how you have the debate. BMW NZ does not maintain any delivery program, economically viable or otherwise, it is wholly under the control of BMW AG, and as such it is their terms, conditions and pricing that have to be applied. Which is why I was interested to see how much the US of A off-set the costs. Not 100% sure about the freight question, so i'll try to answer in two different instances, for a new car delivered in NZ there is no freight charge, even for cars delivered in Dunedin or Invercargill. For a Welt delivery BMW NZ cannot charge freight - it has to be organised by the owner of the vehicle and also it cannot be shipped on the same RoRo service as all the NZ new vehicles. Glad to see the yanks have cottoned on to shipping X5s back and forth across the pond, it was a few years ago that I saw them being delivered in the Welt to Billy-Bob and Betty-Sue so they must have worked out what it was costing them. The previous "Tourist Delivery" scheme that new cars were supplied under, even to NZ, was quite different from what I understand, and went back to the days of requiring overseas funds to buy a new car. There were quite a number of BMWs supplied in this way from what i have been told.

I lost track. Who won the debate? ?

Yeah, it's amazing what you can do with an E30 and a sh*t load of cash eh? Check out Josh's (Hybrid on here) E30 with an S50 swap and a heap of other mods, one of my favourite E30s and probably a car that can hold it's own anywhere in the world. S50s are getting down to reasonable prices now, with all the later engines that are available.

216849 km Has been in with Jon at Auto38. New TRW center drag link (ebay UK) $600 landed incl customs. New Febi idler arm bushing $74.75 Car feels significantly better....shimmy at 80km/h is CURED as is the shimmy under braking. Car feels so much more responsive and the steering feels tight, best it's ever felt under my ownership. I still have a click going on but I can live with that with the shimmy gone. Finally a mechanic who is enthusiastic about their workmanship and knows the car inside out. Jon diagnosed 5mm play in the idler arm and also found the clicking to be coming from the boots on the draglink. A way more precise diagnoses than the previous crowd I took it too.

This was on trademe for 2.5k not long ago in Christchuch iirc. Guessing he's added on his expenses to the price with some profit. Paint\panel are poor (it had a major respray patch failure on the left rear quarter if memory serves). All this guy has done is take pictures in the dark to hid the fact along with a weak ass description rather present it how it is.

146,800 kms A couple weeks ago on my drive home from work I hit 10,000 kms in Jane, and what an enjoyable 10,000 kms they’ve been. Last night I was driving home from work at 3.30am. In my daily commute, I blasted down the motorway from Petone into Wellington city; climbed up the twisty hill to Kelburn, ‘She Talks to Angels’ playing in the background, air con keeping me cool on this hot Wellington night; got to the turn off to my flat, decided screw it and just kept driving. Ended up at Makara Beach at about 4am. Just my car and me. Literally no where else I would have rather been. My first 10,000 kms, in review.

graham u need to stop looking at cars! (i tell myself the same thing)

Chinese replacement air bag in the 535i blew up on the way home today. You get what you pay for I guess. I put the best of the two old ones back in to get it back on the road. Now I don't trust the other bag that is in there... The only upside is I am getting pretty fast at swapping out the bags. Battery in my M5 is also toast. Replacing sh*t for no gain is such a drag. Must be time for a Toyota or something.