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Was taking a casual stroll through Pick-A-Part the other week when by chance I caught a glimpse of a rare sight in these parts - a rogue X5. Must have been a rush on a Friday to duck out of work as it was yet to be listed on the website so I managed to get in there nice and early. Weirdly enough, another thing they forgot to do was remove the battery. Lucky for me, it made removing the rather tidy heated seats that much easier, or even at all possible. Somehow crammed the seats in the trusty old Swift and scooted home. Did manage to grab a few other handy bits whilst I was there, including the boot cargo cover, which ended up having a bit of an adventure of its own. While I was loading up the seats, I put the cargo cover onto the roof of the car, which... of course I completely forgot about. Managed to get all the way to the main road, got on the gas and heard it tumbling all the way along the roof before crashing down onto the road behind me with a massive thump. Lucked out that there wasn't any cars closely following me, pulled over to the side of the road and bolted to grab before it got run over. Got a bit banged up but somehow the damage ended up being purely aesthetic and still works well enough. Another lucky break. Anyway, got the seats home and gave them a good clean. Used some Lux Soap Flakes / Softly Laundry Flakes for the initial wash, a "hack" I'd read about from some thread on here a while back. I've had a leather recoloring kit from Clyde's Leather Company sitting on a shelf for a while and finally put it to good use. Happy enough to recommend the kit itself but goddamn are they annoying - if you end up going for the same kit, do yourself a favour and opt out of all comms as soon as you've placed your order - I must have gotten more than a dozen emails with "news", requests for reviews, "special offers" and whatnot within the first week. Filled in a few of the bigger scratches/cracks with the leather filler, let it dry, sanded it down a bit with some 600-grit, wiped the whole seat down with alcohol and applied 2 coats of the recoloring balm, then let it fully dry for 2 days before applying the conditioning cream. Initially made the seats real greasy but the shine has come down since, leaving a nice, subtle finish. Got the old seats out, gave the carpets underneath a thorough vacuum, transferred over the seat belt buckles and dropped the new seats in. Unlike the E46, the X5 comes pre-wired for the heated function so all that needed doing is hook up the seats, swap out the switch panel and that was that. Did check over all of the fuses - there's two that correspond to the heated seats, both were already installed but one had a 5A fuse instead of the 30A it was supposed to house. Easy fix. The original seats weren't in terrible condition but the base did have more cracks in the leather and were looking slightly more tired. The new ones didn't really need a full re-dye and could have gotten away with just a good clean but figured I might as well. Both had similar wear in the bolsters but not terrible enough to warrant tackling at this stage. Here's the two driver's seats for comparison. ORIGINAL SEAT NEW SEAT - post clean NEW SEAT - post re-dye & conditioner Not a perfect job, the finish is a bit patchy in places with some shinier bits sticking out but on the whole a massive improvement - some bigger cracks filled in, some cracks are still visible under certain light but don't stick out nearly as much being colored in and a much deeper tone of black overall. Was surprised to discover that even the extendable thigh bolsters have heating elements in them. Always assumed only the base and seat back would be heated but that's a nice bonus. That's the wife's biggest gripe with the X5 taken care of, should keep her nice and warm in the winter. Wouldn't mind these in the E46 but hey, happy wife - happy life.

Another perfect Saturday, another early morning drive. This time went over the Awhitu Peninsula - through Waiuku to Karioitahi beach, then up and accross to Grahams Beach / Big Bay and Glenbrook. Stunning area, especially with the morning low fog today. Roads not as good as last weekend (from City to Waiuku is pretty boring) but once there its beautiful. To do list: Need to replace my drivers window seal - 51321904782 (bloody expensive) and sort my drivers seatbelt reciever before the next WOF. Also have a rattle from the exhaust that I'm hoping is just a hanger / mounting issue.

Had a decent go at cutting and polishing. Lots of trial and error along the way but getting the hang of it… Test area to see how hardy the paint is. On to cutting the fr guard. Then the sides and the roof, which I never thought would come up well, lots of deep scratches. Gave it a wet sand first. After cutting the sides and roof I expected this sh*t to appear under bright lighting.. Up until now i’d been using a rotary polisher so i switched to a DA and got rid of most of it. Happy how it turned out Got the hatch and bumpers to do. Won’t bother with the bonnet until i can find a straight one with saveable black sapphire metallic paint.

Breaking news, you may not be aware, but, N52s leak oil.

I think we all knew it was something along those lines. Still dont agree with the deleting on the thread though.

Trycycling improves fuel economy, lowers tyre wear. My picture, Nikon D4s+AF Nikkot 70-200 2.8 FL/E, B+W Kassemann Pol filter.

Yeah @Vass would likely lend them out for cheap. Not sure what the part prices are like these days, but Schmeidmann was much cheaper than all the US places when i did mine.

Never knew the guy but I recall his posts here and there. It is always heartbreaking when someone from our community passes. My deepest condolences go out to his friends and family. RIP Sanjay, fellow BMW enthusiast and valued Bimmersport member.

Had a great weekend working on the car. On Saturday morning Dad and I got the car up on stands and exhaust and driveshaft out. Unbolted the exhaust at the headers and dropped the whole thing, then the same with the driveshaft. So much faster than last time given we're just removing and reinstalling rather than taking it all apart to clean. I'm super happy with how everything under the car is holding up, it's 8 years since we did the underbody refresh and everything is looking really good under there. I did the new gear position sensor first, access is a bit of a mission but the mutilated allen key approach does work. The old sensor was extremely notchy and rough after 20 years of service. Worth noting that we ran the first part of the SMG adaption (up to the point it wants the car started) to make sure it was happy with the new GPS. After that we moved on to lowering the rear subframe to facilitate the installation of the Yurkan Cages 6 point brace. We took off the brake calipers and rear trailing arm pockets and lowered the entire thing about 100mm on a couple of jacks (to give us more control over forward/rearward weight distribution). That gave us enough access to unbolt the front RACP studs and get them out. We then jacked the subframe back into place and loosely bolted it, which gave us a better safety factor while working under it. At this point we drained the diff, swapped out the rear diff cover for a new one and reinstalled with new bolts and drain plugs. I've mentioned previously that I'd long experienced some clunkiness when shifting/loading/unloading the drivetrain. This was vastly improved by adapting the SMG. I wasn't sure whether what remained was the diff getting a bit tired or whether the rear bushes needed replacing but I was pleased on checking the diff that there is no detectable lash in the diff at all, likewise with the driveshaft. I was therefore pretty hopeful that it was just the rear diff bushes that were the culprit. The rest of the process was pretty straightforward, we unbolted one point at a time and using a threaded drill guide that dad turned on his lathe and an extra long 6mm drill bit we went up through each of the 4 points in turn. Then it was simply a case of come down from the top with a 10.5mm bit before running a tap on a long extension up from underneath to complete the thread the whole way through. With that done it was then a case of bolting in each of the 4 points and torquing to spec. The rest of the reassembly took a couple of hours and we had the car on the ground again. The install of the brace was super quick - fitment of the brace was absolutely perfect - Marin's fabrication is spot on. Then it was just a case of running the complete adaption on the SMG and going for a test drive. Today I drove the car on a route I'm very familiar with and I'm extremely pleased with the end result! The last of the clunkiness when shifting is now resolved. Even under heavy acceleration in S5/S6 all you get is the sound and surge of power. I'm super stoked. And the brace. Well, I know others have reported a big improvement, but I wasn't completely sure if I'd find the same. Suffice to say the improvement is not subtle! For me the rear has always felt slightly less co-ordinated than the front (not to say it's not objectively excellent to begin with, but it's always stood out to me that the car is just a little bit more put together in the front). Now with the brace it's the other way around! The change in stiffness is hugely noticeable even just driving around town. As soon as you get to a roundabout or uneven tarmac it becomes very apparent how much more rigidity there is. The car really feels glued together in the back now. I love it and am excited to go for a decent spirited drive.

Hi, I have a set of original factory staggered 18” rims for a E46 M3 for sale. They are in immaculate condition with the front 18 x 8 rims wearing Michelin Pilot Sport 4’s 225/45/18 with 90 percent tread left. The rear 18 x 9 rims are wearing Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 225/40/18 with 70 percent tread left. asking $1200 or near offer

Car looks awesome! Need to join for a drive once car is back in the road!

No no nooo don't do that on alcantara, do not get it wet, it'll dry to a crispy finish and will never be the same. You need to be real gentle with it, heaps of detailing videos on the topic on YouTube. Basically just spray conservative amounts of APC on a brush, agitate and wipe off with a microfible cloth. Pretty much as with suede. Real easy to ruin.

Being the hoarder that I am, I had managed to acquire a couple of spare sets of black cube trims over the years and finally got around to doing something with them. All of the pieces, including the ones installed in the car, had varying degrees of wear and scratches so I've been meaning to do a mini-restoration for a while. Could always just redo it in semi-gloss black but fancied a bit of a colour change and went for a silver tone to sort of emulate the clubsport silver trims. Went to Spraystore, showed them what I was after and instead of custom-mixing something they recommended the off-the-shelf silver wheel paint, which was pretty close to the tone I wanted. Gave the pieced a light sand with 600/2000 grit, masked off the inner edges on a few pieces, wiped down with alcohol and gave them 3-4 light coats (10 minutes between coats), followed by 2 coats of matte clear for a bit of protection. The coats were light enough to retain the cube texture and not look too dull. Might have turned out a tad brighter than I would have liked but on the whole I do quite like it. Will see how I feel about it in a few months' time but so far I'm pleased with the outcome. The wife said she liked it better all black. I guess haters gonna hate.

I'm stunned and shattered. Sanjay was the ultimate enthusiast. Yes his knowledge of local BMW's, particularly e24, e34, e31, e39 M5, was truly next level. But his ability to recall particular cars, their owners and locations, and time period they owned them was mind boggling. And he would rattle off local build and import numbers like you wouldn't believe. For those that didn't know, Sanjay was an ex-pat living in the States. I connected with him several years ago when I cheekily PM'd him enquiring about his 840ci (he had mentioned in a post that it was still here). Within minutes of passing on contact details he gave me the first call of what would become many. Although conversations where mainly talking cars, there were many times of just chatting about life. Sanjay was a ball of excitement and enthusiasm, always freely passing on his knowledge and advice. We looked forward to one day meeting kanohi ki te kanohi, tangata ki te tangata (in person) to talk about and drool over cars. Alas, this was not meant to be. Our connection was over the e31 - I was constantly picking his brain! "My 840ci was a keeper" he would always say (he was fastidious about it and it was one of the better, if not best, examples) until... he acquired his e39 M5 Dinan. Not that long ago, he did let his 840ci go so in his honour, I share with you 'his 8' ... Rest In Paradise my brother and until we meet...

Sorry to hear that Adrian. Quite active of late with lots of facts and stories to share. Thoughts to his family and friends from all of us here I am sure. We are all closer than we think sharing this hobby/obsession.

Nice job, looks great! Make sure you protect it well. Washing the car has been a breeze ever since I did mine.

Very sad news, always a worthwhile thread where SSBMW had contributed. Always on the money, particularly knowledgeble.

No ground breaking progress as of late but slowly chipping away at some jobs. Have got a panelbeater coming to look at/quote up a repair for the rust hole under the cowl sometime in the next week. Have acquired a zf 5 Speed Box which should be better than the g220 I had previously, and have been busy spending a fair few hours prepping the floor for some rust treatment. Stripped the sound deadening off the floor, and cleaned it all up, started wire wheeling the rust spots in preparation to have my brother weld some tiny holes shut and then epoxy prime, seam seal and paint the floor. Then into the same for the boot. Not the most fun work, but worth doing now to make sure it stays rust free in the long term. Hoping to get the rust hole fixed in the near future, then to prep and paint the engine bay.

if you ever do sell though hit me up buddy

Hell. Yes.

Didn’t have heated rear seats as well to steal? Is another diesel on trademe here currently. Looks like a high spec uk import, has 325k on it for 5k with heated seats, pano roof and possibly air bag suspension. Is very tempting to check it out and make flick mine on instead. Am also wanting heated seats for cold otago winters!

Hi All, Nice to e-meet you all, I'll soon be (hopefully) getting hold of a F80, M3 so pics to come once I've got the car. I'd like to think I've moved up the BMW ranks with my very first car being a 316i which was followed by a 318i and a 323i before moving away from BMW briefly.

No - I am really happy with the rims on our Touring, but you are welcome to call over in yours if you want to experiment.. I've a buzz gun and jack etc here.

Gold wheels are definitely polarising, nice interior though. I wonder if the manual conversion has been certed. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/530i/listing/5220384911

Getting rare to see a set like this. Tempted to grab them just to have another set of style 67s in stock

It'd be worth checking your exhaust manifold gaskets, I had a very similar sound on my 130i and ended up being the culprit. 🤞🏻

I've not been fancy enough to have Alcantara, thanks for the pointers👍. Leather's hard to beat for durability! When your kids are young, leather's the best for cleaning out dropped sweets, ice cream, vomit, nappies. When they're older, pie crust (grrrr!)... so much harder to clean out of fabric.

My 4.4i is a great drive but has indeed been a money pit. 😐

34 RHD M5's worldwide with the M-tex interior...

All the JDM M-sports have it (which is probably 50% of the remaining E39's in NZ) - that along with the lack of cruise control and PDC puts me off.

I was going to keep quiet, but I can't. I love alcantara too, much better than leather. Also love green and caramel (my M5 🙂 ) but I like the tan too. Though, it is a bit on the light side on this car.

lol, i love the sport alcantara interior on the E39. If i got another it would have to either have it already, or i'd swap it in. So much nicer than leather.

Nice to see the old girl looking good again with some paint and polish. I don't miss it, always had issues.

So, he spent $50k on a $10k car. That's a bad investment unless you keep it and really enjoy it. Also, (rant coming) it's a classic car. Don't put adjustable suspension on, it's not a race car! Stock springs(airbags) and B6 shocks, there's nothing better for NZ roads. Big stereo, ok, but you can't get the money back. $7k for seats! You can't get that back. 19" wheels, I don't get it. 17" nice, 18"- a stretch.... really, there's no need for 19" (but that's just me) ok, I'm done. I'd love to have it but not anywhere near the asking price. I think I'll buy that M5 for $26k on FB and spend $5k on it, which I will get back (eventually)

Thanks! Should just be airbox out to get a good view of what is going on. The feed from the engine to the distro block is not easy to inspect or replace, saving this one for a rainy day. I just used Aeroflow product, worked with it before and it is reasonably affordable in terms of AN fittings, I just copied the whitbread ones from their photos. I didn't actually do the top turbo line back to the block, it came like that when I bought it, would probably route it slightly different when I redo it at some point. These are the parts I used for the distro block to lower turbo (LP) feed line: 2x AF202-03, 1x AF200-03-1M, 1x AF359-03, 1x AF351-03, 1x AF91-1909 (heat sleeve, optional extra but nice to have) and some crush washers from mitre10.

The peak is the Stone Island sticker on the door, well known as the Football Hooligans uniform, tops even the fake brakes!

Had the opportunity to tackle Leadfoot last weekend, which led to some epic shots from the photographers on-site..!

I think this might be peak "trying so desperately hard to be cool" Fake plastic Wilwoods (in Manukau)

Took her in for a WoF inspection the other week, sailed through without a hiccup. Always enjoy getting compliments from the mechanics, even got thanked for bringing it in. Clearly preferred dealing with what he dubbed a "full restoration" than the clapped out Altezza that came before me. Hit 240,000 km's on the way home. 12,512 km's since the engine rebuild and 10,308 km's post driveline overhaul. Here's to many more.

All the hooning around was a good excuse to bust out the camera and take some glamour shots though.

Curious , Who are the nz agents? Have a set of B8’s for an e31 - was recommended option (not a CSI but has factory m-sport springs apparently) when I bought them. But on other forums, owners say they are a harsh ride and get them revalved to a more comfort setting. Don’t want to put them the ride is horrible - factory ride is quite nice! And yeah, I’m at that stage in life! lol

Have you driven one? There’s no way it’s passing anything on the straight unless it’s a bicycle.

Fear of flying??

One of these is not like the other... 🎶

^^ Free isn’t free period. Someone is paying in the end. A ‘life lesson’ learnt.

pointless using brave if you still have google set as the default search engine, its the search engine at fault not the browser you won't get a sponsored section with other search engines like that people don't realise just how much monopoly google have on the world, just pure evil 95% of people think a google search is an unbiased truth and completely fact checked its very sad how they have way more control than facebook /meta ever had, just more subtle but people think zuckerberg is the issue ask any teacher, student google is god

I’m extremely saddened to say a dear friend of mine and great contributor to bimmersport suddenly passed last week. To me he was Sanjay but you will know him as ssbmw. He had a wealth of knowledge on bmw stats in nz. He would eat, drink and sleep the brand and love to talk with anyone who shared the passion. Bimmersport was a great outlet for him to share his knowledge for which he was regular contributor. A huge loss to all.

Jeebus.