greenalleycat

I feel violated, why do you have my name D:

Thanks mate, I've resolved I'm not going back to the same shop again, I'm not confident they've done a good job. If anyone can suggest somewhere in Christchurch to get 2x 225/40/18s and a high quality alignment done, let me know......

Yep sounds like a plan. Hopefully I can report back with success in a few weeks

Rubbish as in tyre brand or as in the actual state of them?

Sweet as. WoF is due next month, and it'll fail on its current tires, so after exams I'll go get new fronts... $600-700 later maybe it'll be fixed...

Well just had a look... as far as we could tell with limited knowledge, the bearings/bushings etc are ok. My front tires are really f**ked though, very worn & uneven wearing. WoF is next month so will replace them after exams. Also noted when we turned the wheel hard to the right there was a hissing sound - like air in my power steering fluid?

Sweet I'll ask them to check that out - cheers

I have no tyre pressure sensor, so unfortunately I don't think I can attribute it to that

Interesting. Given the disparity between fronts and rears in terms of tread depth, there may be something in this. Cheers

I hope not, they're basically brand new ;( However even comparing my car to when I first got it, something is different. I used to drive one corner at 110kph fine, now at 90kph TC kicks in

I was wondering when you'd turn up and start spewing your rubbish Swaps for the VW Escargot? Edit: You should come fix my car for me pls. Also refund my SP2 pen

You sound like an expert at this...both the car inspection and the procrastination! Thanks very much for the advice

Haha that's the debate I'm having.. for $1100-1200 how much do I really want and need to go faster....

Additional symptoms I've forgotten to mention: - Pulls left generally, though doesn't feel like I'm fighting the wheel - Sometimes when I break sharply the wheel pulls left - No clunking etc that I've noticed - Feels less steady at highway speeds than my old 330i

I'll have another check in the light of day tomorrow, but I think the rims are ok this time. Fronts near dead, backs near new. Champiro HPX 225/40/18 fronts, Nankang NS20 255/35/18 rears. Well I've avoided curbs as far as I know, but I've sure hit a lot of potholes :/ hard to avoid them all these days. I'll ask them to take a look, thanks.

Did you take him up on the offer? Good to hear, thanks. Any changes to fuel economy? And any maintenance concerns - how long have you been running it?

Alright, just did a very unscientific measurement by torchlight. Both fronts ~235mm both rears ~245mm at the points I measured. So I think the rims are at least right. My front tires are really low, maybe 2.5mm left, how much of an impact is this likely to have..?

I wouldn't be too sure, when I did my first alignment they f**ked it up and I had to correct it myself. I checked again this arvo though, definitely running the correct setup. Unless the wheels have different widths... any idea if a stock 330d Msport w/ Style 135s 255/35/18 rear 225/40/18 fronts has different rim widths?

Yea I've got a jack + stands and a reasonably knowledgeable friend coming round this weekend, so I guess we have some successful exam procrastination to do! Beyond investigating anything rubber we can see is there anything else you'd suggest we look at? Fingers crossed Jeff Gray don't bleed me dry haha. I generally get on well with them so I hope they take pity..

I've had it aligned twice in the time I've owned it, which is about ~16,000km. No real inspection. My friend and I have been under the car and had a look but tbh I don't think I could tell anything short of absolute destruction. Haven't been specifically checked to my knowledge. No idea on the chassis, I don't think it's been in a crash though. It handled a lot better when I got it, though didn't feel 100% compared to my previous e46... though that may have been cos it needed an alignment, tire pressures fixing and had the front wheels on the rear -.- It has definitely deteriorated in recent times though. No LSD unfortunately, that was M3 only I believe. Ok good to know, I'll have to ask a mechanic to do that because I lack the expertise. It's going into to Jeff Gray for the airbag recall soon so I'll ask them to look around

Hey guys Got an M57N 03 330d 6spd and kinda sad that it's not quite as fast as my old 330i, thinking about getting it remapped with the Superchips Bluefin. Wondering if anyone has any experience with them? Main issue is the reliability, they sent me a sample dyno sheet a while back and all the new power comes out of the turbo, not too keen on blowing that up early if I can. Cheers

Hey guys, I drive an '03 6spd 330d and have been having issues with it recently. The alignment seems to go out very rapidly when compared to other cars within my family (even our '03 330i, my old car, still feels fine) and on my last alignment I was told that it's dialed out as far as it can be to try and correct its alignment. It has since got out again in the same direction (pulls left). However a new issue has come up. When taking right hand bends at 'speed' the traction control kicks in. As an example, on the way to my family bach (holiday house) there is a sweeping right hand 65kph bend that I normally take at 100+. However every time I've driven it recently the traction control kicks in at anything above ~90kph. Even on corners where this doesn't happen, the handling doesn't feel right. As a factory M-Sport it should handle better than the plain 330i, but after driving the 330i during the weekend it is definitely not the case. I took that same corner at ~100kph and it felt rock solid. This was consistent through other corners on the trip too; the 330i just handled so much better than my 330d, which shouldn't be the case. Now undoubtedly I have a bad alignment and that will be fixed. However it feels like there are additional issues - why does my alignment go so far out, why is it always one direction, why is my traction control kicking in? The car is going into the dealership for the airbag recall in a few weeks and I will ask them to look at it then (they're great guys there and we get on well so I don't anticipate any issues) but I would like to try and gather some info beforehand. Cheers

Petrol in the shop waiting on a new alternator, hopefully tomorrow. Diesel is on its way back sometime tomorrow, got it looked at by a friend of my dads who frankly wasn't much help at all so I'm going to try do it my own way...

I started the day with 2 working e46s and ended it with 2 broken ones, I'm not feeling the love

Had the AA out, diagnosed as a broken alternator. So better than I was expecting in my initial panic... Still won't be cheap though