jeffbebe

Definitely distributor. Contacts were corroded to sh*t. New cap and light sand on the rotor and she's running smoothly again. Picked up some Monroe shocks from Ray at HellBM too, so I can sort the bouncy castle ride!!

Hello! This gorgeous E28 M535i parked in the loading zone at work. Who's been visiting the zoo today?

Swap all three for the E30 and E31?

Not so easy... Or should I say cheap. They're one of a couple of suspension parts that are unique to the 8er and don't have a separate part no. For the bushing. Would be more expensive to get one custom made than just replace the whole arm.

All torqued properly under load. No other issues apart from steering idler arm. I just found one in my parts bin and I only bought one so I must have forgotten to fit it previously!! Will fit today and have sourced a local control arm. Phew!

I got a great deal on a suspension refurb pack from a German seller which was OE or equivalent. Everything else was Lemfoerder. Guess his profit margin was in the control arms. Haven't yet heard back from him after sending that vid. No surprises there.

Meyle used to be great. Have read that they moved the manufacturing from Europe to China and the quality has dropped since then. I don't agree with sweeping statements that Chinese products are crap but I do believe that companies that focus on reducing production costs to maximise profits will face quality issues. Either way, a poked bushing after less than 4000kms is plain rubbish.

Don't buy Meyle parts!

This after less than 4000 kms! Lucky everything else I replaced front and rear apart from the lower control arms was Lemfoerder! And, of course, it's one of the parts in the front suspension that a] is not shared with any other model and b] doesn't have a replaceable bushing.

Now trying to get a warranty replacement... From a company in Germany. 4-6 weeks minimum if they agree. 6 weeks for BMW NZ to get a Lemfoerder replacement (at massive cost). Ebay probably my best bet - quicker and cheaper.

I hate new noises.

Perhaps putting the absolute 100% committment and attention to detail on this vehicle aside for a while, allows you to keep and enjoy it - and avoiding justification to sell it.  When you have time or funds in future, you can get back to it.

Wish it was that simple!

Not as much as I dislike the amount of people who want to buy my car but don't have the money!

It is so unfortunately. Don't want to but really struggling to justify it at the moment. Just not enough space in my life/wallet/garage. Will be very sad to see her go.

To tell you the truth I don't know but given the resto costs I wouldn't want to pay more than $2-3k for an average one.

Had a look. Milan (Beemn) is right, it's not that flash. A bit of rust is bubbling up here and there, hard to know if any is structural but certainly looks like a bit that'll need work. Interior was low spec and fairly shabby. Didn't see the engine or meet the owner. I think the asking price is too high. It might be an appreciating classic... One day, but not yet.

Prefer non-airbag tech II as per my 8 series. Presuming they're compatible.

Looks sharper on BBS.

Thanks that's helpful. Symptoms point to distributor cap and it's cheap enough to replace to find out. After that it gets more difficult to pinpoint so will definitely take a look at those relays!

Put some new shoes on the daily.

Yep, that's what I use though currently with a different product. I just rinse first to loosen all the grit before firing foam at it.

I rinse with the water blaster to remove all the grit. Then add suds and coat with car wash. Only then do I tackle with soft mitt and 2 buckets. Has always brought my cars up beautifully. As said, this is the first time I've ever had paint issues from the water blaster and it's obvious the original red paint was not prepped properly before repainting. It's glossy underneath FFS!

I'd never clean a car with a terrycloth without removing the grime first with a water blaster because it'll scratch it to sh*t!! Check in with the car care experts - water blasters are essential (especially on a black car) to a swirl free finish. I've never had any problems before now with any car that has had a decent paint job.

How do you remove the dirt without scratching then? Mine is not a powerful water blaster and has worked fine on lots of vehicles. The issue is with poor prep work when the car was resprayed from red to black, so the black hasn't adhered properly. A tiny stone chip has now turned into a thumbnail-sized flake. On good paint water blasting with a low power machine is fine.

OMG - I'm actually going to agree with Ron!!!

Yep, 'fraid so. It'll have to live with a bit of touch up paint for now as I can't really afford the bonnet repaint at the moment, let alone $10K+ to respray back to red!!

Would love to but can't afford to. Full bonnet repaint will be $300-500 depending on how much work to create a surface the paint will stick to this time! Full repaint probably more like $10-12K to be done right.

I'll be there. I'll take a look if you like.