a13antichrist

Are you talking about customs duties? I'm talking about the actual auction price..

Hope I don't do myself in by publicising this, heheh. AC 18" ACS Type-III Can I even hope to sneak these in at under $US1k? Or is that dreaming?

265/35 makes the diameter 643mm, as ooposed to 649 for the 275/35 - i.e., much closer to the factory diameter of 654. Though actually I'm now leaning more towards a set of 18x8.5 all around on 245/40; the 245/275 was for a set of Alpina Dynamic replicas but it's more than I need to spend, heheh.

Awesome, cheers guys.. I'm going with 245/40-f // 275/35-r.. should be sweeeeet

Yeah it's the original diameter that I'm trying to figure out - the current tyres give 654 so I'm trying to find out whether that is in fact the exact original height or whether it was something else.

So, I'm getting some new wheels for my E39 which currently has 225/55R16 tyres; that gives me a total diameter of 654mm.. the recommendation is not to go over 2.5% of the exisitng diameter but I'm thinking, surely that should apply to the FACTORY diameter, rather than the exissting one? So in fact, if I want to change, I should ignore my current setup altogether & just go with something that's within 2.5% of the original factory setup, in order to keep the speedo/odo consistent, no? Question then is, are all E39s calibrated the same way at the factory, or are they independantly adjusted depending on whatever wheel/tyre combo is specified for them when originally purchased? => I.e., I've read that E39s should by default have a 640mm diameter, is this always the case?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.as...&key=523618 Someone has to buy this, do it up and turn it into a superstar....

If it's coming in together and customs-free I'd probab;y be looking at getting a number of pieces: - M5 rear bumper - M5 front bumper - P39s - Wheels - Tyres, hadn't been a consideration but your deal on Conti's would be worth a look too.. I know Umnitza had a GB running just recently for the rears, think that's over now.. he still has the fronts going at 350 + 49 for fogs I think it is. And I'm sure I saw another for rears at 280. I need to keep a better track of things.

That'll teach me to search for E39.. so E34 & E39 are compatible then, & E39 & E46 aren't.. but E36 & E46 are? Then, are E39 & E60 compatible?

How are you getting your tyres onto the container? The guy running the P39 GB also has M5 front bumpers; seems like you could cut your cost on the container quite a bit by putting a quick word around to see if there might be a group of people interested in this sort of part that are difficult to get shipped individually...

I can appreciate that but since all I know so far is that a 40 offset will work, a 40 offset won't work, a 10 offset would be good and a 10 offset wouldn't be good, it's hard to know for sure True, I guess I blanked that bit out of my mind since he mentioned they were also available in silver & no-one would think he was seriously recommending them in chrome hehe

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=100072201 How about these, still wrong?

Who's talkin' bout chromes here? entscheidend, what's the silver pic you posted? It bascially has the exact mods I'm wanting to do to mine - mirrors, bumpers, headlights, wheels, rear lip spoiler.

So we're talking the price of the wheels + 250? Sounds tempting. I would probab;y go for these: http://www.bmwwheels.com/bmwwheels_detail....&Series=E39 I've always liked them.. only available through them as 17s though. Seems like it would be sensible to get some more buyers in on this too..

My guess would be an ACS bumper

You know what, you're not wrong.. either that or a nice set of Stillettos.. I'm wondering what either of these would look like: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=99103641 http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=99319108 Oh and there are some ACs there too - only 17s though.

Hmmm after a quick look on Google it appears CELIS might be the name BMW used the Angel Eyes.. in which case I don't get how they could be relevant for rear lights.. anyway.. Is there any way I can tell from E-bay or Trade-me which sets of lights are going to be crap & which ones are good? :/

'Nother question, what is CELIS anyway? And what's better out of these two, same seller: LED: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E39-5-S...58851QQtcZphoto Non-LED: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/96-03-BMW-E39-5-SERI...oQQcmdZViewItem Seems a pretty sweet price but I guess that means no bulbs? Does that mean CELIS or non-CELIS is irrelevant?

These ones here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...9071541.htm?p=1

So there's a Group Buy on Bimmerforums for these Umnitza P39 AEs (which I understand are mods of the DEPOs anyway), incl all bulbs, etc, for $399 + 99 shipping to NZ, which makes it 675 in NZ$. No levelling motors. Then there's these things on TM, guy's asking 750 + 75 shipping from Aus, says they're DEPOs & have the levelling motors. (I'm yet to figure out what the levelling motors actually do - I didn't know early E39s had the adaptive headlights which is the only thing I can think of...) So, questions are: - Are the TM ones even any good? - Is that a good price? - Are the P39 so much better that even without the levelling motors theyh're a much better buy? - And how exactly are they different? Yeah I've got a lot to learn about E39s, heheh.

You know what, those do look pretty sweet.. I would be looking at 18s tops, what are those running at these days? Not a fan of the third pic wheels though..

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=740279 I've seen similar on TM for 300, though I don't think they were LED ones.. are these better or what? And price?

Cheers for the tips dude.. not totally sure what you mean by "meshed" design though.. I have seen these which look like a possibility: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...on-98763576.htm So I can be sure that any 5x120 with 40 (and 35?) offset will be sweet? Just missed a group buy on bimmerforums for the M bumper at $US380.. would like to get hold of one for less than that even. The P39 group buy is tempting too but the shipping is a bitch. :/

So I saw what appears to have been a fantastic deal on a 97 528 - I'm keeping my e36 coupe though. I've read over that ultimate E39 guide, picked up a few bits & pieces, and am looking forward to getting intimate with the new toy. However if y'all could provide some general ideas of what I should expect, and watch out for, in particular problems that the current owner may or may not have been anticipating for that sale, that would be much appreciated. Also, wheels: I'm assuming 5x120 is what I need? Does offset matter and is there any other parameter that needs to match, or is 5x120 enough? Further, the existing alloys aren't too bad but I'm thinking I'll replace them - any pics of what people think are the hottest set for an E39 are most welcome. Leather seats: This one has cloth; I called the parts place in Papakura & they reckoned 1300 per seat :/ Can I realistically hope to do better than this? Trim: Has wood interior; is replacing it with the titanium look practical or silly expensive? Body: without a doubt the M-kit improves the look 500%. Is this going to be insanely expensive? the front already looks to be non-standard, so just the M rear bumper may go a long way. Are they somewhat obtainable or not even worth looking for? Thanks all for your tips

Interesting to hear you say that. I get pretty much the same, though more like 400 round town & 700 out on the strip. Have used 98 only for the past few fills, don't notice any perf. difference but I reckon the engine likes it better so why not. 97 328 coupe.