elmarco

Won't be touching any ported and polished Honda's either...

Some one got torn to pieces !!!! like literally ?

or figuratively ?

cause holy crap hahaha

Mentally. 4 angry, hungry women vs a 20 year old ice cream scooper looking to make 'friends' - he didn't stand a chance the poor bastard!! Outwitted, outsmarted and outplayed....

Who likes Mr Clarks new Helenstein look?? All she needs is a bolt through the neck

I always thought the look she was going for was more Darth Vader when he takes tha mask off? Search your feelings ,you know it to be true.....

That's an insult to the Mazda Bongo!

Nope - can't watch it much like Lost, Prison Break, Desperate Housewives, Greys Anatomy etc.

I would rather eat my own liver than watch either Shortland Street or any of the idol shows... However, I am fully addicted to Survivor (I can't believe how those women tore that poor bastard to pieces in the last series) and was going the same way with Underbelly until they moved it to some stupid time slot.

Are you looking to purchase a system, or are looking to select a platform to build one?

If you're purchasing already built system, I wouldn't worry too much about which platform its using, more important is how stable / mature the system is and how good is the support that the vendor can provide.

We are evaluating systems to purchase at the moment and have a few questions about using a proprietary less well known database, and the ease of integrating other systems (like sharepoint) that use SQL as a base. We are pretty sure Microsoft and .Net/SQL are not going away any time soon (and there are plenty of developers that know it around), but Jade is a bit more of an unknown I guess (as in, we don't know a hell of a lot about it - thats not to say it is better or worse than MS technology).

Yes vendor support is really important, but this is only one of a number of categories that we are basing the decision on. Don't want to be on the bleeding edge of it!!

Just thought someone might have some experience of both and could point out the important stuff.....

I am actually trying to work out the benefits and drawback to each system. We are selecting a computer system and I just want to know where we stand before we make a call either way....

I guess .NET/SQL is Microsoft based, so you would imagine that there are plenty of users and developers out there. Jade is a bit more of a proprietary system with smaller following (as far as I can tell) but I don't know where it's real strengths are.

Any ideas?

Does anyone know the real difference (for the non-IT person) between Jade and .NET / SQL? Which is better to the layman (I am sure they both have die hard fans)??

Any comments / suggestions welcome.

Yep - so we're talking about HIDs colour shifting as they age, and standard HIDs being ~4300k... mind you, aftermarket kits are ridiculous, lots of guys out there are trying to get the blue/purple flicker the wrong way by going for high kelvin bulbs. Road hazards! I don't know what's so cool about seeing everything in blue or worse, purple.

Does your car have the factory HIDs? Couldn't really tell from what you've said so far. Oh, and... gonio-what?

Yeah, seen that before too. I'm thinking they even they don't see any real benefit from it - but if it can make consumers go 'Wow! Waterproof lighting!' they'd probably get a few more sales!

Ouch... the overwatted bulbs was exactly what I thought when I read that. I know the E36 had swappable outer lenses, but I'm not sure about the E46, though I suspect they're the same. You can tell by whether the outer lens has clips that attach it to the lamp housing. If they're replaceable then of course one option is to buy new outer lenses, but secondhand units (housing + lens) may be comparable in price, and also your current reflectors and other inner parts may have been damaged by the excess heat, so I'd check before making a decision.

Are the E46's outer lenses plastic or glass? I'm guessing glass but surprised it's cracking.

No, sadly mine doesn't have HID. Wouldn't mind, but can't be bothered with all the retrofitting of washer systems etc or the cost . Wouldn't have liked to be around at startup if there were any leaks in that u-boat system I saw!!

Goniophotometer - it's the turntable and photometer setup used to measure lamps. Lighting rules specify an intensity (in candela) at a specific offset (horizontal and vertical in degrees) from the normal axis of the lamp. Depending on the lamp function, it covers a range of measurement points and the intensity is specified at each point (eg: 50cd at 5L 5U). Some functions have loads of points, some don't. And they can vary significantly between SAE (US market) and ECE (pretty much everywhere else). Normally only found in lighting laboratories or industrial research outfits....

Have just noticed today that the headlamp lens directly in front of the low beams..on both sides.. has some distortion.

There is an area about 40-50cm wide by 15cm high directly in front of the low bulbs that seems to have heaps of very small cracks.

The lens feels quite smooth on the outside, the cracks seem to be on the inside.

I'm thinking that my muppet... sorry elmarco dont want to be mean to muppets... might have had over rated bulbs in the lows that have

overheated the lenses and caused the cracking.

My next question..can the lense be replaced or am I up for new headlights??

Oh dear... Sounds exactly like what has happened. Is there any bubbling or some yellowing as well?

The lenses will be polycarbonate and are most likely glued to the housing (haven't had a close look at mine but this is normally how modern headlamps are put together). While I have never asked the question I don't think it is likely that you will be able to buy new lenses by themselves.

Muppets will eventually take over the world. Oops - they have already started by the look of the driving on my way to work this morning!!

I took in my car, got them into it, to prove it was an M and gave them the chassis number and the still f@ck it up.

Do they make you prove it is an M before you can order parts? Didn't know that - how weird.

Sexy....

I test drove a 330ci with 19's with 35 profile tyres on it before buying mine. The wheels were the only change, and they had rubbed on the guards at some stage (not sure if they were the correct offset or not). The biggest thing I noticed was that it rode like a skateboard - really hard on the road (too much so for me).

Maybe test some 19's on the car if you can? Someone like zenetti could probably tell you what you need size wise.

Ok, seeing as there is already no standard stereos around(not that many anyway) im going to install an Alpine single cd mp3/ipod ready head unit.

Has anyone else used Alpine in there car and is there any preferences and are then any good with the standard BMW set up??

Thanks for the replies guys!

Did you try ebay? The RDS stereos are region programmable. Check http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index....showtopic=15780

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Parts-Acces...0251459944&

I personally like Alpine stereos, but don't like the aesthetics in the E46 dash. Oh and Jochen knows a thing or 2 about these things

Looking good all right! Black is the new black.

What size are those wheels? 17's or 18's?

Holy sh*t!! That will be awesome when finished - love to see more photos posted.

This shows the difference... A picture is worth 1000 words

http://bartrax.net/hid.htm# also shows the difference - but I'm not advocating anyone try using HID conversion kits (they are both dangerous and illegal in NZ).

I was at Automechanika a couple of years back and saw a Chinese supplier with an HID conversion kit balast and burner running submerged in a bucket of water on the floor... Scary stuff!! Not sure what they were trying to demonstrate!

I've got a removable towbar which I have taken off, but now I'm left with a hole which is part of the mounting frame, as you can see on the pics. Has anyone removed the whole frame before, and how hard / easy is it to do this? I guess I could take the rear bumper off and have a look, but thought I'd ask here first before I do anything.

Cheers

I was asking the same thing yesterday.... Only, I am trying to get a tow bar for my E46. Did the removable tongue rattle at all?

It doesn't look too complex to be honest although I have never actually tried it. If you do take it out, I think you might need to put the original bumper shocks back in (the external bit is only a cover - the guts under the skin is a steel bar across the back which normally mounts to the bumper shocks). I think the cover mounts with 2 clips behind the plastic guard inner, and then 2 big T50 Torx bolts in the back under the parking sensor insert.

Check these out (got them from Nick021):

Num. 1 - Post 14

Num. 2

Are you wanting to sell the towbar?

Good looking coupe that... Identical to mine, just without the idiot marks in the wheels!

elmarco, are you talking about the blue/purple flicker that some HID lamps produce? AFAIK that has nothing to do with the bulbs, but rather the projectors.

Could it be the reflector/projector? Just thinking if it's the bulbs then the intensity of the beam should be affected instead of the pattern.

That's correct Yuen, but not what I was meaning. I'm talking about the colour of the light itself which comes from the arc - to you and me it is 'white', but HID arc's produce a narrower area of the white spectrum towards the blue end (well much narrower than an H7 anyway). So if you compare a halogen to HID on a white wall, the halogen looks a lot more yellow (even though they are both still technically white) and the HID has a bluish hue.

HID burners also change colour as they age - they start off more yellowish, and become whiter as they get older. They are absolutely fantastic to drive with - the only downside is the cost (they are still mucho dinero and not looking to get any cheaper in the near future).

Mine low beams are a bit patchy with a few bright and dark spots although the beam pattern is generally pretty good (better than anything else I have owned anyway). The reflector looks fine (no fingerprints or corrosion) and both patterns seem to be slightly different on the wall but we will never tell exactly without a goniophotometer... So, I think the reflectors are as they were new. The bulbholders are all OK and seat correctly on the reflector.

I know Bosch (now Automotive Lighting) do a reasonable job (used to supply them, and worked for their competitors for a number of years ) so I am suspicious of my low beam bulbs initially. High beam is fine and on std H7's but the low beams are super high quality "Race Auto" brand blue bulbs with no E markings... If changing bulbs doesn't improve it (better filament position and none of this blue tinted glass crap), there isn't much I can do (only allowed one set of low beams on a car)!

Maybe I am spiltting hairs - the lights are the best of any car I have owned, but having had rentals with newer technology I am a little jealous!

Try http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-156432194.htm

$55 is not much more than a box of beer these days!

Good move going back to the standard H7's. Some muppet put some cheap blue bulbs in my E46 as well and I am not happy with them. They are effectively an aesthetic choice over standard H7 halogens. Make sure you get good quality bulbs (like Hella, Philips or Osram) - the cheap nasty ones don't perform as well or last as long. And make sure you don't touch the glass when you are changing them...

There is an argument about the bluish tint being closer to daylight, but that doesn't help if you can't see where you are going. Interestingly, the white light spectrum that HID gives is very narrow and the amount of UV (blue end of the spectrum) produced requires special coatings and lens materials. The blue tint of HID lamps is a byproduct of the arc.

The bulbholders that Bosch have used are interesting... Better than having the old spring system, but still an odd bulbholder. The only saving grace is that they are completely removable from the lamp and harness.

I have had mine out, and the pins that yours are missing are actually the only thing that orients the bulb in the correct position (filament position is absolutely critical in these lamps as the beam pattern is controlled by the reflector not the lens - hence the quality bulbs being better).

So it is entirely possible that your beam pattern has been affected by the bulb not sitting correctly. Having said this, my low beam pattern is a bit spotty (bright and dark spots) and I reckon it is the bulbs.

That's what I thought. Bugger...

I'm in the market for some E46 17" factory motorsport wheels if anyone knows of any.

Does anyone know if these will fit my E46? Or is the offset all wrong?

Does anyone know how difficult it is to remove the rear bumper on an E46 coupe (with parking sensors)? Thinking of putting a towbar on it - but I am little unsure if the bumper removal is something I can do myself or will turn into a weekend of pain....

I have heard of guys in the US dropping a 38 Chevy coupe shell onto a ZR-1 Corvette chassis. Wonder if this is a Kombi dropped onto a Porsche chassis?

Kombi's are cool after a trip to Johnny's Speed and Chrome (don't know if they still exist), but a 520hp Kombi is awesome!!