bravo

Me too. I think it looks awesome.

Perfect height Martyn. Good stuff.

There is not 0.5 degrees between the RL and RR camber. There are 60' in a degree. There is only 10' difference between RL and RR which is 0.1666 degrees difference. The measurements are in degrees and minutes, not decimal degrees. The min/max are factory recommended tolerances. If you alter the suspension (eg by lowering) then you take if out of these tolerances by miles. The fact that your car is standard? and is right on the edge of the tolerances indicates that there may be some long-term flex and/or wear that has contributed to the numbers (maybe even a small accident in the past). That said even though they are not perfect, they are still fine. The reason why they are still out after the alignment is that they are not adjustable on your car. The machine prints them as it can still measure them, and if they were a fair bit more out, they could indicate a serious problem. All they indicate is as said above - just on edge of tolerances and nothing really to worry about. On some vehicles these are adjustable. The only way to "fix" yours would be to replace all worn suspension components, realign, and then, if necessary, put it on a chassis straightener. Totally unnecessary in this case IMO Basically the only thing they can adjust is front toe. If I remember, I'll bring my latest alignment sheet in to work tomorrow and scan it for you to look at. I don't think you've been dicked, I think you've had a proper alignment, but there is some other issue there, and they could have been more professional and fixed your steering wheel. The place I go to missed it once too - I gave them a rev up and they always do it now. I get around 2 alignments a year. 1 usually due to changes I've made, and the other due to crap roads up here putting it out.

Yeah, thanks. not that many manual e46's on TM right now either, and they seem to have held their price (asking prices almost increasing) over the last couple of months. I think I've got the info I was after. I still have to get the e30 finished, assess the work, money, economy situation, and sell the mr2 before I even start thinking about test drives, so no point going any further at this stage.

I've noticed. BTW, Emily, I know you'll want to have some sort of last word, so once you've done that I'll lock this thread before someone rips into about some of those borderline comments ^^^^. Edit: Too late....

So, "NO" then lol.

Are you serious? Does she actually say slow down??? WTF? Interesting to hear how you get on with your plates Ollie. I was planning on covering mine and rocking standard plates next time I go through there, or going the old way.

Out of interest, can you tv-satnav an e46?

Looks pretty good to me. Seems a bit shoddy that they didn't realign the steering wheel after they finished, but other than that the numbers seem fine. I don't have factory specs in front of me, but I'm looking at the numbers and don't see anything glaringly obvious with the exception of your rear setback which is about as much as you would accept before wondering why it was so large, so don't worry about that (its also not adjustable on most cars - including yours AFAIK - and caused by long-term flex and/or something being bent or worn bushes). The wobble will not be an alignment issue - either a worn steering component, or an unbalanced wheel. The pull could potentially be an alignment issue, but the numbers look good so I'd be looking at a soft tyre on the LHS as the first thing to check. The camber on the rear is fine. You are lacking some rear toe, but I don't think it's adjustable on your car. Interesting the amount of variation between before and after on rear toe, but I get similar changes on my alignments and wonder if it has something to do with the way in which they do the tests. They should have test-drove your car afterward and picked up the pull. If it's not an alignment issue you need to look at tyre pressures, uneven wear on tyres and worn steering components (which may be the case since you have a wobble). Unfortunately fixing the latter will require another alignment. I would have hoped a reputable alignment shop would have picked up play in the steering, but you never know.

Has to be e39. Even though I like e34's more than I used to (esp after driving and riding in Simon's 540i, and test-driving that m5 that came up not so long ago), I still don't think I'd buy one. And I'm not quite into e39 m5 money unfortunately. I suppose I need to go drive a few autos and see if I could put up with it. I know e39's are more expensive to maintain, but I want something less than 10yrs old, and with some toys like nav, etc. Thanks for your input. Much as I expected. P.S. I've driven (or maybe just rode in, can't recall) an auto 528i and was VERY underwhelmed even with a fairly enthusiastic owner (Andrew lol) on board.

I am not a fan of the stiff bmw throttles - I always take half a turn to a full turn off the spring on the throttle body to make it less stiff - still returns/snaps closed fine. Less wear/strain on the cable to.

You probably need to do a bit of cleaning (PITA I know) and then you'll be able to find the problem better. there are a few locations for an oil leak that would give the result you describe, the sump gasket being but one of them. Clean it up properly and check after the next time you use it - should be more obvious.

Wow - I know people say this all the time, but I ACTUALLY gagged slightly when I saw the interior shots. What a monumental waste of time, money and a good set of Simmons! I mean, fake, plastic, checker-plate mats from super cheap FFS! I want some of what he's been smoking! Actually scrap that - whatever it is, I think the damage would be irreversible.

Can't agree with the shellfish fail - scallops FTMFW! and the mussells this year have been sooo sweet its unreal - and there are so many this year too! Also like Japanese food for some reason. All of it - not just sushi. And spicy food. I think Chris hit the nail on the head - Food = win. I have no idea how he and I are so thin. I seriously eat like someone who weighs 150kg and I only weigh a shade over 60! And I know Chris can put it away too.

Sounds good to me. You'll get used to the loudness.

As are half the crack-pots who write letters to the editor. The other half are arrogant, ill-informed, arsewipes who don't deserve to breathe, let alone have an opinion as it is different to mine! But seriously, this is the first "sensible" "reaction" to the problem I have read in the media.

Not after one now, but as my e30 is getting less and less comfortable the more I mod it, and my other cars are an mr2 (impractical) and a balls-out, roll-caged, offroader (impractical) I keep thinking a nice v8 e39 might be the sensible car I need to replace the mr2 for long trips/daily. I've looked at 330i's but the e39 actually makes more sense. Do these come up in manual often, or do I just start looking at autos? Cheers.

Good time to remind those doing their cambelt to follow Glenns advice. Put the belt on, then by hand, wind the crank through two full revolutions. (which puts the motor through all four strokes) and check the timing marks again. it is very easy to get the timing out by 1 tooth. You should never install the belt, reassemble the car, and then start it up without first checking by hand. It allows the belt to tension properly and for you to check you haven't made a balls-up before doing irreparable damage to your motor.

Hope so. Our Auckland office is doing much of the engineering, surveying and contract supervision. Link I did alot of work on the site before they broke earth when I was still living in Auckland (Around 2003). Took lots of pictures of the farm when it was still farm so I could go back when it was finished and try and get pics from the same spots for comparison purposes. I love the fact that I had a hand (however small) in its creation.

rofl. you had your chance. We can prob come to some other arrangement for exchange of information.

It means you may be able to afford to buy it, but you won't be able to afford to maintain/fix it.

How did you guess?

lol. u know "I love the purple". Pams old e36 still my favourite e36.

My favourite food is bacon. I have bacon on everything - BLT's BLAT's, Panini's, Sandwiches, in pies, with my breakfast, with steak, in stew, in Mac Cheese, on pizza, on pancakes (with banana maple syrup and whipped cream), same with waffles, wrapped around sausages, wrapped around chicken, stuffed in chicken, on stuffed potatoes, with wedges, with chips, on my subs. I love Bacon. Second favourite food is Beer. Third favourite is a tie between that raspberry licorice stuff and cookies and cream icecream (with choc chips, chopped hazelnuts and maple syrup). I can't stand livers or kidney which is weird becasue I love black pudding with my bacon.

You're very critical of yellow for someone who drives a PURPLE car!