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Hah, oh I do complain a lot. I merely felt like sharing this for the people which would agree with me on the mater. I wont go on, I'm just glad I have taste in cars and don't ruin them!

Title: Why do so many BMW's get 'killed' with 'Ghetto' wheels? I just don't understand what is wrong with so many people these days. While waiting for something this evening in Ellerslie, I noticed a nice BMW coming down Ladies Mile, it looked to be a late model E38 728i or another variation with a six cylinder engine. Upon it getting closer, I thought wow, thats clean... but then shock hit my eyes as I got a good profile shot of the car. It had 18 or 19 inch nasty chrome wheels fitted to it, I mean they were just disgusting, that sort of 'acid' style they come in... It just really boggles my mind when I see this, as they instantly give the car a tacky appearance, I guess you find the answer as to why they have had these wheels put on by looking at the type of driver. Interestingly, they actually drove up and down Ellerslie a second time a few minutes later, obviously lost soles thinking they looked pretty 'cool'. Little did they know how revolted I was at the sight of that beautiful car being tarnished with those rolling monstrosities.. I wonder if the owner posts on here? Be great if they read this! Before some of you might say it...... Yes, some will say each to their own and all that bullshit, but the reality is that they DON'T look good by any means and take value off the car in my opinion......... do you see factory BMW's coming out with them? No because they are simply unattractive nor suitable for BMWs, they suit BBS style wheels and what not of that variation! It's called good taste. Argh. I shall shut up now - but I do cringe heavily at this sort of thing! I'm sure I'm not alone.

Do you know what the center ring size is for the 16" alloys, Aren't they off an E39? Quite like them for my E34, but Ill need 72.5mm rings. Would you know where you can buy them from by any chance? Give me a text on 021-02425794 with what ring size they are, Im in ellerslie so could have a look tonight.

Haha, thats pretty much what I'm doing. I just don't care, the market for these cars is gone. So why not make use of them, Mines already worth 6500 to me, and Id be lucky to get 4500 for it, so Ill just use it, and go from there. Best car Ive owned, and its getting nicer. The E D lights on the light of the scroll dash started working yesterday! I dont have to squint to see what mode the box is in now.

Cheers Man. Have you had any luck selling your 540i?

They are indeed Glen, 72.5mm and 72.5mm.

I would imagine it would be quite complicated as Brent says. Pretty much everything under the car would need to be swapped over. All very well if you have the time, space and money though. It would be cheaper and more original to just buy a second hand E34 V8, they are out there, you just need to find them.

Good news, I got around to replacing the thrust arms on both sides over the weekend. These are most commonly said to be the cause of the highway speed shimmy in the E34's. This proved to be the case with mine, after replacing both arms, with new bushes and ball joints the major vibration has gone! It's no wonder the vibration ocured either, the right arm bush was completely gone, soft and seperating from the metal housing. There are still tiny vibrations at around 105km/h, but I have yet to fit my lower control arms, so my guess is they will sort out those ones. From there I will progress to do the tie end rods if theres any vibrations going on. Definitely money well spend, I should have done this ages ago!

Could anyone recommend a good scrap metal place in Auckland that pays out nicely for used scrap catalytic converters? I know theres a few on Nelson street in Onehunga, but I wondered which is best to go to first. If anyone knows, let me know!

Hey guys, Ive been looking all week for a place that sells a rear muffler suitable for an E34, Im specifically after something that will fit in the rear cavity with dual in, straight through and dual out. Does not need to be an exact fit type, but one small enough to fit in the small space. The cats and middle mufflers are already gone, so Ill be looking at two resonators put in there after the headers. If anyone has straight through mufflers off anything thats decent (Other BMW's or Audis for example) let me know here and put up some pictures along with dimensions. OR... Does anyone know of Auckland based shops that sell a decent range of mufflers? (Im not after cheap ones, so only decent places - Ive already been to Woolf but had no luck there) Any help would be good, cheers!

Very interesting, I was not really aware of how advanced the new engines were! Just have to wait a decade until I could afford one.

Wow only $3500... sad they are so worthless. Good point Apex, that is what I was thinking. Ive decided to just keep mine, see what happens with it. Just loosing money if I sell it so may as well get some enjoyment out of it.

Yeah, Ive seen a couple of places in OZ with them. But they are around 3k+ there, from Europe they are more around 1.5k-2k Excessive overspend really, just too bad the car is worth 1/2 of one! I have a friend in Europe currently, might pay to see what he can find locally.

Hi chaps, Any idea where I be able to find a Eisemann SS muffler in New Zealand? I'm after the 'race' version for the E34 540i, PN: B5218.00700 I'm guessing most likely its something you would have to ship in overseas from USA or Europe though?

Hey if this is still available, what model number is this? Any pictures? Cheers

Nice write up indeed Sir.

Exactly my thoughts. Your standard brakes would be more than adequate for the output of your engine. You should only be looking to upgrade if your changing to a larger motor, adding a turbocharger or supercharger.

Mmm okay chaps, I'm fairly interested in sorting out the few issues my E34 540 has that spoils the ride on the motorway, it just has these annoying vibrations at 80-100k's like a lot of them do. So I'm wanting to know, what should I actually be replacing to correct it with out doing everything? So far I've gathered I'll need to do both control arm bushes, the main cause for the highway shimmy? Another thing is the center drive shaft bearing / housing. What else is there thats a must? Lower control arm bushes? 4x? Steering rack bushes? Sway bar bushes? Also whats the story with the engine mounts and rear tranny mount? Are they worth doing to get rid of the small engine vibrations at idle? Any advise would be good as to what to get done first, I know at the end of the day doing all of them will be the best, but Ive gotta start some where. If you can help, please post. Cheers Mike.

$4500 Now folks. Great buy.

Excellent Car but those wheels are truly shocking.

Any transmission work been done? How are the camshaft/valve components? Do they need any occasional adjustments?

Good luck sir! I'll probably be keeping mine, taking it off the road and just getting a 525i instead to replace it for daily use. Figure the only way to go with these cars is just buy them, rather than try sell them. It's just sad what they are worth in this current market.

Yeah, Ive been watching yours. I thought about putting mine on a $1 reserve but Ill probably just leave it and keep using it as is. Any reasons to why your selling yours?

Ha, your rather right. Especially for these 'used' cars.

Maybe the lack of interest is a sign that I should keep this car?