edhardley

Yea what bravo said, its not what car you drive but how much income- so even if your not doing so well but lover ur cars (and have that 745i) your not going to get a huge bill, just one that should b enough to make you think twice. It can't be compared to racism but since you did it i'll do it. For comparison sake to this, see all those Maori and Pasific Island scholarships for school/ uni's, and the decreased grade requirement for them to get into med school/ law school? You could say that is racsist, or you could say because it is for the greater good, and it is bringing equality that it is alright. Income related penalaties(or opposite) already exist, for example student allowance scheme... If your parents are wealthy, your penalised, if not you are advantaged by not having to pay back your loan, (bit more detailed than that but yea). I won't take credit for that income idea, I think I'm thinking of another country who has pulled it off successfuly.

Crushing seems a bit inefficient in these economic times to me haha. Maybe sell them... give them to the poor?? export them?? I don't see old Judith starting up that crusher. But would definately have an effect on the jerks that think there rice-ricers are be all and end all.

Hey, nice ride, my uncle has one of these, insanely quick, could almost have m3 badge on there. Yea I hard-wired my radar detector (escort) into my e36. It's not hard, IMO the best place to hardwire it is into the lights on the roof lining (just infront of the rear-view). a few reasons:, right next to where the radar detector should sit for best signal (no draging wires round the car). hidden behind/with rear-view(when illegal/ and now), will automatically switch on and off as you get in and out of the car. Pull out the light/ button unit(clips like al bmw parts), find the wires going to the lights (or any electrical componenent that switches on/ on with the battery- the whole idea is you want the radar to switch on and off with car), then splice the wire and connect the power wire(red) from the radar detector into the power wire for the lamp(red), the other(prob black) wire from the radar detector needs to be earthed, attatch it to some bolt(with metal connected 'o' ring or think of some DIY, just has to be earthed), then tape up wires (make sure there no touching as with an wires (red must stay deperate from black, so tap them seperately, then as a whole). Instead of splitting the wire you could cut and use special connectors, just use ur DIY brain, the aim of the game is to coneect the detector cable into and existing cable/ taking power from it.) Once you have this sorted pull the wire up and behind the roof lining, and out the front down the windscreen a bit to where your radar shall be seated. You can use the wire that comes with your detector and cut the cigarette end off, or buy a 'hard-wire' from trademe or detector store (if your unit doesn't come with a hardwire itself, remember with this install you prob only need the wire to be 30-40cm long, otherwise your gona have trouble tieing it all up and shoving the light unit back in. There are probaly other DIY's out there with pictures, doesnt matter what bimmer, the idea is basic and applies accross the board for the way I'm talking about. good-luck.

Yea thats true, but as you say with that percentage... I think you will find most of the accidents/ problems are caused by people not living at home (18-25), this group seems to be the serious boy racers, from what I see in the city anyway. But there are alot of younger people driving there parent supplied powerful cars that don't no how to handle them, been there myself. You can't limit what vehicles people can drive (it'll never pass in thss country anyway- public insist on fredom to rights to much, look at that anti-smaking bill issue). And I don't think increasing driving age will help much... a little yes, but the big problem is the over 18's IMO. Its an issue, just like drugs, assault and so on, it will always exist, but can only be reduced, the only thing I could think of is to increase fines, I simply think there low (80 buks isn't gonna make me think twice, but thats me, maybe it should be proportional to income?? so those people in the new mercs and porches (and bimmers..) are looking at $1000 fines rather than $80, and demerit points along with less leway- I've been very polite to officers whenever I've got pulled over and 9/10 times I've got off with a warning even tho I could have been snapped, and yes I like this very much, but I didn't learn. To be honest I think our police got bigger problems to focus on than traffic, boy racers are anoying, but see just as many accidents with normal, non g'd up car. Just my thoughts anyway.

Interesting view, I couldn't agree with you more. Another comparison.... remember those 'gone in sixtey seconds' copy cats... stole those mercs from coutts auckland (legends haha, but not realy). If something looks fun and gives the adrenaline buzz of breaking the law, is then published for all to see, others will try it. Not that this is really related.. but what if drugs were made legal... no money in it, therefore nothing for gangs to do and break law, therefore less crime, less kids want to get started for the reason it's not illegal and 'cool' or 'hard', govt can also have an accurate idea of drug use, rather than guessing and being nieve, and regulate supply. Alot of other stuff would have to be taken into account, but interesting thought, along similar lines to this idea with boy racers maybe not haha.

Well my car accelerates, brakes, turns and for all purposes runs as before, and soon will be improved for all of 10 mins work (at any time I may bolt the old TC back on) and allow better use of this lsd, I'm realy not fussed about plugging it in, I don't realy tend to sit in my garage with my car hooked up to some comp and watch to see if its giving me some uneccassry warnings because it's not happy i've unplugged one of its factory equipment, I'm sure it'll deal with it. Yes, will check with insurance company, thanks for the advice. out.

Can vouch for those dirrezzas, had them on my old 3-series and they stick like glue (almost ), for the price bloody good.

I value your help, but everyone has there opinions and ideas of what will work and what won't. You tell me I'm 'wrong'(i personaly don't think many people like to be told this), you tell me to go ask my insurance company and not bother here, you then make some irrelevant and rudely inteded comment that maybey I would be moving down to c-church. And to be honest (even tho I didn't ask if it'd work or not)I'm not wrong, I've unplugged asc, havn't yet changed TB(will do tommorow but for this argument doesn't matter or change anything-just a piece of tube with larger diametre) have been for a drive,checked OBC, no faults (ASC light warning is obviously on- as it would be if you turned it off in cockpit), checked abs breaks- yes they work, and no probs I can mention, as I was assured by somone else who did this on their same 97 T/C e36, as common sense would tell you, unplugging the connection for all intensive purposes is the same as switiching T/C of inside, current no longer runs (can't) through the copper wire into the sensor in the TB.

cheers nick, yup know about what these buggers are capable of, hence as I explained to Glenn I'm asking if anyone here knows about rather than talking to the insurance company, but yea will ring up as anonyimous. cheers

Thanks bravo, sounds like a good idea. I agree its a very grey area, I will ring my insurance company and ask about these details, and will probaly go ahead and delete that asc TB and let you know what diff it makes.

Um glen, how is that comment relevant, i don't realy see what your saying, I understant the situation down there but please explain mate. I agree guys, nothings more important than safety, but it's definately a balancing act- I'm sure more than half of the people on this forum drive to if not exceed the speed limit, and generaly could be safer- the things discussed under the performace section lead me to this conclusion. I really don't see removing ASC as being unsafe, its only unsafe if you have excesisve acceleration for the conditions, and if I couldn't handle it I wouldn't do it. If you can't drive I understand why you shouldn't do this, Traction controll has never ever been of use to me, as i don't accelerate exccesively unless its purposefull and around a track or similar- and at this point I have it switched off. As for insurance purposes I'm not sure, Alot of the exact same modeled vehicles (slightly different year or month) don't have it, (the fact that theres a button with on/off option would suggest it doesn't matter for insurance purposes whether it is off, otherwise I higly doubt BMW would manufacture cars for road use that have the ability to void warrenty- may bring themselves some trouble). Please note I am putting an LSD in my car, just FYI if you don't understand why I'm deleting ASC... LSD is a replacement safety feature depending on how you use it.

Cheers for that, may be worth a look at.

Well why instead of people using this forum for people asking questions, everyone go and ask a mechanic? as we arn't all mechanics here, are we?.... I thought somone may have some knowledge about this, seeing almost all insurance companies have similar policies, and would rather ask today than wait till tommorow and have my insurer thinking I moding up my car...(and then if something does happen they might be a bit sus). I did post this under the 'off-topic' section so I don't think your giving me a fair go, if somone doesn't have the answer then dw bout it.

I didn't ask anyone if it would work, or what problems I may encounter. If we go back to the top of the thread I asked if it will void inssurance... You would know alot more about this stuff than me, no doubt, but people have done it, and i'll do it today or tommorow and let you know how I go, cheers for the input.

It won't trip any of the electronics, I have unplugged asc from engine bay before with no probs (its really the same as pressing the switch from inside the car, except it won't automatically turn back on). The Actuator for ASC is another thing which some people decide to remove and will cause problems (namely cutting of ABS to which it is conected, you can wire in a resistor to trick it into thinking its plugged in, I have no desire to do this tho), removing the secondary TB(furthest from the plenum) and putting a larger straight through piece of silicon pipe is all I'm looking to do. I can unstrap it and put the asc back in within about 5 minutes if it doesn't work out. That's true I can just turn it on and off from inside, but I think theres a little gain to be made for not much effort.

Yes it's manual, and i can have it done with new silicon pipe in about 5 minutes, but really just want to no whether its allowed under insurance pollicy, but yea it would be easier not to crash, whoever suggested that bright idea. Yea, but thats just electrical, the restrictive ASC TB is still present, and reviews have it that throtle response is increased, power by 1 or 2hp and sounds smoother. Also when the lsd is in I want to make sure theres absolutely no interference from ASC, for some reason even when it's switched off i find myself wondering if theres something still going on, and even then i always forget when its on/ off, noing i just dont have traction controll at all would be alot nicer.

Hey does anyone no if removing traction controll from you vehicle/ having it dissabled(etc) voids insurance in the situation of an accident? I've heard alot of people say if your car has ASC(or similar) it must remain intact or your insurance may not pay out in an accident. I'm prety sure its just one of those things one person thinks must be the case and then so does everyone else even tho theres no true or legal source. I want to remove the traction controll throtle body and replace with straight silicon pipe(lets engine breath better, and better throtle response), main reason tho is getting lsd... they don't realy go together haha. I'll probs do it anyway (don't see forensic investigators specing somones car in a accident, not in nz anyway), but out of interest and for piece of mind if somone can shed some light on this. cheers.

(was thinking yours was e36 ... most of the above still apllies, except obviously an e30 m3 was out of the question haha, and breaks could be worth looking at. my bad.)

Hey, read the thread a few down in this section 'e36 sluggish' or something. Pretty much same deal as you. I wouldn't bother about suspension or brakes to much unless there worn. 2 reasons: bmw oem brake discs on e36 are very good(more than suitable for 2.0l), and same for suspension- not going faster enough to spend over $1000 for something better than whats already in there. Would definately go for CIA, do it PROPERLY, or you may even loose power... once again theres info on this in that thread ($300 should be sufficient for good job). In terms of exhaust, on almost any e36 your looking at minimal power gains (2-3hp), unless you spend over $2000 for a miltech, (the standard exhausts are fairly good), the thing you can do, which is free and will free up more power(still not much) than a new exhaust, is remove the cat (you'd probaly do this anyway with a new exhaust). I.M.O theres not very much you can do at all to make a 320i faster without spending the amount of money you could have used to buy the 2.5 or even m3 these days. So agree with what the other guy said, save up for the 2.5. But yea, a good air intake, and cat delete will give you something of worth, for little money and a nice sound at high reevs. good luck.

Whoever thinks dark tints are dangerous and immature has problems with spreading their views. Half of the sunglasses on sale have less than 20% light rating, so yes, when your driving with your sunnies down(as alot of people do) your in effect looking through all round 20% window tints, think about that. The main reason tints were restricted wasn't because people couldn't see out of them (infact they help people see better without sunstrike and glare), but to enable other motorists to see you/ where you are looking. Next time you drive, notice how half the time you'll be looking at other drivers to see whether they look like there about to go/ pull out and so on, if you a hlaf decent driver you will always be looking at the intentions of other motorists. The tint on the front windscreen(deside it being very illegal) seems like a bloody smart idea, I hate the glare and harsh light when driving in the sun, and without the one side tinted a hell of alot of light still gets through. (but trust me, you will find its like night time in there, if all windows tinted- even at 35% very little light will get through, it would be like 5% all round but without the frint done... seriously.) Best thing I did was get a 7inch strip of tint along the top of the front windscreen- legal, gets rid of glare, and looks good.

For your information the firearms point is true... go research it yourself whoever thought it wasn't... Legislation was brought in for people with firearms lisence's to stop car's being broken into and guns stolen out the back... yes it is almost impossible to see through 5%tints. Once you got your arms license, get your tints done. When it comes to W.O.F time you just need to show proof of i.d. for firearms, and probaly fill in some form, but no biggy. Lucky timming. My uncle along with a few of my mates who go hunting assure me this is correct, makes sense to me. But please ring up and check at W.O.F or where ur getting ur license before taking my word for it.

Auckland luge... Get ten mates, have a road trip out there(depending on where you live), get in your carts and go down the hill and rounds those bends- no limits, no cops and if you got enough people you can do all the immature stuff like running people of the track and clogging the bottle neck. You can then have a beer at the end and watch the noobs behind you coming down the final straight. I'd do it again!

Back to the original topic. I think the NZ police are a mixed bunch, half are the old-school realistic copas, that will only pick you up on things that are putting other peoples safety at risk, and give you a warning you for most things other than DUI or worse. The other half are tight-arse pri*s that will do anything to enforce everything and anything that they feel is under law (whether or not it seems realisticaly a problem), and will even break it themselves becuase they feel they are more important (just yesterday as I saw a cop run an orange/red- wasn't going to a call out or anything). I've delt with both and in general feel the police arn't to bad- have got off with alot of stuff that legaly I could have been charged/ fined for. Although one time I got fined for my german plates (that arn't provided by LTSA, and every other man and his dog(european car) have) they showed the right registration, and caused no problems, apart from somwhere in new NZ legislation, plates must be approved and bought from LTSA(apparently), as in your case, this one stropey female office got lippy, am currently taking the police to court, i'll let you no the outcome on this german plate offense. Anyway, your car is going to attract attention from cops, but this is no justification for their personal and unnessacry comments, or their searching of your vehicle (this is very grey). You are allowed to carry a bat in your car, and no it doesn't have to have a ball next to it, you can carry a gun in your car if you have a license and are transporting it if you wish, and cops still can't serch your vehicle. They must have a basis to search your vehicle before they even see whats in it (i.e. if they have seen something in you car and discuss it to you, they have already began a search), if for instance there had just been a bashing down the road, and saw your car driving in the opposite direction, or had a report your vehicle was used to transport drugs- or any other belief that your car could contain evidense against you then yes they may search it. So in your case you could have required a basis for them to search your vehicle, if they didn't have one they'd have to comply, but if you disagreed on the reasoning, you may have your lawyer present while a search takes place, and you may sue if you have the grounds to do so. Unless you do have something you want to hide, or love insisting on your rights I would just let them search it, because otherwise there going to pull you up on everything and anything they can. The more important part of your encounter I believe is the comments the police made about your vehicle. If an officer makes personal/ unrelated communication with you, that you find offensive you may also sue them, or atleast ask for the officers i.d. number and write a formal complaint. The very fact that you brought your disscussion to this forum and expressed anger are proof that you felt offended. I would have reccomeneded you asking the officer for his i.d. badge and letting him no you have felt offended by his comments, he'll probaly start being alot nicer and co-operative with you, wouldn't surprise me if he let you off and left you alone. And if not, write to the NZ police with reference to the officers i.d. and what he said, he'll get a slap on the wrist, and you'll recieve an appology letter in the maill within 2-3 weeks times, you'll feel bloody good to. Sorry to blab on, but this thread realy interested me as I've had some similar dealings and it's amazing how angry (...I won't make a list of all the offensive words) it can make you when the people representing our justice system go beyond their jurisdiction, but at the same level have the balls to get personal and stropy. (p.s. the information I gave about dealing with police- search and siezure and so on isn't objective, it is text-book stuff and studied in first year law, probaly the most interested lecture I've been to.)

Yea what he said, legal limit is 30%. Anything below this you'll get turned away, unless you got a mate, or dodge place to go to- which isn't hard, better still get your firearms license, and you can legaly have 5%tints. I had the legal limit on and have stilled been turned away once before. IMO if your going the legal way- nothing beats tint-a-car, there stuff is quality and the guys no what there doing. There average warrenty is 10 years, any scratches, peeling, bubling etc gets replaced for free (depends on what tint). Trust me it's worth it, Ive had to windows re-tinted in my time at no cost- both had the slightest peeling in one corner and they replaced them with no questions. Also IMO 30%(midnight express/ darkest legal) is a nice shade, if you go much darker your windows stick out rather than blend in, and give that cheap g-look. Unless your cars black, in which case darker can suit, or white and you want black on white tone. My 2c.

Check out this auction on trademe: 199963831. It's a quality professional product, have used it on my cars and works great. Best paint finish around, turtle wax ain't gonna do much except give it a nice shine for a few days. As for professional groomers- no idea, live in Auckland sorry.