RobD

France has only a small population to pay for their roads. Only 70 million odd people.

I have driven in about 20 plus countries and NZ roads are on a par with many of them. Much better than Russia, Poland and a few others and worse than Germany but overall pretty bloody good.

Why the hell are people worried about the fences at the roadside. Don't you people drive on the road. Every time I try to drive on those fences or even walk along them I fall off.

If you look where you are going you should see the undulations and holes in the road and avoid them. Might be time you talk less and look more. I haven't seen a bunch of whingers like this for ages.

It's called expressing an opinion and inviting comments. In saying "if you look where you are going you should see the undulations and holes in the road and avoid them" you are more or less adopting the very attitude that has been alluded to above, i.e. that we should just accept sh*tty roads and get on with it. No one here is expecting every km of our road network to be billiard table smooth - but the consensus does seem to be that our roads are not much better than farm tracks with a bit of bitumen splattered on top. People on this site are driving enthusiasts, so suggesting that they aren't focused on the task at hand when behind the wheel is utter nonsense. How on earth would people notice the state of the roads and thus comment on them if they weren't watching the road surface closely!!?? If you don't like the thread then why not go and add a valueless comment elsewhere.

It's a given that first time round they'll screw it up. But to then not fix it, especially when they are already working on the same section of road is negligent at best and criminal at worst. It's like driving in a mag 7+ earthquake.

I wonder if it's the old 'she'll be right, you just have to harden up mate - and drive a Holden' type of attitude. Because it's more important to get to the tavern by 5pm than it is to do a good job and show a bit of care to what you're supposed to be doing.

Sh1 between peka peka and te horo. At the end of the passing lane (merge point), some inept contractor had attempted a repair to the road surface apparently by means of dumping a load of hotmix and spreading it around with a shovel. It's so bad, that even in the e39 I brace myself at 90 clicks. It's been like that for at least two years now, and the kicker? The preceeding 400m of road was re sealed this summer.

I don't understand how hard it can be to pour some stuff on a road and roll over it to make it flat.

I can still not get over the fact that hamilton doesnt have a single man hole cover flush with the road. All are either raised or sunken. And they always put them in the main wheel tracks.

Road works is one of the last trye manual jobs. Everything else has become more efficient and manchine reliant but truth of the matter is every roading prohect takes thousands of man hours and every time minimum wage goes up it costs more.

We cant afford to have good roads when we are paying f**kwits $30+ an hour to stand around.

So true. It seems every manhole cover is 3 inches below the level of the road, or mounted 3 inches above, and right in line with the wheels. Whenever you drive past roadworks, it's the usual comical scene of 9 guys standing around leaning on shovels with a digger sitting idle on the road and one guy using his spade. Nothing like efficiency.

Amen. Rob.

Well someone had to say it.

I've been travelling to Tauranga from Auckland most wknds and I'm shocked with the state of the road. At one point I was forced over a massive pothole, that or vere into oncoming traffic. Rudely awoke my passengers.

Yes my car is lowered on 19" rims. But still that thing was massive, and it wasn't just one.

I'm with you Rob. I'm honestly for the first time thinking I might need to give up my M5 and get a automatic SUV to deal with the state of some of the roads I have to travel. I've never seen it so bad.

Forget keeping my eye on the speedo or looking for other road users I'm forced to scan the road ahead for something lurking wanting to rip a wheel off and leave us stranded.

we aren't alone here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/10215123/Rocky-roads-in-need-of-repair

I sometimes wonder if the volume of trucks using the roads has anything to do with it. 40 tonnes and 16 wheels quickly turns a small pothole or rut into a big one. I guess there isn't a lot that can be done about the trucking due to the geography of NZ and cost of using rail to transport goods - but they have to have something to do with it.

I know what you mean about scanning the road ahead though! I spend so much time watching for the dreaded pothole or sharp 2" repair ledge. It's the curse of having too much mechanical sympathy, and I think that's something we all share.

Alex will chime in no doubt soon .. pot hole destroyed a rim ..

Alex who came for a cruise with us yesterday, Cracked one rim, buckled the other on his E46 Wagon after we all hit a rough patch on S Highway 1 yesterday by Hampton..

Ryan (brother) buckled/warped an entire Audi Rim in Kumeu couple weeks ago - now pursuing that NZTA pay for the damage.

My Car - Subframe is so badly cracked due to just my road, which has potholes from here to China, uneven surface, patches every 5m, and this is on the shore, 5 minutes out from Urbanness.

Our roads are sh*t. Main motorways seem to be okay, but branch out and it's disgusting. Especially when I call up NZTA 20 times over to fix one pothole and a year later they still can't manage to do it....

I agree. The motorway network from Orewa to Bombay is great. So are the South Western and South Eastern arterial networks. I could drive up and down those roads all day and the car just loves the surface. I just get the feeling that the guys doing the repairs are working to a tiny budget / get in and get out as fast as they can. Pour a tiny amount of tar on the repair, then a huge pile of chip on top, and then b*gger off, leaving the cars to compress the chip into the tar and crack a few dozen windscreens on the way. Wild West.

Dreadful. built for drainage, and sometimes not even that.

The big difference in country roads between here and the UK is when you have an accident. In the UK you go through a hedge and wreck the car, here you will probably not survive.

If you want to see proper roads in a country with low population density, go to France - the Autoroutes are superb.

And - I watched the M25 being built in the UK - there's about 3m of coarse tarmac before the top seal is put on in some areas. On our SH system we're lucky if we get 1m.

Road repairs are like Jason said - cheap. Sometimes there are more bumps after the repair than before.

Visitors are amazed at the white painted wooden fences that we use to separate the road from a sheer drop. I've tried to convince them that the white paint makes the fence stronger, but it's a hard ask... (and this is not on rural roads - try SH2 over the Rimutakas)

We desperately need a 4 lane divided highway between Wellington and Auckland, with a sensible speed limit, 120/130km/h in rural areas? I guess before that happens, we'll have to teach the driving population to keep left...

Rant over.

Jo

I completely agree, and there's no reason why over the last 30 years we couldn't have built that 4 lane highway. I think it's a money management issue. Instead, we've had years of blowing hundreds of millions on other things and all at the cost of issues that matter.

Compared to what?

I reckon for the.size of our country we have a very comprehensive road network,mostly sealed.

Are you talking design,stste of repair,or what

Not the network - that's pretty good. It's about the lack of care and investment in the roads themselves. The Government goes on about the road toll, but I wonder how much that would go down if the condition of the roads improved to first world standards. Coarse chip is a terrible surface and seems to constantly suffer from potholes and corrugations. It's a false economy to build a road on the cheap and then have to repair massive sections of it every other year.

I'm interested to hear people's thoughts on the state of our rural roading network. is it just me, or do other people die a little inside with every pothole. This weekend, I drove from Auckland to Ohakune and back. On the way down, I went via Te Kuiti and Taumaranui. I really enjoyed the drive - the road surface was good for the most part, and the scenery fantastic. Perhaps the lack of trucks helped preserve the roads? All told, a great drive for the 335i and I arrived thoroughly chuffed with the car. Drives like that make me fall in love the manual gearbox all over again. On the way back however, I drove via Turangi, Taupo, Tokoroa, then Tirau. Almost the entire way back I had fists of rage because of the dismal state of the roads. Potholes, ruts, corrugations, massive surface irregularities, shonky patchwork that seemed 2 inches higher than the rest of the road, dangerous off camber corners etc etc. It was like driving along a metal road with a spattering of tar here and there - in Bhutan. How can one of our major 'highways' be so bad? Other countries with small populations seem to manage just fine, but we seem to be hell bent on persisting with coarse chip and third world roading methods. Rant over. I'm off to buy a Maxima with 205/65 tyres and spongy suspension.

My E90 335i has done 143K and it runs perfectly. I really can't think of anything to replace it with other than an E90 M3 which I can't afford anyway! If you service them the way they are supposed to be serviced, and don't drive like a lunatic all the time then they should go on and on.

Weird I know. I don't understand the logic in not allowing certain vehicles in but making a blanket exception for all cars 20 years older or more. But then we are talking about government agencies here.

I think the only time you can import a car that doesn't meet Euro 4 emissions laws and new frontal impact standards is if it's 20 years old or something of that nature. I recall from when I imported my 335i it was something along those lines.

You can't import that unless it meets Euro 4 emissions standards unfortunately.

Not an E36 but I have Pilot Sport 2 ZP on my E90 335 M Sport. 255/35/18 on the rear and 225/40/18 on the front. Outstanding wet grip and give me total confidence. That said, they are $720 each to replace the rears and I won't be spending that kind of money when I can get an RE050 for about $400.

Anyone tried the JB+ option as opposed to the JB4? The + apparently offers between 25 and 40 HP gains for around $US279 which seems cost effective. But I agree the non invasive nature of the Cobb is really attractive.

What annoys me is when people say "as good as an M5 but for half the price" in their ad. Incorrect. If your 540 was as good as an M5, then why would BMW make an M5.

Not really... I was watching an M5 on eBay.co.uk that sold at auction for GBP3700. I received quotes to import an E31 of greater value that were NZ$3500 including insurances and agents' fees but not tax. So $10.9K + GST. $12.5K, so not far off.

Might be a couple around at the £4,000 mark, but the engines would probably be serious high milers. Plus if all you were looking for is the engine,you might be better off getting in touch with a breaker over there and having them ship it in a crate. There was an M3 V8 engine advertised on Pistonheads for £1,600 with about 16,000 miles on it. I'm sure you could pick up an M5 engine for similar or less.

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MOT'd M5 complete car shipped from the UK FOR sub $12K. Take everything I need for the conversion part out the rest.

That's a little misleading. The cheapest M5 you will probably find in the UK is about £6,000 (at least one that hasn't done 180,000 hard miles). So that's $12,000 right there. Add £1,500 / $3,000 for shipping, £300 / $600 in agents' and port fees in the UK, freight insurance of £200 / $400, GST at 15% (CIF basis so 15% of car cost, insurance cost and freight cost) freight, and then another $200 in agents' fees here in NZ. So $12,000 becomes closer to $20,000 before you can legally have the car released by customs from the agents' yard.

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crikey...seems very quiet on this forum...

can anyone advise where to obtain the best priced brake pads for a 7 series? either factory original or quality alternative. NOTHING made in China or Brasil etc.

with regards to brak pad sensors... if one replaces the pads before the sensors are activated do you need new sensors replaced at the time of new pad replacement? or are the 'old' sensors still good to go?

cheers

For something decent but reasonably priced you could try Race Brakes on New North Road in Auckland. BMW will naturally charge a lot but then the factory pads are pretty good. Race Brakes stock plenty of European brands if that's what you're after.

The fact remains that an average road car at that speed is not going to be particularly stable.

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Maybe unstable relative to a supercar at that speed. Aerodynamics-wise it's still no McLaren F1 and at 250 kph is going to experience a certain level of instability. Most cars will and this is part of the reason for Germany's gentlemen's agreement.

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Hi everybody,

As per thread title, looking for your recommendations on a good place to get a full service on my BMW on Aucklands north shore.

I have a e36 328i with ~200kms. Would like to get her a full health check up and what things I should be looking at doing at a BMW of this vintage and kms. Can do things myself have worked on cars for years but am now at a point where my job no longer warrants the time to do it and I can afford professionals to do it for me.

Any help greatly appreciated, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading these forums for many years. Great community here.

Burger's Motor Works in Currys Lane, off Wairau Road. The owner is very highly regarded and his rates are reasonable. My experience with Burgers has been very good.

Nope no codes or problems

Definitely worth the outlay then!!??

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I have a cobb also, just make sure your spark plugs are newish and your coil packs are in good health. You can pick which map to run depending on the boltons you ha

My plugs were replaced about 3-4 months ago, but I'm not sure what state the coils are in. All I know is that the turbos were replaced and I believe the injectors too. Not sure about the HPFP though. Did you have any issues with check engine lights or error codes once it was uploaded to the ECU?

Hi Dan , I have an E91 and have vsrf downpipes and the sound did not really increase at all, but great performance when matched with map. Mine are currrently off at the moment, if you would like to have a look at the pipes themselves.

I am the same as you and was not wanting a loud exhaust

Speaking of maps, I am looking at a Cobb Accessport V3 but am just worried about having to upgrade other areas of the car. Mine has done 140,000 but with full BMW service history and new turbos at 100,000 km. What kind of map do you have and was there anything else you needed to change / look out for once installed? The Cobb tune is meant to add around 60 bhp and 100 lb ft of torque, which does seem impressive.