Matth5

Overhauled my brakes recently. I got RDA slotted/dimpled rotors, ordered from empoweredautoparts.com.au Plain rotors are fine too, but you can get even better deals for some Zimmerman or Brembo blanks, FCPEuro had decent prices last I checked. Then I bought EBC Redstuff pads off some random Ebay seller because they were really cheap. They're a good mix of performance and low dust. Some local brake part suppliers stock them too, prices vary. I've heard Hawk HPS 5.0 are excellent too, more on the performance side I think so I'd expect more dust. More expensive too. My setup works pretty well for me, handles regular driving nicely, no squeak and nice brake feel, a faint helicopter noise from the slotted rotors when driving near a wall or parked cars with the windows down. Handles my aggressive back-road driving sessions well and don't get too much dust to clean.

I want to take my 335i to a track session. There's a 20min session at Pukekohe for $65, on May 13th. My insurance (Trademe Insurance) doesn't have any option to cover this. Are there any options out there to get cover for this? If I enjoy this and want to do this more often, I'd like to switch to an insurance company that will cover track days. Any recommendations?

From what I've read the BMW DCT service is not so simple and that's why many shops, even BMW dealers, won't do it. So make sure you know what you're getting in to before you drain anything. Dug through my emails when I was chatting to the dealer before buying my car, a couple other places that were willing to do it were Motorservice in Panmure and Transmission Solutions. Both had never done it before at the time but were willing to. I didn't end up doing it because when Motorservice pulled a sample of the fluid at the pre-purchase check, they said it looked brand new as if it had been done recently.

BM Workshop Botany quoted me in the region of $1000. Might have been closer to $1300, was a while ago. Only a few places are willing and able to do this... not part of regular servicing for BMW. From what I've read, at 90 000km, you don't need to rush this. There's no set interval, but I've read of people pushing 200 000km on the BMW DCTs with no issue and saying the fluid didn't even look too bad at that point.

Cloth seats, no media controls on steering wheel, no cruise control... yet it has the Harmon Kardon audio. Odd options to be missing on a car like that. Guess it was ordered on a strict budget and the owner cared about audio more than luxury, lol

I've just placed an order for the $300 intercooler I linked above. Will aim to get it installed in June when I book my car in for service at BM Workshop

Definitely use your Cobb to go back to stock first, otherwise MHD might see your car as a USA model and flash the wrong DME. Seen that happen to another user, caused the car to show DMTL pump errors - something present on USA models but not others.

It's not optimal, but the car can handle it as long as you use a suitable tune and make sure you're not getting any knock. I need to be able to run 95 for roadtrips, can't get 98 when you venture away from Auckland. Right now I'm running the 95 tune with 98 fuel in the tank. When I have time to do some test runs and log it I might try the 98 map, but for safety I'll run the 95 map for now. There's also a 94 map, which I switched when I saw that issue and still had 95 in the tank. Also, my car isn't tuned to the extreme like yours! By the way, you guys should look into that new gearbox tune for the Autos, it's better than the Alpina flash. It works like MHD, flash it with your phone. Called XHP I think. Can't use it myself (DCT) but I've read good things about it.

I'd suggest starting with a less aggressive one first and logging it just to be be sure everything is ok. Sometimes the extra power reveals new problems. I've found for me (N55) when running 95 fuel, the tune that matches my fuel is just a tad too aggressive and causes timing corrections when intake temps get high. More info in my thread here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1371998 And back on my first time I had pretty bad timing corrections, and ended up getting new spark plugs based on forum advice, which fixed that. Not sure about N54, but for N55 the stage 2 tunes are only recommended if you have a catless (or high flow) downpipe. I was told that's because the stock downpipes result in high exhaust temps which can be bad for the turbo at those levels.

Glad to hear that's sorted, now you'll finally see what the car can do!

Active steering changes the actual steering ratio according to speed. The servotronic steering on M cars is fixed ratio, changing only the steering weight (heavier at higher speeds),

I'll bet most people don't even notice when they're triggering their TC and stability control...

LOL. That'll be a good lesson for him.

Just make sure whatever you buy isn't the same thing with a different brand, I'm sure a lot of these aftermarket intercoolers are made at the same factories and just have very high mark-ups, maybe with a few simple changes so they look slightly different

Not usually a 7 series fan. But I like the style of that one, very classy looking.

I was eyeing that too. I bet it's from the same manufacturer as the cheap ones on Ebay like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/322154621239?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT There's a guy on Youtube that installed this one, they're actually pretty good and fit just fine. He even did comparison logs and it's pretty good. I'm sure it's not up there with the high end ones but still a major upgrade from stock, which will let you run more aggressive tunes. Thinking of ordering one and getting BMWorkshop to install when I take it in for the next service. Only thing is I don't want to risk any issues with my warranty. Even with the MHD stage 1 tune my car is hitting some high intake temps and showing signs of pinging (timing corrections), using 98 petrol helps too but you can't get it out of Auckland and that's where the best roads are for making use of the power!

Just proof that money doesn't buy class I really don't buy this "BMW drivers don't indicate" crap. I see all kinds of cars where the fools driving them switch lanes in heavy traffic without indication - every day when driving to and from work. It's not car, it's the person.

Weigh them? Real style 32's are pretty light, knockoffs will probably be heavier.

LOL that's definitely not supposed to happen, let's hope that's it

That trick will work with some sellers but not all. In the USA and Europe they can do "address verification" against credit cards. Google does that, foiled my attempts to get a Nexus phone before, lol.

Boost builds up very slowly, my feeling is something is inhibiting it from building boost in the first place, not a leak.

Just do a 3rd gear log before you bother with all that... The target boost drop is like due to the throttle being cut by the traction control, don't get hung up on that before getting a better log.

The PS4S is only available in 19 inch and above at the moment. So those of us using smaller wheels can only get the PS4. There will be an 18 inch version at some point http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Michelin-Pilot-Sport-4-S-Press-Release.htm

Can't clearly see a boost leak there. 2nd gear is too fast for a good reading. There's a throttle closure half way causing the boost to drop, I think that's because your traction control was triggered. Would be easier to see what's going on if you can manage a 3rd gear pull, and hit the DTC button to reduce traction control (I wouldn't turn it off, but if you're brave enough...), No timing corrections, I believe that means your spark plugs are fine, lol. If you can get a 3rd gear pull maybe post in the e90post MHD thread for more opinions.

Damn that's a lot of car for the money, BMWs can be such a bargain!