Olaf

Interesting you should say that, I was talking with a mate today who'd put Bilstein yellows (B8's I think) in his V8 Mercedes and mentioned they overheat and get sticky after prolonged caning. The GTBs use Bilstein yellows. Oh dear. It's beginning to sound as though I do need to do Koni Yellow with Eibach Pro Kit springs. The good news is that a set of four Koni Yellows are running about USD640 at the moment. My only concern is going LOW on my daily cruiser and family trip car. Maybe stick with Sachs OEM, at least they'll be matched to the factory springs.?

thanks William, that's really useful. perhaps B4s then, as they're supposed to be closer to stock?

it just needs some TLC with the cleaning and conditioning products from European Leather Care. The dirt and denim dye will be gone, and the colour will be back.

VIN is WBADE62040BW73376 it's an M62B44 - non-VANOS. 286hp. 219kg. 310lb/ft peak @3900RPM. Useful link here. it's only a little heavier than your M30B35... You're right, it'll be easier with the M30B35. 208hp 145kg 225lb/ft @4000ROM. It's only 78hp down on the V8, which you'll make up in the corners, particularly with a 74kg advantage. And it'll be easier to reunite the car with an M30 than re-engineer and cert for a V8.

oh, no question of that - I was just in chatting to the parts department, there's no warranty implied. /BMW Dealer mode off.

People at Mexico City airport used to look at me funny when I'd be picking up tyres off of the luggage carousel along with my luggage. "but you can buy tyres here in Mexico, sir". "Indeed yes, but not Pirelli P600 in 205/55 R14 you can't" Thanks to VW and their odd sizes (1988 Golf GTi 16v - it was the P600 or a Yokohama and that was it!).

saw this e39 540i (TM 1281435555) and thought of @eliongater's e28 535i - here's your new running gear man! title should be sung to the tune of "This note's for you" by Neil and the Bluenotes

more forum reports.... Likes the B6 - but what's 'fidgety'? (will edit this as I find more)

Today is shock ordering day. Sachs OEM I think. Koni Yellows are eliminated as they're for lowering springs. Bilsteins? Hmm, probably not. And a few more hardware items. I go full out - new spring seats, bump stops, boots, washers... all fasteners. BMW specify single use fasteners, I'm not about to second-guess them. RealOEM is your friend here. EDIT: I'm stronly considering Bilstein HD (B6) now. they're built for A: stock springs or B: lowering springs, (choose your application), and provide improved handling with apparrently no significant deficit in ride quality. Here's the marketing guff: "Bilstein B6 Performance dampers are a performance upgrade to OE dampers designed to be paired with the OE factory spring. These dampers offer application specific valve settings with a monotube design to bring out the best handling performance of a vehicle. Each damper is rigorously tested for quality that meets or exceeds OE standards. B6 Performance dampers will provide improved safety and handling performance with the added benefit of world-famous Bilstein quality."

"release your inner bogan". This is how we say "unleash the hounds of hell" in Wellington. And to quote the bloke at the dealership (just quietly), "and it's a BMW V8, they go forever". (Conveniently ignoring M62 timing issues methinks) still, very charming words

you're golden. our neighbour a few doors down has just sold for $845k on a GV of $630k. Welly market is very bouyant now.

in this case their online form won't allow me to register my NZ card address as my billing address. This is for a vanilla account, with no product associated. So of course when I come to pay, no dice. and yes, they're refusing external paypal accounts.

congrats on your new job, Jeremy! when will you be down here? We've a road trip to Ngawi at the end of this month - Sunday 26th - you might want to join...

ahh, paying by paypal might be the answer. edit: BZZZZZT. This merchant only accepts payment from accounts registered in the United States.

Jeez, I'm trying to create a login with Tire Rack (shocks) and my US address is fine, my NZ billing address is not - they just can't think beyond the border of the US of Eh? @Neal @3pedals how do you guys get around that with Tire Rack?

so do Tire Rack ship direct to Niu Zild, or do you use a frieght forwarder?

you'd need to be quick, as the Super Sports have also been superseded - by the PS-4'S' (as Neal stated above). Not sure the 4S is here in godzone yet.

Corrrrrrrrecto.

here's the comparison table between 2004 545i and 2004 SS Commodore (VZ) from automobile-catalog.com. I'd have linked, but it's a PHP selection and you'd not get the data pre-populated. On paper, it's a pretty close-run thing. The good old 5.7 litre GM V8 with 4 speed auto uses a bit more fuel, but keeps the commode up with the 545i and its more modern (smaller, more fuel efficient) 4.4 litre 4 valve per cylinder all-alloy V8. Country of origin: D Germany AUS Australia Sales markets: - Europe - Australia Make: BMW Holden Model: 5-Series E60-E61 Commodore 3gen (VT-VX-VY-VZ) 2003-2010 1997-2007 Submodel: 5 E60 Sedan phase-I RWD (2WD) Commodore SS VZ Sedan 2003-2007 2004-2006 EEC segmentation: E (executive cars) E (executive cars) Class: mid-size luxury / executive car mid-size / large family car Body style: sedan sedan Doors: 4 4 Traction: RWD (rear-wheel drive) RWD (rear-wheel drive) DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES Length: 4841 mm / 190.6 in 4876 mm / 192 in Width: 1846 mm / 72.7 in 1842 mm / 72.5 in Height: 1468 mm / 57.8 in 1440 mm / 56.7 in Wheelbase: 2888 mm / 113.7 in 2789 mm / 109.8 in Fuel: 70 liter / 18.5 U.S. gal / 15.4 imp. gal 75 liter / 19.8 U.S. gal / 16.5 imp. gal Trunk cap. claimed: Trunk cap. SAE: 396 / / dm3 465 / / dm3 14 / / cu ft 16.4 / / cu ft Trunk cap. VDA: 520 / / / dm3 18.4 / / / cu ft Turning circle btw. walls: Turning circle btw. curbs: 11.4 m / 37.4 ft 11 m / 36.1 ft Drag coefficient claimed: 0.28 Drag coefficient estimated: 0.32 WEIGHTS Curb weight claimed (without a driver): 1635 kg / 3604 lbs 1664 kg / 3668 lbs POWERTRAIN Engine manufacturer: BMW N62B44 GM Engine type: spark-ignition 4-stroke spark-ignition 4-stroke Fuel type: petrol (gasoline) petrol (gasoline) Fuel system: indirect injection indirect injection Charge system: naturally aspirated naturally aspirated Valves per cylinder: 4 2 Additional features: Bosch Motronic ME9 Sequential Fuel Injection DOHC; V-90deg Emission control: 3-way cat, Lambda-Sensor Emission standard: Cylinders alignment: V 8 V 8 Displacement: 4398 cm3 / 268.4 cui 5665 cm3 / 346 cui Horsepower net: 245 kW / 333 PS / 329 hp (ECE) 250 kW / 340 PS / 335 hp (ECE) / 6100 / 5600 Torque net: 450 Nm / 332 ft-lb 470 Nm / 347 ft-lb / 3600 / 4800 Redline rpm: Car power to weight ratio net: 149.8 watt/kg / 68 watt/lb 150.2 watt/kg / 68.1 watt/lb Car weight to power ratio net: 6.7 kg/kW / 4.9 kg/PS / 11 lbs/hp 6.7 kg/kW / 4.9 kg/PS / 11 lbs/hp DRIVETRAIN Transmission type: automatic automatic Number of gears: 6 4 Final drive ratio std: 3.38 3.07 Standard tires: 225/50 R 17 W 235/40 R 18 W PERFORMANCE DATA - factory claim Top speed: 250 km/h / 155 mph electronically governed 0-60mph (s): 5.7 0-100km/h (s): 5.9 0-1/4mile (s): 0-1km (s): Fuel consumption: EU/ADR82 urban/extra-urban/combined: 15.8 / 7.7 / 10.6 l/100km / / 13.9 l/100km 17.9 / 36.7 / 26.7 mpg(imp.) / / 20.3 mpg(imp.) 14.9 / 30.5 / 22.2 mpg(U.S.) / / 16.9 mpg(U.S.) PERFORMANCE DATA - ProfessCars™ simulation Top speed: 276 km/h / 172 mph 262 km/h / 163 mph (theor. without speed governor) Acceleration: 0-30 km/h (s): 1.2 1.2 0-40 km/h (s): 1.6 1.7 0-50 km/h (s): 1.9 2.1 0-60 km/h (s): 2.8 2.6 0-70 km/h (s): 3.3 3.1 0-80 km/h (s): 3.9 4.1 0-90 km/h (s): 4.6 5.1 0-100 km/h (s): 5.3 6 0-110 km/h (s) 6.6 7 0-120 km/h (s): 7.6 7.9 0-130 km/h (s): 8.6 8.9 0-140 km/h (s): 9.7 10 0-150 km/h (s): 11 12 0-160 km/h (s): 12.9 14 0-170 km/h (s): 14.5 16.1 0-180 km/h (s): 16.4 18.3 0-190 km/h (s): 18.4 20.6 0-200 km/h (s): 20.7 23.1 0-210 km/h (s): 24.2 25.9 0-220 km/h (s): 27.8 29.4 0-230 km/h (s): 32 33.9 0-240 km/h (s): 37.2 49.5 0-250 km/h (s): 44.2 77.6 0-270 km/h (s): 117.2 0-300 km/h (s): 0-20 mph (s): 1.3 1.3 0-30 mph (s): 1.9 2.1 0-40 mph (s): 3 2.8 0-50 mph (s): 4 4.2 0-60 mph (s): 5 5.7 0-70 mph (s): 6.8 7.2 0-80 mph (s): 8.5 8.8 0-90 mph (s): 10.3 10.6 0-100 mph (s): 13 14.2 0-110 mph (s): 15.8 17.6 0-120 mph (s): 19.1 21.3 0-130 mph (s): 23.9 25.7 0-140 mph (s): 30 31.8 0-150 mph (s): 38.2 53.3 0-160 mph (s): 71.4 0-180 mph (s): 0-200 mph (s): Drag times: 0- 1/4 mile (s): 13.6 13.9 speed at 1/4 mile: 165 km/h / 103 mph 159 km/h / 99 mph quarter mile time difference to the car from the first column (s): 0 -0.3 distance at 1/4mile to the car from the first column ahead(+) or behind(-): 0 -13 m / -14 yds 0- 1km (s): 24.7 25.4 Overtaking factors with gear reduction or kick-down: 60-100 km/h (s): 2.5 3.4 80-120 km/h (s): 3.6 3.8 100-180 km/h (s): 11.1 12.3 40-70 mph (s): 3.8 4.4 50-90 mph (s): 6.3 6.5 Speed range (max speed on gears in km/h / mph): I: 57 / 35 78 / 48 II: 102 / 63 146 / 91 III: 157 / 98 238 / 148 IV: 208 / 129 342 / 213 V: 275 / 171 / VI: 345 / 214 / Fuel consumption (extra-urban / city / highway / average combined) l/100km: 10.5-13.9 / 21.2-27.9 / 11.4-15 / 16.7 11.1-14.6 / 20.9-27.5 / 12.4-16.4 / 17 mpg (imp.): 20.4-26.8 / 10.1-13.3 / 18.8-24.8 / 16.9 19.3-25.4 / 10.3-13.5 / 17.3-22.7 / 16.6 mpg (U.S.): 16.9-22.3 / 8.4-11.1 / 15.7-20.6 / 14 16.1-21.1 / 8.5-11.2 / 14.4-18.9 / 13.8 km/l: 7.2-9.5 / 3.6-4.7 / 6.7-8.8 / 6 6.8-9 / 3.6-4.8 / 6.1-8 / 5.9 www.automobile-catalog.com © The complete catalog of cars since 1945 ©

PS - and when I checked in with the folks at Winger BMW they also confirmed no outstanding recall items. (I think TermiPete mentioned the same - my bio-memory isn't performing as usual right now).

thanks, Sam! I'm keeping things fairly conservative. Daily Driver duties of 70-odd kms, needs a bit of comfort. Plus, my wife and kids unhappy faces if it's too stiff is not at all good. They just wouldn't want to ride in the car. I've acheived a good happy medium with my e46, now looking to do something similar in outcome terms, but with a different vehicle and set of constraints. I'll keep this thread updated.

Preey, for your wealth of posts on this forum, you're in no position to make judgements on the behaviours and motives of those in this community. These guys are - to a tee - very, very helpful. Frankly the hostility of your posts in this thread are concerning, and you come off as a troll. Relocating countries can be a stressful time, and stress can bring out irrational behaviours. Hopefully the rest of your plans won't see you flaring up and lashing out at people who are trying to help you, at whichever point of your journey you're on. Best thing you can do now is put your $8000 on the car and take it to a car fair or park it wherever everyone parks their cars to sell these days. Do have a plan B though, as you can't put it in the overhead locker when you leave. I'll not be responding to your posts any further, I wish you the best of luck.

but the guy selling the baseball cards doesn't usually threaten to burn the cards or blow up the model plane, right?

This action has been described over the centuries as "cutting one's nose of to spite one's face". You are of course entitled to your opinion. I would suggest there are many here who won't share your perspective. An expectation of owning an car - and not losing money on it - either comes from a very different time (such as new zealand in the 1970's), or a very different market. Try buying a $25,000 Toyota Signature Class car that originated in Japan used, and tell us how much you get for it in three years time. If you get $12k you'll be doing well. What will you say about Toyota then? Hopefully you'll try a different lens and find a happy sale. You're leaving the country, need to quit your car, and could do better for the environment than wrecking your e46.

"pay attention 007!". SJ has picked up a 330i at a good market price. Colin is the self-confessed thrash driver. And here's the question of perspective. The vendor of SJ's new car sold something he wanted to sell, for what the market was prepared to pay. Would he have been a fool for holding out for (say) $9000, a price the market was not prepared to stand? Who's the fool here?!