Olaf

@NZ00Z3 Murray, if you do proceed, please do open a project thread! We'd love to complete the journey with you. ?

Having had a little time to digest your statement, I have the following comment. During my time in sales, I found it was important to quickly qualify the few potential customers in this category. Best you could do was to be professional. They were usually powered by internet "experts", magazines, and unusual theories. They needed guidance, but you couldn't tell them anything. None of the internet "experts" were professionals in this field, yet they held sway... and were more often than not, well off-base. These customers were rarely likely to spend any money with you. By qualifying early, you could be polite, professional, treat them with respect as a potential customer, but still concentrate your efforts on servicing existing customers and new prospects with an open mind, to whom you could actually prove value and service, and even sell products and services to and create or grow satisfied and loyal customers. I can only suggest you've had some really bad experiences to generate this start position. I hope you can find a provider that works for you. Good luck with your search.

yep. something here about about genuine professionals can be found in professional roles throughout the automotive industry; dealerships, independents, parts, etc etc, and accepting money for it is a fact of life!

came out well!

You know what they say about free advice. In most cases, It's usually worth what you paid for it!

wow, this looks like a well-loved project without the risks of a 540i, and at a great price. Gotta ask: what’s with that boot carpet? Did you spill a soufle in there, or butcher a deer?! ? Good luck with the sale, looks great from here.

I'd never heard of that, Dave. many thanks for the pointer!

Welcome, @Willus. what remains to get you road-legal & certed?

how come they've used e92 data for your 135i? Overall rear toe is within spec, though they've set left rear toe out of spec. Still, on the chocolate biscuit payment plan, you're in good order.

35R19's? Wow, that's very good, yeah?

FWIW, two years ago (without disclosing too much of discounting), my bill for 4 in the size you seek - on the car - was well under $300 per corner. Dunno what the current street price is.

@BozzaFC

So thoughts on rates. They may not call it this these days - in fact when we first got mortgaged in the 90’s, it wasn’t disclosed... but it was ‘mortgage lender’s insurance’. This was an additional cost the bank passed on to the borrower, there the loan value to equity didn’t meet a certain threshold, and they insured the loan due to the higher risk. Fortunately for us, our bank manager looked after us, disclosed the threshold, and the figures so we were able to bump up our deposit and avoid this. oh, and back then retail 2 and 3 year mortgage rates were 10.25%... and they climbed above 12% for a while. When they hit 7.75% on the way down we were stunned. The last 4-odd years have been a cakewalk at sub-5%.

That might be their way of attracting punters, who then upsell themselves on the basis of “only one in stock”. Happened to me a while back; I keep my business local in Wellington, still get decent pricing. YMMV edit: try Auto 38 in Newtown tell Jon you’re on Bimmersport. worth talking with Kelvin at Bridgestone Torrens Tce also.

Welcome, Simon! take a look at the Wellington Room - maybe subscribe (follow) and you'll get notified when there's new local meetups/runs etc, if you're interested.

Wheel god. Yes, I think that suits you. I expect you’ll need a t-shirt with appropriate graphic! hell, I have just three sets of wheels in my basement workshop, Mrs Olaf and the Olaf juniors have been prodding me about “so many wheels”. I must remember to mention “Kyu, God of Wheels” for appropriate perspective! ?

You bought more wheels?! ???

Bridgestone RE003. Please, don’t put sh*t tyres on your capable German car. There’s no coincidence that wreckers observe a good proportion of their custom from BMWs equipped with rubbish rubber! The RE003 is reasonably priced, performs well on e60, brilliant in the wet, sticky enough yet give reasonable wear too. The difference in grip and braking distance between a decent tyre and a cheap shitty tyre will be marked in the pedestrian you may well hit on the cheap tyres in an emergency stop. The few dollars saved won’t seem worth it, then.

And in today’s news, this: ... I’ve never had a car that someone liked enough to try to buy! Think I’ll dust off my sheepskin coat, put on my best Arthur Daley, and see if he’d like to buy a classic 855-T5 instead ?

Hi Mark, yes indeed! And thank you ? I’m about to install the wheel. Being a fastidious bstard, I ordered a new locknut. Yes, I have 51mm Koni Yellows, and have sourced 51mm housings. I have all the hardware for new shock build and new wheel bearings too. Just waiting on finalizing spring choice and source them. ? And refinishing the housings. That’s after the wheel refurbishment, coming soon. Looking forward to seeing your build thread!

you after the 1.9 version that works with the G240 in e30? I sourced mine from FCP. BMW Manual Trans Shift Lever - Genuine BMW 25117527252 if that helps?

gotta hand it to you, you don't mess around Dan! Congrats on your latest purchase. I'm sure you'll move on the 2dr 130i in no time.

IMHO, if it's on the shelf, they've got inventory costs... and then I don't mind paying 'a little extra' on the basis that it's there for me, and they're a business and they need to make a profit. What I find difficult to reconcile is where the part isn't in NZ, so it's indent order - no inventory costs - and it'll take two weeks and cost you an arm and quite possibly a leg or part of your reproductive system... and it's way more speedy and way slower than ordering it yourself from USA or Europe. EDIT: and most of the time, when it is on the shelf, it's still rather pricey.

Hang on, Dan. Did you subtract 10% discount on the NZ dealer retail for showing your membership card of BMW Car Club NZ?

That's awesome, Allan! best Richard