Olaf

great stuff, kudos!

+ Kelvin.

you could get some advice from your tyre professional as well.

Anyone sane would be adopting a coil-sprung Land Cruiser or HiLux for such a journey, so having presented your credentials as a card-carrying elbow-banging LRO, we recognise you as truly mad and your appreciation of things BMW is providing a tenuous balance! 7.50R16 were the 'standard' on series 2 and 3 back in the 80's (where fat rims and All Terrain T/A's weren't fashionably added), though they were plentiful. FWIW I'd be looking for indications that those Kumhos weren't 'totally shite' and considering them. You're unlikely to be travelling much above 90kph, yeah?

For those considering this, we're blessed in NZ; one can obtain the all-important sticker by simply joining BMW Car Club NZ; it's less than 10% of the cost of the airfare to Florida to view this M1, let alone buy it! 'muricans, however, would need to buy the M1. Hmmm, now we consider which is 'cheaper'; buying residency/citizenship in Godzone, or buying an M1 that has been domiciled here...

Hampton Downs, BMW Fest, apparently.

blimey, who can find a decent e36 328i Touring at circa $3k in godzone? I'd buy one of them for my kids!

this week I got my seat occupancy sensor mat replaced, and a new WOF on the e60. happy days. today I washed three cars, did the wheels, and chamoied them; 855-T5, e46, and e60. three hours later... all looking nice.

this week I got my seat occupancy sensor mat replaced, and a new WOF on the e60. happy days. today I washed three cars, did the wheels, and chamoied them; 855-T5, e46, and e60. three hours later... all looking nice.

welcome, Amber. what's not to love about e46 wagons, eh? I've had mine for more than 5 years now, still love every time I drive it.

Orientblau is beautiful. I'm biased.

I have a Dynamic VIP I bought at The Toolshed about 14 years ago. It was pricey - around $900 - and it's compact but weighs a ton. Was said to be good for painting contractors or cleaning trucks, paths etc. It's good for paths - I have a dirt-blaster attachment that spins a needle jet. If I'd had the coin at the time, I'd have bought a Stihl. I've had to repair this a few times over the years. I'd like to get a snowfoam lance for it. It's a grunt machine. I've used a couple of Bosch green blasters that are pretty good. My friends that own them have been getting good service from them. I've two basic approaches to suggest: - spend up and get a serious quality unit. You don't get much in this zone for under $750. Nobody regretted buying quality tools. Should have a long warranty - a rare thing with a domestic water blaster. - buy a cheapie - something like a $200 house-brand unit from Bunnings (or similar) with a 2 year warranty. Get it replaced when it blows up. After two years it's free, buy another next time it breaks. Whichever route you take, do use safety gear when you're using a water blaster. Boots, gloves, safety glasses. I use steel capped gumboots, work gloves, safety glasses, and ear muffs (hate the high frequency whistle of the dirt-blaster on concrete.

H&R Sportsprings are an entirely different question/consideration. If you were looking to get a motorsport ride and handling when you were doing a suspension service, it's "BMW Lego". Shocks, springs, ARB's, bushes to suit all from the parts catalogue. If you were wanting to *modify* your suspension - with a specific outcome in mind - you'd be considering which springs, which shocks to work with (damp) those springs, and which ARBs to match the rate you've selected. I understand many people use H&Rs with Bilstein Sports... on a thread for my 545i where I was considering what to do, @3pedals made a delightfully clear descriptions of the shortcomings and features of the usual H&R + Bilstein solutions. I did H&R Sportsprings on my Volvo, as I needed to replace self-levelling nivomat rears that were NLA. Sportsprings are very good on the highway firm and progressive. Round town, a bit too firm, at least for the Volvo application. And I should have gone for different shocks (I went Sachs OEM; the springs were supposed to be just fine with standard shocks). Based on my own experience, I'd not be blindly going with H&R on a BMW of mine for street use, as my family will soon let me know if it's too firm. If I was avoiding MSport I'd probably be going KoniSport with Eibach, though I'd need to be sure it wasn't too low (Eibachs are usually -30 to -45mm drop), and ensure I matched with the right ARB's. YMMV, HTH /

no; though one of them is promising to steal more of my money at source to pay for services we can't afford and sink us further into debt.

yeah that's not too significant is it? NOT.

I think I've played the stereotype almost to it's max...

indeed, though the relative lack of articulation on front axles don't appear to prevent the Aussies from getting places 'truly offroad' in the modern crop of Japanese utes! Possibly a genuine low-range and diff locks are also indicators.

great work, Dave. someone told me the other day that a packet of smokes now costs over $25. unbeleivable - makes fueling a V8 seem cheap! keep up the good work!

www.flickr.com I've been using flickr as a paid service for more than ten years. now it's free. you have unlimited capacity. it works well and has decent user interface.I have about 2200 images on there. here's one I hosted earlier... hosted on www.flickr.com all rights reserved.

@adrowhat's a C191 plug?

most likely interpreting intolerance for his dribble as agesim agenda and blame Gen-X. Purely coincidental that he was from a generation later than X... rather than face the fact that he's talking rubbish!

selective understanding and personal bias shining through there, Kyu. the key word was "if"; there was no need to preface this with "if you've already done...". NOBODY suggested retrofitting MSport suspension at the expense of, or in preference to, essential maintenance. nobody.

very cool project.

when I was 28 I was living abroad, had a modem and internet access, email, and people used to call me up international to get my email address so they could message me from their flash new account at work that had an email gateway! "wow, man, have you got an email address? I just got email at work, that'd be a cool way to be in touch". those were the days.

IMHO those are the best flights into Wellington!