Jun

I think the lights was on, about a few hundred meters from the parking lot when car got picked up. Not something obvious especially when you think you are moving out of the cops way by entering a parking lot. Yes we do have a mobility card, my parents are really old and my mom also get a bad surgery on her hip. It's challenging for her to walk long distances. The Cayenne air suspension is really helpful for my mom, at the load height it works well... not too high or too low.

NZ S65/S85 rod bearing replacement (highest to lowest) @aja540i 160k kms @TermiPeteNZ 140k kms ??? @Jun 61k kms

When my wife got her Cayenne a few years ago. One of the first things she did was drive to the grocery with my parents. A police car picked up the Cayenne plate number near the grocery, my wife didn't really think it was them. So she continued to drive all the way and parked on the disability parking. Police car followed them all the way through and parked behind them. They where a bit shocked that the Police chased them through. My wife had a conversation with them, apparently the Cayenne has several bad records from the previous owners in Auckland. The officer double checked everything and apologized. They also updated their data to reflect the change of ownership. I guess my wife's story is a bit believable, also there are 2 old folks ridding in the car . Of course back when my parents where younger they can really weave into the traffic of Manila. Also I remember back in the 1980s my dad would drive an Opel Manta 2x the legal driving limit... not that this is enforced in our country

Pretty interesting video for high milage S65 and applicable for S85 engines as well Looking at the video, to be honest the rod bearings looks pretty good for its milage. 152k miles is 244k kms, even our 24 year old Prado doesn't have that milage. We replaced our S85 rod bearings about 61k kms, better condition but definitely beyond normal wear. Mechanical insurance paid the claim. I think @TermiPeteNZ maybe have the highest milage before rod bearing replacement? Anyone else had high milage before replacing their rod bearings? Maybe rod bearing issue is over-hyped?

Busy weekend, we took the car for a quick run. Went back home and my wife wanted to take a particular photo of her car. Turned out much better than we expected, after me fiddling with the phone photo.

Look at what oil you are using. Penrite 10w-60 is much thicker than Castrol 10w-60 at 100c. I noticed this when my mechanic used Penrite on our car. I was a bit puzzled at first, thinking something in the cooling system. I read on some M5 forums about how sensitive is the temp depending on the 100c viscosity. Also after seeing how thick Penrite is on 100c, I think was the thickest on spec sheet. I stopped using Penrite now my needle is about 2 ticks lower than 100, as opposed to the Penrite where it hugs the 100 mark normally. Neither goes over 100 when driven hard. It maybe something else, but it could be for you too.

Looking to buy broken S65 (E90 M3) or S85 (E60 M5) throttle actuators. Looking to do practice upgrade/repair on these throttle actuators. I like to practice on broken actuators, so when I upgrade mine I have enough experience to open and put things back together. Alternatively I can attempt to upgrade/repair your throttle actuator for free, just you pay for the parts (less than $100). No warranty or if can't repair your throttle actuator no bad feelings. I am doing repair it in good faith.

Welcome to the rod bearer club we hold our meetings every 50k to 100k kms, preferably nearer to 50k. As usually beyond 100k kms you get promoted to the connecting rod club. Yes the M button changes a bit, depending on your setting. Usually the P500S (not P500) will make the throttle response much sharper. The throttle body will now open 100% instead of 80-90% or something like that. The intake sound will be more apparent, that is what you actually hear more and not the exhaust on P500S. EDC will go level 2, to be honest that is too stiff for the public roads so my M button is only set level 1. It would also put the steering I believe on a stiff setting (not sure, I maybe wrong but I do feel it). DSC will go to M Dynamic Mode (in theory car will slip, but assist enough). The archaic HUD changes to rpm (not really useful, seems slow and better to look at the real tach) but looks fun. It all depends on what you have M button set to, these are the supposed defaults.... oh yeah I forgot (this feature goes old after 1 time use) the seat bolster will move (delayed) when you turn on M mode.... I feel this is unsafe feature. Imagine turning on M-mode for the first time, go into a corner first time... and suddenly the seats move?!? I wish there as a P400S or something, 500 HP on public roads is over kill and not as enjoyable as lower powered car. This also means less time on the upper range of the revs (it becomes a different car past 6,000 rpm). Yes I have never used S6, I feel really bad when the car is already on S5. I have now learned to slightly back-off after the up shift, just before it engages the next gear and step on it after the gear is engaged. Significantly makes the shift smoother in S3 to S5, and makes driving more engaging. Another trick I learned from an owner at Christchurch, is just use the auto S1 (default, was super annoyed by this before) for the warm up. It's great for this use case, as it's super aggressive in shifting up engine hardly touches 2,000 rpm. Hope to see photos of your car, E61 is not something we usually see often.

I run RE-003 on my R34 Skyline. They work well on spirited driving, sorry no track experience. Data shows its ok on track. It stops well on wet conditions, it's the most comfortable set we had. Previous set are Goodyear F1 GSD3, Bridgestone R001. The improvements it's a lot more quiet and comfortable. It seems to also wear a lot better, so I might actually have to sell and dispose the tires after 10 years from manufacturing. I think most tires these days are pretty good. I just go with the tires that has some data and reviews. And get the best deal I can get, make sure I got the tyre type I need. Brand and model will come 2ndary. This is an interesting video/article about this topic: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/How-bad-can-tyres-make-a-car-Premium-VS-budget-tyres-tested.htm Also look at getting tires shipped from Auckland, I did it once. It was a good experience. I only did as the rims I wanted was sold in Auckland, got Hyper Drive to ship the rims fitted as free shipping. Eventually sold the rims and tires after a few years the same price I purchased it, so it was pretty good.

Michelin PS 4 maybe cheaper. That maybe my next set, but I am happy with the Bridgestone S001 it currently has. Below is 4 vs 4s vs cup 2. I think realistically I don't track the car, 4 is the more appropriate tyre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMv64liOqIE But I go for the cheapest Bridgestone, Goodyear or Michelin. So far for the past few years Tony tires always has given me the best deal for our old cars. I also like their tyre insurance, have used 2x already in the past decade. Since Tony tires has been bought by Bridgestone, that means all our tyres are now Bridgestone. But sometimes I deviate from their offering, using Cooper tyres on our Cayenne as there is no comparable AT tyre available in Bridgestone.

Better yet @martyyyn needs to bring it on the next meetup Curios to hear who has the S85 that sounds the most diesel like on idle

Hehehe, it would sound great, but I think Race will be too noisy for me too.

Welcome to the Rod Bearer Anonymous group If it's Eisenmann Sport (not Race) I might be interested on it, especially if you can easily put back your originals (I want a revert back again). Sometimes I find the E60 to be too quiet, but other times I like it quiet. Maybe those flip switch exhaust cutout will be more suited for me. I do like those Eisenmann tips shape, we have a factory fitted Eisenmann on our Cayenne... would be cool to have octo Eisenmann exhaust tips on the driveway

Yes and no. If I get the under body plates for the Cayenne (people are making them now), it's actually more protected than the Prado. The underbody is flat, diff and transfer case is high up. Ground clearance, approach angle, break-over angle and departure angle of the Cayenne when in high air suspension is actually better than a non-lifted Prado. Gen 1 Cayenne/Touareg are actually not too complicated, but yet definitely can't be repaired by a farmer or Taliban. On recovery, the rear of the Cayenne is actually better than the Prado. I can put a bow shackle on the rear tow bar which will be rated substantially more than the Prado. However there is no rated recovery point on the front the Cayenne, so I have an equalizer strap and use 2 tow hitches (unrated, however people use this... unofficially rated for 2T each point) What is stopping me from turning the Cayenne into a real off-roader it's our most daily driven car. It's also the most comfortable especially for our old folks. I need to eventually buy a normal car for daily driving... but I don't drive daily. What the Prado is great is aside from the simplicity is that after market support. Since it's old Prado feels like a jeep/truck, Cayenne is like a large fat rally car. That Q7 V12 TDI would make a ridiculous project off-roader but 50k is too expensive.

It's becoming really hard to talk to the insurance for the past few years... I had to keep on bumping up our insurance... explaining the the customer service. Telling them that a Nissan is the most expensive car... more than the BMW. Oh the Porsche, that is crap has no value.... Now this is depending on the customer service you get for the year. Last year I just move insurance company because the under writer can't understand that a 2005 M5 is the same car as a 2006 M5. I have only asked 1 time for a valuation from a dealer, so far the other years they are just ok with looking at Trademe or autorader. They would just match the price. Any other luck getting correct insurance coverage aside from going the classic cars insurance?

Yes I though the V10 Touareg was already a bad headache, hence I gone for the slightly less headache V8 Cayenne. What I didn't realize is that Q7 had a V12 TDI, I didn't know about this Q7 until about a few weeks ago. But I think Q7 V12 would be the ultimate money pit.

Gen1 Cayenne, Touareg and smaller extend Q7 (longer wheelbase) is actually very good off-road. Gen1 had proper low gear transfer cases. With very little mods, proper tires and small lift kit makes them really good. Although I haven't use our Cayenne is really hard tracks, just the minor ones it does better than our stock Prado. Here is a 2-inch lift and 35" tires only mod Cayenne S, no other mods. There are also Cayenne's with rare optioned out rear-lockers and detachable sway bars, only 1 in NZ. Although I doubt the Q7 will have rear lockers, however the TDI will more than make up for it.

@leichtbau unfortunately it seems this can't be an option One thing to note most if not all NZ New actually is not as optioned out compared to import models.

Anyone looking at this potential monster? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/audi/q7/listing/3145186845 We have a V8 Cayenne, they are great cars both on and off-road. I guess V12 is a natural addition for V8 and V10 cars This truck even has carbon ceramic brakes. I think the issue with this truck will be the servicing. V10 6.0 engine, tranny, etc I am unsure who will be interested in serving this. Q7 is Cayenne sister car, but longer wheelbase. That means maybe some of the Cayenne off-road mods will work. However it will have to run 20" wheels to fit the large front disks. But there are now lots of 285/50R20 A/T tires now. Recovering a Land Cruiser with 1000 Nm diesel torque Audi will be a ridiculous scenario.

@martyyyn we are not selling ours, I have spent already 50% of the purchase price in replacing a lot of major parts. However since you are just in Kapiti if you want to have a look one up close as a reference when you look at other M5. We can meet somewhere, or organize a mini-meet of M5 E60 (there are 3 of us in Wellington from what I know). Before we purchased ours, I was lucky enough an M5 was being sold in our suburb that had a new clutch. So looked at that really well, and drove it for a short distance. After that is was much easier to justifying flying to Christchurch picking 1 of 4 M5 on sale on the same dealer. I test driven 2 of them in the dealer, our wasn't the best in term of clutch feel but I picked ours because of it's condition and options it had. I had a feeling at that time 53+k kms it had the original clutch, which eventually was right (replaced clutch + most thing in the drive train at 61k kms). Getting the right options and best condition is pretty hard, some luck involved. Also a lot of helpful people around here, helped me a lot in our hunt. Here is my thread when I was looking for one. Maybe some of the post there is still useful, estimated cost of parts/service in NZ (add about 25% for todays prices). If you can get yours from a dealer, try your best a MBI deal. That was useful for me, as the MBI paid 2/3 of our rod bearing repair bill. Hope this helps.

We still have the car, enjoying it at the same time doing some maintenance on it. Cleaning sunroof drains, minor bits and bobs... my first oil change on the car. No more mechanical insurance, so I am free to do what I want on it. 2nd oil change since new bearings, I will do a 3rd one after 2k kms again. It's not as straight forward as the Skyline, that I can do pretty much in a jiffy. It's been a great cruiser for us, hope it runs well for the next few years. Another big item is the actuators where I already bought the upgraded gears, shafts and mosfets.

I was just walking our dog, saw Chris’s @Chris (hope I tagged the right person) car. The daily driven M3 CSL.

Almost broken in, so far nothing has exploded yet 😅. Doing now 4,000 rpm, can't wait to bring it twice that. For now lazy driving around Wellington.

Doug DeMuro said the E60 M5 is the best car you should never own. Your best friend should own one. I followed his advice, I bought my best friend (aka wife) the M5 Leisure Sunday drive today, still breaking in the rod bearings. The new clutch, etc is nice as well.

PM sent, you only need to buy 1 new one. 5 old coils are free.