jon dee

Thanks smiddy... I'll get onto that tomorrow or Saturday and post my impressions Cheers...

Help a brother out I opened the xHP Flashtool and it said there was an update available, so I accepted the download. Am I correct in thinking that the update will have the new settings for my existing Stage 3 trans tune ? And if so, all I have to do is connect to the car, open the app, and the trans tune will be automatically updated to the latest settings ? Is it as easy as that, or are there some other steps involved ? Need to ask about this as the internet does not seem to have any information how or if installing the update might differ from installing a complete new tune that already incorporates the updates. Cheers...

Yusss... I'd really like a set of Wagner downpipes because of the flexi section, but the price of getting a set into NZ is crazy. So I shall just order a China made set and settle for less than perfection. The money I save will easily cover the cost of installation plus buy a set of BMS filters for the intake side Cheers...

Been doing a bit more digging and the e30 question seems to come down to how often you fill your car up. Appears that ethanol fuels don't like sitting around in the tank for long periods, especially in cooler/damper climates such as here in Wellington. Other than that I can't find any hard evidence that running a tank of e30 through a stock n54 335i (with an appropriate tune) does any measurable harm. So, while I like the idea of trying an e30 mix just for giggles, my car does not get a lot of use and it can take months to use up a full tank. And apart from the occasional short sprint event there is not much opportunity to safely unleash the full performance of the car even as it stands. Leaving aside the obvious suggestion of using the car a lot more often, I am forced to the conclusion that e30 must stay on my automotive bucket list for a bit longer. On the other hand, I see no real disadvantage to installing downpipes Cheers...

Barely driven the car this year but have collected a few upgrade bits to install, so that will give me something to do during winter. Will move up to Stage 1+ and see how that feels. Also been thinking a bit further down the line and considering (a) if downpipes are really worth the effort, and (b) if running an e30 blend on Stage 1+ might be a better option ? Which brings me to the big question which it seems impossible to get a straight answer from the interwebz... does putting an e30 blend in the tank create instant death to all manner of mechanical parts, or is the car designed to handle a mild ethanol blend with no ill effects ? I do understand that ethanol is hygroscopic so I would need to use a fuel stabilizer, but other than that... any problems ? Cheers...

I'm with the Hutt Valley Motorsport Club which runs Port Road (twice each year), the Wallaceville Hillclimb, a winter Motorkhana series and assists the Wellington Car Club in the running of their Shelley Bay Sprint and Alexandra Road events. The Hutt Valley club rooms are in Petone and club night is the first Thursday of each month. https://www.huttvalleymotorsport.co.nz/about NB: Club nights not happening at the moment of course. It will be on the facebook page when they start again. They are active on facebook and a great bunch of guys. Everyone with an interest in motorsport is welcome to come to a club night and there is usually an interesting car in the club rooms to highlight some facet of the sport. Once you are a member of a club and have an appropriate MANZ licence you can enter events run by other clubs providing your car meets the requirements of the supplementary regulations regarding safety features and driver's apparel. I run a standard road car which does not require a cage, HAN's device, double layer suit etc., and only have the basic M-Grade licence. If you are serious or want to run on gravel or race on circuits you will likely need a higher grade of licence. But then if you were serious you would know all of that Cheers...

Having a bit of a tidy up and found a vid from Port Road... Not fast but a good day out talking sh*t with the guys Got one from Alexandra Road as well... Another beaut day in the sun and fresh air Cheers...

Should have stuck with the auto log... might have got something useful if I had done that. Instead went with manual logging thinking that I could log a whole run (maybe 2 minutes worth) as I used to do with my laptop. Turns out manual logging only captures 10 seconds worth of data so I got four 10 second logs of the car idling. The learning process would be much shorter if the instructions actually included a wee bit more useful information. Never mind... it was a fun day out and I managed to improve my time each run, so happy with that Cheers...

Dayam... I do a bit of improvising myself, even use zip ties for holding things in place. But using them to hold an in-tank pump together is next level bodge !!! Pleased to see that you put it all back to stock so the next owner of the car didn't have to deal with fuel problems. Reading between the lines it seems that the stock fuel system does have the ability to handle modest performance upgrades. MHD suggest that it should be OK running up to E30 tunes before a LPFP upgrade is required. Hopefully, as I'm not planning to run any kind of ethanol mix in the foreseeable future, that extra capacity will keep the stock pump in my car working for another 20 or 30,000km before it needs replacing. Cheers...

You got my interest, so I thought I would school myself on how the LPFP works. Now I know that it is not just a simple mechanical pump and FPR. It is driven by an electric motor powered by a PWM controller working in closed loop with a pressure sensor. Basically what you do when CAN bus rules your world Apparently the control loop does this... If I understand correctly, the DME commands the pump controller to run at a duty cycle that is expected to deliver the required amount of fuel (calculated by the DME). If either the pump or pump controller is not performing to spec, then the fuel delivery and/or pressure will be lower than commanded. And this is why we should be concerned if the logged pressure drops below 50psi. A quick search told me that the target LPFP pressure is 72.5psi (?). But I digress... since it takes fuel to make hp and more fuel to make more hp, one would guess that maximum fuel flow will occur at the point of maximum power. Using this example of an (allegedly) bone stock 2010 e92 335i peak power occurs at around 5600rpm so as pointed out above, there is no need to redline the engine to check the performance of the LPFP. Full marks to that man Cheers...

Early days yet But I will be running up the hill at Alexandra Road this weekend so will try the auto log function and see if I can get a decent pull logged. Won't be any good for Virtual Dyno but should be able to see if the low pressure pump is up to the job. Cheers...

Interesting, I see that some people use their WOT logs with Virtual Dyno to get an idea of what power/torque they are making. I used that app quite a few years ago for the same purpose on my Corolla and found it moderately useful. The current version even has the e92 335i characterised, so no need to create your own profile. Handy for folks that don't have a phone with accelerometer built-in. Cheers...

Got the Monitor function unlocked and working. Checked out Datazap and made an account... even loaded a little log of me fiddling with the gas pedal in the garage. Will have a shot at doing a full throttle log when I get a chance but need to know.. how fast is an e92 335i auto traveling in third gear when it hits redline ? If it is more than 100kph I'll have to start planning Cheers...

Looks like if I want to make logs all I need to do is purchase the MHD "Monitor" module and I'm good to go. Then export the logs as .CSV files and read them with Megalogviewer or any similar program that reads and displays logs. Bit busy at the moment but I will get onto this next week and see what I can find out. Cheers...

Yeah... I remember seeing that somewhere., but I think you need some other program for viewing the logs? Anyways I will be looking into that later tonight. As a matter of interest I was competing in a club hillclimb event today and the car made many hot starts after sitting anywhere from a couple of minutes up to half an hour. It started perfect every time so maybe the few times it had to crank longer than usual were just random events? I'll wait and see if it becomes a regular thing before I start worrying Cheers...

Haven't got round to figuring out how to log pressures yet, but I will look into it. I can read codes though, so will check if there are any recorded. Car had all new coils and plugs not long before I bought it, and it runs well in all other respects without putting any fault lights up on the dash, Just as an aside, I would have thought that the engine would need more enrichment for a cold start than it would for a hot start. So if the pump pressure was failing would it not have problems with cold starts also ? Cheers...

I have noticed recently that if I shut the car down when it has been driven for a while (nothing excessive) it can struggle to start cleanly if I start it again after half an hour or so. Needs a couple of tries and sometimes cranks fast for 2 or 3 seconds before catching. Starts perfect from cold and if re-started after a short stop. Given that that the under hood temperature (especially on the turbo side) is pretty high after a run this certainly appears to be a heatsoak issue. Is this a common thing with the n54 ? And if it is, can it be cured or is it just something I have to live with ? Cheers...

My 2008 e92 was factory fitted with runflats so no spare, jack.or wheelbrace. Had to hunt them down and chuck them in the boot as the car is running on standard tyres. Yours would most likely be the same. A worn brake pad may make a noise but it would not account for unusual tyre wear. I'd be looking at things like rear camber and tyre pressure. Looks like your tyres have a bit of stretch so the pressure should be a few psi higher than standard. Low pressures would be working the sidewalls harder and if you are running negative camber that could be causing the inner to heat up and wear faster. Cheers... jon dee

Yeah... I don't do a lot of km in a year, so wear life is not such a big deal. What I want are tyres that are suitable to drive to a sprint event and do a few runs without having to change wheels. From what you say and what I read I think these would do the job. Just got to hunt down a set at an acceptable price. Another option I am still considering is the Zestino Gredge 07R that are a similar design. These seem to be a little more "race" focussed and maybe not so good for primarily road use. Prices are pretty good though Cheers... Jon Dee

Tried searching these but didin't bring up anything, so wondering if anyone has used these tyres ? They look mean, are available in the OEM 335i sizes and get good reviews. Cheers... Jon Dee

Fair comment. The tread pattern looks like it should be directinal but the only sidewall marking was "this side out". I looked for a "rotation" marking but could not see one, so you are on the money. Never came across that before and wouldn't buy such a tyre myself, so that is the new thing I learned today Cheers... jondee86

OK, so bit of an update. Apart from the bumping / clunking /whatever issue, there was a bit of that waaa.... waaa... waaa... waaa... sound that varies with wheel speed coming from the front. It was more noticeable at low speed and when slowing to a stop, and I was picking probably a wheel bearing on the way out. But reading a lot of posts on many different forums indicated that sometimes a tyre can cause this kind of noise. So off came the front wheels (Goodyear 235/40-18XL assymetric tyres 50% worn) and on went the front wheels from my new set (Neuton 225/40-18 directional tyres 20% worn). Went for a drive and dang me... not only did the waaa... waaa... noise disappear, but the tyre thumping over road surface irregularities was also considerably reduced !!! The ride and noise level is now pretty much in line with what I expected from a BMW I have never never owned a car that used anything lower that 55-series tyres, so had no experience with 35 and 40 series tyres to guide me. With such short sidewalls the tyres cannot absorb much bump energy which means that the suspension does more work. The upside is much crisper handling and I'm all for that. Looking at the Goodyear tyres, they are XL rated which I gather means that they are stiffer to handle Xtra Load. They are also assymetric AND directional, which as I understand it means that they come with 1 x RH and 1 x LH tyre to make an axle pair. However, it looks like the tyre shop mounted two identical tyres which means that one was rotating in the wrong direction. I think the combination of a heavier tyre and greater wear caused the thumping and the incorrect mounting and/or tread wear contributed the extra noise. Cheers... jondee86 "The only reason I make mistakes is so that I can learn from them...".

When I got my Corolla one of the first things I did was install a complete set of TRD rubber suspension bushes, followed shortly after by lowering springs and short stroke shocks. I like to know that those things are new even if the car is old. With this car the plan is to replace as many wearing parts as the budget allows, but not to mess with springs or shocks as I like the way the car rides now. When your message arrived I was just ordering front wheel bearings. Found some at a pretty good price so I thought I would grab them so they would be on hand when the rotors are due for replacing. Will be looking at the M-Series arms next. Cheers... jondee

Good comments... all of them Perhaps, I should have emphasised the fact that although I have driven hundreds of thousands of kilometres in assorted Japanese cars over the years, I had never driven a BM or even a Merc prior to buying this car. Neither had I driven a car with 35 and 40 series tyres, so I had no reference to help me establish what was normal. Now, thanks to the responses received, I am reasonably certain that there is no real problem beyond the typical wear and tear that can be expected after 85,000 km. I will do some further checking myself and get a professional inspection of the suspension when that can be arranged. There is a lot to be learned about this car, and you can expect me to ask a few more (possibly dumb) questions as I come to grips with it. Thanks for the help so far. Cheers... jondee

Don't doubt that for a minute but it has been 5 years or so since I last bought US$ and from memory they sat in the 0.80 to 0.85 range back then. Now around 0.60 and with the crazy cost of postage/shipping from the US to NZ plus GST and border costs you don't have to buy much of anything before you have spent a thousand bux. !!!! Doesn't mean I don't buy stuff from the USA as they usually have the best selection and best prices for genuine big brand goods. But I am careful to shop around for the best deal inclusive of shipping before placing an order. Amazon can be quite helpful sometimes Cheers... jondee