Eagle

Majority of it is just a revenue gathering exercise under the guise of safety.

Given the rate at which these fail a second hand one is a big gamble. Kits are probably around, not sure what type of diff your car used but places like https://www.difflab.com.au/ sell various ones. Obviously you need varying amount of tools and skill to replace them yourself. Kane Barrie is the guy to talk to, he rebuilds a lot of them. https://www.facebook.com/p/Kayne-Barrie-Motorsport-Ltd-100063718410238/

NZ BMW club. More of a family picnic type meet up rather than a drive by the looks for it.

What a c**t. If that happened to me id be going to court with my dash cam footage. R7 international with Mithheru firmware is probably the best performance and features vs price atm.

Yeah via the site

Looks like generic unit, no real specs etc, probably very slow. Xtrons, AVIN or Eonon are the typical android options that you buy from overseas. Based on those requirements https://www.bluebus.dev/ could be the better option, far more reliable and simple to install. Not having the factory phone setup or being prewired for it is the only real disadvantage if you want hands free calling.

I found it quite satisfying when i dismantled my E39 from complete car to scrap metal. Only ended up with a small amount of plastic trims pieces for the landfill. Rest of the car going to scrap dealers?

They gravitate towards things that match their waistlines

Yeah they have an aftermarket look for sure

Good colour and spec. Later M42's had a lot the issue sorted from what i read.

Some people couldn't handle alternate view points without crying. Same reason any Off topic discussion tends to gets shut down.

Forums started to die when facebook etc became the new medium. Most of the older members moved onto other things as you tend to do when you age. Forums owners stop being involved and big car meets/cruises were getting harder to pull off for various reasons which accelerated things. Forum is only as good as it's members. This place would actually be dead if not regulars contributing. Lots of lurkers for sure some of which are only after parts or car deals.

5-6 years seems to be the average suggested time to replace and what id call old myself, 2 years\10k ain't old and ive never seen anything that states 2yr\10k results in any noticeable performance loss. Last 2x sets of PS4 had no noticeable less grip than new in the dry or wet when they were at 2-3mm and a couple of years old, only real advantage would be been aquaplaning resistance. Ive seen a test where a worn 2mm tread Michelin beats a cheap tyre in all conditions. Yeah cheap stuff has improved but so has the high end. Unfortunately big wheels are one of those dumb modern trends that you pay for. I likely wouldn't be putting on high end rubber on either if i had to own something with 19\20's, lots mid range options that have been tested so least i have an idea of what going to give me the best price vs performance.

Indeed hence the question. The odds are it was written off because insurance companies and most people can't do this, easier said than done. I would assume a vehicle like this would have been valued by a reputable vehicle valuer, so probably has a more realistic market value rather than an owner inflated one in a buyers markets.

End of the day it a safety issue to me. You dont need grip until you do and its very easy to buy on price with things like tyres. If you had do an evasive brake or maneuver in wet a good tyre is going to give a far better chance and enable stability control systems etc to work the best they can no avoid crashing. As above i bet tyres rarely get blamed for accidents even though they would probably prevent lots of them. I don't see any major manufacturers using any of these inferior brands and they always want to save money.

What do you estimate the cost range would be to repair it for someone with no contacts? Surely this thing wouldn't be worth more than 40k in this current market given its crash repaired status.

If the wiring colours match up with the diagram then its probably accurate. If you insert a pin, paper clip etc into the back of the green\yellow connector so it touching the metal (the one that connects directly to the mirror, under plastic trim?) You should read +12V with the multimeter set on 20 position with the red lead on the pin yellow\green wire and black lead grounded to bare metal (screw\bolt on body\roof) I think its a connection issue with your pins but i you'd need to post photos of what you are talking about regarding the connectors above as im not familiar with E63 wiring or what you trying to do exactly. Id just install one of these - https://www.jaycar.co.nz/double-standard-blade-fuse-socket-wire-tap/p/SF5115?pos=3&queryId=2eea1039fdd6f7f968f4337ac7e42a5f&sort=relevance&searchText=Fuse Socket Wire Tap Running a wire from fuse box, up pillar trim isnt that hard and you shouldnt have to take off much besides pillar trim, maybe the glove box then at least you got a perfect connection with a separate circuit These work well but never seen them in NZ

Ive never used those style leads, only wire or fuse tap, they dont look secure to me but if you sure the pins are making good contact then you probably need to probe the wires and verify 12V with the meter. Is that wiring diagram accurate? If you do have power on the green\yellow then its probably not making a good ground connection so id go for the above or wire tap. Not sure what are you saying about the plug. You can only really tap into the back of the harness connector (carside) with what you are using

Looks ok . Never seen a BMW where brown wasn't ground. You'd need to insert a pin etc first into the back on the mirror connector to find 12V because normal multimeter leads are too big. You can always put a terminal on the ground wire and use an existing screw\bolt around the area to ground it to the roof\body, i think that was i did with mine to avoid to avoid using another tap,

What was the reasoning? From what i saw the decreased wear rate was the main selling point. I know the grip was suppose to be slightly improved too but you probably couldn't tell them different unless you had measuring equipment. I went thru 2 sets of PS4's on my old E39 530i and they only lasted me 25-30,000km but wasnt easy on them. PS4 have a ST version too which is suppose to be quieter\softer than the regular RE003 used to be my go to but the only area i found RE003's found superior to the PS4's was steering feel\response. They were cheaper than RE003 for ages, maybe still are?. They are still plenty capable but are quite old entry level tech now with Bridgestone having quite replacements.

Yep everything has gone up. Advantage (Beaurepairs) price for a Michellin PS5 225/40R18 on Nov 2022 was $360-70 and now $406 ($456 non special). PS4's at the time were around $300 iirc. Bigger sizes seem to have gone up even more. Hyper had 225/45R17 PS4's $240-$260 deals for years. A PS5 is now $317 or $365 (no special) at Advantage. Really need trade discounts now. Guess ive been lucky paying around $250 a tyre for decades.

So you are saying you pulled the compressor plug and have no power when pressing the A\C button? You can manually test the clutch by applying 12V. If its not working then you either try another clutch from a wrecked unit or another compressor.

Being one of the OG sh*t tyres the construction tech maybe they worse than the average Chinese etc flavor of the month. I still remember them squealing going around corners at fairly slow speeds and people always looking.

Purple tag is a must, may have to adapt your turn in as its so precise when the rest of your steering\suspension up to scratch. I am curious what the LF20 feels like with the purple tag rack. My E46 is a bit light in the steering.

My W140 S600 came on brand new linglongs, you could barely move if you had to do a hill start because ESP kept cutting the power. My Pirelli P7's on the compact are reviewed to be poor in the wet compared to other main brands but i felt they were ok. Lots of subjectivity, environment and vehicles variables with tyres for sure. RE003 at least get very noisy when worn too. Michelin are my goto these days for car and bike tyres, they arent the best in all areas but always near the top.