Eagle

Not saying anything critically wrong with their rotors or pads but Techstop are a low end brand, ive fitted many set of their pads and rotors to cars but id never put them on my own car. Local generic option is NZAD @ $414 a pair. Yet to hear anything negative, i and others have used them on all sort of cars and driving over the years. Best International option is Micks Garage if you wanted a Mintex set @ $285 a pair shipped. They have always turned up in 10 days or less for me.

I can understand buying car to flick but justifying a 4k premium due to the 'extras added' is grasping

If it stays on it would have logged a fault code and you'd have to get it scanned to accurately pinpoint the problem. Kerry at Mosen Europarts will help you out in that regard.

No idea what 'new shape' is suppose to mean given its a pre-facelift and were are in 2019. +1 to what Dave says. They are cheap for valid reasons.

Assumed everyone who worked on their car would have a vice haha, my one come off really easy in a vice with a little heat applied. My bfg is reversed for angry management sessions particularly on asian cars.

From what you say it's most likely seated incorrectly due to inadequate lubrication of o-rings and\or the surface not being prepared properly (smooth to touch). I did my own car yesterday and used a small wire brush then green scotch bite to clean and a flush to finish. Used a coating of tap grease (in my case) on both o-rings and holes to prevent any damage upon install and make it easier to fit. I doubt Repco would have anything. I use seal innovations for most of my o-rings but you could try the dealer.

Thought i better attend to the last real pieces of preventative engine work. New coolant pipes under the manifold. They were the original ones which had done 290,000km, picture shows how they fail, they have 2 o-rings which helps and the rest of the pipe was fine. A chunk of plastic must of broke off one pipe, and when i flushed the system it made it's way into the heater valve which jammed one side open, unfortunately took a little nick out of the non replaceable housing seal but it still appears to work ok. BMW plastic truly is the a gift that keeps on giving. Re-did the vanos seals as it felt like they weren't performing like they used to and was getting low rpm surging in first gear. Along with an adaption reset and its much more responsive with extra torque, and easier to drive with less clutch required. Rebuilt the alternator with new bearings,slip ring and brushes for $50 in parts. The original brushes were on their on tip toes. A time consuming fiddly job but worth it compared to unknown 2nd hand one or worse, a dubious Chinese special that would cost hundreds.

I've never had any issues with their suspension quality or longevity , the price difference between say Lemforder isnt that big for a lot of it (says to me the quality is good), they are easier to source like you said. Im running their front HD upper arms, HD sway bar links, lower arms and a couple of control arms in the rear with the rest being Lemforder. All done nearly 70,000km so far with no hints of failure.

Looks out of place to me but maybe he just threw them to keep his old ones, some weaves would probably look better.

Probably gone awhile ago but you know one mans stuffed is another man drives well. n saying that it costs 1000's to properly overhaul the suspension and steering on these so can't really blame people. How the rear end? because in my experience its usually worse in regards to stuffed joints.

Fold down sedan seats are very useful in a E39 sedan, one of the reasons i kept mine. Fuel economy depends on your traffic situation, but my experience driving them around Waikato, the 540i's average 2-3L more than the 528i\530i per 100km. I agree the E34 535i has terrible economy but all the other advantages outweigh that for me. E34 is probably the way to go if you want to keep costs down with decent reliability. I like E39's but they far more expense to get back to good mechanical condition when worn.

I definitely wouldn't be using WD40 for something like this, for example you can get a silicone grease from Repco that would be a far better job for sealing and lubrication while costing very little

Yeah i use a small wire brush, fine sand paper, brake cleaner and a rag to make sure its mint. If it has corrosion then i use a small amount of sealant wiped around to fill in the imperfections. Was it the genuine part? i know some aftermarket pipes can have problems seating correctly due to tolerances. I wouldnt risk re-using the o-ring again given what the job like, but if you have access to pressure tester then you can test it properly before putting the intake on if it needs to be re done. Throttle body and intake gaskets should be ok to reuse given they are new.

Are you talking about plastic pipe you replaced or the actual rubber hose going to thermostat? You need to clean with wire brush etc and lube those orings when installing those pipes and usually orings on hoses to reduce risk of damage There are 2 bleed screws. I blow into the expansion tank with thermostat one cracked to push air out before starting the engine, then repeat with expansion tank one, speed up process if you don't have pressure tester etc

Yep id be expecting the clutch\flywheel setup based on what you say and that sound. Some of these aftermarket\custom setups run the risk of this sort of thing in my experience.

Depends on what they are doing exactly?. Purely transmission removal and replacement should be approx 4-5 hr job.

What clutch\flywheel setup are you running?

All aligned and driving fairly good with airbag being ok also. I thought BMW spec'd a little toe in instead of 0, its not bad but it doesn't track quite exactly how i want it like my usual 1-2mm in per side setting, i will adjust it myself at some point. Main thing it thought it feels like msport setup should, firm but controlled with quicker turn in and reduced roll thanks to the bigger swaybars. A small increase NVH with the new springs but dampeners are matched\valved better with this setup, especially on the compression side. So it rides better or worse depending on your preference haha.

Pretty much the same performance as the R1\R3 but with arrows. Also useful for those smaller towns where police love to generate income, ie roads suddenly drop from 70-80kph to 50kph where i always just roll off the gas never braking The other night i picked up what was soon discovered as breath test check point, first for me.

Good point, they did the same to me to a degree or didn't specify currency, luckily DHL asked for confirmation in my case.

+1 NZAD. Never had any issues on all sorts of BMW and conditions +1 Micks garage if want branded items, probably cheaper

Good find, Eibachs arent cheap to land here. Most aftermarket bars are much bigger than stock especially when going from non msport, I went from a 22.5>27mm in the front and 13<18mm in rear with my Eibachs.

Id say timing chain if i had to guess but the video is a pretty poor regardless. As above it should be easy enough to pin point in person

Took around 30mins, half of that was probably cleaning. $150 at the local dealer here for the main cowl which is a good price and 75mm 2 jaw puller worked well to take the arms off

Finally got around to fitting my Sachs sport strut and ACS spring combo that i had pre-assembled with new hardware, makes the job much more relaxing. The drop is near bang on what i wanted which was said to be slightly lower than Msport springs based on info i could find. Haven't got a wheel alignment yet so no doubt the toe and camber are way out so can't speak for handling yet, I'll be booking one at the dealer since it still needs the airbags checked. Ride quality is much more compliant though coming from the Meyle's, they did handle well but had your typical high pressure gas characteristics. New windscreen cowl and side cowls finally done after 4 years too. Got some cooling system parts to refresh for piece then it will be mostly done mechanically