Eagle

Shipping cost for 2x bump stops converted to NZD.

FCP (not to mention the always way overpriced genuine parts) -  $67  

Rockauto - $27 

Spareto - $48  

Schmedimann - $36

Turners - $28 (better than i though)

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

Spareto

They also have the most balanced shipping cost calculator ive found. All the others adding certain items that weight nothing\arent large ramp the shipping cost up considerably, near doubling alot of the time. You could probably email to sort this but i cant be fooked with that rigmarole.

Both are i suppose but technically not as good as they once were. Britool is the more cheaper brand now days. That same ratchet cost about $400 here in NZD, no way id pay that for one given they are made in Taiwan).

Ive got Bahco ratchet spanners and screwdrivers which i cant fault. I dont think id bother with anything fuller for any use in my experience. I dont find the difference price between typical higher end Taiwanese stuff (Toptul, King Tony, Genius Gearwrench etc etc) and mid range that much for your basic tool kits. In saying that every brand has their good and bad stuff for the price depending on your needs. I always keep an eye out for quality 2nd hand stuff on trademe or facebook as too you can pickup some good bargains.

35 minutes ago, E63 said:

Rattle gun for suspension, steering, lug bolts?

Funny you mention Japanese FWD. My wife’s car is a Note so I’ll work on that as well. Got about 3 months to do drive belt, spark plugs, and a few other bits before WoF. Got a picture of the spanners you’re talking about?

Yeah just about everything, crank bolts or axle nuts may or not work vehicle dependent but will do everything else in most cases. If you don't have a rattle gun and can only buy one then its certainly the one to get in the Milwaukee range.

The M12 3\8" fuel ratchet is mostly my Japanese front of engine tool time saver, BMW's i tend to work on i can use the impact in most spots or just use hand tools easy enough.

https://www.primetools.co.uk/product/britool-hallmark-prxl-12pc-extra-long-flat-ratchet-ring-spanner-set-8-19mm/

I bought this from the same place for around $~350 landed at the time. Was the only set i could find (at the time) that wasn't crazily priced. They don't feel as nice as higher end Taiwanese, US etc ones but they have held up nearly 6 years of full time use without issue.

https://www.tooljunction.co.nz/products/toptul-flat-type-extra-long-double-ring-wrench?variant=41195417501845&currency=NZD

Ive got one of these which i used to use before the above. Does the job of cracking fasteners before you switch to normal ratchet spanner or wrench

https://www.primetools.co.uk/product/facom-sxl-161-12-dr-extendable-ratchet-264-397mm/

Not really a must but have but i use it all the time for any thing 1\2" related, suspension and turning engines over being the main ones. Ability to extend to give breaker bar like leverage then shrink when in tighter spaces is very handy.

Comes down to what you are working on in my experience. A basic tool set you all you needed on 80's BMW's.

I could go on forever but a set of extra long double ring ratchetting spanners is one of my most used tool (almost essential on stupid Japanese etc designed FWD engines)

EDIT: + M18 mid torque rattle gun.

On 11/2/2023 at 9:00 PM, hqstu said:

Just installed B4's all round on the e83 X3, it's doing a fair few km atm so will be interesting to see how they go/last... I'm hoping they should be good for a longtime...

Swapped out the fronts and wallowing\slop is gone. Should be even better with new rack and alignment.

Yeah should be a good normal usage test. They going to take awhile to catch to worn OE ones so im sure they adequate for your usage. Im giving my old fronts to a mate on 100,000km OE ones.   

Any photos of them without the center caps? Could be just me but i feel like would look better.

2 hours ago, Palazzo said:

Don’t get me wrong, I now triangulate all parts across different sites. 
Rock Auto won out last time on price while I was cross checking.

I forgot about RockAuto. Yeah you are right they are sometimes cheaper, but their selection is pretty poor for decent quality parts. Their shipping prices are calculated very inconsistent too i find so only good for one offs or a few small items if they happen to have them. 

9 hours ago, E63 said:

Nice. What European stores do you like to use? I’ve been thinking about some sport springs from Tunershop, shipping is a lot more reasonable than from the USA. ECS Tuning has some pisstake shipping quotes.

Spareto for the most part these days. Schmeidmann for BMW stuff. Both way cheaper any US store. FCP is are more expensive and still use USPS i assume? (they suck compared to Fedex and DHL)

2 hours ago, Vass said:

The maximum I'd caught the temperature at was 112°. With factory coding, the needle would not have even moved beyond dead center in that instance

Not sure what you coded you values to, but yeah i think the point is the have warning\be scared as opposed to having none\instant overheat.

I coded mine (cant remember values) it drops down 11 o'clock mark a lot more with my driving, ecu orders the thermostat to low ~80's under bigger loads for safety (ideally should be around that all the time but emissions, mpg, and other bs)

2 hours ago, Vass said:

Feel like I'd only be telling a partial story if I didn't spill the beans on an assortment of mishaps I've had during the wrench-a-thon of the past month

Given the total extent of your work i reckon you have done well. Being able to ID and fix mistakes properly before any damage is closely second to not making them in my book. Dont think you have actually broken or really damaged anything either? so its a nice lesson rather than a painful one. 

Air freight seems faster than ever though. DHL have been delivering stuff to me in 4 days from Europe. 

4 hours ago, Olaf said:

The OEM Sachs in my e46 have been there for nearly 90k kms and are nowhere near done, though are not just like new

That's what i thought about mine and its true to certain extent, but as above. I see the 100k mark for replacements mentioned a fair bit. All the 90's-00's BMW's with <100k etc on original equipment ive driven had worn (in my opinion) dampers, so im inclined believe that for a general rule if they have never been replaced.  

Will see how big of difference it makes when the front ones go on this weekend.  

4 hours ago, Olaf said:

 Has anyone been game enough to try Meyle shocks/struts

Had the steel non msport ones on my E39 530i before i went to mspec stuff. Obviously miles ahead of the worn OE 230,000km shocks they replaced. I drove mostly expressway on them for around 60-70,000k. One was misting when i sold them but they still felt ok, certainly not as good as the replacements but with spring and swaybar changes i couldnt compare.

Ah sorry must of got mixed up with Sachs.

4 hours ago, Olaf said:

If you're a Bilstein fanboy maybe committing heavily and going B6 and appropriate springs is the thing to do? 

I find B6's too harsh in general for our roads, running them and firmer springs would ruin this car i reckon. Koni are decent but a bit overpriced for what they are, suppose you can adjust dampening somewhat to compensate for wear and a plus, but rebuilding them here cost the same as new ones overseas which always annoyed me. B4's cost me $780 NZD from Spareto. Bilstein\Koni's are around $~1500 landed iirc 

The rear's have settled in nicely with ride quality and handling restored. Got new fronts coming so will see how long this set last for this time without excessive speed bumps and more open road. They are still very usable compared to what on the average NZ older car, they just out of their optimal performance range. As ive been preaching for years only replacing one axle always shows up the weaker one.  

4 hours ago, Olaf said:

I ran Sachs OE and H&R sportsprings on my Volvo 855-T5,

@hunter is running Genuine OE Sachs on his E39, i have no doubt they will outlast most offerings on the market. No doubt they have better\more consistent performance too compared to aftermarket Sachs which arent known to last long either.

Not sure what profile Dunlop uses but a different shaped tyre may also help in the future. 

Sedan has plastic trim inserts around the car unlike coupes with just the pin like indent. That M3 would look ok on a coupe im guessing. Ive seen msport ones mixed up and once you see you cannot unsee, looks odd. 

Yeah i did them to get my castor reading back to spec as it was reading low. Never felt any difference otherwise.

Ive got some loose Meyle HD front control arm bushings floating around, near new, bought a set to use the brackets for Z4M ones. $20 + shipping you you want them. I think these along with the ones you mention above are the ones that give the best results + sway bar bushings\links.

18 hours ago, Harper said:

I really hadn't planned on getting these but the more I thought about it the more I realised that reusing the old tired struts and springs would really take away from the experience.

Nice. Can't of been cheap with shipping prices these days. Guess you are doing all the other suspension bushings now or at some point? or at least the RTABS?. E46 got to be the last BMW that doesnt cost very much to sort suspension wise.

Ive always had a much better match going off a good sample than paint codes, probably for that reason.

Haha. I asked the local parts guy about pricing once - he said they can ring\enquire to Germany about the price, but it can go up or down and then it gets updated to that value regardless. 

Actually a 21.5mm upper ive never seen -33531091599

Dealer wont be cheaper than Schmeidmann but can be close. I bought the same ones back in the day for bugger all maybe 20-30 NZD ea. My theory is E30 tax caused the hike.

Try doubling your spares up for a test?. If it works you modify them a bit better or get something custom made (used to run 10mm poly ones on my E30) 

Looks like URO do them now - https://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspension-Steering/Springs_Sway_Bars/Rear-Spring-Pad-15mm-Thickness-E30-E36-E46-Z3-Z4.html

Ah didnt know about that 28 days thing. Guessing you not going back to BMW then?    

4 hours ago, Vass said:

Yeah I probably looked like I could afford it hahah. To be fair, was prepared to pay a bit extra the first time around since so many components were changed so not too disgruntled. At least it's sorted and riding well. Last place I went to for an alignment didn't even give me an alignment sheet.

I hope so. Lots of places don't give the sheet unless you ask.  I assume they think most people dont understand it or care to have it anyway.

14mm more poke in the rear is quite a bit compared to factory. Id try thicker spring pads if it is the tyre that rubbing. Problem with adjusting camber is the toe changes (more negative more toe out) so technically need another alignment. 

7 hours ago, Vass said:

I had asked what they charge for an alignment when I called to book in the appointment the day before - $125 including GST. So I was slightly taken aback when a few hours later I got a text telling me the car is ready for pickup and that the total comes to $322.90...

Its just 2x simple camber arms ffs, everything else is the same. Nearly 3x the price is something id expect for adjusting coilovers. Sounds like whoever was doing it didnt know what they are doing or they wanted to extract more money out of you, probably both given my experience with dealers.

8 hours ago, Vass said:

One downer in all of this is that my excursion behind the timing cover did not fix the startup rattle issue. My last remaining hypothesis is that the needle bearings in the VANOS units got tightened up excessively when I was putting in the anti-rattle rings and aren't able to rotate quite freely as the rattle seems to be coming from the top end of the engine

Ive never done the rings because it seems like a game of guess the tolerances. 

Id never be convinced he spent even close 100k restoring it. Maybe 50k and he wants another 50k profit. 

To be fair the equivalent aftermarket Sachs probably wouldnt last much longer. Those TRW's i put in my car are 62 euro a set from Spareto, so even if they only do 15,000km they are still a good buy.