Yuen

Good point. I'd forgotten that they're different brands.

Number 3 for cool but not so obviously modified. Number 2 looks best and is more true to the F4LLEN plate (more like your previous cars). And IMO no matter what do keep the tail lights red - or you could consider going with OEM smoked Hellas (only the clear section is smoked). Nice to see you got that car btw, was admiring it before, nice wheels

Just to clarify, are you trying to remove the entire lamp? If so - not necessary, just get a shot of the back of the lamps from the engine bay, just want to see if the factory ballasts are in there and if things look normal. From your pics I can see you have factory Bosch xenon lamps so that's good. And the lenses look fine. Get us a pic of the car shining the light onto a wall or garage door, say 3m away. I'm guessing the lights need to be re-adjusted to aim higher. On an E39 a common problem is that the adjusters inside the headlight which hold the projector's vertical and horizontal position break and the projector points towards the ground. But I'm not sure if the E46 uses the same design.

My experience is that a BMW costs more to maintain than a Honda, in terms of average parts cost. However it doesn't cost nearly as much as what the average person seems to think. In fact the comment that BMWs are really expensive to maintain usually originate from people who have never owned a BMW (or happened to buy a dog). They just heard it from a friend of a friend of a friend. IMHO, the extra cost involved in owning a BMW is well worth it. They're great cars to drive. But while some people can appreciate that, some will never understand. So it's really up to you. If you like them, make sure you get a pre-purchase inspection first (Glenn does them) and enjoy the motoring. Oh, and there's always mechanical insurance if you still don't feel comfortable.

I agree with Martyn. If you want new wheels, keep the old ones. I think the kind of buyer who appreciates an old M5 will want the throwing stars.

Did you have a short shifter?

Is this really the first time Glenn?

I like the part number for labour

......

Quite worrying if they're HIDs and considered too dim. Can you post pictures of your headlights so we can assess what could be causing the problem? Both inside (behind the headlight) and outside (showing the lenses) would be good.

Sh*t just saw this now, that's a nasty hit, glad you're ok Cain, good call on not heading down the bridge to the tracks... Your car was so nice, it's a real pity.

You would increase the ISO at night if you didn't have a tripod and were shooting a moving subject. But I'm assuming you're using the tripod and your car will be stationary - you will get the best quality pictures with that setup.

Ok, put it on S (shutter priority) and play around with the shutter speed, to find the correct exposure. Set it to the lowest ISO possible to reduce noise. Worst come to worse just flick it on to night scene mode and focus on the area you want to expose for (ie: but you may overexpose the headlights if they're on). Unfortunately at the end of the day small cameras with their small sensors will never get the pictures a DSLR can, but I'm sure you can still work on maximising your camera's capabilities.

Hi Brook, firstly what camera do you have, does it have a manual mode? And you will definitely need a tripod.

Yep, got to be real careful with selling a nice car like yours Graham. You have to give your own details though, right?

Thanks for that, very comprehensive, I think this should be parked.

Happy Birthday Simon, video of skid

Are you saying all ACS wheels are forged? I thought my Ronals were cast.

So this is actually pretty common? Gotta be extra careful when buying a car now... Good luck Glenn.

+1 to the above! Hope your car checks out ok anyway and you'll be able to find some recourse for this.

Ouch. Anyone know how this works, ie: does this happen to every model after x amount of years after its release?

Can confirm that on my old wheels, the Schnitzer centre caps were a different size to my BMW centre caps but I'm not sure if the BMW ones also come in different sizes. From pic 4 it seems that the BMW logo is misaligned on the centre cap which suggests it's a sticker? So they could be genuine wheels with ACS caps but I can't tell from the pictures.

Happy New Year

Yay white Christmas for you Grant! Hope it lasts

Both are 2.5L. The 325 has more HP from the factory while the 323 is restricted from the factory (single exhaust). M52 is a better engine, more torque down low. I would say get the 323, but of course you should drive both to see for yourself.