Had my E34 540i 6 Months... Update

[Kees 581]

Not sure how many people will see this, but back in November I made the wise decision to buy a high mileage V8 E34. At only 18 years old not only were the future fuel costs daunting, but so too was the project I had undertaken. I assumed that buying the car would force me to become more mechanically minded and try to do things to the car myself.

My other car which I have had for a few years is a 2009 Peugeot 207 GTI which I have tried to keep fairly tidy and have never had the confidence to do anything major to it, always opting for the easy option of taking it to my mechanic. When I got the 540 however, my confidence to try fix things myself grew. The car was in a bit of a state when I got it. It had heavily oxidised paint, a completely rusted out sunroof, quite a bad looking patch of rust where the little piece of plastic trim behind the rear door goes, and was generally filthy. Of course there were many small broken and cracked pieces of trim on the interior and exterior, but nothing too major. Because the car had some significant flaws, I had confidence to do things to it because I knew that anything I did, successful or not would not greatly impact the state of the car. I started by polishing off the oxidised paint. If the paint came off, who cares, it already looked terrible. What this mentality resulted in was me achieving some stuff that I never expected I could do with such little experience. 

I am pretty happy with how the car currently is. I still need to get my sunroof resprayed as well as sort out the piece of plastic bumper trim on the back of my car, and source a driver's arm rest or get my current one reupholstered. I have slowly been addressing bits of the interior, replacing things like the dome light housing, shifter roller etc.

By far my favourite thing so far has been the new wheels! The car had its factory BBS basket weave wheels, and while they look nice when they are spotlessly clean, being only 15 inches in diameter made them look a bit out of proportion with my car. They were wrapped in Michelin tyres that were quite old and were beginning to dry rot - something that was especially noticeable when going around round-abouts where squeels from the tyres sounded as though you were doing double the speed limit, when in fact you were barely touching 20km/h. I had always wanted to have throwing stars on the car, but never thought I would find a set, and thought I might have to settle for some vaguely similar replica wheels. However, thanks to Facebook MarketPlace and my procrastination of University Lectures, I came across a square set of throwing stars and I just had to have them. They are 17 inch in diameter and I think they propertion the car much better as well as fill the arches and provide the sporty look a 540 deserves. I needed new tyres anyway so I might as well have just gone all out right? Now I have gorgeous throwing stars wrapped in pirellis and it has made quite the difference to the car. The lower side-wall means you definitely feel bumps more, however the wider tyres and fresh rubber mean the car feels significantly more planted on the road than before. 

Of course with any old BMW, I have fallen in love and now it controls my wallet. Of course I've blown any kind of mental budget by ignorant past self set when I first got the car, but oh well who cares. Anyway, I am writing this instead of doing my philosophy assignment (philosophy is my general education course and I'm not a fan especially with the anti car ideology that swirls around in class) lol so I should leave it there. Here are some before and after photos of the car. Not sure what order they will be in but hopefully you can tell which photos are from before, and which are from after.

 

Cheers, Kees

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Kees

[aja540i 1895]

Good work, hopefully all those donuts were done before you got the new tyres!!!!

[Kees 581]

4 hours ago, aja540i said:

Good work, hopefully all those donuts were done before you got the new tyres!!!!

Haha definitely wouldn't burn up the new tyres 😂

Whats funny is one time I was at that spot taking photos and a random guy with an E30 saw the E34 and just started doing doughnuts in the middle of the road lol