Bimmer Evolution, blee edition

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by blee

To my knowledge the bearings are original, which puts about 103k on them. The car is a 7/03 build, IIRC, and therefore not part of the recall. The car sounds great and the oil analysis came out fine, but a) I don't know how many miles were on the oil before I changed it, and b) I have rod bearing scars. All of this puts bearing replacement higher on my job list than VANOS or suspension.

S54s are commodity motors, though.

Also, some 2003.5s were recalled.

[blee]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

S54s are commodity motors, though.

Also, some 2003.5s were recalled.

"Commodity" is a relative term, although there certainly are many more of them around right now. (And I guess they're reasonably priced...again, relative to other more exotic mills.) Still, I'd rather do the bearing job than deal with a broken engine. Broken engines suck. And anyway, I didn't buy this sweet Snap-On TechAngle to torque lug nuts.

The dealer service records don't have any mention of the recall, so I don't think the bottom end has been touched since it left Germany.

[blee]

Originally Posted by clyde

Looks nice.

I washed my car tonight after a quickie hailstorm rolled through. Not a detail like this. Been contemplating paying someone to do a thorough detail. Been thinking about it for over a year.

The whole wash-clay-random orbital (x2?)-wax thing is time consuming for sure. And I fully admit that my amateur job falls short of what I see coming out of the professional shops. However, it also saved me about $1300, and the improvement is apparent.

At some point I might shell out the bucks for XPel or whatever, but the multitude of rock chips on the front end are kind of turning me off to that idea at the moment. Dr. Colorchip is an option, I guess, and would cost way less than a proper respray. For now, as long as there's no rust...

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by blee

The whole wash-clay-random orbital (x2?)-wax thing is time consuming for sure. And I fully admit that my amateur job falls short of what I see coming out of the professional shops. However, it also saved me about $1300, and the improvement is apparent.

At some point I might shell out the bucks for XPel or whatever, but the multitude of rock chips on the front end are kind of turning me off to that idea at the moment. Dr. Colorchip is an option, I guess, and would cost way less than a proper respray. For now, as long as there's no rust...

The pro shops also take off way more paint.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

The pro shops also take off way more paint.

For a once every 5-10 years, it's probably not much of a problem.

[blee]

And so it begins...gonna let the oil drain over night. I really don't have the time to tackle this at all this week, besides an hour or so each night, and I'll be out of town all next week. I hope my baller Esco jackstands are up to the task.

[Theo]

What happened.

[blee]

Originally Posted by Theo

What happened.

Nothing. Preventive maintenance.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by clyde

For a once every 5-10 years, it's probably not much of a problem.

Based on the paint meter readings that I've seen, a serious paint correction is something that you can't do more than twice.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Based on the paint meter readings that I've seen, a serious paint correction is something that you can't do more than twice.

Lazy is lazy, so I should be covered for any car I ever own.