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Vetinari
Mar 25, 2006

by Fistgrrl
How come people put up with such a number of problems? Are they really that serious? I can't imagine dropping BMW money on something that you have to worry so much about the moment it comes out of warranty.

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Brock Landers
Jul 28, 2004

You're a donkey. I like that.

Vetinari posted:

How come people put up with such a number of problems? Are they really that serious? I can't imagine dropping BMW money on something that you have to worry so much about the moment it comes out of warranty.

This is why most people lease BMWs. When the car comes back, BMW certifies it and sells it with a warranty until 100k miles. The two customers each get about 30-50k out of the car with all major systems covered. It's a clever marketing system, really.

personaljesus
Mar 30, 2003
Alright, so I found a really nice 2004 325 Ci Convertible. Got my loan, etc. Started calling insurance companies, and the full coverage quotes were outrageous:

Progressive: $2,500 / 6 months
Travelers: $3,624 / 6 months
Geico: $888 / 6 months (!!!)

Ok, I was expecting the quotes to be a little high because:

- I live in Brooklyn, NY (although a very residential and safe neighborhood)
- I had a tiny accident (i wouldnt even call it an accident) 3 or so years ago. Probably a pea sized dent that would cost $100 to fix.
- No dependents, single, renting house, good income, good credit, 32 yrs old, got my license at 22

But still, $3,624 loving dollars for 6 months?

Is this normal? I would be paying much more for insurance than my car loan.

Brock Landers
Jul 28, 2004

You're a donkey. I like that.

personaljesus posted:

Alright, so I found a really nice 2004 325 Ci Convertible. Got my loan, etc. Started calling insurance companies, and the full coverage quotes were outrageous:

Progressive: $2,500 / 6 months
Travelers: $3,624 / 6 months
Geico: $888 / 6 months (!!!)

Ok, I was expecting the quotes to be a little high because:

- I live in Brooklyn, NY (although a very residential and safe neighborhood)
- I had a tiny accident (i wouldnt even call it an accident) 3 or so years ago. Probably a pea sized dent that would cost $100 to fix.
- No dependents, single, renting house, good income, good credit, 32 yrs old, got my license at 22

But still, $3,624 loving dollars for 6 months?

Is this normal? I would be paying much more for insurance than my car loan.

If you were under 25, single, and renting in a large metro area, I'd say the Geico quote would be about right. I paid a touch over $700 for 6 months with Geico for my BMW 330i sedan when I was 24 (I live in D.C.). But all those rates seem very high to me (absurd in the case of Travelers and Progressive) for a 32 year old with a clean record. It is clean other than the accident, right?

personaljesus
Mar 30, 2003

Brock Landers posted:

If you were under 25, single, and renting in a large metro area, I'd say the Geico quote would be about right. I paid a touch over $700 for 6 months with Geico for my BMW 330i sedan when I was 24 (I live in D.C.). But all those rates seem very high to me (absurd in the case of Travelers and Progressive) for a 32 year old with a clean record. It is clean other than the accident, right?

Yea, it is. Other than 1 or 2 parking violations.

Anyway, I called Geico and signed up for their insurance. $888 for 6 months full coverage. Best I could find, honestly.

Brock Landers
Jul 28, 2004

You're a donkey. I like that.

personaljesus posted:

Yea, it is. Other than 1 or 2 parking violations.

Anyway, I called Geico and signed up for their insurance. $888 for 6 months full coverage. Best I could find, honestly.

How's your credit score, what level of education do you have, and what do you do for work? I'm not trying to get personal, but many insurance companies (Geico for sure) use these in conjunction with your driving record to determine your insurance rates. lovely, but true.

personaljesus
Mar 30, 2003

Brock Landers posted:

How's your credit score, what level of education do you have, and what do you do for work? I'm not trying to get personal, but many insurance companies (Geico for sure) use these in conjunction with your driving record to determine your insurance rates. lovely, but true.

Credit Score: Excellent
Education: Master of Bus. Adm.
Job: IT Manager

I just read somewhere that Brooklyn has the highest insurance rates in USA. That explains it :)

CornHolio
May 20, 2001

Toilet Rascal
Oh a brand-new tie rod, is the outer bolt supposed to spin? I can't tighten the locknut because the bolt spins freely.

Brand is the OEM Lemforder brand.

CornHolio fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Mar 28, 2009

OBAMNA PHONE
Aug 7, 2002
Yes it should spin, it's a ball joint. You need to look at the end of the bolt and see that it is keyed for a Allen/hex key to hold it while you tighten the nut.

CornHolio
May 20, 2001

Toilet Rascal

BraveUlysses posted:

Yes it should spin, it's a ball joint. You need to look at the end of the bolt and see that it is keyed for a Allen/hex key to hold it while you tighten the nut.

yeah I figured it out, I just put a jack under it. Thanks.

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005
I have been noticing my e34 following the camber of the road a little more than it used to, and the on-center dead zone in the steering is now about an inch. Time for new tie rods correct?

TommyRotten
May 23, 2004
Title text (optional; no images are allowed, only text)
Anyone here ever special ordered a BMW before? Mine is at the port of exit and the wait is killing me. :(

Taymar
Oct 11, 2007

Lowclock posted:

I have been noticing my e34 following the camber of the road a little more than it used to, and the on-center dead zone in the steering is now about an inch. Time for new tie rods correct?

In addition to replacing linkage parts, there's also the possibility of steering box adjustment, and also checking the 32(?)mm nut on the column below the dash which I believe holds the sections of the adjustable steering column together. This can apparently work a little loose over the years causing some play, but it shouldn't be overtightened since it's a sleeve joint and the sections must be able to still move.

usurper
Oct 19, 2003

Sup

CornHolio posted:

yeah I figured it out, I just put a jack under it. Thanks.

Actually, that bolt does have a couple of flat sides on it right above that rubber boot. I hear of a lot of guys who take a standard wrench against a grinder to thin it out for this use. My regular wrench fits in there just fine - that will allow you to crank that bolt down without spinning.

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005

Taymar posted:

In addition to replacing linkage parts, there's also the possibility of steering box adjustment, and also checking the 32(?)mm nut on the column below the dash which I believe holds the sections of the adjustable steering column together. This can apparently work a little loose over the years causing some play, but it shouldn't be overtightened since it's a sleeve joint and the sections must be able to still move.

Ah cool thanks. I knew about the adjustment in the rack but not about that nut on the column. I'll check that out later today.

One more thing. Are e34s supposed to have a tray under the engine compartment? If so, anyone happen to know a part number or a proper name? I tried looking on realOEM, but the way it organizes parts confuses me sometimes. It's a '92 525iA if it matters.

The Locator
Sep 12, 2004

Out here, everything hurts.





Lowclock posted:

Ah cool thanks. I knew about the adjustment in the rack but not about that nut on the column. I'll check that out later today.

One more thing. Are e34s supposed to have a tray under the engine compartment? If so, anyone happen to know a part number or a proper name? I tried looking on realOEM, but the way it organizes parts confuses me sometimes. It's a '92 525iA if it matters.

On the issue of the car trying to follow the ruts in the road, an aggressive alignment (toe out) will cause that also.

On the tray, it's called an 'under panel'. I'm not sure if your car normally has one, but here is the link to the part for the E36, as a point to start your search.

http://jtdesigns.stores.yahoo.net/alunpan.html

Craptacular
Jul 11, 2004

TommyRotten posted:

Anyone here ever special ordered a BMW before? Mine is at the port of exit and the wait is killing me. :(

Yeah, I ordered a 328 in early October, got it right before Christmas. The status tracking on bmwusa.com is totally worthless, it said my car was still in route 2 weeks after I picked it up.

havelock
Jan 20, 2004

IGNORE ME
Soiled Meat

TommyRotten posted:

Anyone here ever special ordered a BMW before? Mine is at the port of exit and the wait is killing me. :(

I did a performance center delivery on mine, so I got a tentative date a few weeks out, but they won't confirm it until within 14 days which made it tough to buy cheaper plane tickets. It was well worth it though. I started the 1200 mile drive home along the blue ridge parkway and finished it with the car fully broken in.

Now the new Z4 is a lot more expensive and there won't be a coupe. The only good thing there is if the higher price means there's room for a z2.

change my name
Aug 27, 2007

Legends die but anime is forever.

RIP The Lost Otakus.

I was looking at a 96 z3 with 79k miles on it in great condition for 7 and a half grand from a dealer and a clean carfax report, is there a ton of extra expenses I'll have to pay down the line? It looks great now but for such a low price am I missing something? I'm fully aware it's only the 4 cylinder 138hp model

Ethelinda Sapsea
Aug 11, 2006

Jesse Eisenberg fighting Michael Cera. It's supposed to be bundles of twigs topped with brillo pads

change my name posted:

I was looking at a 96 z3 with 79k miles on it in great condition for 7 and a half grand from a dealer and a clean carfax report, is there a ton of extra expenses I'll have to pay down the line? It looks great now but for such a low price am I missing something? I'm fully aware it's only the 4 cylinder 138hp model

That's a ton of money for that car, low mileage or not.

The M44 is a great engine (though seriously gutless) and will last nearly forever, but pretty much every gasket goes on them after 10 years or so. Resealing that motor costs quite a bit of money so make sure it's already been done.

Other issues are mostly top related: the rear window either goes foggy, cracks, or comes un-stitched necessitating replacement, the seals start to leak and occasionally the top itself tears or comes un-stitched at the A-pillar.

It's a fairly simple car (it's essentially a parts-bin car made of e30 and a few e36 systems) so nothing really catastrophic usually goes wrong with them, but there's no way in hell I'd pay that much for a first year z3. There's tons of low mileage examples out there (the Bond movie had just come out and everyone thought they were buying collector cars) so I'd look for a better deal if that's the car you want...but I'd look for a later model m52 powered example if I were you.

change my name
Aug 27, 2007

Legends die but anime is forever.

RIP The Lost Otakus.

peterjmatt posted:

That's a ton of money for that car, low mileage or not.

The M44 is a great engine (though seriously gutless) and will last nearly forever, but pretty much every gasket goes on them after 10 years or so. Resealing that motor costs quite a bit of money so make sure it's already been done.

Other issues are mostly top related: the rear window either goes foggy, cracks, or comes un-stitched necessitating replacement, the seals start to leak and occasionally the top itself tears or comes un-stitched at the A-pillar.

It's a fairly simple car (it's essentially a parts-bin car made of e30 and a few e36 systems) so nothing really catastrophic usually goes wrong with them, but there's no way in hell I'd pay that much for a first year z3. There's tons of low mileage examples out there (the Bond movie had just come out and everyone thought they were buying collector cars) so I'd look for a better deal if that's the car you want...but I'd look for a later model m52 powered example if I were you.

It was actually the cheapest one I could find around here, 7 was kind of my limit and the newer ones are around 12-15 grand for some reason, it just doesn't seem right. I'm aware of the manual top thing too which seems kind of annoying but I could live with it. Guess I can wait a few months and see what else pops up.

Ethelinda Sapsea
Aug 11, 2006

Jesse Eisenberg fighting Michael Cera. It's supposed to be bundles of twigs topped with brillo pads

change my name posted:

It was actually the cheapest one I could find around here, 7 was kind of my limit and the newer ones are around 12-15 grand for some reason, it just doesn't seem right. I'm aware of the manual top thing too which seems kind of annoying but I could live with it. Guess I can wait a few months and see what else pops up.

If you're willing to live with an underpowered, impractical, tiny roadster, just go with a Miata. Sure you have to forfeit your balls on delivery but it's as much fun to drive as a 1.9 z3 and a hell of a lot cheaper all around.

And I'm very much a BMW guy so this isn't biased advice.

change my name
Aug 27, 2007

Legends die but anime is forever.

RIP The Lost Otakus.

peterjmatt posted:

If you're willing to live with an underpowered, impractical, tiny roadster, just go with a Miata. Sure you have to forfeit your balls on delivery but it's as much fun to drive as a 1.9 z3 and a hell of a lot cheaper all around.

And I'm very much a BMW guy so this isn't biased advice.
Even less of them around here, which is odd because I see them around all the time. Again I'll see what opens up in september and definitely consider it

OxMan
May 13, 2006

COME SEE
GRAVE DIGGER
LIVE AT MONSTER TRUCK JAM 2KXX



peterjmatt posted:

If you're willing to live with an underpowered, impractical, tiny roadster, just go with a Miata. Sure you have to forfeit your balls on delivery but it's as much fun to drive as a 1.9 z3 and a hell of a lot cheaper all around.

And I'm very much a BMW guy so this isn't biased advice.

I test drove the very same "gutless" 96 Z3 and I've driven my buddy's 90 Miata, (both stick) and yeah, basically this. I'm not saying don't get it because I would have bought it if some other dude hadn't offered more for it (it was private party), but if you're looking for a cheap roadster, you can find a decent condition 97-98 Miata for 3500-4000 with 75-100k miles on it and though the z3 has that "planted" speed feeling, the Miata definitely has a nice feel to it as well and cornering just feels ridiculously planted for how light and floaty the car feels.

Also, I'm pretty short, and you'd think that'd be an advantage in the Z3, but I could never get into a position where I had what I'd consider a proper close view of the road. if I got too high, my head would hit the soft-top, lower than that, half of my view is the hood. I prefer the Z for the road feel, and the Miata for stupid fun.

OBAMNA PHONE
Aug 7, 2002
the only z3-based car worth buying is a m coupe/roadster. If you're going to suffer from subframe failures you might as well enjoy tremendous tire shredding power if you're going to get stuck with a chassis that has a rear subframe that will tear out and cost thousands.

CornHolio
May 20, 2001

Toilet Rascal
Lord almighty, I got my front end aligned today after I replaced my tie rods over the weekend, and holy poo poo my car feels fantastic now. I knew my tie rods were bad, but holy poo poo.

Also, the clamps that come in the Lemforder boot kit, how the hell do you use those? I'll post a picture later, but they're some kind of universal size, and you pull it and (I assume) crimp it with pliers and cut the remainder off, but it just doesn't look like it'll last a terribly long time.

edit: this kind of clamp:

Doctor Grape Ape
Aug 26, 2005

Dammit Doc, I just bought this for you 3 months ago. Try and keep it around for a bit longer this time.

CornHolio posted:

Lord almighty, I got my front end aligned today after I replaced my tie rods over the weekend, and holy poo poo my car feels fantastic now. I knew my tie rods were bad, but holy poo poo.

Also, the clamps that come in the Lemforder boot kit, how the hell do you use those? I'll post a picture later, but they're some kind of universal size, and you pull it and (I assume) crimp it with pliers and cut the remainder off, but it just doesn't look like it'll last a terribly long time.

edit: this kind of clamp:



Take the excess, fold it back towards those tabs that are sticking up and then crimp.

ynotony
Apr 14, 2003

Yea...this is pretty much the smartest thing I have ever done.
FRUSTRATION - 1994 325i

Is the central locking system tied to ignition? My central locking died, and the car wouldn't start. All the other power accessories worked, just nothing at all would happen when I turned the key to start. Then after awhile it fired up all of a sudden with absolutely no problems. I shut it off and started it up several times after that and it was working. Battery is a few months old and not dead. Central locking still was not working at this point.

Then I checked my fuses and found one blown (7). I replaced it and the central locking all worked for one lock/unlock. Then it blew again, and the car won't start anymore.

Any advice? Google led me to one single case of a guy having the exact same problem, but no solution.

ynotony fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Mar 31, 2009

BmwM3AF
Mar 2, 2008

by angerbotSD
Hey! I know not too many of you people agree with my cars style :) But I do, thats what counts, performance coming together nicely but thats saved for later! :)

I recently got my rims in.. pics.


and a new sexy front lip


Very nice! 235 in the front 265 in the rear.. going to be a very nice staggered setup.

Pissingintowind
Jul 27, 2006
Better than shitting into a fan.
Those wheels look huge. What size are they?

ynotony
Apr 14, 2003

Yea...this is pretty much the smartest thing I have ever done.

ynotony posted:

FRUSTRATION - 1994 325i

Is the central locking system tied to ignition? My central locking died, and the car wouldn't start. All the other power accessories worked, just nothing at all would happen when I turned the key to start. Then after awhile it fired up all of a sudden with absolutely no problems. I shut it off and started it up several times after that and it was working. Battery is a few months old and not dead. Central locking still was not working at this point.

Then I checked my fuses and found one blown (7). I replaced it and the central locking all worked for one lock/unlock. Then it blew again, and the car won't start anymore.

Any advice? Google led me to one single case of a guy having the exact same problem, but no solution.

So turns out they are linked. I checked my trunk lid where wires are known get destroyed and sure enough a bunch of them were shorting. I gently spread them apart and replaced the fuse and the car locked/unlocked and started up just fine. Once I get these wires properly patched up I'm considering it solved. Here is the 20 page thread on trunk shortages that seem to be the source of all the little electrical idiosyncrasies in our cars, central locking being one:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79896

BmwM3AF
Mar 2, 2008

by angerbotSD

Pissingintowind posted:

Those wheels look huge. What size are they?

19"x8.5 and 19x10 235/265

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005

BmwM3AF posted:

19"x8.5 and 19x10 235/265

They are kinda large, but that shot you have with them sitting next to the car makes them look a lot bigger if you don't notice.

Pissingintowind
Jul 27, 2006
Better than shitting into a fan.

Lowclock posted:

They are kinda large, but that shot you have with them sitting next to the car makes them look a lot bigger if you don't notice.

That's what I get for responding to the thread from my cell phone :rolleye:. Funny how I didn't notice that.

Ethelinda Sapsea
Aug 11, 2006

Jesse Eisenberg fighting Michael Cera. It's supposed to be bundles of twigs topped with brillo pads

Lowclock posted:

They are kinda large, but that shot you have with them sitting next to the car makes them look a lot bigger if you don't notice.

They're still huge. I'm not sure you can fit 265s on the rear of a stock e46. I'd imagine some fender rolling if not pulling is required.

BmwM3AF
Mar 2, 2008

by angerbotSD

peterjmatt posted:

They're still huge. I'm not sure you can fit 265s on the rear of a stock e46. I'd imagine some fender rolling if not pulling is required.
Haha, they're not installed yet, just aside my car =)

Thats whats happening tommarow, very early. Fender rolling, nice tuck, and alignment.

And with my coils raised it fits nicely with 1 rider,so stock id imagine wouldnt be far... but very minor rolling is required to lower my coils a bit for nice tuckage :)

BmwM3AF fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Apr 1, 2009

Wamsutta
Sep 9, 2001

BmwM3AF posted:

Haha, they're not installed yet, just aside my car =)

Thats whats happening tommarow, very early. Fender rolling, nice tuck, and alignment.

And with my coils raised it fits nicely with 1 rider,so stock id imagine wouldnt be far... but very minor rolling is required to lower my coils a bit for nice tuckage :)

I think it'll look good. Post some shots when that work's all done.

OBAMNA PHONE
Aug 7, 2002
IMO those wheels are huge, obnoxious and tasteless, but that's just me.

Guinness
Sep 15, 2004

I think they'll look A LOT better once they are actually on the car and not standing next to it. The perspective of that picture is all sorts of hosed up and makes them look retarded.

They are indeed on the needlessly large side, but I've definitely seen a lot worse. At least it's an E46 with 19s and not an E36 or something like that. They certainly aren't my taste with how "LOOK AT ME" they are, but hey it's not my car.

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BmwM3AF
Mar 2, 2008

by angerbotSD
Sex =)




gonna lower the rear a bit more =)

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