BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
Last year I performed the 60,000 mile tune-up on my E36 M3 myself. I replaced the air filter, the fuel filter, the sparks plugs and I cleaned the mass air filter. There was one replacement I didn’t do at the time, partly because I knew it would be a real pain in the butt. That…
This weekend I tackled a small but irritating issue with my E36 M3. For a while there had been a soft clunk whenever I went over a bump while turning right. Holiday time last year I replaced the sway bar end links, but this didn’t fully stop the noise. I eventually zeroed in on the…
This past weekend I completed a repair project for a rear wheel on my 2002 BMW M5. In this post from late July I explain how I bent and cracked the wheel. Initially I was thinking replacement rather than repair. I knew color matching was going to be a problem, due to the shadow chrome…
Last Saturday I was feeling particularly good about my 2002 M5. Over the past few weeks every fluid (minus power steering) has been refreshed on the car. Brake, coolant, oil, transmission and differential fluids have all been replaced. I had just removed an old and faded clear bra from the car the week before. Then a…
This weekend I tackled clear bra removal on my BMW M5. The bra had come with the car, and over the past two years had become dingy looking. It had been on the car since at least 2009. I had removed the small pieces of film on the front of the side mirrors first as…
Recently I got together with a group of local E39 M5 owners in Fairfax, Virginia. I’ve gotten to know most of them in online forums, and this was a repeat of a meet we had back in late 2011. One of the best things about owning a BMW is connecting with fellow enthusiast owners. Everyone…
Over the weekend I did an oil change on my E39 M5, and I also changed the differential oil. This is an important and often overlooked fluid change. The E39 M5 differential is a limited slip differential, allowing for different amounts of power to be directed to the wheels based on driving conditions. The car…
Early reports and images are emerging about a new line of BMW cars, to be christened the 2-Series. Starting next year, they will slot in between (naturally enough) the entry level 1 Series and the 3 Series, BMW’s most popular line and the majority of its sales here in the U.S. (Starting in a few…
This weekend I found a video that really conveys the excitement of BMW E39 M5 ownership. Parker Nirenstein lovingly describes his 2001 M5 while promoting his purchase assist company Vehicle-Virgins.com: I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. A few corrections and clarifications to the video: He quotes $92,000 as the original price of the car…
Right after the new year I upgraded my E36 M3 headlights with a new set of European elliptical headlights from BMW supplier Hella. Here’s the full story. After I installed them I had the beams adjusted at a local service station. Recently I noticed that the headlight assemblies were no longer flush to the corner…
Earlier this week my E39 M5 had a flat tire, driver side rear. This happened to me while I was traveling on the Washington Beltway, heading north 95/east 495 going from Tysons to Alexandria. The loss of air pressure was very quick, and I pulled off onto a narrow shoulder area as quickly as I…
This weekend I found an entertaining video from MotorTrend, courtesy of the BMW Blog. Mike Febbo of MotorTrend and Greg Emerson of European Car Magazine squared off on their pick of the best affordable sports car today. Mike is a huge fan of the Scion FR-S, while Greg feels that the Volkswagen GTI is the…
