BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
Sunday I got to meet a lot of fellow M5 owners I knew only via M5Board.com. The meeting place was the parking lot of the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, and 13 enthusiasts showed up on a beautiful fall day. It was a blast to meet the members behind the board handles I’ve gotten to […]
Here’s part two of my interview with Alex Palevsky, co-founder of BMW M Registry. Alex talks about BMW M’s move to turbo engines, his dream M car and what to look for when buying on the used market. Part one of this interview was published last week. BMW’s decision to use turbo engines in M […]
I’m excited to publish the first of a two part interview with Alex Palevsky, a very well known name in BMW enthusiast circles. Alex has been a contributing writer to Bimmer magazine since the magazine began in 1998. In 2001 he and Regan Clark launched BMW M Registry, the definitive online information source on BMW’s […]
As I’ve stated many times on this blog, when you own a BMW out of warranty you need to learn up on maintenance. With some research and a little effort, you can literally save hundreds of dollars on relatively simple maintenance issues. A good example is how I recently replaced oxygen sensors on my 2002 […]
Happy Labor Day to all. This year really is flying by – often a cliche I know but true. It seems like yesterday that I sold my 2001 530i sport and bought my 2002 M5, not four months ago. Last week I finally took care of an issue that’s been on my mind since I […]
If you’re in the market for new tires for your BMW or another kind of performance car , you might be a bit confused right now. The proliferation of categories — Extreme performance, Max performance, Ultra High performance – can make selecting the right tires very difficult. I’m researching right now because my 1999 M3 […]
This Saturday I repaired the angel eye ring in one of my Hella headlights. As you can see in the graphic above, the thing just flat fell off a couple of weeks ago and was loose inside the headlight assembly. Before I took this headlight apart, I tried to get some direction from the manufacturer. […]
This past weekend I tackled a known weakness of the BMW E36 3 series, the rear shock mounts (RSMs). (It’s also an issue to a lesser degree for the E46 model). These mounts connect the rear shocks to the car frame, and can prematurely fail. In the worst cases the top of the shock can […]
Last week I was part of a discussion thread in the BMW group on LinkedIn. An owner of a 2005 BMW 325 was in shock after going to his dealer with a fuel pump problem, and was desperate for help. He was desperate because the dealer had quoted him a price of $6,500 for the […]
Over the Fourth weekend I attempted to repair some road rash on my M5. The wheels are in very good condition, but there was one pretty big gash on the rear passenger side rim. So I checked out my DIY options. There are different kits on the market, but right off the bat I hit […]
About a week ago I finally adjusted the Bilstein PSS9 suspension on my 2002 E39 M5. As I wrote back in April, the car came with this very expensive and desirable modification when I purchased it. It also came with a Rogue short shift kit, Dinan exhaust and some nice cosmetic mods like sensible grade […]
I’ve been a member of the online car site M3Forum for many years. It’s a very active community of enthusiasts, and great place to get and share information about my car (a 1999 M3) with others who own the same model. Forums like this were my introduction to online communities. Well before the rise of […]