BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
This weekend I refreshed my 2002 BMW E39 M5 interior. The car recently ticked over 100,000 miles and has yet to surprise me with any unexpected repair issue (knock on proverbial BMW wood). It’s as exciting a car as when I purchased it in 2011, and after seven years it deserved a few interior tweaks. […]
Over the Memorial Day weekend I tackled a DIY project that had been on my list for a while. I replaced the driver side door handle on my 2006 BMW M3. The silver coating on the handle flaked off somehow as I opened the door one day. Since this obviously didn’t affect the car performance-wise […]
This weekend was the first BMW CCA National Capital Chapter (NCC) DIY date that worked for me this year. BMW of Sterling hosted the club on Saturday and I was able to do some simple maintenance on my E46 M3. I changed the oil and the coolant. To drain the coolant the traditional way in […]
Final numbers are in for 2017 BMW sales in the U.S. For the first time since 2009, the overall automotive market in this country did not increase. The total number of new cars sold in North America went down, by 1.75 percent to 17.245 million vehicles. BMW brand sales were down 2.4 percent to 305, […]
This weekend I replaced the front brake rotors and pads on my 2006 BMW M3. None of the components were totally worn and the brake sensor warning was not illuminated, but the rotors were original to the car and the pads were at least five years old. By my DIY standards front brake rotors and […]
Over the holiday weekend I completed a small DIY project I’d wanted to do for some time. I replaced the worn out shift knob and boot in my 2006 E46 M3 with a brand new piece. That sounds straightforward enough, but I wanted to improve on the original. The car had a short shifter kit […]
Last week I received a letter from BMW about the air bag in my 2002 M5. The driver side airbag made by Takata is potentially defective and they are instructing me to have it replaced. I wrote about this issue at length last year, when I got a letter about my 2006 M3. The problem […]
This past weekend I replaced the battery on my 2006 BMW M3. It wasn’t holding a charge well and struggled to start the car. The battery was over six years old, so it was time for a new one. My E46 M3 is the last generation of BMWs on which this is still a simple […]
2016 BMW sales numbers have been tallied for December and for all of 2016. It was a tough year for BMW in North America, and sales were down an overall 9.5 percent for the BMW brand. BMW was coming off a string of three record sales years in a row here. Globally, BMW reported that […]
Merry New Year! It’s been a great year at Work, Wine and Wheels, though the time demands of my consulting firm again cut down on the number of stories published. Before the clock runs out on 2016, here’s a final post touching on all three site topics. On the Work front, I’m thankful that StoryTech […]
Coming home from vacation this weekend my wife and I were involved in an accident. Less than two miles from home, a woman pulled out from the Walker Gate of Fort Belvoir without looking and hit the side of our 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The impact caused the vehicle to flip over and roll twice […]
As I wrote about in July, I’ve joined the National Capital Chapter (NCC) of the BMW Car Club of America. The reason I joined was the BMW DIY events they hold regularly. I was excited by the opportunity to tackle some maintenance procedures with experienced owners around me to offer advice and assistance. This past […]