Your fleet running reports

[McSwede]

I still remember the very first E46 M3 I ever saw was that colour. That looks immaculate! and the wheels are the perfect size with a nice bit of sidewall

Corrected that for you Rich ,

[Beany]

I still remember the very first E46 M3 I ever saw was that colour. That looks immaculate! and the wheels are the perfect size with a nice bit of sidewall

Corrected that for you Rich ,

This correction is correct.

I always preferred the 18s on the E46 M3 - it's a great balance visually; the 19s always looked a bit overdone to me.

[integrale_evo]

The normal 19s are a bit mid league football player blingy. 19in csls are lovely though.

18s look awesome with lows and spacers.

[Rich B]

The normal 19s are a bit mid league football player blingy. 19in csls are lovely though.

18s look awesome with lows and spacers.

i'd agree with that - I had spacers on my e92 that imo absolutely transformed the stance/look without making it look chav.

[Ascender]

Looks like my old E46, Imola Red with Imola Red

Needs the wheels done in the correct shadow chrome, it used to cost a fortune to get them redone hence why they often ended up 5 wheel silver.

Same here, it was an Imola Red M3 I had with the shadow chrome wheels - they just work so well with that colour.

[Mito Man]

Must hand it to Tesla, they really know their market - middle aged nerds.
After having a frantic call from my dad to tell me to go to the garage - thinking he’d hurt himself I see this


Just the Christmas update. A more useful update is that the car is now a massive Ring camera. You can live view the sentry cameras on your phone and flash the lights and sound the horn

[McSwede]

MX5 is safely tucked up for the winter at my parents until I can make space in our garage for it.



A picture of the 320d C/w drug dealer tints and car park rashes. I like the car and it drives well and I like the colour too.

[Foz]

Love the 335d but was looking at 540i x drive touring a thenother day..

[Gavin]

snow finally did for my rear wiper. Having twice had it in the garage getting MOT or servicing and asking them to grind off the corroded on nut, due to crappy Merc design, I hacksawed the bloody thing off as I quite like seeing out the back.

[integrale_evo]

Finally fitted the hid conversion I started when I had the silver compact, still need to make a little adapter to connect the high beam shutter to make the bi-xenon. Making a little loom instead of just splicing it in will make it a true plug and play conversion.

As usual a camera really doesn’t pick up the difference like your eyes do


While out testing them I managed to pick up a puncture. Luckily I was close to home and doesn’t seem to have rubbed the sidewall at all on the inside so I’ve put a plug in it and will keep an eye on it




In a ‘while you’re there’ moment I decided to fit the e30 arms and powerflex poly bushes I’d been collecting.

The e36 outer ball joints are contained in a rubber bush, the m3s use e30 style joints mounted directly to the arm.

Standard e36 bushes are very loose and sloppy, with more air than bush. The 3.0 m3 and 328i sport use offset bushes for more castor which also have a lot more rubber in them.

Changing both of these massively improves steering feel which they really dumbed down in the name of refinement.





Used the heritage bushes which are the same compound as their normal purple ones, but very dark grey so don’t stick out like a sore thumb.



Unfortunately while fitting them I managed to snap one of the arb link brackets so had to remove that, whack out the broken stud and weld in a suitably ground down bolt

[Jobbo]

Allroad ticked over 11,000 miles since I got it today - I collected it in the last week of August. From memory that’s about half of the mileage my first one went back at at the end of its 2 year lease.

Had a great drive to Northampton and back today. Averaged 41mpg and didn’t exceed 120mph (not by much, anyway). Not simply sitting on the motorway gave me the chance to enjoy it and remember that it’s quite throttle adjustable; on a corner exit you feel the power going to the rear and get a lovely 4-wheel drift. Tempted not to bother going back to the bigger, grippier summer tyres.

[John]

on a corner exit you feel the power going to the rear and get a lovely 4-wheel drift. Tempted not to bother going back to the bigger, grippier summer tyres.

Funny you should mention that as when I was playing in the snow in the Panda you could definitely feel the power share moving towards the rear, more of a pushing sensation with the back end squatting a bit than the normal pull from the front.

[Jobbo]

That's impressive John - my Haldex Volvo never felt anything other than fed with gentle assistance from the rear. So for a Panda to be set up that way is fab.

[Sundayjumper]

Unfortunately while fitting them I managed to snap one of the arb link brackets so had to remove that, whack out the broken stud and weld in a suitably ground down bolt

They’re a bugger for that. And they’re crazy expensive new from BMW. You can swap the whole drop link for ones from a Focus where the ball joint attaches directly to the arm. I think they’re also slightly shorter.

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[nuttinnew]

@integrale_evo , @Sundayjumper it's always interesting reading and learning about these tweaks, (even if I'm never likely to make use of them), probably because most of the time it's come about through necessity and just uses a different spec standard part

[nuttinnew]

I've spent so long wondering where to go for a drive tonight, I haven't
Haven't even made it to the coast to see if I could spot one-hour-ahead-of-us French fireworks. Won't make it to Ditchling Beacon for a good view by midnight. Not really worth bothering at all now

[Ascender]

£29k

Wow, looks incredible @Foz, especially with all that work done to it, it looks spot-on.

I'll be honest, I am interested, but I'd need to sell the Boxster first and even though its unseasonably sunny & warm, I'm not sure how easy that would be! Have you had much interest in it yet? I'm guessing first person to see it will buy it given the condition and all that work.

[DeskJockey]

The start/stop feature on the Galaxy hasn't been working since the engine work was done two years ago. The system was active, but never activated. Initially I thought it was because the battery was knackered, so I had that replaced, but it still didn't activate.

I figured that all the short drives meant whatever trigger conditions were needed, were never achieved, so didn't bother with it.

Having a bit of idle time the other night I googled something fairly vague about stop/start not working and up popped a video about how to reset the battery management on a Mondeo. Given they're basically the same vehicle it was worth trying.

So, switch on ignition, lights to position two, press the rear fog light button five times, then the hazard lights button three times and the battery warning light flashes three times to indicate a reset. Took the car for a longer drive and hey presto the start/stop works again.

[KevH18]

The start/stop feature on the Galaxy hasn't been working since the engine work was done two years ago. The system was active, but never activated. Initially I thought it was because the battery was knackered, so I had that replaced, but it still didn't activate.

I figured that all the short drives meant whatever trigger conditions were needed, were never achieved, so didn't bother with it.

Having a bit of idle time the other night I googled something fairly vague about stop/start not working and up popped a video about how to reset the battery management on a Mondeo. Given they're basically the same vehicle it was worth trying.

So, switch on ignition, lights to position two, press the rear fog light button five times, then the hazard lights button three times and the battery warning light flashes three times to indicate a reset. Took the car for a longer drive and hey presto the start/stop works again.

Our Focus with the same engine as the Galaxy has worked on only a handful of occasions in the 6 years we've had it. Might give it a go so thanks!

It's also developed some kind of battery drain from somewhere, or maybe just that it's not holding charge properly. The battery was replaced 5 years ago more or less to the day after the alternator packed up but it's perhaps not taken well to lockdowns and now only being used for mainly short journeys. I checked the voltage on a multimeter and it was 11.6v when it wouldn't start, 12.44 after a drive then 12.2 the next morning. If I could find my battery charger, it would be helpful!

[DeskJockey]

The start/stop feature on the Galaxy hasn't been working since the engine work was done two years ago. The system was active, but never activated. Initially I thought it was because the battery was knackered, so I had that replaced, but it still didn't activate.

I figured that all the short drives meant whatever trigger conditions were needed, were never achieved, so didn't bother with it.

Having a bit of idle time the other night I googled something fairly vague about stop/start not working and up popped a video about how to reset the battery management on a Mondeo. Given they're basically the same vehicle it was worth trying.

So, switch on ignition, lights to position two, press the rear fog light button five times, then the hazard lights button three times and the battery warning light flashes three times to indicate a reset. Took the car for a longer drive and hey presto the start/stop works again.

Our Focus with the same engine as the Galaxy has worked on only a handful of occasions in the 6 years we've had it. Might give it a go so thanks!

It's also developed some kind of battery drain from somewhere, or maybe just that it's not holding charge properly. The battery was replaced 5 years ago more or less to the day after the alternator packed up but it's perhaps not taken well to lockdowns and now only being used for mainly short journeys. I checked the voltage on a multimeter and it was 11.6v when it wouldn't start, 12.44 after a drive then 12.2 the next morning. If I could find my battery charger, it would be helpful!

I've found it to act the engine fairly warm before it activates. Compared to newer cars I've driven it seems to be quite conservatively set up.