Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

The 530d made it to Germany no problem at all but does have quite a vibration at 70-80 mph. Goes right through the car, you can feel it in the steering wheel but the wheel doesn’t visibly wobble if you take your hands off. Slightly odd. Rear tyres were replaced just before I bought it so should be well balanced. I’ll try and make the return journey all at <70 & >80.

[jamcg]

The 530d made it to Germany no problem at all but does have quite a vibration at 70-80 mph. Goes right through the car, you can feel it in the steering wheel but the wheel doesn’t visibly wobble if you take your hands off. Slightly odd. Rear tyres were replaced just before I bought it so should be well balanced. I’ll try and make the return journey all at <70 & >80.

No loose under tray or anything? Possibly an aero related thing rather than mechanical?

[mik]

@Sundayjumper They either didn't clean the surface up properly, and you've lost weight (congratulations), or they've taken the quick and easy route and balanced them with the machine set to "static" rather than "dynamic" balance. (Which will leave you with weights on placed either the inside or outside only - but not both).

To save your sanity I'd pop into a tyre place in Germania and get them to do the job properly.

[Swervin_Mervin]

@Sundayjumper They either didn't clean the surface up properly, and you've lost weight (congratulations), or they've taken the quick and easy route and balanced them with the machine set to "static" rather than "dynamic" balance. (Which will leave you with weights on placed either the inside or outside only - but not both).

To save your sanity I'd pop into a tyre place in Germania and get them to do the job properly.

Or you've a dodgy tyre. Had that with the previous F1s on my E91. Never any issues before or since. No one could completely get rid of the issue through balancing, and one guy spent aaaaaages trying.

[integrale_evo]

Having a bit of a bad car day.

Ac in the x5 isn’t working. Assumed it might just be a bit low on gas, and as we have several other cars I know the ax hasn’t been touched on for years bought a recharge kit.

Connected it and it shows high. Hmm. Get the laptop out, shows an arrow for the ac clutch.

Bmw don’t list one, have found a magnetic coil in Germany for £20, can buy secondhand compressors for under £100, or complete new ones for £200. Ac is on its own belt so may slip the undertray off and see if I can see what make of compressor I have, whether the pulley can be removed on the car, then decide whether to buy the coil or a s/h unit to rob parts from because that can be done without emptying the system and having to take it somewhere and hang around for an hour and pay to have it refilled.

So, alfasud.

After unsticking and reassembling the front brakes I was getting a slight weep of fluid from one of the adjusters. Didn’t affect pedal pressure or braking, was hoping to leave until winter when I wouldn’t be using it, but it started leaving an embarrassing puddle when sat. So I’ve pulled that back off, bought a seal kit to replace the crusty dust shields and some o-rings for the adjuster. Got it off and stripped down this evening. Clean up, rebuild and nightmare job of refitting the handbrake cable to come soon…

[Broccers]

I swapped from run flats to sport contact 7 on my 5 series and they are very good.

A lot cheaper than the ps4s, were available which was nice and they won the last eco tyres test.

I like them already!

Just looked back at my bills and apart from tax it's not cost anything since Oct so a bill of 920.00 isn't so bad.

The tax tho - when will it become an issue - eventually going to price many cars into the scrap yard.

[mik]

I swapped from run flats to sport contact 7 on my 5 series and they are very good.

A lot cheaper than the ps4s, were available which was nice and they won the last eco tyres test.

I like them already!

Just looked back at my bills and apart from tax it's not cost anything since Oct so a bill of 920.00 isn't so bad.

The tax tho - when will it become an issue - eventually going to price many cars into the scrap yard.

I've also heard positive comments about Contisport7's - only negatives I have seen were suggestions that they aren't great at clearing standing water.

[Jobbo]

I was amazed at the ability of the Conti Sport Contact 6 to cope with standing water even when worn down to the wear markers.

[integrale_evo]

Alfasud calliper has new piston seals, adjuster seal and dust seal. Managed to get it back on the car with minimal swearing!

Just the disk, pads, adjust and bleed, and bolt the driveshaft back up to go.

All done so far through the engine bay without even jacking the car up

Hopefully no leaks this time, it’s not something I want to repeat again in a hurry!

[DeskJockey]

Bad day for the cars today.

Zoe needs a new 12v battery. Has been grumbling about it, but after a long drive it was fine. When my wife left work today it gave a "stop, danger" type warning and wouldn't go above 20mph. She called out the RAC who reset a load of codes which let her drive home. New battery ordered.

Galaxy has what sounds like an intermittently sticking O/S rear caliper. Sound disappears as soon as the brakes are applied, and it isn't there all the time. Could also be that the disc is slightly warped or the pads are falling apart. Nothing obvious showing, will take it to the mechanic to get it sorted.

[mik]

Did a Walshy fun day at North Weald yesterday with some folks off SELOC. Can't have much more fun for £100! 12 cars, so you don't get a ton of time on the various circuits or much tuition (although Walshy did jump in with me once, and I have been before so that's ok), but still a load of fun.

What a machine it is! So alive, but so intuitive, after a few runs it almost felt like the car was connected directly to my brain (shame my brain isn't a better driver really ). Not tons of grip on the AD08RS (really I'm comparing that to the last car I drove that hard which was my 7 on ZZS), but that probably added to the fun.

Car rolls quite a bit on the Bilsteins, but if anything with the slightly bumpy mishmash of tarmac over there that was an advantage. I think on a proper track it'd be a bit less desirable.

They usually do 12 cars with SELOC, I reckon 8 cars would be the sweet spot between a bit of social and plenty of time on the circuits. We should do an ov9 day!

Anyway, @dan I salute you, the car was a joy.

I'd be down for another - I really enjoyed mine, but the Exige kept breaking down on the day so I never got a chance to really get into it. I did mine with Ben and his 964, plus another forumite (can't remember who it was....owned the RX7 with a V8 in it?) and adds to the social element.

So yeah, let me know. Hopefully I'll be in something more interesting by then....

Paging Matty

[simon_g]

In the US for a wedding so hired a car to get about.

got a Dodge with an R/T badge
it’s a Hornet, a FWD compact PHEV crossover with a 1.3 engine

It’s not bad to be fair, a lightly reskinned Alfa Romeo Tonale and made on the same line in Italy. Can’t charge it (and I’m not going to seek out public charging) but sport or e-save modes put a bit in the battery for extra poke. It has a hilariously boomy idle in sport mode, although I’m not sure how much is real and what is synthesised.

Here it is next to a nice Alpina B7 in the hotel car park:

[Jobbo]

Maybe I shouldn’t be so annoyed that the ‘American’ hire I got last year was a Kia sedan

Sounds jolly interesting at least Simon, even if it’s not exactly a stereotypical US car.

[JonMad]

Swift. Flying colours etc.
After another whopping 2400 miles in the last year, which is consistent mileage since I've had it.
(the Fabia's done about 150 in the last year, basically one event)

[Matty]

Paging Matty

LMFSTFY.
Thanks, knew I'd seen it somewhere and couldn't find it

[Jimexpl]

My Junior engineer’s (personal) Clio died on Monday, so I’ve made the 325ti his company car!

This meant that I was without a London runaround, so went down to Folkestone and bought the cheapest 125i in the country that wasn’t chavved/written off. £2250 after a bit of haggling, and the nearest equivalent on autotrader is £4500.

IMG_7326.jpeg (142.55 KiB) Viewed 1741 times

Drives well for a 16 year old 4 seat convertible - feels a lot more rigid than a similar vintage folding metal roof 3 series. Interior is very clean, a bit tired outside but presentable. The 3.0 sounds quite nice. Everything works, including the a/c, aside from the radio lcd fading like all BMWs of this era.
Trying to resist spending 12% of the purchase price remapping it to near 130i spec.

[integrale_evo]

I put some brake fluid in last night, the adjuster is still dry. Seems to be fixed

[Jobbo]

My Junior engineer’s (personal) Clio died on Monday, so I’ve made the 325ti his company car!

This meant that I was without a London runaround, so went down to Folkestone and bought the cheapest 125i in the country that wasn’t chavved/written off. £2250 after a bit of haggling, and the nearest equivalent on autotrader is £4500.

IMG_7326.jpeg

Drives well for a 16 year old 4 seat convertible - feels a lot more rigid than a similar vintage folding metal roof 3 series. Interior is very clean, a bit tired outside but presentable. The 3.0 sounds quite nice. Everything works, including the a/c, aside from the radio lcd fading like all BMWs of this era.
Trying to resist spending 12% of the purchase price remapping it to near 130i spec.

That looks a great deal for £2250. Hard to believe they are 16 years old. The first 1series is ageing very well.

[Jimexpl]

My Junior engineer’s (personal) Clio died on Monday, so I’ve made the 325ti his company car!

This meant that I was without a London runaround, so went down to Folkestone and bought the cheapest 125i in the country that wasn’t chavved/written off. £2250 after a bit of haggling, and the nearest equivalent on autotrader is £4500.

IMG_7326.jpeg

Drives well for a 16 year old 4 seat convertible - feels a lot more rigid than a similar vintage folding metal roof 3 series. Interior is very clean, a bit tired outside but presentable. The 3.0 sounds quite nice. Everything works, including the a/c, aside from the radio lcd fading like all BMWs of this era.
Trying to resist spending 12% of the purchase price remapping it to near 130i spec.

That looks a great deal for £2250. Hard to believe they are 16 years old. The first 1series is ageing very well.

What was considered an ugly front looks elegant now when compared with newer BMWs!
The seller had a poor advert that was also brutally honest about marks on the car, (which any cheaper 10+ year old car would have). They also failed to point out that even though it was an SE it had been specified with 135i wheels, sports suspension, sports seats, sports wheel, heated seats etc. and full service history… It was originally up for £4k over 13 weeks ago.

[Sundayjumper]

We had a 118d ages ago and it was a great little car, I always fancied trying one with a petrol 6-pot. Looks like a cracking deal.