Stutopia Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I've seen Alpina badges on eBay too May as well go the whole hog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 I know, I hate it too, and I would remove the badge if I could. That would mean killing the resale value of the wheel though, and it's something I don't expect to lose money on when it comes to selling up if I keep it as is. Still, at least there's no M badges on the outside! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stutopia Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I'm just ribbing you mate, I put Nismo wheel caps on my Ray's because they didn't paint them at the refurb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 HEATHEN!!! You're right though, M badges should only be on M cars, I've said it myself often enough in the past so I should hold myself to the same standard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WINKJ Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 HEATHEN!!! You're right though, M badges should only be on M cars, I've said it myself often enough in the past so I should hold myself to the same standard. the product is an M official steering wheel so I don't see the problem... its not a ripspeed wheel with an m badge on .. PS the cat is amaze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 The beast! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 #needsspacers I love that shot, I really do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Looking sharp! the want for a 6 series grows stronger! too bad the wheels look really small 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 It odd, every time I see a pic I think the same thing but in the flesh they look fine. The rears don't even look that much tucked under either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 I agree, for some reason the wheels look too small? Needs spacers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 difficulties of dark wheels on a silver car... and the rears are relatively narrow. spacers would help, but the wheels are small and narrow on purpose - if it handles how you want it to Dan then don't listen to us, i'm just needling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 No, you're absolutely right, if looks were a priority then I would've gone with 20"s on there. Truth is the old wheels were shot and needing refurbing completely, and they were ugly as sin too so I used this as an excuse to get something that looked better. The fact I've still dropped weight at each corner at the expense of the wheels sitting slightly further under at the rear means I've gained performance, and for me that was the most important thing. I'd have loved to get a set of the M6 ones, but they are just ridiculous money and I'd have needed new tyres all round too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock_Steady Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Personally, I really like the wheels, they've enhanced the car. It does look like it's wincing for a pee a little bit but overall a lovely car with a hefty portion of clout. I love the understated looks. Whilst it's not something that sticks out like a sore thumb, it'll still blow a boy racer into the weeds. Edited December 22, 2015 by Rock_Steady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 It does look like it's wincing for a pee a little bit *coffee --> keyboard* :lol: Thanks for the kind words mate, appreciate that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 I finally managed to get under the car today, around my mate's house who owns both a garage with a pit and an E64 645 convertible. The main job of the day was to replace the lower wishbone on his OSF which had a knackered bush at 67k miles (interestingly all mine are fine at 110k miles), which was going fine until we stripped the knobbles from the inside of the captive Torx bolt that holds the ball joint end of that wishbone to the hub. Quick run through with the angle grinder fixed that though! Actually not a bad job when you're past that, plenty of room to work and sensible sized bolts help. We also had a quick comparison of exhausts. We both went to the same place, had the work carried out by the same guy. Both out final silencers are identical, however I still have one single merging collector (like an x-pipe) and a couple of mid-silencers in place too, all OEM. He has none of that, just straight pipes with a small silencer on each that goes straight to the rear silencers. Result? Well, mine is louder, despite having more silencers on! Anyone have any idea why this might be? Pipework is the same size (well, there's 5mm in it in diameter but I don't think that's anything), so could it be that mine crosses with an x-pipe and his is dual all the way? I know that an x-pipe is best for power to scavenge the pulses on a crossplane V8, but I can't believe it would be quieter?! All thoughts on the matter welcomed. Anyway, onto my car. The reason I wanted to get under was to change the ARB settings, as it's too awkward to do on a driveway. I had them set at max stiffness at the front, and middle setting at the rear. This was giving me far too much understeer, which meant that tuning the dampers was proving a difficult task: Remember, fine tuning is always done with the dampers, get the big stuff done first. I've now set the front ARB to the loosest setting (furthest from the pivot point), and the rear... Well, remember I said it was set up in the middle? Turns out they'd installed it to max stiffness! Not actually an issue as I was going to do that anyway, so I've left that alone. Result? Night and day. It's beautiful! Where I had chronic understeer before, to the point of trail braking before every single corner to get any confidence that the nose would actually turn in, I now have a wonderfully adept front end that turns just as it should. Or rather, just like it used to. Now that may seem odd that I've spent all this money to get back to where I was, but let's remember that I've got a completely safe geo on here right now with so much toe in that it's massively blunting the front end still, so once I get the geo back to my favoured toe out settings I expect to see massive gains again. I can also then start playing with the dampers. As I said last time out, I've set them to very soft to try and regain some compliance as the BCs are stiffer than OEM even on the softest setting, which isn't ideal but I can work round that I think now the ARBs are set correctly. A touch more damping at the front compared to the rear can now be attempted, which is how it should be. Either way, I'm now feeling far more confident about the changes I've made to the car. It doesn't stop me wanting a 911, but I'm really enjoying having something with this much charisma and such a wonderful sound to play with. Having done the tyres, dampers, springs and ARBs, I know I've a much faster car than if I'd spent £2500 aiming for a few more horses, which reinforces just why I keep banging on about how important it is to get a good handling car rather than chasing horsepower. Although I guess I can be a little blasé with 330ft/lb at just 3k rpm... For the record, that's 20ft/lb more than I had in the 911! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 (edited) For all the fun that gets poked at BMWs been rep/dull cars, you cannot deny the fact they know how to build a car with decent handling - after some mods Glad your enjoying the V8, touchwood it remains reliable. Edited December 31, 2015 by gangzoom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Oh you had to go there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 New MOT (no advisories), new seal on the AC compressor so it blows ice cold again, and my favourite geo settings now back on the car. If only the roads weren't quite so cold, I'd be in absolute heaven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 28, 2016 Author Share Posted January 28, 2016 I just found out my car has heated windscreen washer nozzles! Now that's some fancy-arse shizzle, right there. It's the small things in life that make me happy, it really is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 It's the simple things in life. My old E85, E92 and F11 have these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 do all E92s have heated nozzles, or was it an option with some climate pack or other? if it was an option, I can guarantee my car doesn't have it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 28, 2016 Author Share Posted January 28, 2016 See, you need an old man's car, like mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 do all E92s have heated nozzles, or was it an option with some climate pack or other? if it was an option, I can guarantee my car doesn't have it I'm not sure as the cold weather pack comes with split rear seats which are standard on the E92, heated heats and washers but I don't have heated seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exec Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Ekona I'm sure you've been asked this before but how does the power and handling of the 645i compare the the 350z? Does the 645i feel heavier? I'm just looking at figures 333bhp isn't too shabby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 In a straight line up to 70 ish, there's nothing in it. Over that and the 645 will start to pull away, of that I'm sure. In the corners it's a different story, the extra weight shows up there and it's definitely not as nimble. On the longer corners and when provoking the rear it's actually more stable due to the longer wheelbase, but it's definitely a cruiser rather than a sports car! That said, now I've done the suspension it's much better, and I'd argue better than a stock 350 up to a point. It struggles to get the power down as easy on corner exit as no slippy diff and I'm running relatively skinny rear tyres (on purpose), and with so much torque down low it's very easy to get the back end sliding. Which isn't always a bad thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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