What did you do to your E60/61 today?

[Ray112]

22 minutes ago, Tallman85 said:

Yes true…i dont fancy spending a lot at the moment but at some point it needs to happen.  Our cars are getting old and probably at some point we need to get them off the roads due to whatever new regulations will come into force.  Fuel costs might hit my 530d too…but yes i think with the money that i get if i sell it i wont buy a premium car like the e61. 

For little more peace of mind, my car is now on just under 180k miles. Apart from anti roll bar links and track rod ends all suspension is still original. Rear control arms, integral links etc I'm getting replaced over Christmas holidays (fingers crossed for good weather) then I will know what's definitely gone at this mileage and what's still in good condition once they are removed. By the way BMW dealership did a health check two months ago when I did battery cable recall with them and they said car is in good condition, found just one ball joint started to give a slight play at rear, that's it.

On front suspension all 4 control arms are still quite tight, so I won't be doing them now, maybe some time in summer.

I'm doing quite a bit motorway driving, so miles are adding up quickly and obviously less speed bumps than doing city diving, so maybe that's one of reasons why car still has majority of original suspension bits. In January car will be 16 year old.  So if yours is approaching only 100k, it shouldn't be too bad. 

[Tallman85]

6 minutes ago, Ray112 said:

For little more peace of mind, my car is now on just under 180k miles. Apart from anti roll bar links and track rod ends all suspension is still original. Rear control arms, integral links etc I'm getting replaced over Christmas holidays (fingers crossed for good weather) then I will know what's definitely gone at this mileage and what's still in good condition once they are removed. By the way BMW dealership did a health check two months ago when I did battery cable recall with them and they said car is in good condition, found just one ball joint started to give a slight play at rear, that's it.

On front suspension all 4 control arms are still quite tight, so I won't be doing them now, maybe some time in summer.

I'm doing quite a bit motorway driving, so miles are adding up quickly and obviously less speed bumps than doing city diving, so maybe that's one of reasons why car still has majority of original suspension bits. In January car will be 16 year old.  So if yours is approaching only 100k, it shouldn't be too bad. 

The issues here are the hot weather- really tough sun on the car.  Roads are not great and take their toll on the car.  I drive really careful but sometimes you cannot avoid. Speed bumps don’t help either. My front right suspension makes a different noise on bumps…not sure if it is related to the arms or something else…but something is wearing.  These little things…I spent a lot of rubbers and cosmetics too to keep it well.

[Ray112]

1 hour ago, Tallman85 said:

The issues here are the hot weather- really tough sun on the car.  Roads are not great and take their toll on the car.  I drive really careful but sometimes you cannot avoid. Speed bumps don’t help either. My front right suspension makes a different noise on bumps…not sure if it is related to the arms or something else…but something is wearing.  These little things…I spent a lot of rubbers and cosmetics too to keep it well.

Yes, sun is affecting badly all rubber and plastic parts. In UK it's more rain than sun, at least for few things it's good.

[Changy]

17 hours ago, Ray112 said:

For little more peace of mind, my car is now on just under 180k miles. Apart from anti roll bar links and track rod ends all suspension is still original. Rear control arms, integral links etc I'm getting replaced over Christmas holidays (fingers crossed for good weather) then I will know what's definitely gone at this mileage and what's still in good condition once they are removed. By the way BMW dealership did a health check two months ago when I did battery cable recall with them and they said car is in good condition, found just one ball joint started to give a slight play at rear, that's it.

On front suspension all 4 control arms are still quite tight, so I won't be doing them now, maybe some time in summer.

I'm doing quite a bit motorway driving, so miles are adding up quickly and obviously less speed bumps than doing city diving, so maybe that's one of reasons why car still has majority of original suspension bits. In January car will be 16 year old.  So if yours is approaching only 100k, it shouldn't be too bad. 

My car reached about 120,000, and then a few rear bushes perished. I bit the bullet and replaced everything on the rear. I had the use of a ramp at a mate's garage on the understanding I would not bug him all day. 🤣 He also had an excellent press, which made life easier. I sorted all that and then noticed the GIUBO went south; I started to curse my luck but went ahead and replaced it. I've replaced all four coil springs, the four front control arms, four brake discs, and inner and outer tie-rods. With the help of people here, I have managed it myself and occasionally called in a mate on two-man jobs. The one job I didn't like was dropping the valve body to replace the seals and the transmission fluid.

The old girl is now at 160,000 and drives beautifully. My driver's side windscreen arm fell off today when driving to the supermarket. That gave me a problem because I had to wait for the heavy rain to stop before driving home! I have a handbrake issue with the passenger side wheel, which I need to sort out.

The MOT is due in January, and hopefully, there isn't too much to sort out!

Edited December 19, 2023 by Changy

[Tallman85]

5 hours ago, Changy said:

My car reached about 120,000, and then a few rear bushes perished. I bit the bullet and replaced everything on the rear. I had the use of a ramp at a mate's garage on the understanding I would not bug him all day. 🤣 He also had an excellent press, which made life easier. I sorted all that and then noticed the GIUBO went south; I started to curse my luck but went ahead and replaced it. I've replaced all four coil springs, the four front control arms, four brake discs, and inner and outer tie-rods. With the help of people here, I have managed it myself and occasionally called in a mate on two-man jobs. The one job I didn't like was dropping the valve body to replace the seals and the transmission fluid.

The old girl is now at 160,000 and drives beautifully. My driver's side windscreen arm fell off today when driving to the supermarket. That gave me a problem because I had to wait for the heavy rain to stop before driving home! I have a handbrake issue with the passenger side wheel, which I need to sort out.

The MOT is due in January, and hopefully, there isn't too much to sort out!

Thx @Changy - those are a lot of miles 🙂 

[Gonzo]

10 hours ago, Changy said:

My car reached about 120,000, and then a few rear bushes perished. I bit the bullet and replaced everything on the rear. I had the use of a ramp at a mate's garage on the understanding I would not bug him all day. 🤣 He also had an excellent press, which made life easier. I sorted all that and then noticed the GIUBO went south; I started to curse my luck but went ahead and replaced it. I've replaced all four coil springs, the four front control arms, four brake discs, and inner and outer tie-rods. With the help of people here, I have managed it myself and occasionally called in a mate on two-man jobs. The one job I didn't like was dropping the valve body to replace the seals and the transmission fluid.

The old girl is now at 160,000 and drives beautifully. My driver's side windscreen arm fell off today when driving to the supermarket. That gave me a problem because I had to wait for the heavy rain to stop before driving home! I have a handbrake issue with the passenger side wheel, which I need to sort out.

The MOT is due in January, and hopefully, there isn't too much to sort out!

I saw the rust stains, you ignored the warnings 😅

[Changy]

7 hours ago, Gonzo said:

I saw the rust stains, you ignored the warnings 😅

I admit I didn't see the rust until I had the wiper arm in my hand 😝. There was a clicking that started that morning and five minutes later, it let go 🤪

[Gonzo]

piffle 😆

[Changy]

11 hours ago, Gonzo said:

piffle 😆

That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. 🤪

I've fixed it now and there is no rust and no clicking 

I now need to find out what is happening with the near-side handbrake. 

[Changy]

I found the issue with the near-side handbrake; the cable had damage, which meant water ingress and rust. I only noticed the damage on the underside when I had cleaned everything. The cable hardly moved more than 5mm. I now have to drop the exhaust and remove the heat shield to access the cable. 🥵

[Tallman85]

4 minutes ago, Changy said:

I found the issue with the near-side handbrake; the cable had damage, which meant water ingress and rust. I only noticed the damage on the underside when I had cleaned everything. The cable hardly moved more than 5mm. I now have to drop the exhaust and remove the heat shield to access the cable. 🥵

the old lady is getting old 🙂

btw, the bush of the lower arm is €60 from BMW, while a complete arm from Lemforder is €120!  they have a license to rob us! 

[Ray112]

36 minutes ago, Tallman85 said:

the old lady is getting old 🙂

btw, the bush of the lower arm is €60 from BMW, while a complete arm from Lemforder is €120!  they have a license to rob us! 

But how do you know if ball joint is good enough to last at least another few years? No point to replace bushings and then whole arms year later. A bit wasted money.

[Tallman85]

5 minutes ago, Ray112 said:

But how do you know if ball joint is good enough to last at least another few years? No point to replace bushings and then whole arms year later. A bit wasted money.

Yes that is my point- might as well replace the whole arm.  

[Humour]

On 20/12/2023 at 07:48, Changy said:

I admit I didn't see the rust until I had the wiper arm in my hand 😝.

Yeah! That was a but of a surprise when it happened to me, it was one of the first things I had on my hands after the car was delivered to me by it's previous owner. It was parked on my drive as it had a water leak, and oil leak and a few other things preventing me from driving it (didn't stop him driving 1.5hrs to me from Brum area)......

As you do with any new car purchase you do a customary wash and clean, aaaaand, I went to lift the wiper arms to wash the screen (the pivots on both are shite btw) and the common one ended up lifting from the base and into my hand! WTF?!?! You can imagine my surprise.

Its' been fun and games since then (ok, maybe less fun, more just games).

[Humour]

59 minutes ago, Tallman85 said:

Yes that is my point- might as well replace the whole arm.  

Well you say that, but do a research on how long the oil filled bushes in the OE/Lemforder arms last..... I didn't read anything good in that regard and for the cost I'd expect a better lifespan.

I'll let you both @Ray112 @Tallman85 know how I'm getting on 1 year from now with my old arms with new Poly bushes in them.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Humour

[Tallman85]

11 minutes ago, Humour said:

Well you say that, but do a research on how long the oil filled bushes in the OE/Lemforder arms last..... I didn't read anything good in that regard and for the cost I'd expect a better lifespan.

I'll let you both @Ray112 @Tallman85 know how I'm getting one 1 year from now with my old arms with new Poly bushes in them.

But bmw oem are made by lemforder correct?  So they should be the same?

[Humour]

I know this thread has gone a bit off topic for the past few pages, you know who you are 🤪 so I'm attempting to reverse the trend.

I plugged the old girl in for a health check in preparation for possibly getting some help to shut up the seat occupancy sensor fault and subsequent airbag warnings, and.........results are attached.

......so I kicked the tyres instead and went back in to sip my coffee. 😎 That's a first! 🤯 and I probably will live to regret it very very soon, but until then I feel like a winner. 

Merry Xmas 🍻

Edited December 21, 2023 by Humour

[Gonzo]

3 hours ago, Tallman85 said:

But bmw oem are made by lemforder correct?  So they should be the same?

Yep

[Ray112]

14 hours ago, Humour said:

Well you say that, but do a research on how long the oil filled bushes in the OE/Lemforder arms last..... I didn't read anything good in that regard and for the cost I'd expect a better lifespan.

I'll let you both @Ray112 @Tallman85 know how I'm getting on 1 year from now with my old arms with new Poly bushes in them.

What's the mileage of your car? And how many miles a year you drive? Year for my driving means 20-30k miles, for some people it's just 3k miles, so something lasting a year is very stretchable description.

Good thing for poly is that you can take them out and use in next set of arms, while normal bushings are pressed in and I'm not sure if there's much point to press out couple years old bushings, because new arms will come with new bushings anyway.

[Humour]

9 hours ago, Ray112 said:

What's the mileage of your car? And how many miles a year you drive? Year for my driving means 20-30k miles, for some people it's just 3k miles, so something lasting a year is very stretchable description.

Agreed it is subjective. One could also argue that doing 20K motorway miles is an easier time for the car than doing 6K in town miles, over pot holes, kerbs, drains, you name it. Especially taking the state of the UK road infrastructure into account. Time will tell of course.but my point was that I reused the existing unknown quality/age/condition control arms, so on the premise that the ball joints may fail in 1 year I said I'll let you know in a year's time. 😉

I do around 6-8K miles, split about 70% in town and 30% on A/M roads. I chose the Poly bushes for a number of reasons but one of them was because I can press them into new arms when the time comes.

[Tallman85]

I think we said enough about arms 😂😂 thanks all. 

so my next question is: if you remap our bmw diesel, will the emissions increase? Dpf and egr will remain in place.  Anyone has data before and after? Will mot detect it?  Thx.

[Gonzo]

4 hours ago, Tallman85 said:

I think we said enough about arms 😂😂 thanks all. 

so my next question is: if you remap our bmw diesel, will the emissions increase? Dpf and egr will remain in place.  Anyone has data before and after? Will mot detect it?  Thx.

Nothing changes at minimal load 

[Tallman85]

14 hours ago, Gonzo said:

Nothing changes at minimal load 

Thx. 

[Tallman85]

On 22/12/2023 at 22:55, Gonzo said:

Nothing changes at minimal load 

And do you really get better mpg if driven sensible?  Any experience with that? 

[Gonzo]

3 hours ago, Tallman85 said:

And do you really get better mpg if driven sensible?  Any experience with that? 

I don't drive sensibly 🙂