Andrew's Sterlingsilber 90 325iS -> 318iS

[Andrew325is]

Skip's fixed a cracked wheel for me years ago. I was out of town when the wheel got picked up, so I didn't see the job until it had already been paid for and was a done deal for a few days. Looked like a 12 year old kid welded the crack and did no finish work, and to top it off, it still leaked air.

That being said, they refinished a set of BBS RS for a friend's E30 M3 and they did a very nice job. Seems to be that they are the only place in town with any quality standards anymore. The next set of wheels I need refinished (I hope not anytime soon), I will likely have them do the job.

It sounds like you've had some bad luck with wheels too. I guess once an alloy wheel is toast, it's toast, unless you're lucky enough to find someone who really knows what they're doing and has the right equipment. When repairing a bent wheel the runout should be precisely measured. The guy at FWO was literally just eyeballing it and he didn't straighten the outer inside edge at all because he said he didn't want to hurt the finish, so he machined the inner edge only (where the tire lip rests). Literally just shaved it on a lathe. It's a shame these wheels are currently NLA (in both regular silver and Nogaro). I called the BMW dealer today and they told me they're not in production. It's possible they'll do another run at some point, but who knows when. He said there are still some 14" weaves in stock, but I don't think I really want to spend a grand on a set of 14" wheels. At least they would be straight though.

[Andrew325is]

I calculated my mpg at 25.5 at the last fill up. That seems pretty good to me.

[Jokester]

25.5 is good. Is it mainly city or highway? Were you putting your foot in it? If you weren’t why even own an e30. lol

[Andrew325is]

Mixed, but mostly highway. I put my foot down some, but the M20 is so weak it doesn’t really go faster if I do lol. Still enjoyable driving it though. I’m tempted to swap it at some point, but it’s not bad for daily driving as it is.

[Jokester]

25.5 is great then. Good to see a clean car with good numbers! Keep up the work!

[Stanley Rockafella]

In regards to your vibration issues, there's a test you can do to see if the wheels are seated properly against the hub.

1. jack up any corner of the car as though your going to change the tire...doesn't matter which you choose.
2. remove the bolts from that wheel.
3. as you remove the bolts, the wheel should NOT move at all. The wheel should be suspended against the hub on the center bore of the wheel. Rust/corrosion should no be what's holding it on.
4. if the wheel falls as soon as you start to remove the bolts, you know it's not seating properly and will cause the vibrations as the wheel rotates and shifts it's weight around the hub. Excessive torque does not help seat it any better.

Hope this helps.

[Andrew325is]

Okay, I’ll take a look at that. Thanks.

[Andrew325is]

I got a new driver's seat belt and receptacle. The old one doesn't retract which is annoying and it's a little bit frayed. Experts say seat belts should be replaced after 10-15 years so it doesn't hurt to replace it at 29 anyways. They say they should be replaced after an accident too, so it wouldn't be a good idea to get a used one from a wrecked car. The passenger seat belts seem to be in good shape. It wouldn't hurt to replace them too, but new ones are very expensive. $300 for just the driver's seat. It would be nice if the red ones were still available.

[jeenyus]

nice car. nice progress. I've never seen new ICV or new AFM. Those don't run cheap. A new ICV is like 600$, which is a bunch of bullshit considering how crucial it is on these cars.

[Andrew325is]

Yeah, I found those on eBay searching online with the Bosch part numbers. The seller has a whole bunch of NOS Bosch parts. Both are no longer in production as you probably know. The ICVs left are whatever BMW still has in their warehouses.

[jeenyus]

Yeah, I found those on eBay searching online with the Bosch part numbers. The seller has a whole bunch of NOS Bosch parts. Both are no longer in production as you probably know. The ICVs left are whatever BMW still has in their warehouses.

honestly i've looked into this and even thought about reaching out the BOSCH directly. my decision would probably just be to swap over to MSPNP and run a MAP instead. The cost is comparative at that point anyway.

[Andrew325is]

Yeah, I don't know if Bosch would be willing to run a production of those parts again. The minimum order quantity is probably pretty large. At some point it won't be realistic to keep running these old engines using original parts so maybe it's best to convert. Every now and then of course BMW does a run of NLA parts, maybe it's when they get cars into their Classic centre for restoration and a car needs something so they order a run of them. Just a theory.

[jeenyus]

Yeah, I don't know if Bosch would be willing to run a production of those parts again. The minimum order quantity is probably pretty large. At some point it won't be realistic to keep running these old engines using original parts so maybe it's best to convert. Every now and then of course BMW does a run of NLA parts, maybe it's when they get cars into their Classic centre for restoration and a car needs something so they order a run of them. Just a theory.

It's a good theory too. It just sucks it's such a crucial part. This is exactly why i converted to a MAF setup.
I like what you're doing here. The headlights I'm interested in are those ones you referenced way at the beginning of the thread. They looked super cool and I'd love to see them on an E30.

[Andrew325is]

In regards to your vibration issues, there's a test you can do to see if the wheels are seated properly against the hub.

1. jack up any corner of the car as though your going to change the tire...doesn't matter which you choose.
2. remove the bolts from that wheel.
3. as you remove the bolts, the wheel should NOT move at all. The wheel should be suspended against the hub on the center bore of the wheel. Rust/corrosion should no be what's holding it on.
4. if the wheel falls as soon as you start to remove the bolts, you know it's not seating properly and will cause the vibrations as the wheel rotates and shifts it's weight around the hub. Excessive torque does not help seat it any better.

Hope this helps.

I found BMW's instructions for removing/installing wheels. It's quite elaborate. Following their instructions would make it so the test you outlined wouldn't work since they have you clean the mating surfaces of the wheel to the hub with a grinding tool. The tool is like this one: https://www.bavauto.com/bmw-hub-roto...inder-b8800132. Looks like it's basically a fancy polycarbide grinding wheel that fits over the center hub. Could probably just go around it with one of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/3M-Paint-an...g-Disc/3036320

It doesn't say so but you'd want to wear a dust mask and safety glasses when you do that.

Here are the instructions (for E46):
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...brakes/2ZbATsW

Here's the E30 instructions. Pretty similar, but it doesn't call for using the special cleaning tool. It says, "Clean wheel center centering collar and bearing surfaces of wheel rim and coat with Plastilube".

http://www.bmwz1.org/Reparaturanleitung/pages/en/36100000.html

[Andrew325is]

I found this article on diagnosing wheel vibration and it shows how to measure runout with a dial indicator. https://www.popularmechanics.com/car...o/a76/1272406/ I'm going to go to HF tomorrow and get a dial indicator.

Here's the BMW E30 instructions for measuring wheel runout: http://www.bmwz1.org/Reparaturanleit.../3610000c.html

It says max radial and lateral runout are both 0.6 mm (0.024").

Here's the instructions for measuring tire runout: http://www.bmwz1.org/Reparaturanleit.../3610000b.html

It says max radial and lateral runout are both 1.6 mm (0.063").