NEW RIDE PANDA's - Ballin on a budget gas saver BMW.

[bimmer4life]

Ordered some Powerstop Z16 Ceramic pads from carparts.com

I remember I had powerstop pads on my trans am and was happy with them.

Ron Vogel You have any experience with those MEYLE rotors? Not sure I want to spend money shipping those back. Also only 2 brake sensors for front/rear? Not one on every wheel?

I’ll say it again. Zimmerman for euro cars. Won’t look like shit in 1 week Z coated and good price. But wtf I know . Run them on all my keepers

 

[PANDA]

I’ll say it again. Zimmerman for euro cars. Won’t look like shit in 1 week Z coated and good price. But wtf I know . Run them on all my keepers

View attachment 104886

BMW Brake Kit - Zimmermann/Akebono 34116764021KTF1 | FCP Euro

They look comparable pricewise to what I boguht. My issue when I ordered was availability. I couldnt find anything matching front and rear. Didnt help that manual's are a diffrent part number for the fronts. So I just ordered the matching all around kit that was backordered.

 

[PANDA]

Drove back home from northern Wisconsin this morning. Snow/Ice coverd roads till just north of Portage. (2-4 inches) I didnt die but I didnt feel comforable at all on the Good Year Assurance all seasons that are almost at the wear bars. Lucky the snow tires go on first thing in the morning. I put a few sandbags in the truck and air down the tires a bit. Not sure if that did anything but switching lanes and going over bridges was sure asshole puckering.

 

[Rico]

I don't think I have the cajones to take my m3 that far in the snow lol. I'm putting my winter's on tomorrow morning.

 

[PANDA]

I got the snow tires, and rotors/pads all around installed. Very quiet and smooth ride, but I can tell handling is affected even with "performance" winter tires. Also, glad to get those rotors/pads off. Whatever was on there had plenty of life left but they dusted like crazy and lightly rusted over if you left the car overnight.

When I got them installed at Discount tire, I asked about the Michelin rebate. I think it was $75. I asked the guy about it and he searched around on the computer for a bit. Said the computer system was "down" and he couldn’t print it off. He would refund me when the system comes back online. I was like ugh great so I’m not getting that $75. Car was down and I was walking out of the store guy said he got the rebate done and my card will be refunded. Weird, I thought it was a mail in. I checked my account, and I got a refund of $140. Went on the Michelin site to figure out this rebate. Filled out some online forms, uploaded my receipt. Not sure if I will get it but if I do, I got a hell of a deal on these tires.

$550-$140-$75=$335/4= $88 a tire (before install)

 

[Rico]

Looks super sharp! I got my winters through tire rack and they mailed me a prepaid Mastercard as a rebate. Ups also left my mounted wheels and tires in front of my garage, in the rain, and without ringing my doorbell...

 

[PANDA]

Happy with the winter/snow performance of this car so far. Traction and braking seems good. Passing on the highway in a snow covered fast lane is kinda sketchy, but I think I can blame that on RWD. Drove up north in a light to moderate storm, drove down unplowed driveway with 6 inches of snow from the night before. No issues.

 

[SleeperLS]

I like that snow depth gauge.

 

[Ron Vogel]

If it’s anything like my e39 RWD it should be fine in the winter

 

[rowekmr]

Great Thread!

I had a similar 535xi. I liked the interior and BMW ride/handling with AWD but the turbos developed the (common) waste gate rattle and cats were going out so I sold it.

 

[PANDA]

Great Thread!

I had a similar 535xi. I liked the interior and BMW ride/handling with AWD but the turbos developed the (common) waste gate rattle and cats were going out so I sold it.
View attachment 107672

I tried pretty hard to avoid the turbo models. The low mileage ones were out of budget also.

 

[PANDA]

Well I have put 15,000+ miles on this car since I bought it and still love it. No issues beyond the EGR valve and recently rear springs. After I got the tires mounted back in November I took it to the machanic to get the brakes and rotors swapped out. They lowered the car down off the lift and one of the rear springs cracked and small piece of the spring fell off. Maybe the sandbags in the back put it over the limit. Pretty sure a crack developed after TCG tour but I didnt have any driveability issues so kept driving it. I planned to swap out the rear springs and shocks anyway since the fronts were done just before I bought it. I got fucked in the ass with new springs and shocks but I probably didnt pay more than having them done on any other car. Went with aftermarket German parts.

 

[PANDA]

Northwoods still has 8+ inches of snow on the ground but wanted to swap out the snow tires for "summers" anyway. I don't plan on heading up there much this month. I continued the budget theme and went with $83 ///Westlake SA07 tires. Not summer only like I wanted but a "performance" all season. https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/westlake-sa07-sport/p/14910 All the reviews seemed OK, especially for a tire that's probably made in China.

The only issue is discount tire did a really lazy and sloppy install. They used a ton of wheel weights, didn't remove the old adhesive, and scratched the shit out of the inside of the wheels. Looked like they used a wire wheel to try and prep the surface for the new wheel weights. They offered to refinish/repair the two wheels that were fucked up.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

It warms my heart that things that small still annoy the s*** out of you

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

I’d be pissed too. I kind of expect the dump truck amount of weights to balance a Chineseum tire, but the shop grinding/wire wheel the wheel to stick them on? Yeah, I’d be furious.

Just clean the surface, heat it up, stick on the weights. If they’re lacking the confidence to stick on a wheel weight, put a dab of glue on them first.

 

[PANDA]

I’d be pissed too. I kind of expect the dump truck amount of weights to balance a Chineseum tire, but the shop grinding/wire wheel the wheel to stick them on? Yeah, I’d be furious.

Just clean the surface, heat it up, stick on the weights. If they’re lacking the confidence to stick on a wheel weight, put a dab of glue on them first.

I am not so mad about the number of wheel weights as it sounds like that is expected to balance a cheap tire. But kinda weird one tire has 12 weights and another has none that I can see? I don't expect them to spend an hour trying to clean off old wheel weight adhesive but when I can get off the most recent with my finger in minutes it would have been a hell of a lot easier with the wheel off. What pissed me off is they decided to grind the wheel where they stuck on the new weights. Why would anyone think this is OK? Yeah, this is a "beater" car but fuck. Do they do this to brand new cars that come into the shop?

The store manager offered to repair the section of the wheel they fucked up. I would need to leave my car with them so they can remove the wheels and send them out to get repaired. They don't know how long the process takes. I don't think I am interested in that. Then what? I have a small 6-8 inch section of the inside of the wheel that looks brand new? That's the same eyesore that the scratched-up area is now. They also offered credit towards future work but that would mean me taking my car(s) back to them. Kinda stuck.

 

[DEEZUZ]

They definitely should have spun the tire 180 to try and counter some of the weight usage.

But again, $14/hr employees.

We used these flat butter knife things to remove the weights then a special adhesive stripper to remove the residual adhesive backing. Never a fucking wizzy wheel. God damn.

I'd also be pissed.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

When I got my new tires put on, the local place added a 2x2 amount of weights to two tires. I think they said something like 5 or 6 ounces worth. To 2 or 3 tires. Scraped the second row off because it was rubbing my front brakes.

Dumb motherfuckers.

 

[DEEZUZ]

When I got my new tires put on, the local place added a 2x2 amount of weights to two tires. I think they said something like 5 or 6 ounces worth. To 2 or 3 tires. Scraped the second row off because it was rubbing my front brakes.

Dumb motherfuckers.

Your tires I would've went with sand.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Your tires I would've went with sand.

They wanted me to buy the $25 a piece bean bags.

 

[DEEZUZ]

They wanted me to buy the $25 a piece bean bags.

LMAZT4U

E-Z Tire Beads - Ceramic Balancing 4 Bags of 4 oz (16 Total) fits 4 Tires + Applicator Kit - No Lead, No Damage, DIY Tire Balance https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VO4ZODE/?tag=tcg21-20

 

[DEEZUZ]

E-Z Tire Beads - Balancing Beads Stainless Steel Filtered Valve Cores - (6) Six Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078QFC14W/?tag=tcg21-20

 

[PANDA]

I am not so mad about the number of wheel weights as it sounds like that is expected to balance a cheap tire. But kinda weird one tire has 12 weights and another has none that I can see? I don't expect them to spend an hour trying to clean off old wheel weight adhesive but when I can get off the most recent with my finger in minutes it would have been a hell of a lot easier with the wheel off. What pissed me off is they decided to grind the wheel where they stuck on the new weights. Why would anyone think this is OK? Yeah, this is a "beater" car but fuck. Do they do this to brand new cars that come into the shop?

The store manager offered to repair the section of the wheel they fucked up. I would need to leave my car with them so they can remove the wheels and send them out to get repaired. They don't know how long the process takes. I don't think I am interested in that. Then what? I have a small 6-8 inch section of the inside of the wheel that looks brand new? That's the same eyesore that the scratched-up area is now. They also offered credit towards future work but that would mean me taking my car(s) back to them. Kinda stuck.

The Discount Tire store manager refunded me my entire $488 total for the tires plus installation for scratching the wheels. He said, "that should have never happened".

 

[Dr. Jimbo]

The Discount Tire store manager refunded me my entire $488 total for the tires plus installation for scratching the wheels. He said, "that should have never happened".

That’s customer service!

 

[PANDA]

That’s customer service!

I'm not mad. That's very fair, and not what I expected. I called a wheel guy in Lake Barrington and they said they will not partially repair wheels. Just under $200 to repair and refinish each wheel. They would look new. So I guess he made some calls or understands my frustration with a partial repair on the two damaged wheels.