God willing, I'm done with buying cars for some time. The M5 is a great vehicle and the gear changing daily is not going to be the chore I thought it would. The car is very smooth and solid and actually everything I expected, then some. The biggest decision will be what to take on track day. I still love that SC; raw is the best way to describe it. The C4S is more refined. I'm looking forward to driving the M5 and C4S back to back to get a comparison of the two. I think they are comparable since the C4S is lighter, but you can definitely feel the M5 torque advantage. The C4S has around 250 ft lbs if I recall.
It's supposed to sleet and snow on Monday, so this morning I got an interesting look from my wife when I told her with three cars and a set of winter tires (for the old car) sitting in the garage, she would still have to drop me off at the office next week. Right now all three of my cars have summer tires and I refuse to buy a winter set this close to the end of the season. I guess S&*$ does happen.
JP, the lift is by American Automotive Equipment. The price was considerably less than others I looked at. It seems that most all get their steel from China, so I focused on the motor and hydraulics. This one has a Baldor motor which is US made and the overall quality of the lift is good. I waited for one of the sales and got the ramps, drip pans, casters, and jack stand for free. One of the keys to look for is the location of the mechanical stops since this will dictate where your resting positions are. If you need additional info on raising the garage door, etc, I can PM you with those details.
Congrats on the purchase!! The car looks wonderful..
Quick question.. any info on your wheels? They don't really look very Shadow Chrome at all. Is there something I'm missing? Maybe the '03s have lighter rims than earlier models.
I agree, the wheels look repainted, may be the lighting, but they don't look chrome shadow...
'96 C4S with RS clutch, LWF, RS Gears, Motor Sound, M030 US suspension and S02a's. Next project is to add M030 ROW suspension and lower the car.
Congrats on your new addition. Would love to hear comparisons of the M5 to your 993...I had a 96 narrow body. Also had RS clutch and LWF, motorsound, RSR mufflers and a few other goodies...had M030 ROW which was as low as I could go because of a steep driveway.
I'm familiar with the Porsches' immobilizer system and hope the M5 has something similar
PS, forgot to add that the immobilizer was the only thing I hated about the 993 ...so many times I had to go through the lock/unlock motions with it. But, my car was never stolen so I guess it did what it was supposed to!
Kevin, I'll try to get both to the track this spring and run them back to back. We'll see how that goes.
Anzir and Blue5, great eyes. It never ceases to amaze me what knowledgeable owners can pick up just from photos. I completely missed that while focusing on everything else. I did look at them but was focusing on scratches and missed the paint difference. I actually put the car on a rack and inspected the suspension and inside part of the rims for damage and saw none.
I agree, they do look painted. They do look great, but the outside lip is polished while the rim itself is painted and clearcoated. It looks like other stock BMW painted rims but not chrome shadow. According to the BMW parts department, there was one stlye rim and it was chrome shadow. I sent an email to the dealer where I bought the car and I'll see what his response is. Here's a close up photo.
Anzir and Blue5, great eyes. It never ceases to amaze me what knowledgeable owners can pick up just from photos. I completely missed that while focusing on everything else. I did look at them but was focusing on scratches and missed the paint difference. I actually put the car on a rack and inspected the suspension and inside part of the rims for damage and saw none.
I agree, they do look painted. They do look great, but the outside lip is polished while the rim itself is painted and clearcoated. It looks like other stock BMW painted rims but not chrome shadow. According to the BMW parts department, there was one stlye rim and it was chrome shadow. I sent an email to the dealer where I bought the car and I'll see what his response is. Here's a close up photo.
Veeeery interesting... let me know what the dealer tells you. Somehow I remember one of our board members doing that to his rims a while back, but I thought he wasn't in the US. Especially with the polished lip... rings a bell somehow. Still, it looks great! Wonderful car!
The rims have definitely been refinished. I'm in discussion with the dealer on what to do. Refinishing them in the factory color has been discussed as an option but they are going to see if the factory will address the replacement issue.
However, I'm seriously thinking I should leave well enough alone even though they don't have the shadow chrome finish. Given the color of my car, the rims look good to me in silver with the polished lip. They should be more robust like this given the number of posts I've read on how easy it is for the factory coating to be compromised. The previous owner did an excellent job with the current refinishing. Any opinions on just keeping the current look?
My real question is whether the photo in the attached link (see the Chassis section) accurately represents how the factory rim should look? It looks darker than some I've seen but I don't have the background knowldege to base that opinion on.
Good morning and congratulations on your purchase.
I used to have a 2000 M5 before I bought the Z8 and had a rim color issue as well when I went to replace my (michigan roads) bent rims (two of them). The rims on my car which I had bought used, where darker than the OEM rims. I did not realize this when I bought the car, but when I needed replacements it could be clearly seen. And that would be my concern. The rims can bend quite easily and if you have to replace one you will have a missmatch. If the dealer will replace the rims or will work with you on the pricing now recently after the purchase, I would look for a solution now.
Good luck and enjoy the ride!
Skip
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'02 BMW Z8 Titanium Silver/Black
'05 BMW X3 Mystic Blue/Grey Montana Leather
'99 Boxster Ocean Blue/Grey/Grey
Good morning and congratulations on your purchase.
I used to have a 2000 M5 before I bought the Z8 and had a rim color issue as well when I went to replace my (michigan roads) bent rims (two of them). The rims on my car which I had bought used, where darker than the OEM rims. I did not realize this when I bought the car, but when I needed replacements it could be clearly seen. And that would be my concern. The rims can bend quite easily and if you have to replace one you will have a missmatch. If the dealer will replace the rims or will work with you on the pricing now recently after the purchase, I would look for a solution now.
Good luck and enjoy the ride!
Skip
Thanks Skip. By the way, I was wondering how accurate do you think the photo in my link is to the actual rim color? Are the OEM rims really that dark?
...so many times I had to go through the lock/unlock motions with it. But, my car was never stolen so I guess it did what it was supposed to!
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