Bought myself a project

[JCH13]

~$150 each buys a heck of a lot of new wheels.

 

[nerp]

Cool! Another beast saved from the hands of a douchebag. May you give her a nice life.

 

[satyajitmenon]

~$150 each buys a heck of a lot of new wheels.

Bit of a nuisance for the e39s cos of their unusual centerbore size.

 

[halik]

ooh that's gonna look great with the m5 bumper

 

[SpatiallyAware]

~$150 each buys a heck of a lot of new wheels.

I really like the stock wheels. I might try another factory BMW wheel, but will likely do exactly what Jules said and have these redone in a slightly darker color.

In general I'm just not a fan of non-oem wheels unless there's some special purpose... Track or 4x4. In this case it's a highway and vacation car, so the factory 17s are ok with me. The rear is a 9" wheel, plenty for the power it puts out.

Valve covers are at the powder coaters... Two week wait!! Suspension refresh kit is on order, only thing left is to decide between bilstein HD or factory sach shocks....

 

[manimal]

I really like the stock wheels. I might try another factory BMW wheel, but will likely do exactly what Jules said and have these redone in a slightly darker color.

In general I'm just not a fan of non-oem wheels unless there's some special purpose... Track or 4x4. In this case it's a highway and vacation car, so the factory 17s are ok with me. The rear is a 9" wheel, plenty for the power it puts out.

Valve covers are at the powder coaters... Two week wait!! Suspension refresh kit is on order, only thing left is to decide between bilstein HD or factory sach shocks....

Get the Sachs if you want to stay with a softer setup. If you want something firmer than an M5 then get the Billy HDS. If you want something in the middle get some koni FSD2100s. Bilsteins are just too punchy on a e39 unless you want to go really sporty then go nuts!


Gonna do a CDV delete? oops its auto never mind

m5 rear swaybar and msport II 25MM fronts are a really nice setup thta I had on my last e39. Get your Vanos seals from Beyisiean-sorry mispleed-and do them as well. We did a really nice E39 for a guy with that suspension setup as well as the remus exhaust/cai/ and some other basic mods and the car REALLY woke up.

 

[Black2na]

Just picked up a primed M5 front bumper, fog lights, grills, etc... Everything except the plastic wheel well pieces, underbody tray and paint.

The stock one has a repairable crack, but needed a repaint. Figured I might as well go all the way..

LOVE LOVE LOVE the e39's 540's with an exhaust sounds soo good. and ive painted and fitted these bumpers to the e39 local friend has a 528i we put that bumper on. fit really well and makes the car look amazing. if the headlights are fogged clean them up makes the car look almost brand new. though from the pictures car is clean. good luck with the engine bits i bet some time researching the issue its something stupid and cheap to fix.

 

[Ketchup]

Another E39 lover here. Love the stock wheels too. I feel like I live in "BMW World" (because of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_US_Manufacturing_Company) and I still prefer that style to the new ones. Best of luck!

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Ok last weekend I replaced the valve cover gaskets, plugs, cleaned up the coils.

Changed the oil, it seemed thin. It really should have a 40 weight, and it seemed thinner than that.

Went ahead and dropped the pan, hoping to not see chunks of timing chain guides... And.......

No guides, chunks of metal, slivers of anything!!!! The oil was very dark, but thin. It didn't smell like fuel either, and no milkshake or anything like that. No sludge, but a bit of varnishing. Very typical, and good to see. This is one of the "15k mile oil change is ok" era BMWs, so lots of them are NASTY on the inside... This one is not.

The PO was taking it to a japanese import shop, I have no doubt that they were using 5w30....... So I dutifully buttoned her back up, refilled with mobil1 0w40 and..................... NO MORE TAPPING!

It still has the typical light vanos rattle rattle, which is no big deal, but the PO sold it due to noisy lifters likely only due to the wrong oil in it.

This car is a perfect example of why you don't let "non BMW people" work on a BMW.


And the rest of the suspension will be here this week, should be able to get it on the road this weekend or next.

 

[mvbighead]

Ok last weekend I replaced the valve cover gaskets, plugs, cleaned up the coils.

Changed the oil, it seemed thin. It really should have a 40 weight, and it seemed thinner than that.

Went ahead and dropped the pan, hoping to not see chunks of timing chain guides... And.......

No guides, chunks of metal, slivers of anything!!!! The oil was very dark, but thin. It didn't smell like fuel either, and no milkshake or anything like that. No sludge, but a bit of varnishing. Very typical, and good to see. This is one of the "15k mile oil change is ok" era BMWs, so lots of them are NASTY on the inside... This one is not.

The PO was taking it to a japanese import shop, I have no doubt that they were using 5w30....... So I dutifully buttoned her back up, refilled with mobil1 0w40 and..................... NO MORE TAPPING!

It still has the typical light vanos rattle rattle, which is no big deal, but the PO sold it due to noisy lifters likely only due to the wrong oil in it.

This car is a perfect example of why you don't let "non BMW people" work on a BMW.


And the rest of the suspension will be here this week, should be able to get it on the road this weekend or next.

Nice.

Now why can't I find a gem like that?

To be honest, most times I get a new car, regardless of last oil change, I just go ahead and change it using whatever the car is speced for. That way I know it's right.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Where is this place? Send the info my way. I may need to get that done some time in the future.

http://www.americanfactorywheel.com/

I bought a set of used Lexus wheels off Craigslist for cheap for my wife's car because she destroyed her front two wheels beyond repair. Two of the wheels I bought were bent and rashed so I had them straightened and refinished. Well worth the money. They do really nice work and the wheels look brand new.

The Lexus wheels are pretty good and I'm not a big fan of most aftermarket wheels. Getting good wheels is typically fairly expensive, especially BMW wheels.

I like the wheels on the OP's car. Those are worth refinishing.

 

[NutBucket]

~$150 each buys a heck of a lot of new wheels.

That's debatable

Then again, I've had to wheels repaired to this point, a Prodrive P1 and a TE-37. Yeah, not replacing those on the cheap

 

[JCH13]

That's debatable

Then again, I've had to wheels repaired to this point, a Prodrive P1 and a TE-37. Yeah, not replacing those on the cheap

There's nothing to debate... on TireRack you can get 17 different wheels for a 2001 540i Sport that are under $150/ea. That's a fairly wide selection of wheels from just one vendor, ignoring the used market.

The debatable part is style

 

[SpatiallyAware]

But at what quality?

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

S.A. -
You are restoring the reputation and honor of BMW owners who frequent this forum.
Keep it up!
I respect this BMW build thread.
There are MANY name brand rims available in the $150 range. tirerack.com

 

[JCH13]

But at what quality?

I have (endurance) raced on one or two of the wheel brands in that price range and seen them last thousands of race miles. I think they'll handle street driving just fine.

Edit:

I think these wheels would look good, but I am a 5-spoke fanboi. Though something weird is going on with the rendering of the wheel...

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have (endurance) raced on one or two of the wheel brands in that price range and seen them last thousands of race miles. I think they'll handle street driving just fine.

Edit:

I think these wheels would look good, but I am a 5-spoke fanboi. Though something weird is going on with the rendering of the wheel...

Blech, those are ugly. :thumbsdown: For that kind of money I'd just refinish the stock wheels.

I've also heard of strange problems with aftermarket wheels on BMWs. Drivers reporting vibrations that weren't there with the OEM wheels. My wife had a 3 series a number of years ago and I thought about getting some aftermarket wheels for it but that was a common complaint at the time so I just kept the factory wheels on it.

The shop I linked would probably give you a slightly better price on refinishing all 4 wheels. You're only saving the OP $124 with those cheesy 5 spoke wheels and possibly creating more problems.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Definitely keeping my stock wheels... I like that they're 17", 8" wide front 9" wide rear, and I really like the design.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Drool;

http://www.michelinman.com/tire-sel...formance-sport/pilot-sport-a-s-3/tire-details

 

[JCH13]

Blech, those are ugly. :thumbsdown: For that kind of money I'd just refinish the stock wheels.

I've also heard of strange problems with aftermarket wheels on BMWs. Drivers reporting vibrations that weren't there with the OEM wheels. My wife had a 3 series a number of years ago and I thought about getting some aftermarket wheels for it but that was a common complaint at the time so I just kept the factory wheels on it.

The shop I linked would probably give you a slightly better price on refinishing all 4 wheels. You're only saving the OP $124 with those cheesy 5 spoke wheels and possibly creating more problems.

*shrug* whatever makes you happy. If he's buying tires at the same time it'll save mounting/balancing too, and it'll be a roadforce mount/balance.

IMO they do not appear to be cheesy on an E39:

Edit: added this one

Don't think this is an e39, but you get the idea.

But whatever the OP wants to do style wise is his call. I am merely defending my point that complete sets of wheels can be purchased for the price of refinishing the OEM wheels. There are pros and cons to each option, I never said that one was right and the other was wrong.

On my winter wheels I spent a little time with bondo to hide the curb rash (cosmetic damage only) and had them repainted for $100. I, personally, would rather spend the $500 difference elsewhere.

 

[JulesMaximus]

*shrug* whatever makes you happy. If he's buying tires at the same time it'll save mounting/balancing too, and it'll be a roadforce mount/balance.

IMO they do not appear to be cheesy on an E39:

Edit: added this one

Don't think this is an e39, but you get the idea.

But whatever the OP wants to do style wise is his call. I am merely defending my point that complete sets of wheels can be purchased for the price of refinishing the OEM wheels. There are pros and cons to each option, I never said that one was right and the other was wrong.

On my winter wheels I spent a little time with bondo to hide the curb rash (cosmetic damage only) and had them repainted for $100. I, personally, would rather spend the $500 difference elsewhere.

Okay, those do look a lot better in those pics than the one you posted earlier. I'll give you that. :thumbsup:

 

[ViviTheMage]

nice find

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I can definitely see that... I didn't care for them when I was younger, but they aged very well and are very "classy" looking IMO.

I didn't have many options in a mid-size sedan with a big honkin v8 that handles well and is DIY-friendly.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

These are win.

 

[JCH13]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/3565032332_85fca01c86.jpg

These are win.

I really like how they grafted the BMW center caps on, they look very much like these OE BMW wheels: