A Short Lesson On Tire Safety

This 52 second video covers two basics of tire safety

1. Tread wear
2. Dry rot

I've had enough experience with worn tires in wet weather to testify as an expert witness on the importance of having enough tread depth to channel water out from under a tire to attain safe traction.

I use to believe that tire dry rot was something invented by the tire sales people. Rubber may crack over time but the tire is held together with steel and fiber strips - right?
My wife experienced the reality of a dry rotted tire flying apart while going down the highway. No one was injured, the vehicle was damaged, and the passenger was freaked out. I take dry rot seriously.

Some articles indicate that dry rot is only a problem if the cords inside the tire are showing. I know this is not true. The tire that flew apart on the highway looked fine except for the tell tale cracked rubber.

Spring is Here

And top down weather has come once again.

I have some plans for this spring.

• replace warped front rotors and brake pads (maybe paint the calipers)
• replace floor mats
• Make a rear window cover using 8 pound pull rare earth magnets

In the meantime it's great just having the top down.

E39 Wipers - BMW 5 Series 1995 - 2003

My 2002 530 needs wipers - bad.
Two ways to fix this problem,

1. Replace just the blade - I was never happy with the performance of the replacement blade.
2. Replace the whole wiper - I have been happy with the performance of the new wipers but they were a hassle to get.

Normal wipers won't work on the E39, they are way too cool for that.

If you want to replace the whole wiper auto parts places around here don't stock the part. I ordered from Bavarian Auto in the past (part number 61 61 9 070 579). The wipers cost $57 plus shipping and take a few days to get here.

I found out that the NAPA part number is 3397001539 and my local O'Reilly can get them in just two days for $55

If I had shopped around a little harder I might have found them in stock somewhere close.

Hitting 100,000k

The M Roadster rolled over 100k miles a few weeks ago. Once upon a time that was an amazingly huge number of miles for a car. I see it as mid-life for most cars made in the last 20 years, especially this one.

Last week I was driving to work, I was on the highway and felt a vibration in the front end. It felt like I had lost a wheel weight and one of the wheels was out of balance. It wasn't terribly bad so I kept driving.
Turned out the vibration was a sticky brake caliper draggin on the rotor.
Normally this is the sort of thing I'd fix but I was no where near home and I felt lazy so I let the shop fix it. Add $288 for parts and labor to my maintenance tally.
I suspect front brake rotors are in my near future. The mechanic said it was obvious that it got pretty hot.

How to Buy a Z3 or M Roadster

It’s important to have a strategy when buying a car. There are lots of good strategies, here is a simple one.

Look the car over carefully in the day light and decide if you want it or not.

If you don’t want it walk away.

If you do want it make a list of the things you don’t like as a discussion point for negotiating price.

Z3 and M Roadster things to look for:

• Sagging glove box – with the glove box closed push up on it from the bottom, it should be firm and not saggy. The glove boxes on these cars are heavy and tend to sag.
• Seat play – the back and forth mechanism on the power seat develops about a quarter inch of back and forth play. Put the seat about in the middle of it’s back and forth adjustment making sure that the seat back is not resting on the inside of the car. With your legs push back and forth and see if the seat will slide back and forth. My car has this problem and it’s very common with Z3s. I’ve had mechanics estimate about two hours work per seat to fix it ($200 per seat)
• Broken seat belt guide – there is a seatbelt guide on both seats, frequently one or both of them are broken. They are very hard to fix so most people just live with it.
• Convertible top wear – a cloth convertible top is a wear item, like tires or brakes. You should expect to have to replace it eventually. A new top will run $3000 to $5000 ( I know that’s a wide range, I’ve never actually replaced the top so I gave a safe range).
• M Roadsters do not have a spare tire. They did come with a can of fix a flat and a 12 volt compressor in the trunk on the right hand side. Frequently the repair kit is missing.
• Z3 check the spare tire, make sure all the tools are there.
• Dash lights – the light bulbs on the three climate control dials are frequently burned out. Check the lights in the other buttons – AC etc. These lights are not too horrible to replace – I’d guess and hour or so for a mechanic. I have replaced some of the ones on my car that are burned out but not others.
• Make sure all the speakers work and sound good – sometimes people play the system too loud and damage speakers.
• The usual car stuff stuff – tire wear, oil puddle on the ground, strange noises, driving straight etc.

If, after making the list you still want the car assign a dollar amount to each item and subtract it from the asking price, then make an offer. When the negotiation starts you can say “Well, the seats slide like a roller coaster and the top is worn so I can’t give you the asking price...”

After you have made your deal and brought your vehicle home here is a link to a site that has links for fixing all of these issues if you feel so inclined.

There's a Hole in My Stereo

Not an actual hole but it sounded like there was a hole.
The two speakers in the driver's side door were dead when I bought the car. It's a nine speaker system so there was lots of sound in the car but with the door speakers out it sounded like there was a hole.

The car came with an after market head unit and an amp in the trunk. Stock wiring was used. The stock amp was removed.

I did a lot of research and read about the pains others have had with stereo installation in a Z3. I'm up for removing door panels, replacing head units and the like, but tearing into a system with the stock amp cut out and wiring hooked up to an aftermarket amp worried me. Were the door speakers not working because they were broken or because the wiring was messed up? I decided I'd talk to some experts. After asking around a place was recommended. I made an appointment for 10 AM.

The shop had several BMWs, a variety of M3s from a 98 to a 2004 so it was clear they had experience with BMW sound systems. John believed that the door speakers were broken. He recommended replacing all six of the speakers in the front of the car with four speakers - parts were $250. He also recommended running RCA connectors from the head unit to the amp. The whole job was $410 and he would get it done that day in two to three hours. I opted to wait at the shop since I had not arrainged for transportation - I'm pretty good at killing time.

By 6 PM that night John was still not finished. My wife swung by after work and took me home. They promised it would be ready for pickup at 8 AM the next day. It was done in the morning and sounds great.

John did some nice work adjusting the amp and balancing out the sound.

Lessons Learned

• Don't wait inthe shop on spur of the moment repairs unless you know for sure how long they will take. Schedule a date, arrange for transportation and leave the car.
• Experience with your specific model of car is important. Even though John had worked on many BMWs he had never tackled a Z3. Getting Monster cables to the trunk turned out to be the barrier to a three hour install.

98 Ford Ranger 3L V-6 Idler Pulley and Tension Pulley Replacement

No, it's not Roadster related.
I've been poking around the wiring for the stereo. Three or four speakers in the car don't work.
Found four wires that have been cut and are just hanging around which may or may not be part of the problem.
I'm just not looking forward to fixing the things that remain on my list.
I'm having a great time driving the car!

Anyway, here's the post.