2003 BMW M5

[95naSTA]

Thanks! Yep the goal is to use it.

[95naSTA]

Last summer on a family road trip to the Outer Banks the right rear tire was rubbing ever so slightly do to packing the crap out of the car. After my suspension refresh I thought that between the rear having less sag, a stiffer spring rate and more camber, this would be a non-issue. However, one morning I hit a couple bumps just right and the RR wheel compressed enough to make the tire contact the wheel well/quarter panel lip and literally pull the sheet metal into the tire as it cut all the way around. Luckily it didn't blow out or leak air. I gently bent the metal back with what I had on-hand and ordered a pair of tires that day. These only had 5k/1yr on them.. The good news is they were from Tirerack and I had no issues with warrantying the one out. I spent some more time 'rolling' the RR fender as best as I could with what I have at my garage then followed up with touch up paint where the tire caught. I checked clearance and it looks like this is good to go now.






The diver rear door lock actuator started getting lazy on me and since I've dealt with what happens when they fail locked on my previous 528i, I got right on fixing this. To back-track, the passenger side vapor barriers were replaced when I had some paint work done in '21 but I never replaced either on the driver side. This time I only bought the driver rear barrier thinking I'll probably be taking apart the most used door (drivers front) sometime near term. I had plenty of butyl left over from '21 and put that to use here. Replacing the door lock actuator was fairly straight forward but when I was hanging the new vapor barrier I noticed I ordered the wrong one. The one I ordered was for a non-airbag rear door card and I have airbags. Since I was as far along as I was and don't have much free time with a 2 yr old and a newborn, I decided to just see if I could make it work. I was able to get the bag tightened into place and the barrier sealed in that area without much issue. I'm not thrilled about this but it works and it's better than the separated barrier it was replacing. I also remembered from my last go around with butyl that if you pull it off violently, it comes off way easier. That's shown below.











Due to the lack of snow/salt I was able to periodically drive this throughout the winter. I only racked about 600 miles but that's way better than zero. I'm looking forward to getting some quality summer miles in now.

[Sirius]

I see you're running Continental "Extreme Contact" tires. Who knew that was a real thing?

[95naSTA]

So the tire choice was interesting.. I started off with Conti Extreme Contact Sport summers all around. I replaced the rears (due to PO sidewall damage) with Michelin PS4s since (on paper) they matched the older Contis in all summer categories but were a good all-season. It was my plan to get those again at the beginning of last year when I went to a square 275mm all around setup but they were on back order for like 3 months with no end in sight and I needed to drive to OBX. I waited until I couldn't and I wasn't doing the trip on the worn 6 year old Conti's up front. When I went to look at comparables, these newer Conti Extreme all seasons matched the performance of PS4s I had (on paper). So, yeah, miss-matched tire saga history to-date. I know people get up-tight about that but I doubt the delta in performance is more than going from a 245 to a 275 wide up front, like I did.

[Sirius]

Nobody can tell the difference in your tires when you go by at 30mph, so no worries. If they were raised white letter and different, then there would be an issue as cool factor would take a hit.

[95naSTA]

The car got a fresh oil change, some AFE filters, a wash and I raised the rear about a half inch all in preps for another Outer Banks family road trip. To be honest, I have no idea when the K&N air filters were cleaned/oiled last but I knew I wasn't going to risk over oiling them with new MAFs. I'm sure any filter would have been better at this point but the dry element AFEs seemed like best drop in performance solution for avoiding oil.




I've been meaning to get a foam cannon for a while but I don't feel like finding a place in my tetris'd 1 car garage (with 3 bikes) for a pressure washer.. Most of the reviews and demos of garden hose pressure powered foam guns aren't great and none match a true pressure washer foam cannon setup. I came across one demo from Detail King of their foam gun and wash solution that actually provides decent coverage. I gave it a shot and I'm happy with it so far.







Last year we stayed relatively far south in OBX, Avon, and took the ferry farther to Ocracoke. This year we stayed in Kitty Hawk and explored north to Corolla. It was our first trip together with our (now) 2.5 month old daughter. So it was cool to rack on some more miles and memories with this car. The car swallowed beach chairs, umbrella, stroller, booster seat, bassinet, my tools and all of our stuff for a week without issue.

I did get a 'check brake linings' dash warning right as I was getting to OBX but deducted it much be a faulty sensor or connection. The brake fluid level was at max and I have plenty of pad life left so I didn't worry about it. Brake wear sensors were ordered since they're cheap anyway and I'll get them in when I have the time. That's it though. The car handled the 750 mile trip really well. I also managed 21.5 mpg (21.5 measured, 22 indicated) going down, which is pretty good considering the headers, 3.45s (3.15s stock), square setup, weight and all the stop lights in lower DE and MD. EPA estimate is 19 mpg highway, stock.

[Sirius]

Car is looking good! Sounds like a fun little trip. Wife and I are heading to Great Basin Nat'l Park this weekend to do some stargazing. New moon Saturday night and some dark skies should bring out the Milky Way. Provided there's no stinkin' cloud cover, like there is right now. LOL!

[95naSTA]

That sounds awesome. I've only seen the Milky Way from central PA back in the mid/late 90s then from Maui and Bora Bora 5 years ago. I definitely want to have my kids see it early on.

[nos4blood70]

Car looks great! Gotta love the little maintenance items. Foam cannons are a whole lot of fun too. How many miles have you put on that thing?

[95naSTA]

Thanks!

I got it just shy of 110k and I'm just over 126k now. I managed 4.5k last spring/summer/fall but I'll probably see half that this year due to no longer traveling for work.

[95naSTA]

Working on getting my 2.5 yr old trained up. It's nice that I can let him loose on the PPF'd surfaces.





Wrong thread but I cleaned up the Jag too and then noticed I took a pic from more or less the same angle/spot.

[Sirius]

Kids have so much fun "helping" wash the car! The fun grows exponentially however, once they discover the joy of squirting dad with the hose.

[95naSTA]

Haha. We're pretty much there on the shooting me with the hose.

[95naSTA]

Well, the Check Brake Linings warning I got on the last road trip ended up just being my front sensor coming loose. Since I had the sensors, I replaced them anyway.






(The warning previously came on before the Fasten Seat Belts message is displayed)

I also got around to installing updated center exhaust bushings. I put it off since I read that you have to drop the exhaust. However, I'm stubborn and got a offset box end 13mm in there to get the top nut loose.




After that last pic I realigned the bushings vertically with the available play in the support bracket.

My front drivers side door lock actuator started getting lazy on me. The actuator along with a vapor barrier are on order now. I'm glad I didn't knock out that vapor barrier with any of the others since it would have had to come back apart. Oh and I ordered the right (air bag equipped) vapor barrier this time.

[95naSTA]

I got the lazy drivers door lock actuator and old vapor barrier swapped out for new. Now all 4 doors are nicely sealed. That along with securing the sun roof drains should help with this car being in a state that actually rains more than 5x a year.

Old barrier

Before I realized there's a flap next to the door lock actuator plug that makes things a lot easier



New barrier with new butyl

[Sirius]

Its nice that you can still get those kind of parts.

[95naSTA]

Yep. I'm surprised I can get the vapor barriers at all let alone the BMW part for $50ish.

[95naSTA]

Here are acouple pics from a short hike I did with my son to a boulder field that has 'ringing rocks'. They all sound like bells when struck with a hammer.

[Sirius]

Little dude is getting after it with the hammer! Wish there was sound with the video, I'd like to hear the ringing rocks.

[95naSTA]

Little dude is getting after it with the hammer! Wish there was sound with the video, I'd like to hear the ringing rocks.

https://youtu.be/0rTYI_ABK14

Here you go. Don't mind me being a goof ball.

I'm pretty happy there were no hammer or slip casualties since my son is all gas no brakes.