BMW 3-Series 2005 and earlier

kominsky

Gotta side with kyfdx on this one... My service manager told me that because of the wear patterns, when a tire goes from one corner to another, quite often, vibrations occur.

If it was a wheel thing, anyone buying aftermarket wheels or, as in my case for my winter setup, OEM wheels from a different car would probably be plagued by vibration issues.

kdshapiro

I'll pull up the quote from Bimmer and post it later. You all can then judge the validity of the quote.

memphis10

I checked with my service manager again and here is his input for whatever it's worth. He says that all the 4 rims are the same for the 325i sports package. Tire rotation followed by correct tire balancing should reduce vibration. On the contrary, uneven wear will cause vibration. BMW does not recommend rotation because they don't have warranty on the tires.

ksoman

is theirs the last word? is it legally binding on bmw?

ksso

blueguydotcom

If any of you are interested, I posted my review of the X3 3.0i today.

blueguydotcom "Town Hall Test Drive Team" Jan 19, 2004 6:14pm

I'll be keeping the ZHP.

kdshapiro

Thanks for taking the time to do the write-up. Some of your impressions match with mine, some don't. But I thought it was fair.

blueguydotcom

For a sport utility, it's a fun vehicle. But I wouldn't dream of dropping 40k on something like that. The xDrive saps too much fun from the vehicle.

But it's always fun to have a demo car for a few days to play with.

riez

blueguydotcom... Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see much about the transmission. Appears you drove one with a manual transmission (though even that wasn't too clear to me).

How was the transmission? Clutch? The gearing? What sorts of indicated RPMs were you seeing at highway speeds like 55 mph, 65 mph, and 75 mph?

Did it have Sport Pkg? What other options?

gordonwd

>2) Do you keep up with tire air pressure?
>Pressure drops in colder temps and driving
>around with lower tire pressure could also
>explain the difference

I heard a radio piece the other day that tire-pressure sensors are causing problems in cold weather. The sensors go off (or whatever they do) because the pressure drops so much in really cold weather when first starting out. So people go and add air to bring them up to pressure (while cold). Then when the weather warms up and the tire gets hot, they are just about blowing the tires off the rims!

gordonwd

This comes on the '04 3-series if you get the Premium Package. I just d/l'd a PDF from BMW that describes the service. It is pretty much an emergency-only service, as opposed to a "where is the closest Italian restaurant" type of concierge service like OnStar. It is free for the 1st year. Anyone know what the cost is after that? I know that OnStar is fairly expensive and is not getting too many subscribers, but maybe BMW Assist is more reasonable (fat chance!) since it is for limited usage.

kyfdx

Don't feel bad about having the crappy Pirellis.. I have the crappy Bridgestones.. Almost every OEM tire is crappy. That said, the performance of the Bridgestones seemed fine for the week I drove it before changing to winter tires. It just appears that they will be worn out by next December when its time to put the winter tires back on again.. They should have about 21K-22K miles by then. So, I'm not too concerned about rotating them.. If they aren't right, I'll just put them back where they were. If I thought I could get 30K-35K out of them, I might feel differently.

regards,
kyfdx

ksoman

yes, they are available with PP on 04's but only those 04's that were made after some time in the Q3 or Q4... my wife's 04 bought back in may does not have the Assist feature with the PP.

ksso

blueguydotcom

blueguydotcom... Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see much about the transmission. Appears you drove one with a manual transmission (though even that wasn't too clear to me).

Yes it was a manual - 6 speed.

How was the transmission? Clutch? The gearing?

Typical BMW - vague, long clutch, sloppy, easily bound, etc.

What sorts of indicated RPMs were you seeing at highway speeds like 55 mph, 65 mph, and 75 mph?

In 6th at 80, if I can recall correctly it was sub 4k rpm.

Did it have Sport Pkg? What other options?

It was the 3.0 but as far as options it had a base stereo (I had bashed so much of the interior, I didn't want to dwell on BMW's cruddy base stereo and speakers), leather seats, wood trim, xenon lights, sunroof, premium package. No sport...bummer as it's probably be a better ride with the 18s.

gordonwd

You bought a 2004 3-series back in May of 2003?

erickpl

Thanks for the compliments. I went the modulated route. Looking back, I probably would have gone through the CD player, but I still might want to add one down the road. Direct connections will generally give you a much nicer sound.

Not to complain about my setup - it sounds quite nice with no static at all. The FM modulator was connected directly into the back of the head unit before the FM antenna. The antenna connection is under the passenger seat and easily out of the way. If I close my ashtray, there is no indicator that I have XM (I can put the antenna in the trunk if I need to). Again I would probably go with a lower profile antenna and put it up on the roof, instead of on the trunk. Live and learn.

I use the FMA stations (all set to 88.7) and never have to worry about my other radio stations. With the Alpine unit always on, I never hear the regular radio. I've switched to CD all of 1 time since I had the XM installed.

It was installed by a place in Bakersfield, CA, High Voltage. They were the only place that did quality installations that wouldn't void any BMW warranties. My dealer has a partnership with them for things like that. As a result, there are no wires anywhere to be seen - that was a must - and they introduced 0 rattles to the cabin.

Anything else, let me know.

-Paul

kyfdx

'04 coupes and convertibles came out last April.

regards,
kyfdx

blueguydotcom

I've switched to CD all of 1 time since I had the XM installed.



I hear people with XM say that but it doesn't make sense to me. You're still force fed music (mostly mainstream) someone else picks.

ksoman

as kydfx (geez that name makes me think radio station!) said, 04 convertibles hit the shore in second week of may and 04 coupes came out in june end i believe...

ok what sux is that the BMW assist was not added retroactive to the PP, so we can't go in and get it free or anything on her cabrio...
ksso

ksoman

well wife just called saying she parked with the front bumper touching the pavement and when she backed up, the entire thing just sheared off...

i dont know how many times i've done that on so many other cars and the bumber scraped but did not just come off... she swears it was just touching, not like stuck or anything... and i trust her, she's a helluva more careful driver than me...

i can't believe they would engineer something like that in germany !!!

ksso

blueguydotcom

Ouch! I feel your pain. I watched my cousin do that with his 530i last year. He was mortified. His brother's response? Hold out a roll of duct tape.

I'm crazy scared of hurting my airdam. I won't even park with my front end over the parking block things.

shipo

...shades of the Audi A6. Apparently Audi is having so much trouble with the front bumper that they will replace the first one for free, no questions asked, after that you will need to press the issue. The good news (for A6 drivers that is), is that the word on the street is that most folks are successful in having their second and even third bumper replaced free of charge.

In that vein, you might want to press your dealer to replace it for free; can't hurt to ask.

Best Regards,
Shipo

mitchs3

I am heading into the last 10 months of the lease on my 02 330i. Due to low miles, only 20k so far and the continued warranty coverage, I may purchase this car at lease end and keep 1 to 3 more years. My only concern is that I didn't order Xenon headlights. The light pattern on the standard lights had a diagonal shape with abrupt "cut off". Is this the way it should be? Have others noticed this? Could one modify the lights to Xenon? ( my understanding is not really). Also can I get this car certified prior to my purchasing, what is the approx cost?Thanks

shipo

I'm not sure where to begin. Said another way; what is your concern?

If your concern is that you are under the belief the Xenon lights don't have the abrupt cut off, and that you would therefore like them better, sorry, it ain't so. The Xenon lights have a razor sharp cut off, too.

Yes, you are correct, it is not cost justifiable to retrofit a 3er with Xenon lights.

Best Regards,
Shipo

jmess

You might consider some driving lights to supplement your stock lights. Some people call them fog lights but that use to only apply to yellow lights not white. Anyway IS300s come with self-leveling hids and yellowish fog lights. With the fogs on you don't really notice the cutoff as much. White driving lights would make it even better. FYI, some states have laws about driving light usage that are seldom enforced unless you have some really bright/illegal bulbs in your lights.

div2

Your best bet is to fit Osram/Sylvania SilverStar bulbs. They are legal, they work, and only cost $20 per bulb. That's what I'm fitting to my wife's E39. OTOH, my Club Sport will eventually get a Hella Celis/Xenon conversion.

shipo

...what ever happened to the "Good old days" back when we were accruing over one hundred posts per day (if memory serves, we approached almost 200 one day). Taking a random shot, I jumped to message number 3900, which was posted on 25-May-2001, and then scrolled back and forth to find the first and last posts of that day. Yup, it beat 100 with 107 posts (message numbers 3883-3989); not counting the ones that might have been deleted by our hosts because of the constant "trolling" that went on back on those days.

Best Regards,
Shipo

kyfdx

Where were you for months? I hold you personally responsible for the lack of posts with which to fill my day, when I should be working. However, I think my boss might give you a bonus.

regards,
kyfdx

shipo

I don't think that I was as productive back then either. ;-)

Best Regards,
Shipo

blueguydotcom

I'm too busy to rile people up now.

bing330i

My guess would be most people fall into Greenspan's "improved productivity" theory, work harder but no pay raise :-<

petrarch

My 02 325i and I are in New Hampshire. The non-stop, freezing weather appears to be causing a faint whistle/whine inside the cabin. It happens when the car is driven cold, and goes away after the car has completely warmed up. Anybody know what this is and if I should be concerned?

burrsr

I recently did something similar upon lease-end of my 01 330i. Since it had been a GREAT car and the mileage was only about 800 miles over, my parents decided to buy it. Since we would have to title it twice, they would have to effectively pay sales tax TWICE in the transaction. Rather than do this, I approached my dealer (with whom I have a good relationship) about ways to avoid this, and they suggested to simply turn the car in to them, they'd certify it, and then my parents could purchase the car from them directly, thus avoiding the "double taxation" issue.

They ended up doing the entire deal for only the cost of certification (about $1,200) and new tires, which my parents were going to get anyhow. So, for LESS than they would have paid for a non-certified used car (and FAR less than the going rate for 01 CPO 330's), they got a certified (6-yr, 100k mile warranty) car. And to top it all off, the dealer waived my disposition fee and any excess mileage I would have had to pay (saving me $500-600)!

Needless to say, we were all VERY pleased with the process and outcome. When I asked the dealer why they did all of this for essentially no direct $$$ for their time, he replied that they look at us as potential future customers and simply hope to earn our business. When I purchase my next new or certified BMW, you can bet they'll be the first dealer I'll contact.

kdshapiro

burrsr - nice story. It's nice to hear stories about how businesses function to get customers. They try to EARN business.

erickpl

Yeah you could say that about XM, but when you go to a restaurant, you are force fed their stuff. But you still have a choice. XM gives it to you without all the repetitive ads (and there will be even fewer ads starting 2/1).

The point is, there is so much variety on XM (pop, rock, country, jazz, blues, rap, news, sports, comedy, science, techno, disco, 40's, etc) that even though I'm being 'force fed', I still have a choice as to what I get.

XM (and Sirius for that matter) may not be for everybody. I live in an area where radio reception is pretty much sporadic on its *best* day. I'm sure you'll agree that the 3er doesn't have so much room for storage of the number of CD's that would even compare to a fraction of the sampling XM gives. I personally find it easier to switch a station using my XM presets than to take my eyes off the road to search a book of CD's for the one I want.

I've driven on the 15, 5, 8, and 163 enough to know that things change too fast down there in San Diego for me to take my eyes off for too long.

I guess it ends up being ... to each his own.

-Paul

rizzotreeman

erickpl - thanks very much for your response back earlier re: fm modulation vs direct connection. I think I'll go for piping the input through the CD changer - figure it's easier to do now than try to retrofit down the road (figure I'll probably be dropping the CD habit - just seems easier to have the XM).

Anyway, going with the XM commander unit, with a pretty low profile antenna mounted on the trunk (actually pretty small, so it shouldn't be bad). As for the rattles, etc, I'm hoping to be as lucky as you. Then again, the shop I'm going with seems to know what they're doing (did a couple of other E46's recently), and for some reason, of all the shops I asked around, they were the only ones who knew how to do the hookup through the cd changer. Anyway, thanks so much again, wish me luck on the install front (no rattles), and I'll let you all know how it goes!

mitchs3

Thanks for all the discussion re: why my MPG drops in the winter. Another controversial but timely question.....What is the best way to warm up, if at all, your vehicle in the subfreezing weather? My current approach is basically start and drive conservative the first 2 miles or until the temp needle in 1/4 way over. My 330i does accelerate a bit herky-jerky when cold till reaching past this point. I do tend to shift later than usual and rev a bit higher as I note more roughness at lower RPMs. I also note some extra noises when very cold which fade away as get up to normal operating temps.....

blueguydotcom

Yeah you could say that about XM, but when you go to a restaurant, you are force fed their stuff.

Pardon? you have a choice at a restaurant and after you've been a few times you know what you prefer there. With a radio station it's that or nothing else.

But you still have a choice. XM gives it to you without all the repetitive ads (and there will be even fewer ads starting 2/1).

Again, not sure what the radio has to do with anything. That's why we have CDs and MP3 players.

The point is, there is so much variety on XM (pop, rock, country, jazz, blues, rap, news, sports, comedy, science, techno, disco, 40's, etc) that even though I'm being 'force fed', I still have a choice as to what I get.

You still must listen to what is on the radio - what someone else programs. I think back to a Dennis Miller joke about buying two suits at Kmart, you could get a third for free. "Folks three of [expletive] is still [expletive]." So even though you have 100 channels to choose from, just like cable tv, if all 100 channels are poorly programmed then you still have nothing to watch/listen to. And for the recond, I don't subscribe to cable tv for that exact reason, be it 5 free channels or 150 pay channels, bad programming is still bad programming.

I live in an area where radio reception is pretty much sporadic on its *best* day.

I couldn't name 5 radio stations in my area. Never listen to them.

I'm sure you'll agree that the 3er doesn't have so much room for storage of the number of CD's that would even compare to a fraction of the sampling XM gives.

I'd vehemently disagree. I can fit about 14 slim cases in the pocket on the driver's door. That's 14 cds with exactly the music I want. 14 hours is a mighty long time.

I guess it ends up being ... to each his own.

True. Should I ever feel the need to have massive variety I'll buy the ice-link and an Ipod. I can have all my CDs with me and have control of the songs with my wheel buttons. Figure it'll cost more than XM in the short term but I get to hear exactly what I want, when I want...unlike XM.

When they make XM on-demand, I'll be interested. Until then it's just like cable TV - paying to have someone else push their tastes on me.

postoak

I think posts here are down, and will stay down, because there are now other BMW forums that have good discussion forum software. The software here is a dinosaur.

ownertobe2

burrsr - thanks for the info. re. you end of lease experience. My 01 330I lease is up in 2 months and I'm leaning towards purchasing it. Did you negotiate your purchase price with BMWFS and/or your dealer or did you just pay the buy out price that was listed in your lease agreement? Thanks.

kdshapiro

"When they make XM on-demand, I'll be interested. Until then it's just like cable TV - paying to have someone else push their tastes on me."

That's my feeling as well. That's why I carry about 30 cds in the car.

burrsr

The purchase price was exactly the residual value BMW FS had specified in the lease (plus the cost for the dealer to certify). Even though the 3er has high residual percentages (mine was originally set at 64% of MSRP, I believe), they STILL underestimated the value, based on what I saw other 01 330i's going for on dealer lots. So it certainly made sense to purchase this one, especially since I knew EXACTLY how it had been maintained, driven, and serviced.

ksoman

kd, given the size of the 3, with 30 cd, where do you sit?

blue, dont be so negative. XM may not be heaven, but if offers a far higher quality of life over all your local stations, plus no commercials and fairly varied programming. It may not be as good as carrying your own mp3's or CD's, but then, each thing has its limitatoins... in the 3, where do you put all those CD's? As a sirius user, I can tell you, since I got sirius on my cars, i've not once turned on the radio tuner. But then I'm a boring right leaning leftish-NPR listening kind of joker.... and life goes on.

Purely from a choice point of view, XM and Sirius opens up a lot to you compared to regular free radio. At about 150 bux a year, i think its a great bargain. You may not agree, you might think you spend your 150 bucks better on 10 CD's... that's another option. From quality point of view, Sirius claims to have a better chipset, but irrespective of those minor variations, Satellite Radio is not CD quality music. But then again, after you hear to 192 KHZ decoded music, you'll think CD is not good enuf too!!!

As a friend once told me, programmers make sure they have work tomorrow... technology people make sure, they have work tomorrow, nothing is compatible and we will keep buying newer technology

now, i've to get back to screaming at BMW NA for the poor engineering that led to my wife's front bumper shearing off with a child like touch...

cheers
ksso

kdshapiro

"now, i've to get back to screaming at BMW NA for the poor engineering that led to my wife's front bumper shearing off with a child like touch..."

good luck. BMW is not the only car company guilty of this. However, in their defense, bumpers are supposed to protect the car, and not to be used as substitues for backhoes trying to dig up curbing.

erickpl

My analogy to the restaurant I think works. You choose a restaurant - you choose XM. XM may force-feed you the content, but in that varied content you have a lot of choice. At a restaurant, you have certain content, but you can still choose the meal you want.

I'm not trying to say XM is the best. For some it is, for some it isn't. For me, my needs, and my likes, it fits the bill just fine. I also have satellite TV for the same reasons - more choice, better reception (no antennas at home) and better than cable.

I also have a DVD to play the movies I want. I have a VHS to watch old tapes that I haven't converted to DVD yet. But I still watch satellite TV and listen to satellite radio. Again, to each his own. You've made your choices. I've made mine. We'll just agree to disagree.

-Paul

ptrekker

Premium v. Sports Package

I have the premium package. Nice but a waste. For 3 grand or whatever it is you can learn to:

* live without leather;
* turn the lights and wipers on yourself;
* adjust the heat/AC yourself;
* estimate your MPG, MPH and MTE (miles till empty) yourself;
* open the window (as opposed to sunroof)

kyfdx

Without the premium package:

You can take the same $3K hit at trade-in that you paid for it. Or sell your car privately (good luck without that sunroof).

With the sport package:

For $1400, you will have to shell out another $700 for a set of winter tires. You will get a very stiff ride on bad roads. You get the greatest seats in the world. If you really like to drive and take the twisties at full speed, you must buy it, as it transforms the car.

I have both and recommend both. If you must choose between the two, and you really like to drive, get the sport package. If resale concerns you at all, get the premium package. Again, GET BOTH!!

regards,
kyfdx

kdshapiro

"I have the premium package. Nice but a waste. For 3 grand or whatever it is you can learn to:
* live without leather;
* turn the lights and wipers on yourself;
* adjust the heat/AC yourself;
* estimate your MPG, MPH and MTE (miles till empty) yourself;
* open the window (as opposed to sunroof)"

If I am already spending $37K on a car then:
1. I want my leather
2. I want the car to turn on the headlights
3. I want the car to turn on the wipers
4. I want the car to adjust the temp
5. I want the car to calculate basic mileage info
6. I want my moonroof

I I am spending $17K on a car then the above may not matter much.

Crevels

I just wanted to throw out an alternative to the XM/Sirius discussion. For Christmas, I got a PhatNoise MP3 jukebox (similar to the Kenwood Music Keg) for my BMW. It plugs into the pre-wired CD changer harness and is controlled by the head-unit. I've currently got about 300 CD's worth of music in the car, so I guess I've got the ultimate in choice, although sometimes it's a bit much if you are looking for a single song on a single CD. You can find more information at Autoweek (search on Phatnoise) or at their website www.phatnoise.com.

ksoman

MP3's biggest drawback is their flat sound.. that is basically because the sampling is done at 48 KHz. Just for comparison sake, I need to make a note that the CD technology even back in 1985, yes, that's when the first CD's started appearing in mass... were using 96 KHz sampling. Technologies like DVD-A, etc, actually use a 192 KHz sampling rate. It never stops. Purely from a source sound issue, 48 KHz is not enough bandwidth for sampling and hence MP3's sound flat, because they actually drop about 30% of sound content.

ksso

ksoman

i've promised somebody that i will not make any personal bitching about you, so i'll not talk back to you. Even if you have no respect for other's point of view, I'll try to respect your point of view.

To anybody else that might be interested in knowing, the attachment of the 3's bumper cover (its actually a two piece construction) is rather weak. The concept of having a two piece construction, one strong inner and one outer cover for decoration is wonderful... just that they should design a better way of attaching the two sections. In my wife's car's case, the outer cover is what got ripped out.

Since some people go to ridiculous lengths to make comparisons here, i need to point out that even rental hyundai's will not tear open their bumper after being lightly snagged on curbs.

ksso