"What did you do to your E39 today V2.0."

[freethrowdunk]

Beautiful area. Sunset entrance? I used to drive through the one close to the Anderson School of Business frequently. My grandmother lived up on Beverly Glen. Stone canyon reservoir was another favorite. Sometimes the drive up from the PCH could be fun and enjoyable, usually early weekend mornings. The rest of the time traffic ruined it. This is all my home area. We lived on the westside N/Montana and my grandmother on the Glen. In high school I played Volleyball and was on the swim team (SAMOHI) and Pali was the only real competition. Just thinking about it I can smell the brush from the hills. We also used to night dive off Paradise Cove before they closed it off. Often we'd get lucky and the chefs at the Sand Castle would buy our bugs. What they really liked was when we'd come back from the Chanel Islands, usually Anacapa and they'd buy our catch of abalones and scallops. You might know this, but there was a time when the PCH wasn't always all congested, you could park almost anywhere and not pay a dime, and the islands were like a seafood shopping center. I'd visit over the years and things have changed. It really used to be like those old beach movies. I was a lifeguard, normally station 8&9 right in front of the Jonathon Beach Club. I never realized how fortunate I was to grow up in that area, at the time I had no idea it would change enough to make it virtually a different place. Sorry, nostalgia.. Nice car! Love the color.

No need to apologize. I'm a very nostalgic person myself, so I can completely relate (though I presume you're a bit older than I). That is all too awesome and definitely memories worth cherishing!

I graduated UCLA twice and am now in law school in Philadelphia. So, I take her out for a spin every time I visit my folks and friends here in L.A. The building directly in front of the car in the second photo is where my graduate school was--the Luskin School of Public Affairs. It's on Charles E Young Drive, just south of Sunset Blvd. This building used to be the business school many moons ago, before Anderson relocated to its current, modern crop of buildings right off of Sunset Blvd. and to the west.

And thank you for the compliment. I've babied this car since high school. : )

[SW530]

No need to apologize. I'm a very nostalgic person myself, so I can completely relate (though I presume you're a bit older than I). That is all too awesome and definitely memories worth cherishing!

I graduated UCLA twice and am now in law school in Philadelphia. So, I take her out for a spin every time I visit my folks and friends here in L.A. The building directly in front of the car in the second photo is where my graduate school was--the Luskin School of Public Affairs. It's on Charles E Young Drive, just south of Sunset Blvd. This building used to be the business school many moons ago, before Anderson relocated to its current, modern crop of buildings right off of Sunset Blvd. and to the west.

And thank you for the compliment. I've babied this car since high school. : )

Thanks for understanding. You do sound considerably younger than myself, but probably more wise. I used to go home on leave and visit friends and family and just about the time most had died or moved on I discovered the area had changed even more than I had first noticed. I still go back, a great 2-3 days for me involves splurging for one of the nicer motels and cruising all my old haunts. There is this house on Bristol Circles (bet you know the street) I've admired, white picket fence on a large corner lot, that hasn't changed in 50 years.. not even the landscaping. It just feels good knowing it's still there. I always spend at least a day on the PCH/Malibu/Zuma Beach/Topanga Canyon area.. Many know about the Rock Store.. but only a true SoCal native knows about the Twin Pools off Topanga Canyon where everyone.. umm.. maybe not appropriate for this forum.. do you know the place? You can tell them its main attraction..

I make sure to enjoy Decker and Latigo Canyon drives if I can borrow an appropriate car. I'll body surf at Zuma (yep still, the water is one of the last places my body feels whole), driving back I'll hit up Jack in the Box and eat while driving Malibu Canyon drive.. I could go on and on. Stunt Road?

My first graduate degree was at USC.. I attended Anderson until I became disillusioned, mostly the people. I was determined my second grad degree would be "it" and I'd actually learn something.. so I moved to Bangkok and started at ChulalongKorn's Sasin School of Management to complete that MBA..seems like an odd choice until you learn their degrees are in collaboration with Kellogg and Wharton and their names and signatures are on the degree. Funny thing though.. same spoiled kids and attitudes I found at Anderson.. I wanted to scream. Especially after jumping through the hoops to be the only white guy in the program. I met a young lady who's father owned a bunch of gold stores throughout Bangkok and she was attending an extension of Heriot-Watt (Scotland) which is attended mostly by working adults with something to share.. and I found my happy place.. Took a while though..

I stayed on in the country for ten more years working as a photo journalist.. what an experience it was to live and work in a different country. It made me realize just how great America is, but that we still have room to grow. Their car culture is very different though.. and the same. Very very expensive.

Anyway, I tend to be verbose.. it was just enjoyable to think about SoCal for a bit.. I think I've got it all out of my system..

[JimLev]

Attachment 713762
Attachment 713763
Further contributing to the bad image of BMW drivers.

Only 100, you’re slipping.
I’ll probably be doing the same thing tomorrow, our chapter is going on a 300 mile drive ending up in Santa Rosa at the Route 66 auto museum.
Plenty of deserted roads to wind it out.

I washed and dried it today. Filled up the tank with the good stuff.

[wagons ho]

Only 100, you’re slipping.
I’ll probably be doing the same thing tomorrow, our chapter is going on a 300 mile drive ending up in Santa Rosa at the Route 66 auto museum.
Plenty of deserted roads to wind it out.

I washed and dried it today. Filled up the tank with the good stuff.

I had already been on the road for 7 hrs by that point, and didn't want fatigue to have me not notice things.
If iam down your way, i will definitely look you up.

[JimLev]

340 mile group drive today, a few of us saw a good place for an Italian tune up. An M3 friend thought he was going to run away from us. With deserted roads out in the boondocks that didn’t happen.
Keeping up the image of bad BMW drivers. My bad.
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CD3A78E7-9A61-4DD8-97D0-7CF84287BEF0.jpeg

[computiNATEor]

Hell yeah. Paid for the whole speedometer, gotta use the whole speedometer.

[Ed CT]

Hell yeah. Paid for the whole speedometer, gotta use the whole speedometer.

LOL. I've had mine to ~125, and then ran out of road (and nerve!). So, I've only used 80% of my speedo. Jim - ya gotta love those roads out West.

[SW530]

I've had mine to north of 140 but backed off, didn't know the car well enough at the time. It was still pulling strong through. Burying the needle took some nads..

[Nfs021]

Got the M5 up to 140 once before I did any major work like VANOS, suspension, brakes etc. Even then it felt like I was doing 80 lol.

[computiNATEor]

186mph GPS (well, iPhone GPS). Allegedly, in Mexico, of course. Ahem. With the E39 speedometer error, it was well off the end of the scale.

When you really push past 155... you can feel the softness in the car. The slowness and on-center imprecision in the steering, the sedan body style lacking any downforce. The car goes from a very precise fast ball to a ever-so-wandery knuckleball. Demands you pay attention, keep your eyes glued on the horizon, and just generally take things very safely. This was on JRZs and Dinan springs, too.

IMG_4312.jpg

[SW530]

186mph GPS (well, iPhone GPS). Allegedly, in Mexico, of course. Ahem. With the E39 speedometer error, it was well off the end of the scale.

When you really push past 155... you can feel the softness in the car. The slowness and on-center imprecision in the steering, the sedan body style lacking any downforce. The car goes from a very precise fast ball to a ever-so-wandery knuckleball. Demands you pay attention, keep your eyes glued on the horizon, and just generally take things very safely. This was on JRZs and Dinan springs, too.

It sounds like you weren't getting enough down force, like you were floating? When the car stops to lift that's exactly what it feels like. You don't want to keep going because.. well.. you can lose control faster than you can react, you can even flip the car. At that speed chances for survival are practically nil.

[computiNATEor]

It sounds like you weren't getting enough down force, like you were floating? When the car stops to lift that's exactly what it feels like. You don't want to keep going because.. well.. you can lose control faster than you can react, you can even flip the car. At that speed chances for survival are practically nil.

I think it had more to do with the soft suspension bushings. This was before I had replaced the control arms, and though I had no obvious signs of failure, there was bound to be some play.

I don't know how I could be getting "not enough" downforce; there is no movable/active aero in this car, and all of the factory undertrays are/were in place. Aerodynamically, yes, there is going to be some lift at those speeds, no question. But there is nothing I could do, practically, at that speed. Of course, crashing at that speed in a road car is highly dangerous, but these cars are designed to be driven hard.

All that said, the E60 M5 at 170 really feels like a walk in the park by comparison. You can tell that chassis has a lot more to give.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Yep, if it was feeling floaty at 155, your front end isn’t up to snuff. There’s some play somewhere causing that nervousness.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I've had mine to north of 140 but backed off, didn't know the car well enough at the time. It was still pulling strong through. Burying the needle took some nads..

Shoot, I had my Cooper S at 140 yesterday on the Atlantic City expressway on the way to a place called Cherry Hill. It’s not really balls, when you get to doing it all the time, it’s just like doing 75. Funny how your mind can play these mental exercises on your logic. A short while back, when we were always hitting speeds in the neighborhood of 190, to a tad above 200 on the bikes, doing those speeds all afternoon long, then getting back to civilization and having to do the speed limits back into the city, at 75, it almost felt like you could have jumped off the bike and ran alongside of it. Speed is a trip.

[JimLev]

Hell yeah. Paid for the whole speedometer, gotta use the whole speedometer.

That’s right!
I was in 5th and still had another 1500RPM to go, the top end limit was removed years ago. Wasn’t using the juice either.
I’ve had it up to the 155 limit years ago, it handled just fine, no floating around at all.
Down the road a ways after I snapped the speedo pic there was a hill coming up so we backed it down not knowing what was on the other side.

- - - Updated - - -

LOL. I've had mine to ~125, and then ran out of road (and nerve!). So, I've only used 80% of my speedo. Jim - ya gotta love those roads out West.

The roads are great for cruising, many of them are straight as an arrow with nothing for 10-20 miles. On our 300+ mile trip we only saw one State Trooper, he was going the other way but did shoot us with Ka radar. We were only 10 over at the time, he just kept going.

[SW530]

I think it had more to do with the soft suspension bushings. This was before I had replaced the control arms, and though I had no obvious signs of failure, there was bound to be some play.

I don't know how I could be getting "not enough" downforce; there is no movable/active aero in this car, and all of the factory undertrays are/were in place. Aerodynamically, yes, there is going to be some lift at those speeds, no question. But there is nothing I could do, practically, at that speed. Of course, crashing at that speed in a road car is highly dangerous, but these cars are designed to be driven hard.

All that said, the E60 M5 at 170 really feels like a walk in the park by comparison. You can tell that chassis has a lot more to give.

What was the factory limiter on the M5? On the 540i Msport it's 155? The limiters are limiting the top speed for reasons they don't always tell us, but tires and down force would be two of the big ones.

If they limited it to 155 like with the 540i's and you were going past that, it's possible down force was an issue. I know all you guys driving around on the street at 200mph+ might look at it differently, but really we don't know. If the limiter was set at 155 it would be prudent to look into it further. For instance, didn't most of these cars have a rear spoiler delete? I have no clue when a E39 spoiler starts producing down force or how much, but uit could be significant. Are there different spoiler types between the 540i and the M5? An adjustable spoiler can usually be adjusted for more or less down force. Air dams and chip lip spoilers will add down force too. Go to the drag races enough and you'll eventually see a car, usually with an awesome motor, where the driver exceeded the down force.. You'll see the front end lift up and then.. well.. watch..


Remember this one?

[SW530]

Shoot, I had my Cooper S at 140 yesterday on the Atlantic City expressway on the way to a place called Cherry Hill. It’s not really balls, when you get to doing it all the time, it’s just like doing 75. Funny how your mind can play these mental exercises on your logic. A short while back, when we were always hitting speeds in the neighborhood of 190, to a tad above 200 on the bikes, doing those speeds all afternoon long, then getting back to civilization and having to do the speed limits back into the city, at 75, it almost felt like you could have jumped off the bike and ran alongside of it. Speed is a trip.

There's a lot of air moving on public road ways for a variety of reasons. It pays to be careful IMO.. I see your point though, we've all been victim of it. I was going through Death Valley during a sand storm on my Honda Aspencade just cruising at about 120 and enjoying it's excellent sound system.. I can still remember the tune, Billy Joels "I'm an Innocent Man", when I was pulled over by a friendly CHP.. As I was stopping I started having a lot of problem keeping the bike right side up and when I finally stopped I noticed the gusts were extreme. THe officer told me I flew past the signs warning of high gusts and that big rigs were grounded.. and he came after me worried I'd end up a splotch on the road.. said it took him ten minutes to even get close because of the wind and my bike was so far over on one side it was almost dragging a peg as it leaned into the wind to stay upright. I wasn't paying attention.. just singing "I'm an innocent man" in my helmet.. He let me go, I was a cop at the time.. getting back up to speed wasn't easy, the gusts kept throwing me around.

Downforce is most often cranked up for cornering.. the more "push" on the tires the more traction. But ti can play a big factor in a straight line, especially with unexpected wind gusts at play. I used to have to help pick up pieces when the "Santa Ana winds started blowing. Usually ti was trucks we had problems with, , most guys on bikes were too smart to get caught off guard like I was.

[Nfs021]

What was the factory limiter on the M5? On the 540i Msport it's 155? The limiters are limiting the top speed for reasons they don't always tell us, but tires and downforce would be two of the big ones.

If they limited it to 155 like with the 540i's and you were going past that, it's possible downforce was an issue. I know all you guys driving around on the street at 200mph+ might look at it differently, but really we don't know. If the limiter was set at 155 it would be product to look into it further. For instance, didn't most of these cars have a rear spoiler delete? I have no clue when a E39 spoiler starts producing downforoe or how much, but uit could be significant. Are there different spoiler types between the 540i and the M5? An adjustable spoiler can usually be adjusted for more or less downforce. Air dams and chip lip spoilers will add down force too. Go to the drag races enough and you'll eventually see a car, usually with an awesome motor, where the driver exceeded the downforce.. YOu'll see the front end lift up and then.. well.. watch..


Remember this one?

Limited to 155mph like many cars. Though I think in Europe it was 160, but not 100% certain. Mines been removed but need to find a proper place to do that. And that is literally gonna be out in the middle of nowhere before I even dare try that.

[SW530]

Limited to 155mph like many cars. Though I think in Europe it was 160, but not 100% certain. Mines been removed but need to find a proper place to do that. And that is literally gonna be out in the middle of nowhere before I even dare try that.

I hear you.. two problems with "way out there", someone that sees you crash if you're lucky enough someone is there.. medical care is far away.. and the road surfaces usually aren't well maintained. I was out on the Antelope Valley Highway (hwy14) heading to Vegas, this is where the road dips up ad down every 1/2 mile or so.. and my Cobra was brand new.. broken in but new.. and it got so squirreley at >140 it was scary. The roads were just junk..

There's nothing wrong with tracks. Most live near a track you can access at least a few times a year. It's a fun trip riding up with a bunch of other enthusiasts and then helping each other while there. Fun times..

[computiNATEor]

Factory limiter in the M5 is 155, gps, which is about 165 indicated on the speedo. Factory limiter on a 530i is 127mph, GPS, which is about 135, indicated on the speedo. The 530i runs out of steam at 150mph gps, unlimited, and the M5 at 186 mph gps, unlimited. I can’t speak to a 540i’s factory limiter, but I’d guess it’s somewhere between the two.

[computiNATEor]

What was the factory limiter on the M5? On the 540i Msport it's 155? The limiters are limiting the top speed for reasons they don't always tell us, but tires and downforce would be two of the big ones.

If they limited it to 155 like with the 540i's and you were going past that, it's possible downforce was an issue. I know all you guys driving around on the street at 200mph+ might look at it differently, but really we don't know. If the limiter was set at 155 it would be product to look into it further.

For instance, didn't most of these cars have a rear spoiler delete? I have no clue when a E39 spoiler starts producing downforoe or how much, but uit could be significant. Are there different spoiler types between the 540i and the M5? An adjustable spoiler can usually be adjusted for more or less downforce. Air dams and chip lip spoilers will add down force too.

A rear-spoiler delete is not a common option. The only spoiler on an M5 is the tiny lip spoiler on the trunklid, which honestly is probably mostly appearance. Any downforce gains from it would be minimal, likely following the principal of the "gurney flap", which I won't pretend to fully understand. In my limited understanding, it would seem that it keeps the boundary layer of air attached a bit longer as it flows past the edge of the bodywork. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney_flap

There are two aerodynamic differences between a 540i M-sport and M5 that I can think of. Most obviously, the side mirrors. The M5's are just smoother. Second is the M5's rear battery tray. It does act a little bit like a rear diffuser; it has a smooth transition into the rear bumper's "diffuser" panel. That said, the M5 has 4 big mufflers there, whereas the 540i has a relatively smooth rear tire well.

Both the 540i M-sport and M5 use their front undertrays and "pork chops" as aerodynamic chin spoilers. They run pretty low, in terms of ride height, to help push air out around the front wheels. From the factory, non-M-sport cars did have a tiny chin spoiler, but I've seen exactly one car that still has it attached. They didn't attach very securely, and likely met untimely ends when the first owner parked on even a low cement parking curb.

There are also spats in front of the rear tires to direct the boundary flow around the spinning rear tires, but other than that, the E39's aero is pretty basic. None of those fancy pass-through channels you can see on modern SUVs, the wheel arches are barely flat-edged, there are no little wings on the taillights like the E60... Very 90s design, overall.

[SW530]

A rear-spoiler delete is not a common option. The only spoiler on an M5 is the tiny lip spoiler on the trunklid, which honestly is probably mostly appearance. Any downforce gains from it would be minimal, likely following the principal of the "gurney flap", which I won't pretend to fully understand. In my limited understanding, it would seem that it keeps the boundary layer of air attached a bit longer as it flows past the edge of the bodywork. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney_flap

Thanks, that's a good summary. I haven't looked into the E39 aero much, but have noticed it's pretty good.. the car looks plain aero wise, yet it slips through the air with a minimum of air noise or other issues. The Gurney flap is pretty cool. I created one once. I was pumped about it, but pretty sure all the looks and laughs were about me.. After that no way was I going to try ad recreate the Gurney Bubble..

[JimLev]

The 540 was limited to 155 which was noticeable when you got there. Not sure if it was cutting a cylinder or 2 but you knew you weren’t going to go any faster.
The M5 was the only E39 that came with the little trunk spoiler. A number of us back in the day bought them from the dealer, they were pretty inexpensive years ago,

[Nfs021]

Nate what's a muffler? Lolol.

My 540i maxed at 155 too when I pushed it years ago. Definitely felt it could go more. I think delimited they top out around 162-ish, maybe a little more. Some guys in ancient threads reported doing 170+ in stock form with theirs but I really doubt it. I mean with extra power or the right gearing you probably could. The M5 could hit 200 with the right gearing, raised rev limiter with few extra things. But you'd still need lots of road to get it there.

Might take some vacation time this summer and hit up that road I maxed the 540i on. See if I can get the M5 close to max.

M5 rear spoiler is still available. Not cheap at around $200. Though cheap compared to what bumpers cost. Ouch!

[SW530]

Back in October my wife smashed her Subaru in early morning fog into a parked car. We just had a major hailstorm and the auto body shops were full up and couldn't get to the car until February. At the time that was unacceptable and I decide to so something I've been wanting to do for a long time, learn to properly do auto painting. I've painted cars before, motorcycles, and other things.. but this time I wanted to get the right equipment that wouldn't be a compromise and to learn to paint as good as an auto body shop. Maybe that's wishful thinking but I thought because I was willing to put more time into any given project I should do okay.

So I researched equipment and with the help of Jim and some others on this forum ordered what I needed. Unfortunately right when the parts came in and I was ready to do the job I got really sick. Almost died kind of sick. No way I was painting anything for a while. I was in the hospital three times ranging from 1-5 weeks and am currently in "let your internals heal" mode.. I should be getting the final surgery in the next 2-4 weeks and then I'll heal up and be back at it.. Meanwhile my wife's car still isn't repaired. Not much I can do about it now. And last Friday she parked at Chick Fil a to pick up some of those delicious chicken strips with that great sauce.. and she parked 4-5 cars from everyone. Some lady in a van parked next to her, ignoring the 4-5 closer empty spots.. and when he son exited the car the wind grabbed her door and put a major "ding" into it. I'll post a picture. So more to repair.

I've since collected all the "stuff" I need to be prepared with it's a lot. There is more into misc stuff like wipes, cleaners, etc, than into the paint. Some of the equipment I upgraded was a new air compressor, a custom configured air manifold with 7 drops, 5 station air prep filter system and an additional air dryer. Should work great when I can get to it. Before I got sick I managed to install the compressor and manifold and air drops.. and I was disappointed.. the compressor was supposed to be super quiet. Well, it was more quiet than any compressor I'd ever used, but somehow I expected it to be more quiet. Its not a big unit, but it provides 10.6cfm at 90psi, 12.8 at 40psi and I'm guessing 14-15cfm at the PSI I'll be using the paint gun at.. so that's a lot more than it requires. Oil free motor, dryer, auto drain, decent compressor but the sound level was nagging me.

So today... I've been bored out of my mind being house bound for medical reasons.. like COVID all over again. So last night was reading the manual on the compressor.. I'm so bored I'm reading instruction manuals.. God save me.. and I noticed that under the list of parts it came with was four air filters. Air filters? The set up called for them to be installed on the compressor, one on each head. There are four heads and sure enough when I went out to the garage to look, there are four >1" threaded holes in the head. They were slightly recessed and painted black and apparently I was careless.. so I just missed them. I do remember seeing the filters, but I thought they were feet to screw into the bottom.. which I didn't need because I bought anti-vibration pads to make it quiet.. which it wasn't particularly.. So looking into the plastic bag I just thought they were feet. They were filters.

So this afternoon I set out four filters, inserted the 3/8" 4" lined in the siphon holes as is called for (notice I'm reading the instruction manual now..) and turned them into the threads.. they went right in. Notice in the picture the filters are marked by arrows.. and the auto drain mechanism by an arrow and a D in one of the pics.

Too long of a story short.. I was all done putting the filters on and I used the long air nozzle to "sweep" the floor.. and suddenly the compressor kicked on. I was shocked! It was on, I could hear it, but it was really quiet! Apparently air filters muzzle the thing too. I had no idea a filter could do that. How quiet is it.. well.. if it was in your living room it could be going while you ate dinner or watched tv and it wouldn't irritate you. Not only is it quiet, but its at a frequency and ton that just doesn't bother. The one I replaced would cause me to jump out of my son every time it cut on. So I learned today. And as soon as I practice painting my wife's Subaru next month I'll use this same equipment and prep and respray my bonnet and both bumpers. The bonnet has many road chips (I'll PPF it once I do the respray and it had time to leach the gasses), the front M bumper has some, and the rear M bumper needs a couple 1-2" cracks repaired and resprayed.. I'm really looking forward to learning how to do this correctly.


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This is the new door ding..

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