Danny's Japan Rot 540i Touring Thread

[extra]

Eh, it's alright. It wasn't a perfect paint job anyways, lots of orange peel. Plus it was starting to crack in some spots because we didn't seal the repairs correctly so it'll be nice to redo it all properly.



I don't really think square wheels improve handling all that much, especially on a 4000lb wagon. The turning radius is quite large already, no need to make it bigger. And 90% of my driving is in straight lines so handling isn't really an issue. Even when I was ripping up and down the mountain roads I didn't feel like I was lacking in handling/traction.

I'm not using any spacers at all. These are E38 M-Pars that have been bored out to E39 fitment, so it's whatever offset they have. As it turns out, that offset works quite well on an E39. No rubbing at all.



Thanks! I take care of it and clean it often so it doesn't look like the typical E39 beaters you usually see at this age/mileage. It'll look even newer once I polish the headlights, install a rear M-Sport bumper, get M5 mirrors, and repaint the door handles (they're starting to fade). The interior will soon receive a major facelift as well, with a full black touring interior (already have it, it's laying in my house ready to go).

Paint correction with the painted door handles and polished headlights would make it look like it came out of the showroom a year ago

[dannyzabolotny]

Sounds like nice day out bud.

From a voice of age and wisdom that's almost always owned the 'best' detectors from way back in the day Escort-Passport-V1 etc...

1. A detector is no replacement for eyeballs. In fact there's plenty of situations w/ instant-on gunning when eyeballs are needed to beat the detector, and the detector wont save you but eyeballs might.
2. If you are that distractable from the chore of watching, you'll VERY quickly just learn to ignore the beeping. Especially if you drive somewhere with lots of alarms - false or real. Newer detectors are better for screening false alarms but where I am the towns are using a lot of 'fixed' radar (speed signs) and so those for sure aren't 'false' but get you used to the thing beeping constantly.... and then you find yourself ignoring it some time when suddenly its a real speed-trap
3. Young males (to a degree, males in general) NEVER get off the hook with a warning, IME. Not your fault. I've gotten off w/ a warning 2 or 3 times in my entire heavy-driving life I think and in most/all cases it was a sweet girlfriend/wife in the passenger seat chatting up the cop that I think made him let us go. I have buds who have gotten off w/ warnings when driving super bad-ass cars cuz the cop wants to talk gearhead about their ride, but that's never happened to me (helps to drive a vintage 930 or a Cobra rep or something domestic-vintage...)

I'm not saying don't get one, just saying... it ain't gonna save you. Honestly these days techno-defense-wise, its Waze #1 and the detectors #2 for me. But if you can't watch the road itself, you'll also forget to notice the Waze cop warning flashing on the screen...

To be fair, the cop that pulled me over this weekend wouldn't have been visible to any eye— they were behind a hill and by the time I actually saw them, it was too late. Apparently the cops around there all drive with their radars on, whereas in Phoenix they generally don't care as long as you're going with the flow of traffic.

My girlfriend was with me when I got pulled over, but it was a female cop so that didn't help, lol.

Try riding a motorcycle for a few years... It'll train your brain to watch for how people drive, who's on their phone, who's texting, who's going to change lanes, dirt on the road, your body position etc... Then start riding 10-20 over the limit everywhere you go and you learn how to do all of that while keeping your eyes peeled for police. Once you spend a few years looking at everything and anticipating everyone's moves as a matter of life and death, you'll never need a radar detector

Yeah, I'm pretty sure everything has been done. Pretty sure as in, It was a fly and buy for me. He said he had all of the records. But he had just moved from CA, so he still had a lot in boxes so he couldn't find all of the records. Only a handful of receipts. He's still looking and said he'll send it all to me. Guides are supposedly done. Suspension and subframe all feels tight so I hope it's all done. I believe in the best of people so I'll just hope that he was honest...

I'd still remind the guy to send you the records, just so you can be sure. I do like to believe people and hope that people tell the truth, but my experience with buying used cars has taught me to be very skeptical.

I’ve been driving for 3 years, im 19. I’ve only been pulled over twice and got out both times. That’s coming from a guy with a heavy right foot.

I dunno, maybe it's because you've got a pretty clean-cut appearance? My friend Graham pointed out to me that since I have long hair and facial hair I look like I'm up to no good all the time. He often gets off with warnings as well since he looks like a very normal dude. Aside from my driving record, the only thing a cop has to go by is my appearance and my car. If I had a normal guy haircut and drove a beige Camry I'd probably get away with a lot more stuff, but that's not my thing haha.

Paint correction with the painted door handles and polished headlights would make it look like it came out of the showroom a year ago

Agreed. Right now the plan is to buy a rear M-Sport bumper and then do the front bumper, hood, rear bumper, and door handles all at the same time, along with filling in the various rock chips around the body and doing a full paint correction.

I might also go and pull the gloss shadowline off the parts 540it and see if it's salvageable, that would be a nice improvement over the worn-out matte shadowline trim on the car now.

The headlights have already been polished before but the guy who did it didn't coat them so they're losing some of their clarity now. I'm still going back and forth between just polishing them, or replacing the lenses entirely with new ones that have Euro clears. What do y'all think? Keep the amber corners, or go clears? My side markers are already clear, and I might do the Euro tails with clear signals in the future too.

[cnsorial]

To be fair, the cop that pulled me over this weekend wouldn't have been visible to any eye— they were behind a hill and by the time I actually saw them, it was too late. Apparently the cops around there all drive with their radars on, whereas in Phoenix they generally don't care as long as you're going with the flow of traffic.

My girlfriend was with me when I got pulled over, but it was a female cop so that didn't help, lol.



I'd still remind the guy to send you the records, just so you can be sure. I do like to believe people and hope that people tell the truth, but my experience with buying used cars has taught me to be very skeptical.



I dunno, maybe it's because you've got a pretty clean-cut appearance? My friend Graham pointed out to me that since I have long hair and facial hair I look like I'm up to no good all the time. He often gets off with warnings as well since he looks like a very normal dude. Aside from my driving record, the only thing a cop has to go by is my appearance and my car. If I had a normal guy haircut and drove a beige Camry I'd probably get away with a lot more stuff, but that's not my thing haha.



Agreed. Right now the plan is to buy a rear M-Sport bumper and then do the front bumper, hood, rear bumper, and door handles all at the same time, along with filling in the various rock chips around the body and doing a full paint correction.

I might also go and pull the gloss shadowline off the parts 540it and see if it's salvageable, that would be a nice improvement over the worn-out matte shadowline trim on the car now.

The headlights have already been polished before but the guy who did it didn't coat them so they're losing some of their clarity now. I'm still going back and forth between just polishing them, or replacing the lenses entirely with new ones that have Euro clears. What do y'all think? Keep the amber corners, or go clears? My side markers are already clear, and I might do the Euro tails with clear signals in the future too.

I think the euro clears would look great with the red...then again, I’m biased ;-)


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[geargrinder]

I’ve been driving for 3 years, im 19. I’ve only been pulled over twice and got out both times.

I dunno, maybe it's because you've got a pretty clean-cut appearance?

Justin probably puts out that 'be kind to the mentally handicapped' kinda vibe I bet.

My friend Graham pointed out to me that since I have long hair and facial hair I look like I'm up to no good all the time.

Oh yeah. Absolutely.

BTID people used to also really believe in making PBA donations to get the window sticker, or otherwise having some kind of "I support cops" indicator on the back of the car...

[dannyzabolotny]

I think the euro clears would look great with the red...then again, I’m biased ;-)

That's what I'm leaning towards. It would be kinda unique too, as I don't see any local E39s with euro clears. Nobody cares enough to change their headlights around here.

BTID people used to also really believe in making PBA donations to get the window sticker, or otherwise having some kind of "I support cops" indicator on the back of the car...

Yeah, my uncle used to do that. Not sure how much that helped him. I briefly considered becoming a Phoenix police officer, if only for the ability to drive freely. The starting pay is better than the pay at my web dev job after like 4 years too, lol.

[itsbrokeagain]

Amber corners. All around. Be different than the rest.

[dannyzabolotny]

Amber corners. All around. Be different than the rest.

Nah, I don't like ambers. Especially on the rear of an E39— they make it look like a prefacelift (which this car is, but I'm trying to pass it off as a facelift).

[cnsorial]

Ambers are ok but they don’t look right on red. Orange and red clash, just like our mothers taught us when we dressed ourselves at the age of 5.


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[sooch]

Nah, I don't like ambers. Especially on the rear of an E39— they make it look like a prefacelift (which this car is, but I'm trying to pass it off as a facelift).

Euro clears it is, you answered it for yourself. Now go get them lenses!

[StephenVA]

LOW COST Parking sensor upgrade for those not equipped at the factory

[dannyzabolotny]

Hahaha that's good! I actually have PDC in the rear on the 540it so I'm all good.

[douglawrence42]

Hahaha that's good! I actually have PDC in the rear on the 540it so I'm all good.

PDC = parking distance chicken?


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[amancuso]

PDC = parking distance chicken?


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[computiNATEor]

FWIW, I’ve only gotten tickets about half the times I’ve been pulled over. I do have the goody two shoes thing going for me, though.

+1000 on running Waze. It’s probably saved me a dozen times already. As long as there’s a cell connection, Waze is great. I have my phone sitting in the cup holder area, and it audibly announces any police alerts, but it doesn’t make a peep about the route or other extraneous info.

But yeah, you really need to scan ahead for cops. It’ll not only save you money, but make you a better driver.

[dannyzabolotny]

FWIW, I’ve only gotten tickets about half the times I’ve been pulled over. I do have the goody two shoes thing going for me, though.

+1000 on running Waze. It’s probably saved me a dozen times already. As long as there’s a cell connection, Waze is great. I have my phone sitting in the cup holder area, and it audibly announces any police alerts, but it doesn’t make a peep about the route or other extraneous info.

But yeah, you really need to scan ahead for cops. It’ll not only save you money, but make you a better driver.

And this is where I'm screwed by my phone service— T-Mobile has no service the minute you're outside of town, which is where I usually get all my tickets. So Waze won't really work for me unless I change carriers.

[computiNATEor]

And this is where I'm screwed by my phone service— T-Mobile has no service the minute you're outside of town, which is where I usually get all my tickets. So Waze won't really work for me unless I change carriers.

Gotcha. T-mobile is great in SoCal for me, but it's not great out in the desert areas between LA and Vegas.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Get a Valentine 1. Been using them since the mid '90's. Never got pulled over when using one, If that's too much money, get an Escort. I had good luck with an old Escort SOLO, they still make them, the SOLO S3 goes for about $300, totally cordless.

http://radartest.com/best-radar-detector.asp
https://www.lifewire.com/best-radar-detectors-4115040

[philly98540]

Radar detectors seem about useless with all the distance monitors transmitting from all the bumpers. Total false alarm fest. Out on open road, with little traffic, they are still OK. Do any of the new ones actaully filter out all the distance monitor signals?

I've been living on waze around here.

[dannyzabolotny]

Radar detectors seem about useless with all the distance monitors transmitting from all the bumpers. Total false alarm fest. Out on open road, with little traffic, they are still OK. Do any of the new ones actaully filter out all the distance monitor signals?

I've been living on waze around here.

The newest version of the Valentine claims to be able to filter out the distance monitors and blind-spot warning systems, at least that's what their website says. I'm not super worried about the police in Phoenix as they don't care too much, it's more so the money-hungry cops in small towns I'm bothered by.

[computiNATEor]

Radar detectors seem about useless with all the distance monitors transmitting from all the bumpers. Total false alarm fest. Out on open road, with little traffic, they are still OK. Do any of the new ones actaully filter out all the distance monitor signals?

I've been living on waze around here.

Yes, the newer V1s with updated firmware are actually quite good. And if you know the bands used in your local area, you can turn a TON of them off. CA is very selective about the bands it uses (apparently, I don't have one, so I heard this from Matt Farah), and it's easy to spot them.

[geargrinder]

Yes, the newer V1s with updated firmware are actually quite good. And if you know the bands used in your local area, you can turn a TON of them off. CA is very selective about the bands it uses (apparently, I don't have one, so I heard this from Matt Farah), and it's easy to spot them.

Agreed. I have updated my V1's a couple times and it makes a difference. My 3rd old V1 just beeps all the time around active-cruise - Audis particularly it seems... pretty annoying in (upscale) traffic.

[philly98540]

Good to know. I heard they were improving the filtering, but it was still iffy at best. So, the latest firmware removes all falsies due to car bumpers? Or is it still aN issue to some extent?

[Dking078]

Yes, the newer V1s with updated firmware are actually quite good. And if you know the bands used in your local area, you can turn a TON of them off. CA is very selective about the bands it uses (apparently, I don't have one, so I heard this from Matt Farah), and it's easy to spot them.

Gotta say out in Kalifornia (Ka) band is used alot by highway patrol. I'd say anything other than Ka out here is a false positive. While Ka has always been a cruiser!

Except laser... that only goes off to tell you you're getting a ticket or about to get fined for having a jammer!

My valentine one has paid for itself a few times

[Rossagge]

Lookin good Danny. Enjoying reading your build.

I have to agree with some some of the other posters (GG) about radar detectors. I think your eyeballs will are a better detector most of the time. I haven't used a radar detector in many years know and I usually drive over the limit. Funny thing is though, just a few weeks ago while traveling I did receive a speeding ticket, but I wasn't paying attention, towing a vehicle and it was on a two lane on a La back road in which I should have been on alert. Those small towns earn there revenue on ticket fees. Even so much the officer issued me a ticket that would not go on my record as long as I paid the fine within a given time.

[dannyzabolotny]

Time for my usual catch-up post, since I can't seem to update regularly for some reason. I quit my office job about a month ago to pursue repairing BMW's full-time, and I've been on the forums a lot less. I guess things are a little different when I have to actually work for my money as opposed to sitting in an office for hours trying to kill time. I left my job with a nice smokey burnout in the office parking lot, which was deeply satisfying. Anyways, onto the car stuff...

Around 203k miles I did a bit of maintenance on the 540it, since it had been a while since it got some loving. I started by replacing the brake booster hose, which was badly cracked and causing a nasty vacuum leak. I had it temporarily fixed with a bunch of duct tape and zip ties, but since the hose isn't super expensive I decided to fix things properly.





Everything went back together nicely with the new parts, but the non-return valve decided to break apart, so I carefully epoxied it back together:



It's held up really nicely and doesn't leak, so yay, $50 saved!

Next up was the engine air filter. It had only been like a year and a half since I replaced it when I first bought the car, but it was already filthy. Arizona's got a lot of dust/dirt in the air, I guess.



Finally, I replaced the spark plugs since I had no previous record of them being done. The ones that came out put up quite a fight and were quite old, but they didn't look terrible.



I installed new NGK Iridium spark plugs after checking their gaps to make sure they were all the same (two of them required minor adjustments).

And what better way to test out all the new parts than a grueling road trip? That weekend I drove to Prescott with some friends. We went the back route through Wickenberg which took us through some sweet scenery and amazing roads. First was an abandoned old hotel on the side of the road on the 60.



That's a Camaro SS, my 540it, my friend's 2002 540it, and my other friend's Euro import 325i (not sure what year).

Better angle of the 540it's:



From Wickenberg we took the 89A to Prescott. We barely saw any cops so I got to the front of pack and let it rip through those mountain roads. What an amazing drive! I really felt like I was driving my car at close to its limits based on how much tire squeal there was, haha. It was a total blast, even with the autotragic.

After we got through the really fun tight parts, we pulled over to take some pictures in a giant empty plain, and that's when I noticed something...



Enhance!



Oh...



I wonder when that happened... the foglight was already cracked, by the way. But that huge crack in the bumper was brand new. I did do a bunch of donuts in the dirt near Wickenberg so maybe a rock hit it. Oh well, that's life. I'd rather enjoy my car than baby it.

After that, we had another fun drive up the mountain roads to Prescott. There was one highway patrol cop at the top of the mountain that was hiding out that tried to ruin our fun but we all had walkie-talkies, so I let everyone know as soon as I spotted them so nobody got any tickets. That's a win! We all stopped in Prescott to eat lunch and I snapped a quick pic of the 540it:



My favorite part of living in Phoenix is how I can go from a desert to plains to a mountainous forest in the matter of like an hour or two. So rad.

On the way back down from the mountain we took some pictures around sunset, this one was my fave:



To wrap up the day, we visited my friend's parents in Wickenberg to see her stepdad's awesome garage. The guy's got an original '93 Viper, a 60's Charger, and a bunch of other really cool oldschool American muscle that he's restored. The caveat was that we had to drive off-road for several miles to get there. Boy did my car get dusty, but it was really fun to spin the tires at every turn.

The 540it handled the trip beautifully, I'm really proud of it. No overheating and no real issues other than the bumper cracking, but that's just minor and cosmetic.