GORGEOUS! Congrats on a purchase well done. Too bad you can't take it with you when you leave.
2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
2016 428xi -Estoril Blue II/Black
2018 430iC- Estoril Blue II/Black
2018 330it - Melbourne Red/Venetian Beige/Black
Man, that is one good-looking M5! It's come so far in just a few weeks.
Did it pass TÜV?
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Thanks guys! It is very nice, but plenty of M5 wherever I end up.
Danny, you should've seen what I've done to my 330Ci ZHP in just 2 weeks. Koni FSD's, Michelin PS A/S3+, UUC Corsa exhaust, M3 seats, Vanos, cooling system, belts & pulleys and bunch of other stuff. I'm not a very patient person and when I want something, I want it now.
I took the car to a local shop today for pre-inspection where they said everything looks good and gave me a few nice words about the car.
On Monday morning I'm taking it there again and the dude from TÜV will come to check the car in detail.
I want those headlights, i'am to scared myself to open up my headlights and replace those projectors.
Nice M5 BTW, still my dream car. but iam happy with my 525i!
Swing by Berlin and I'll do it for you. Thanks!
Would be a nice road trip.
Passed this morning the notorious TÜV with flying colors.
Over the weekend I went to a nearby e39 car meet. Figured it would be a nice way to meet some car guys since I didn't know any.
There were around 20 e39's and to my surprise I was the only one with a M5. One automatic B10 Alpina wrapped in ugly olive green wrap, few 540's, 528/530i and one diesel.
Only 3 cars were manual and almost none stock! I say this cause I'm a huge OEM guy and like things original.
Anyway, I was pleasantly welcomed despite my terrible German skills. After looking around, we went for a 30 minute blast on die Autobahn where M5 just shines.
M5 attracted nice crowd and meet some nice folks.
I find it so funny how people in Europe want the US-spec headlights with the amber corners, meanwhile here in the US everyone wants the Euro clears. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side?
And I guess M5's aren't too common in Europe anymore due to their maintenance costs and high fuel consumption. I'm glad to hear you finally got it on the Autobahn though, that's what it's designed for!
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
I think that matte green wrap looks awesome, but I'm a sucker for that kind of green so to each his own. Could also double as a hunting rig, camo39.
do products like Lexol actually, truly provide any protection benefit? Seems I've read that like most cars, the finish on our leather is essentially a paint of sorts, and that it's a fallacy that Lexol and other products actually penetrate past the dye/paint, and get to the actual leather surface. Or is that totally false?
It depends on what kind of seat you have. The standard E39 seats and sport E39 seats have a pretty thick protective coating so most leather conditioners don't penetrate them. Slathering the seats in Leatherique and throwing them in a garbage bag while sitting in the sun seems to be one of the only effective ways to moisturize these seats. However on the M5, the leather is pretty different. It's a much softer Nappa leather which gets damaged much more easily than the standard E39 leather. My X5 4.6is has the same Nappa leather and it reacts really well to leather conditioners.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
You are totally right about that. Few guys mentioned that they prefer amber corners. I would always go with clear ones.
E39 M5 is definitely a rare beast on German roads, I have yet to see another one.
Weekend after this one I'm driving to the West side of Germany to help my girlfriend move, around 370 miles each way.
Can't wait for that. I am hoping to clean, reseal and test my Vanos solenoids before that and see if it makes any difference.
Exactly, everybody has their own taste. I pretty much hate any kind of wrap haha.
I've been using Lexol for quite a while and have no complaints. If it actually penetrates the leather I'm not sure, but it does help and makes the leather softer and more appealing to the eye.
I like it because it's not greasy and leaves the leather soft and matte.
It also leaves a very nice smell (like new leather) and few people actually asked me what I did to get that kind of smell in the cabin.
I recommend it, just don't expect miracles, if you want something that gives you more noticeable results, try leather Leatherique like Danny said.
There are 2 types of leather in the M5. Two tone Nappa with ostrich skin inserts (like in my M5) that helds up pretty good over the years and Luxury/Heritage Nappa that comes in full black or caramel that seems to wear much quicker and easier.
Last edited by sreten; 07-24-2017 at 06:30 PM.
sreten, you should come to bimmerfest next year, one of the bigger BMW meetings. its loads of fun and more then enough m cars and events happening.
I'm also planning to go to BMW-Syndicat next year. Thats worlds biggest BMW meeting.
I will definitely go to Bimmerfest if I find myself in the States next year. Sucks that I missed this one in Cali.
Serviced Vanos solenoids last Saturday. They say that around 100k miles is time to do them. My M5 has 106k miles and didn't show any of the usual failure signs, but decided to do them anyway as part of preventive maintance.
When I pulled the covers off, none of the solenoids were leaking. Upon initial test all solenoids fired up. I did find one cold solder joint and that solenoid stopped working after I started moving them around, re-soldered the joint and it sprung back to life.
I thoroughly cleaned them, removed old soldering and re-soldered all of the joints just to be safe. I used Viton O-rings manufactured by some company here in Germany.
Assembled everything and went on a long test drive. Even at 11pm on Saturday there was traffic in Berlin so I had to drive 50 minutes from my home and Berlin to find some nice backroads.
It really is an incredible machine in sport mode. It brings me so much joy when I get behind the wheel and drive it like a hooligan.
In the middle of nowhere I found a piece of stretch that had no speed limit where I could finally use all of its power!
Love it.
2001 Z3 3.0i -Oxford Green/Sandbeige
2016 428xi -Estoril Blue II/Black
2018 430iC- Estoril Blue II/Black
2018 330it - Melbourne Red/Venetian Beige/Black
Now that's living in Germany properly! You're living the dream, man.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
I meant bimmerfest europe :P
https://www.bimmerfest.eu/en/
Thank you fellas! Bimmerfest in Europe might happen, would be fun for sure.
This past weekend and Monday I did a long awaited road trip in the M5.
Went from Berlin to Siegen where my girlfriend lives to help her with moving, then on Monday to Frankfurt for a job interview and back to Siegen.
Packed up everything and with a trunk and rear seat full of crap headed back home to Berlin. Total of 940 miles and a massacre of insects at the front.
Driving the M5 on the Autobahn is the most fun I had behind the wheel. Max I was able to get it up was 175 mph.
I really wanted to max it at 185 but there was a lot of traffic and the roads were wet from rain and that kind of speed is no joke.
All M5's are electronically limited to 155 mph and trick is to hit the limiter in 5th gear then change to 6th and it will keep going.
I recorded few accelerating videos when the best traffic sign in the world comes up.
This is driving south towards Frankfurt which is a shitty part of Autobahn compared to the rest. Narrow, bumpy and lot of traffic.
Aside from the awesome speeds, what I'm most amazed about with the Autobahn is the left lane discipline. People actually move out of the way when you're catching up to them in the left lane, that NEVER happens here in the US. People here hog the left lane and go 5mph under the speed limit all day. I end up doing most of my passing in the middle and right lanes because for some reason everyone stays in the left lane.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
All left lane loafers must die!!! I hate each and every one of them with a passion.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Discipline and respect on the Autobahn is enormous and the reason why it's the only country where no speed limit thing works to this day.
I haven't seen anybody hogging up the left lane and if it does happen, it won't be a car with German plates. If you overtake somebody on right side you can get a fine.
Problem that you guys talk about I experienced million times in California. One example that I have, is where the guy was cursing in the left lane while 2 right lanes were free, I flashed few times for him to move and when he eventually did, he flipped me off.
Sreten, I also did 175 in my rented Fiat Tipo but unfortunately it wasn't in miles and car was ready to explode
Hey Sreten, I had no idea that you moved to Berlin. I was away from the forum a little bit but I'm back on it now. I am super happy for you man. Keep up the good work!
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