2007 550i 6 Questions

[Straka]

I recently bought a high mileage 550 with the Sport package. One owner, all services done on time at the dealer. Clean car fax and DMV report. The car looks great, drives great. It has 209,000 miles on it. I had it checked out by a BMW shop, the tech gave it a thumbs up.

1. I had to get a new battery, the installer checked the draw on the starter and alternator, it was ok. A week later the battery was flat and now goes flat in 24 hours.

2. The car has Dunlop tires with about 15k on them, they are noisy, what's the best replacement tire, the car is going to be driven no more than 75-100 miles weekly and no long trips or serious performance driving.

3. The car has both keys, one has a battery, the other doesn't.

4. I played with the iDrive and got it set up, worked fine and then one day all the settings changed. Something to do with the battery.

5. My wife made a 40 mile round trip one afternoon, said the car was surging at a stoplight, then the service light came on. It stopped surging, the service light went off and the car has been fine since.

6. At speeds over 85 mph the car drives fine, I've driven it over 100 mph, but the tires seem to make a pounding sound. The car doesn't shake or steer badly, it's just noisy.

I bought the car for 3k under book value, basically bought it for grins and it seemed to drive good and it looks like a new car, on the other hand I don't want to dump a bunch of cash in it.

Any thoughts?

[JayArras]

I bought the car for 3k under book value, basically bought it for grins and it seemed to drive good and it looks like a new car, on the other hand I don't want to dump a bunch of cash in it.

Any thoughts?

If you didn't want to dump cash into it, you probably shouldn't have bought a 550, a high mileage one at that. Don't get me wrong, they're great cars and drive awesomely. But outside of the M5, they're the most expensive to fix when something goes wrong and they're costly to run. It doesn't sound like you're particularly handy with a wrench, so develop a good relationship with your BMW shop and maybe consider taking on a part-time job to support your habit.

[GeorgeT]

Did the battery get registered to the car when it was installed? New batteries should be registered to the car's computer so it will "know" a new battery is in place and adjust charging rates accordingly. Also have the alternator output under load checked again.
Never liked Dunlops and run Michelins without any issues.
Does your car have Comfort Access (can you start it with the fob in your pocket?)? If so, both keys should have easily replaceable batteries, if not neither fob should have a replaceable battery. If you have one of each, someone screwed up.
The other problems are more than likely related to the battery and tires.

[White94RX]

If you didn't want to dump cash into it, you probably shouldn't have bought a 550, a high mileage one at that. Don't get me wrong, they're great cars and drive awesomely. But outside of the M5, they're the most expensive to fix when something goes wrong and they're costly to run. It doesn't sound like you're particularly handy with a wrench, so develop a good relationship with your BMW shop and maybe consider taking on a part-time job to support your habit.

This guy speaks the truth.

[beshannon]

I recently bought a high mileage 550 with the Sport package. One owner, all services done on time at the dealer. Clean car fax and DMV report. The car looks great, drives great. It has 209,000 miles on it. I had it checked out by a BMW shop, the tech gave it a thumbs up.

1. I had to get a new battery, the installer checked the draw on the starter and alternator, it was ok. A week later the battery was flat and now goes flat in 24 hours.

2. The car has Dunlop tires with about 15k on them, they are noisy, what's the best replacement tire, the car is going to be driven no more than 75-100 miles weekly and no long trips or serious performance driving.

3. The car has both keys, one has a battery, the other doesn't.

4. I played with the iDrive and got it set up, worked fine and then one day all the settings changed. Something to do with the battery.

5. My wife made a 40 mile round trip one afternoon, said the car was surging at a stoplight, then the service light came on. It stopped surging, the service light went off and the car has been fine since.

6. At speeds over 85 mph the car drives fine, I've driven it over 100 mph, but the tires seem to make a pounding sound. The car doesn't shake or steer badly, it's just noisy.

I bought the car for 3k under book value, basically bought it for grins and it seemed to drive good and it looks like a new car, on the other hand I don't want to dump a bunch of cash in it.

Any thoughts?

Be prepared to dump a lot of cash into it, my 2009 550i was a money pit at 22K miles.

You need a new battery registered properly to the car after the draw is located

I drove both Michelin and Continental on 19" rims. They are all noisy

Put a battery in the key

Dying battery messes with everything in the car

Probably the bushings or something else in the suspension. Apparently by what I was told, those parts wear out frequently and very fast.

Good luck, 3K under book sounds like the seller did well.

[Straka]

Lot of snark, not much help guys. What you're saying is that a 50k plus BMW, a one owner car with a perfect service history, all done by the dealer who sold the car new. Is a worn out, shot to hell money pit at 200 thousand miles? People routinely drive Toyotas, Hondas and a lot of other brands way over 200k with no major problems. The car was purchased new and driven by a guy who owns 3 businesses in SoCal and often on a business day drove 200 plus miles, all Freeway driving. This BMW wasn't owned by a guy who cruises the freeways in 3rd gear looking for a damned race or makes an ass of himself attempting to drive in the canyons.

Since I'm not a "wrench" maybe I should just light it on fire and call it a day.

BTW, Do you think $1,800 was a good deal for the seller? That's what I paid for it.

[beshannon]

Lot of snark, not much help guys. What you're saying is that a 50k plus BMW, a one owner car with a perfect service history, all done by the dealer who sold the car new. Is a worn out, shot to hell money pit at 200 thousand miles? People routinely drive Toyotas, Hondas and a lot of other brands way over 200k with no major problems. The car was purchased new and driven by a guy who owns 3 businesses in SoCal and often on a business day drove 200 plus miles, all Freeway driving. This BMW wasn't owned by a guy who cruises the freeways in 3rd gear looking for a damned race or makes an ass of himself attempting to drive in the canyons.

Since I'm not a "wrench" maybe I should just light it on fire and call it a day.

BTW, Do you think $1,800 was a good deal for the seller? That's what I paid for it.

Sorry you are not happy with the answers, I was being honest and did not even bother to disclose all the issues I had with my 550.

Long story short I will never own another BMW and I wish you the best of luck.

[Straka]

Not so much your answers Brian. The attitude of some BMW owners/dealers reminds why after owning 3 of them from '87 to '99, why I didn't buy another one for 18 years. I bought this car because it looks and drives good (when the damned thing starts) Literally the only wear and tear is on the driver's seat, I don't think anyone ever rode in it except the original owner. It seems incredible to me that the guy who does my yard can get 300k out of a Toyota Tacoma pickup he bought used with over 150k on it, over load it down to the axles 6 days a week and never have any major problems with it. One of the guys in my office complex bought a 6 series convertible a few years ago, the can spent 7 months out the first year of his ownership in the shop, BMW finally bought the car back from him. The last straw was after everything was supposedly fixed, he put down the top and heard glass breaking-the same problem that started his automotive nightmare. BMW's used to bullet proof, my '87, 90, 94 5 Series were all great cars. When I went to get a 2000, the salesman, the sales manager and finally the dealer spent two hours trying to get me to buy a car I didn't want, wrong color, wrong equipment. I drove down the street and bought a E55 Benz, drove it 149k with zero problems. Other than service my first 3 BMWs never spent 5 minutes in the shop. What's happened?

[KingDavidsCourt]

Not so much your answers Brian. The attitude of some BMW owners/dealers reminds why after owning 3 of them from '87 to '99, why I didn't buy another one for 18 years. I bought this car because it looks and drives good (when the damned thing starts) Literally the only wear and tear is on the driver's seat, I don't think anyone ever rode in it except the original owner. It seems incredible to me that the guy who does my yard can get 300k out of a Toyota Tacoma pickup he bought used with over 150k on it, over load it down to the axles 6 days a week and never have any major problems with it. One of the guys in my office complex bought a 6 series convertible a few years ago, the can spent 7 months out the first year of his ownership in the shop, BMW finally bought the car back from him. The last straw was after everything was supposedly fixed, he put down the top and heard glass breaking-the same problem that started his automotive nightmare. BMW's used to bullet proof, my '87, 90, 94 5 Series were all great cars. When I went to get a 2000, the salesman, the sales manager and finally the dealer spent two hours trying to get me to buy a car I didn't want, wrong color, wrong equipment. I drove down the street and bought a E55 Benz, drove it 149k with zero problems. Other than service my first 3 BMWs never spent 5 minutes in the shop. What's happened?

You have personal examples that you listed of modern BMW's having issues, but you seem surprised that.. you are having issues. $1800 for a running and driving 550 is a great deal... but when you pay 1800$ for a car that was originally 50k.. you should expect to put some money into it. I would find a good indy and let them go over the whole thing. I know you had a tech look at it prior to purchase... but things break and likely there is something scanable wrong now. I replaced the battery on my 550 and never had it programmed. Never had any issues with it.

Most tires will make some noise at 100mph... there are only a few decent options in the stock 550 size. I've owned BMW's that lasted 200k miles with no major issues, and I've had Honda's with problems in 30k miles... I believe there are a few car that should be avoided... but by and large most cars when taken care of will last anymore. Take care of does not just mean getting oil changes and maintenance done on schedule which is recorded by the shop. I've ridden with people that rev high for no reason, or throw it in Rev without coming to a stop first, or idle for hours at a time... all of those little things add up to 'premature' failure. There's no checkbox on a sellers form for those things.

Let us know what the problem ends up being.

[R Shaffner]

I'm sure I would have bought that car at that price. Hard to beat when it's running well (or even just well enough).

My son-in-law has an '07 550i. He bought it from CarMax with a long warranty and has hardly had to use the warranty. No major issues for him after 5 years. So they don't all fall apart and cost a lot.

About the tires, on my first 540i I got so much road noise I was convinced the front bearings had gone bad. I replaced the bearings and the noise remained. Turns out many high performance tires will make a lot of noise when they're about worn out. Those tires might have been Dunlops too, but it can happen to all brands. Worse if the alignment/suspension is off and the tires wear unevenly. The next time you buy tires, check out the reports on TireRack.com. Some high performance tires are not as noisy. And getting the right alignment can make a BIG difference in these cars, how they drive, and how the tires wear.

In spite of your initial experience, forums like this are GREAT for owning, diagnosing, and fixing these cars. I wouldn't accept the advice of any dealer or indy (that I know), for anything major, without checking online with others who have been there before.

Good luck!

[pbonsalb]

It’s not a Toyota in terms of reliability or durability. And the E60 545i and 550i are known to suffer expensive problems as they age. But they don’t all have problems and hopefully you got a good one. At the price you paid, you can always walk away from it if it suffers an expensive failure. I’d certainly rather drive it than a Toyota, but I know these cars and understand their issues and the risks with a used one.