RUST ! 41k miles .....

Well what can I say!!! poor BMW build quality or what?
I was drying the door sills and noticed a hint of a rust bubble around the door plate.
Pulled back the black plastic cover to reveal the true horror.
Car has never had any paint , and given that its on both sides it appears to be a bmw weakness . A quick BM3W forum check reveals others have seen the same problem.
Luckily BMW have agreed to fix it , as they should on a car thats only 3 years old!

So , I think its almost time to put the car in and get the door dent / lower sill / and front end blow over.
Slightly concerned about having paint done at all , matching,quality etc but it needs done.

On a lighter note , the 3rd pic is the 41k milestone

Seriously considering a downgrade to save money but M3 values have dropped so much its painful :-(

Cars I have considered which would all be 05 or newer

Ford Focus ST
Renault Megane R26
Golf GTI

All around 15k , with Golf above that if you want DSG etc , 2 others are MUCH cheaper , but of course lower quality.

, whats also nice is a Mk4 Golf R32 03 plate , 15k too for a 3dr black 30kmiles ish mmmm nice.

currently getting around 24.5 MPG general commuting !

enjoy

M3 Warranty renewed

Yes , sadly its been an expensive time.
The car was 3yrs old on 26th June 2007 (remember MOT etc) , which also means the manufacturers warranty runs out.

3 choices

1. Pay BMW for a years cover
2. Pay a third party warranty company
3. Stick cash in a savings account and pray it never happens :-)

Well weighing up the options and especially the fact I will probably sell the car in the next year , I have renewed with BMW for the not insignificant sum of £1000 bend over and cough did I hear u say !
I reckoned it may be an advantage for my car, esp as it doesnt have sat-nav and hk.


Only things left to do are

1. Get the door and lower sill painted (+ maybe the front end to remove stone chips)
2. Front brakes (although to be honest they are currently fine)

Im already working out in my head how much year 2 is currently costing....
Its a supreme car , but to treat it correctly costs lots.

oh and did I mention suzuki are doing 0% finance and £139 insurance on the GSXR750 now :-).........heres the darker blue (and no white) special anniversary TT edition


Enjoy

40k miles / MOT passed / new rear brakes / some classic cars

First two pics are ex police Pord Capri 2.8 and Talbot Sunbeam(Alpine?) recently seen outside the GMEX in Manchester for a police conference , I was just out for my lunch :-)

Second is the 40,000 miles milestone !!!!


And just after that it had to go in to Williams BMW because it was fast approaching the cars 3rd birthday.
Decided it was time to get the rear discs/pads/shoes replaced, lazy? me? yeah probably. I will attempt to replace the fronts later on myself though honest!


Third pic are my new rear discs :-) Yum , only job is to have the wheels back off and paint the bits that will just get rusty.

Just for you folks , the bill is below ......





another 'quick' £500 :-(

Once again top marks to Williams BMW , polite , courteous , effective , this is my second visit and so far I'm very impressed , they even put my plastic sill back on properly :-) that I had recently damaged. Phoned me about replacing the rear shoes for the handbrake , and of course the car came back with no extra marks.

On top of that I went to the bodyshop part of Williams to get a quote for chips/damage etc, and they were top notch too. Car will probably get put back to 'perfection' in the next month which would leave only the wheels as not up to 'john' spec :-)

On a personal note its a good week, my lovely nieces birthday this weekend , and a former work colleague gave birth to a lovely baby girl this week :-)


o and my car passed its MOT lol

take care
J

39k miles / stupid mistake .....

There you go , 39500 miles on the beast......

Oh and the small matter of 'stupid' here managing to hit a large boulder on the drive!!!! At first I didnt think much of it ....... until I got out........
Oh well these things happen and it just means i will be getting the door fixed quicker than I realised.
[perhaps even get stonechips on bonnet/wings blown over if it isnt too costly]

Sill panel itself looks easy enough to respray.

TODO =

1. Extend BMW Warranty for this year
2. MOT for car
3. Replace rear discs and pads (I hope to leave fronts for time being)
4. Get door dent and sill repaired
5. Get wheels refinished by Pristine Wheels

bm3w day / bsb / mr2 pics

Finally got around to putting the pictures up.....

MR2 just some clean car pics



BM3W day , the pics



and yesterday the awesome BSB @ Oulton park



Enjoy
car @ 39100 miles , indicator reckons 15000 to next service which is the Inpsection II biggie! which will be @ around 54000 miles.

M3 Oil Service / BM3W day @ Thorney Motorsport

ok time for an update

Oil service @ 38500 miles

Car went into Williams BMW Manchester for the first time ever.
Car has 38k on it , and its an oil service only.
My first experience of Williams BMW is very encouraging.
They phoned me to discuss my rear brakes (which to be fair are awful but something I will get done later). Car was washed (to a high standard) and no more dings/scratches appeared :-) (which is always a worry when the car goes into a dealer)
So for an oil service + fuel filter change (requested by me) the total was £305
Rear springs were checked and OK
I requested the filter change to hopefully reduce the really bad stutter the car had just before I took it in. Transition from light to full throttle was poor.
It was a long shot that Ive seen work on the BM3W forums , and it fact it has made it 75% better ! woohoo , still there but reduced greatly.

For the future its an MOT in June(£50) and new brakes all round (at least £750).....
Oh and the renewal of the warranty (£1000)


BM3W forum day @ Thorney Motorsport

Attended this today , a superb day with a whole host of fab machinery

Lots of E46 M3's , CSL's ,Z4M, M5's new and old , Porsche GT3 + RS and an Aston Martin :-)

Plenty of dyno runs (sadly not me :-( ) and some great hospitality.
Lots of pics to follow........
Car ran like clockwork there and back and returned 29MPG (even allowing for some high speed fun on the M6 toll , is it really £4 these days !)


enjoy the good weather
JohnO