November 05, 2012 05:51PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
well not real ones but why is it so quiet here?
A little storm on the North East coast shouldn't have stopped the E30s from getting around Seriously though, there is a bit of an echo in here lately. Have we all just retired the E30s like Cab or are they all running perfectly so that there are no problems to report or ask about...F10 fuses aside |
November 05, 2012 06:33PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 584 : Vermont, USA |
Well, I'm still here, and still driving my iX to work every day and to rallies on the occasional weekend. I was going to write about a clunk in the front suspension that I haven't pinpointed yet, but someone else just wrote about a very similar problem, and I wanted to say something other than "yeah, me too!" Maybe tomorrow night I'll get out to the garage and really try to shove things around to see what's moving that's not supposed to. Other than that, my old E30 is still driving as well as it ever has! I suppose I could replace it with something else, but I don't have the slightest inclination to do so. Why bother when I already have the perfect car? __________ Dave '91 325iX |
November 05, 2012 08:26PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 202 : Knoxville, TN |
I drive mine every day. All it needs right now is a new bulb to light up the clock buttons. Well, besides a paint job and new upholstery - but that's not going to happen any time soon. You know how it works. The cold rainy weather has to get going before anything serious needs to get fixed (I don't have a garage). |
November 05, 2012 10:20PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 944 : Lake Havasu City, Arizona |
I put my snow tires on my cabrio last week and found that they were jiggling at 60 mph so considered that balancing them would be a reasonable thing to cure the annoyance. Had the two front ones balanced and paid 27.50 to have it done. Now it really jiggles at 45 mph and above. I have switched the front to back on one side but no improvement yesterday. Today I switched the other side front to back. Will try the trip to work tomorrow to see if there is an improvement.
While the car was in the tire shop one of the guys took a look under the right front at the control arm and came in to offer me an estimate for new ball joints. Not sure what gave them that idea. My summer tires were running very nice before I changed them for the winter tires. I may have to put the summer tires back on if this does not get better...LOL. Bob in Lake Havasu |
November 06, 2012 06:46AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
November 06, 2012 06:51AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
You never know...if the ball joint is worn; simply changing to a different tire could bring on the shakes. Mine did that when I replaced the old worn out summer tires. Since the balancing was part of the price of the tires; I took it back and they checked it out; nothing wrong with the tires.
I then took it to my mechanic and he immediately knew what was wrong. Two new ball joints later and no more shakes |
November 06, 2012 11:42AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670 |
I still check in every day.
The E30 is doing very well, been standing under a cover forever, hasn't seen daylight in months and hasn't moved for over a year. Tyres still have pressure (and probably a flat spot from standing). Need to have a look at the fuel leak under the intake manifold and get the rear brakes to allow the wheels to rotate. |
November 06, 2012 11:44AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670 |
27.50 to have two tyres balanced? If I could get that much money, I'd get me a 2nd hand balancing machine and do it after hours. What have they balanced it with? Some silver alloy?
Are you guys still using lead for balancing weights or have environmental reasons forced you to switch to something else (zinc on this side of the pond)? |
November 06, 2012 04:58PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 944 : Lake Havasu City, Arizona |
I thought the price to balance seemed a little high and since it brought no benefit am disappointed. The weights are shiny and silvery looking, at least for now.
Switched the tires on the other side front to back and it is only a small bit better. The tires are slighly out of round, maybe 1/16 inch which is almost within allowable I think. Wheels are not bent as best I can tell by spinning them. It seems like when the two front tires get into some kind of syncronized situation they shimmy and when I go around a curve it stops. Next curve it starts again. Have to decide if I want to drive all winter on these or buy some expensive new tires and wheels....not a pleasant choice. I suppose the control arms could be worn as I have put about 80k miles on them since I changed them last. Would have thought they would last longer than that. Bob in Lake Havasu |
November 06, 2012 07:03PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 202 : Knoxville, TN |
I got a used balancer for free last summer, but it needs $150 worth of parts to make it so I can calibrate it. It works, but it isn't perfect since the calibration is off. If you have a tire shop that can't seem to get your tires balanced, they probably need to calibrate their balancer. I think $27.50 to balance two tires looks pretty fair. I sure wouldn't want go into business balancing tires for that, and I have the machine. Of course, if my job is as crappy next year as it was this year I might have to. We use steel weights over here now, and they cost a fortune. I have a bag of used weights a tire shop gave me - a mixed bag of old lead and some of the new steel. |
November 07, 2012 11:33AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670 |
November 07, 2012 03:52PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 609 : SoCal |
November 07, 2012 09:24PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 202 : Knoxville, TN |
They seem to be painted. It looks like a really tough paint. They might actually be cast iron of some sort. They have "Fe" cast in them, which could mean they're iron, or it could just be a reference to the fact that steel is a ferrous metal. |
November 07, 2012 09:33PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 944 : Lake Havasu City, Arizona |
I can see where the old weights were and the new ones are about the same size and are about 20 deg from the old. I checked the wheels by jacking up the car and spinning them with an indicator next to the wheel. Also measured the runout of the tread surface and the wheels are fine but the tread is about 1/16 inch runnout. I think this is close to the limits. The destressing part is that they were better before the balancing. If the tires did not have so much nice siped tread on them I would give them up for new ones.
I am tempted to just take all the weights off and put them back where they were. Bob in Lake Havasu |
November 08, 2012 04:23AM
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Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 799 : O Porto |
I know nothing about winter tires. Perhaps the wheels were porly balanced, remove them and take them back to the same shop to complain. Perhaps they are not seated and mounted properly on the hubs, you may check that out. In case you move the wheels around in the car, make sure the best two are on the rear axle. Hey wait a moment, shouldn't this thread be on the "car talk" section?! |
November 08, 2012 04:25AM
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Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 799 : O Porto |
E30s last forever, and when not driven never give any problem! |
November 08, 2012 09:21AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
You're right about that...haven't had a single problem since I sold it |
November 08, 2012 03:10PM
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Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 799 : O Porto |
I had a problem, the money was spent relly quick! I have a good excuse to be silent, I know you don't want to know about the aflictions of my old MB w124, and I spend way too much time on facebook picking up chicks... |
November 08, 2012 05:57PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
Love is way more important than cars...but just barely |
November 08, 2012 09:15PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 944 : Lake Havasu City, Arizona |
November 09, 2012 02:36AM
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Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 799 : O Porto |
November 09, 2012 03:39PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 797 : Ottawa |
November 10, 2012 09:41AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
November 12, 2012 04:20AM
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Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 799 : O Porto |
December 13, 2012 10:13AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 87 : Rigaud Quebec |
Well mine was put to rest 2 years ago after 22 years and 666,000 Kms. Electrical and body corrosion. It took 2 years to find a replacement - an E60 2005 545i 6spd manual, with only 110K kms on it and in perfect condition! The E60 is not 2x the E30, but is quite fast and surprisingly nimble. It just doesn't have the E30 feel and connection to driving. The 2007 Subaru Impreza that I have been using for the last two years will now be my beater. It does have some 360K kms on it! I do drive a lot! Salut, Bob P. |
December 13, 2012 10:35AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
December 13, 2012 01:37PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 609 : SoCal |
December 14, 2012 08:18AM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
Forest fire smoke neutralizes the acid rain and you only use salza on the roads in winter I'm off to Xmas lunch today with the gang I've worked on and off with for the last 23 years. Only one is/was a BMW owner(E36 Cabrio). |
December 14, 2012 04:44PM
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Admin
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 944 : Lake Havasu City, Arizona |
Wishing you a merry Christmas Peter. Hope your lunch went well. We had a pot luck type lunch today at work. I used up a few credits at the home front to wangle a crock pot full of homemade chili. When I woke up this morning it sure smelled good. I got it to work ok and then got stuck in a meeting for an extra half hour and when I got to the lunch, the chili was all gone so it must have been pretty good. It was slim pickings in what other stuff was left except desserts. Lots of them.
Bob in Lake Havasu |
December 14, 2012 06:48PM
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Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,538 |
Same to you Bob Lunch was excellent and I got to get reacquainted with several old friends and work mates. Got a couple of leads for some future work but mostly it was lots of stories about folks being out of work. The high tech electronics business is pretty weak here since about 2000 and it's tough for hardware guys/gals to find decent employment any more. Most of the industry was shipped off-shore over ten years ago. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones as I seem to have a skill set that is still needed; even if only on a contract basis. I'll take full time contracting over being an employee anytime |