BMW and M Power Owners

[ChrisD.]

I went with James in his DC5 and i shared the same concerns, he also had them on hit. They are hit and miss reading forums but i think its about getting an even deposit by bedding in properly otherwise the uneven deposits cause the judder. They should have a nice even dark of grey across the disk when they done right.

Yeah I know James, I saw his post on Instagram this morning but didn't clock until the drive by video it was you. The problem that people tend to have with DS2500 is that they will continue to bite even when too hot and as a result start falling apart. This combined with poor bedding in as you say leads to most problems.

I've been using RS29's for a few years and I've had no issues with them at all, except the price. I think they're close to £600 a set for my Civic BBK now, I've gone with XP10's now as they were £200 or so cheaper but I'm yet to fit them as I think I have around 1/3rd of the RS29's left.

 

[DanF]

I have a 128ti but never driven an m135i. Thought it came pretty well specced as standard to be honest.

How are you finding it so far? how's the ride quality?

 

[Simon]

Yeah I know James, I saw his post on Instagram this morning but didn't clock until the drive by video it was you. The problem that people tend to have with DS2500 is that they will continue to bite even when too hot and as a result start falling apart. This combined with poor bedding in as you say leads to most problems.

I've been using RS29's for a few years and I've had no issues with them at all, except the price. I think they're close to £600 a set for my Civic BBK now, I've gone with XP10's now as they were £200 or so cheaper but I'm yet to fit them as I think I have around 1/3rd of the RS29's left.

Yeh those and RSL19 were on my radar. Probably needed for Donington and such, i was close to a BBK. I think the lighter Hondas are suited to the track better for a dual purpose car but i surprised myself as how hard the 1600kg M3 can be pushed and how quick it was on the straight. Maybe ill have to get the S2000 road legal again. There was an ex palmersport e92 m3 there which looked a lot more stable (and much quicker!) but thats big money spec.

 

[CliffyG]

How are you finding it so far? how's the ride quality?

To be honest my previous cars don't really compare too much apart from my old Mitsubishi Ralliart so it's way better than i'm used to in all aspects. That said the interior is really nicely done, i think it looks spot on and is very comfortable. Quite tough getting used to all the functions etc but i only have a couple of issues with them, biggest one being the lane assistant always turning itself on but i think will be the same on the m135i too. I always drive it in sports mode, i don't like the responsiveness in comfort, averaging around 29 mpg at the moment. You can definitely feel the road but no more than expected. It's responds great to being chucked round corners!

 

[Smokey26]

Hey fellow BMW owners. Is there anybody close to Staffordshire who can code my rear lights for me please? I have fitted LCI lights to my E92. Willing to travel to you.

 

[DRZ]

@Simon looked like a glorious day for it! How much tyre did you use on the front left? IIRC the fronts are maxed out at around -0.5deg of camber when really for track work they need to be -2.5 or more to not really hammer the outer edges. Even on track days with track temps around 1-2c I found I was having to take more and more air out the tyres to try and keep the pressures sane as the heat rose. Still ended up with whole tread blocks coming off (MPSS and PS4S) toward the end of the day...

 

[Gibbo]

9 years ago I drove a E92 M3 around the N ring. Yesterday i finally did a track day in my own, 4 years after buying it. Lots of other track cars there but there was something nice about turning up, driving the hell out of the car then jumping on the road to drive home in comfort. This is what a BMW M is all about

Thruxton with motorsport events. The E92 brakes are known to be a bit crap for heat but as Gaygole and DRZ hinted at the DS2500 brakes and SRF fluid held up well, despite standing on them at 140mph into the last chicane. Car is standard E92 M3 comp pack otherwise.

Again DRZ was right, track is incredibly hard on tyres and its a 2mile corner with 2 short straighes either side of the chicane. MPS4s were consistent enough until this session when they seemed to start sliding a bit, warmer track in afternoon maybe so tyre pressures might have crept up too much but i was out of fuel anyway .

Morning i used auto mode to learn the lines but as good as it is it often would be a gear too high on corner exists and you stop thinking about gears, so after lunch is was manual S5 mode only which helped as you started to associate corners, entry speed/noise withs gears, plus you could get on the gas immediately. Church was always fun to hit as hard as you dared but you knew too fast would end up struggling on the exit, near the end i think my right wheels hit the rumble strip on the left

Camera mount isn't ideal and its an old gopro but skip the first warm up lap and enjoy some BMW S65B40 V8 goodness.

Sounds incredible and very well driven.

Yeah I know James, I saw his post on Instagram this morning but didn't clock until the drive by video it was you. The problem that people tend to have with DS2500 is that they will continue to bite even when too hot and as a result start falling apart. This combined with poor bedding in as you say leads to most problems.

I've been using RS29's for a few years and I've had no issues with them at all, except the price. I think they're close to £600 a set for my Civic BBK now, I've gone with XP10's now as they were £200 or so cheaper but I'm yet to fit them as I think I have around 1/3rd of the RS29's left.

I ran RS29 pads on the 911, incredible pad, but can get very noisy, also on M3 too, same findings but never an issue.

I then went XP10 front and XP8 rear on M3 and the brakes were incredible, hardly any noise either, stopping power as good as RS29, maybe a little gentler on the disc, only real issue the dust was harsh to the wheels, would bite into the wheel and not want to come off, so when I had then refurbished I took them a place who does a very good lacquer final coat which helped a lot.


My M5 is finally repaired, the list of parts is as long as my arm and the bill just shy of £3000, the rumours are true, M5 V10's love to throw a bill.

 

[CliffyG]

In addition to what I wrote above, after putting it through its paces in the sunshine yesterday there is quite a bit of torque steer but easy enough to control.

Some idiot in a van hit my rear wing while in a car park then drove off through a red light when I was getting out my car. Looks like I've been quite lucky though as it doesn't look dented or scratched so hopefully will just buff out.

 

[Simon]

@Simon looked like a glorious day for it! How much tyre did you use on the front left? IIRC the fronts are maxed out at around -0.5deg of camber when really for track work they need to be -2.5 or more to not really hammer the outer edges. Even on track days with track temps around 1-2c I found I was having to take more and more air out the tyres to try and keep the pressures sane as the heat rose. Still ended up with whole tread blocks coming off (MPSS and PS4S) toward the end of the day...

Hi, i think its just over 1 deg, could mod the front top mount to add 0.25 but i never bothered. All tyres were brand new as black circles had their discount so wasn't ideal running brand new in hindsight The front left wasn't actually too bad i tried to not scrub it too much, as you rightly said that track is incredibly hard on tyres but the tyres held up better than i thought. After the 2nd session i came in with tyres at 43-44psi too hot so dropped 5 psi out which was great after lunch when i did 10 laps.

front left end of the day.

 

[Simon]

Sounds incredible and very well driven.


I ran RS29 pads on the 911, incredible pad, but can get very noisy, also on M3 too, same findings but never an issue.

I then went XP10 front and XP8 rear on M3 and the brakes were incredible, hardly any noise either, stopping power as good as RS29, maybe a little gentler on the disc, only real issue the dust was harsh to the wheels, would bite into the wheel and not want to come off, so when I had then refurbished I took them a place who does a very good lacquer final coat which helped a lot.


My M5 is finally repaired, the list of parts is as long as my arm and the bill just shy of £3000, the rumours are true, M5 V10's love to throw a bill.

Cheers, Yeah doesn't sound bad for 100% standard does it, even the induction noise is loud - I can only imagine how good those carbon plenums sound in the flesh. There was an ex palmersport E92 M3 was there too which is on stock exhaust with X pipe (no primary cats) which sounded nice and still passed noise (89 v 90 limit). Mine was 86.
I think DCT comes into its own on the track, manual is great and all that but the precision and shift time really comes into its own then you have the benefit of sticking it in auto for a lazy drive home.

Those Xp pads remind me of Ds3000 which absolutely destroyed the wheels when i ran them on my Rover turbo many years ago, definitely want to avoid that on a day to day car.

What did the M5 need in the end then? Its amazing how different the M5 is to the M3 in ownership / running costs, the M3 is pretty solid on the non shared issues (TAs and the everlasting RB saga). Mine survived the day but i have the cow bell noise so likely a new driveshaft centre bearing is needed. I guess it didn't like trying to stop the 10kg half-shaft leaving the car around all those bends.

 

[Maundie]

To be honest my previous cars don't really compare too much apart from my old Mitsubishi Ralliart so it's way better than i'm used to in all aspects. That said the interior is really nicely done, i think it looks spot on and is very comfortable. Quite tough getting used to all the functions etc but i only have a couple of issues with them, biggest one being the lane assistant always turning itself on but i think will be the same on the m135i too. I always drive it in sports mode, i don't like the responsiveness in comfort, averaging around 29 mpg at the moment. You can definitely feel the road but no more than expected. It's responds great to being chucked round corners!

I have M135 and can confirm lane assist is a pain in the rear, hate it.

 

[Housey]

Sound so good the E92, that high revving lump is a work of genius. I remember taking one out back to back with my RS4 back when and the engine was just better in the M3, which is saying something as the RS4 lump was epic, if not as powerful as claimed. A mate of mine has one like yours but has spent 25K modding it for track use, trick dampers, full brake work, induction unit (turns the sound to 11) and it’s rapid. Took it to Donington last July I was in the R8 but it was soaking and he was on cups. Don’t know how he kept it on track as it was sideways when parked.

 

[Gibbo]

Cheers, Yeah doesn't sound bad for 100% standard does it, even the induction noise is loud - I can only imagine how good those carbon plenums sound in the flesh. There was an ex palmersport E92 M3 was there too which is on stock exhaust with X pipe (no primary cats) which sounded nice and still passed noise (89 v 90 limit). Mine was 86.
I think DCT comes into its own on the track, manual is great and all that but the precision and shift time really comes into its own then you have the benefit of sticking it in auto for a lazy drive home.

Those Xp pads remind me of Ds3000 which absolutely destroyed the wheels when i ran them on my Rover turbo many years ago, definitely want to avoid that on a day to day car.

What did the M5 need in the end then? Its amazing how different the M5 is to the M3 in ownership / running costs, the M3 is pretty solid on the non shared issues (TAs and the everlasting RB saga). Mine survived the day but i have the cow bell noise so likely a new driveshaft centre bearing is needed. I guess it didn't like trying to stop the 10kg half-shaft leaving the car around all those bends.

Well this all stems from when I was driving to the garage to have the brake judder issue checked which I thought was warped disc and a rear binding caliper issue. But on the way the engine started pinking at 7000rpm which eventually triggered the engine light which compained about cam sensor and fuel pumps. Plus cars rear bushes were shot so in the end for £3000 it had:

- New disc and pads all round
- Two new rear calipers (would have got it back over a week ago as they thought they had solved rear braking issue, from rebuild and brake fluid change but it returned, so change caliper, then the other side binded, so had do other side too, he has driven it for several days now and finally seems fixed)
- New brake hoses and hand brake cable
- New fuel pumps and senders
- New cam sensor
- New charcoal canister
- New hub at rear as old one cracked when doing bushes
- Full poly bush kit in the rear
- MOT
- Couple tanks of fuel (for their testing)
- Steering fluid flush and change as steering would judder on fast movements, fluid is cheaper than a rack and some fresh CH11S seems to have fixed it
- Service
- Labour for above
- Full alignment to BMW specs


He is now happy to let me have it back and says it drives awesome with no issues. Lets hope so, plan is enjoy it now for a few months and then sell it unless I really enjoy it so we shall see.

 

[Simon]

For all that's £3k doesn't sound too bad!

 

[Gibbo]

For all that's £3k doesn't sound too bad!

Bit of mates rates going on and he has been using only Lemforder where possible.

 

[Gaygle]

9 years ago I drove a E92 M3 around the N ring. Yesterday i finally did a track day in my own, 4 years after buying it. Lots of other track cars there but there was something nice about turning up, driving the hell out of the car then jumping on the road to drive home in comfort. This is what a BMW M is all about

Thruxton with motorsport events. The E92 brakes are known to be a bit crap for heat but as Gaygole and DRZ hinted at the DS2500 brakes and SRF fluid held up well, despite standing on them at 140mph into the last chicane. Car is standard E92 M3 comp pack otherwise.

Again DRZ was right, track is incredibly hard on tyres and its a 2mile corner with 2 short straighes either side of the chicane. MPS4s were consistent enough until this session when they seemed to start sliding a bit, warmer track in afternoon maybe so tyre pressures might have crept up too much but i was out of fuel anyway .

Morning i used auto mode to learn the lines but as good as it is it often would be a gear too high on corner exists and you stop thinking about gears, so after lunch is was manual S5 mode only which helped as you started to associate corners, entry speed/noise withs gears, plus you could get on the gas immediately. Church was always fun to hit as hard as you dared but you knew too fast would end up struggling on the exit, near the end i think my right wheels hit the rumble strip on the left

Camera mount isn't ideal and its an old gopro but skip the first warm up lap and enjoy some BMW S65B40 V8 goodness.

Looks amazing and reminds me of my times on track with my E92 where it absolutely came alive compared to the road. Just magnificent. Suddenly the "flaws" of the car were gone and everything was as you would want it to be. The DCT box, the EDC, the high revving engine along with it's lovely balance just comes together on track.

My car was pretty much completely standard with Comp Pack suspension and it just ate up everything. Not a single warning light or hint of overheating (apart from the power steering fluid which goes everywhere as you have probably found out). The PS4S did really well on track and only had a bit of graining on the outer edges after I was done which cleared up in a 500-1000 miles or so. Likewise with the brakes sounding/feeling a bit odd. I did my track days on those perfect winter mornings where it's sunny, dry but cool so this probably helped all round. The only thing that was alarming was the amount of fuel you use up in such a short space of time!

I would avoid RS29's - not because they aren't amazing pads (because they are) but because when you drive about on the road with them, it sounds like a train coming into a station every time you pull up at some traffic lights. It gets a bit embarrassing after a while. I really liked the M1144 Mintex pads on the Mini. They again took punishment far beyond what they should have done.

You've now made me start looking at track days for my C63

 

[theone8181]

Looks amazing and reminds me of my times on track with my E92 where it absolutely came alive compared to the road. Just magnificent. Suddenly the "flaws" of the car were gone and everything was as you would want it to be. The DCT box, the EDC, the high revving engine along with it's lovely balance just comes together on track.

My car was pretty much completely standard with Comp Pack suspension and it just ate up everything. Not a single warning light or hint of overheating (apart from the power steering fluid which goes everywhere as you have probably found out). The PS4S did really well on track and only had a bit of graining on the outer edges after I was done which cleared up in a 500-1000 miles or so. Likewise with the brakes sounding/feeling a bit odd. I did my track days on those perfect winter mornings where it's sunny, dry but cool so this probably helped all round. The only thing that was alarming was the amount of fuel you use up in such a short space of time!

I would avoid RS29's - not because they aren't amazing pads (because they are) but because when you drive about on the road with them, it sounds like a train coming into a station every time you pull up at some traffic lights. It gets a bit embarrassing after a while. I really liked the M1144 Mintex pads on the Mini. They again took punishment far beyond what they should have done.

You've now made me start looking at track days for my C63

I wouldn't have thought a c63 would be a particularly good track car (unless you just want somewhere to floor it).

 

[[TR]SweetSpotOz]

Any thoughts on the below G30 530d:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101288426093

looks fairly well specced, price is OK.
It is however not local to me, and I’m not that keen on a long range buy without seeing it; however they claim a 7 day return policy. Has anyone done this recently?

 

[Robbo]

Any thoughts on the below G30 530d:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101288426093

looks fairly well specced, price is OK.
It is however not local to me, and I’m not that keen on a long range buy without seeing it; however they claim a 7 day return policy. Has anyone done this recently?

Very good spec with the correct wheels and critically the Icon lights.

I got my car from BMW Stratstone (not Leeds) recently, they assured me the 7 day return policy is exactly as it says, but no doubt it will be a bit of a faff if you had to actually do it.

Get them to do a detailed video and go from there, although even that isn't ideal.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Any thoughts on the below G30 530d:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101288426093

looks fairly well specced, price is OK.
It is however not local to me, and I’m not that keen on a long range buy without seeing it; however they claim a 7 day return policy. Has anyone done this recently?

Lovely spec but I can't get over how much these are for a 4 year old car.