My BMW E39 528i touring

[PranK]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

These going to fit over the big brakes? I'd be reeeeeeeeaaaall hesitant to believe so.

Well, apparently they do fit, however this wont be a problem if not because the car will be stationary while i do the suspension work. I was just going to use the 16's to roll the old girl around if I needed to. I just need to get the E90 back on the road first.

1 hour ago, Kinkstaah said:

@PranK can you elaborate further on the Colorlock Dye?

The website has a lot of options. I'm sure you've done all the research. I have old genuine leather seats that I have bought various refurbing creams and such, but never a dye.

Any info on how long it lasts? Does it wash out? Is it a hassle? What product do I actually need?

Am I just buying this kit and following the steps the page advises or something else?
https://www.colourlockaustralia.com.au/colourlock-leather-repair-kit-dye.html

Yes! I'm a believer! 🙌

So, I contacted them because the site kinda sucks and I was really confused about what I'd need. They put together a package for me and because I was spraying all the seat surfaces and not doing spot fixes I decided not to send them a headrest to colour match, I just used their colour on file (and it was spot on). 

I got some heavy duty cleaner, 1L of colour, a small bottle of dye hardener and a small bottle of the dye top coat. I also got a spray gun as I needed a larger nozzle than the gun I had and it was only $40 extra. From memory the total was ~$450 ish. Its not cheap but the result is awesome. They did add repair bits and pieces to the quote originally and the cost came down significantly when I said I didn't need any repair products.

I did it over a weekend. The only issues I had were my own; I forgot to mix the hardener into the dye two coats but I had enough dye for 2 more coats with the hardener. I also just used up all the dye because why not and i rushed the last coat which gave me some runs. Thankfully the runs are under the headrests. The gun pattern wasn't great, very round and would have been better if it was a line. It made it a little tricky to get consistent coverage and I think having done the extra coats probably helped conceal any coverage issues.

I contacted them again a few months later so I could get our X5 done (who the f**k thought white leather was a good idea for a family car?!) and they said they had some training to do in Sydney and I could get a reduced rate on the leather fix in the X5 if I let them demo their product on our car. So I agreed. When I took Bec in the E39 to pick it up, I showed them the job I'd done in my car and they were all (students included) really impressed. Note that they said the runs I created could be fixed easily at the time with a brush or an air compressor gun.

So, now with the two cars done I can absolutely recommend Colourlock. 

I'll take pics of both interiors and create a new thread.

[PranK]

I forgot about my shiny new plates!

[GTSBoy]

48 minutes ago, PranK said:

Well, apparently they do fit, however this wont be a problem if not because the car will be stationary while i do the suspension work. I was just going to use the 16's to roll the old girl around if I needed to.

Well, that's kinda the point. The calipers might interfere with the inside of the barrels 16" rims are only about 14" inside the barrels, which is ~350mm, and 334mm rotors only leave about 8mm outboard for the caliper before you get to 350, And.... that;s not gunna be enough. If the rims have a larger ID than that, you might sneak it in. I'd be putting a measuring stick inside the wheel and eyeballing the extra required for the caliper outboard of the rotor before committing to bolting it all on.

[PranK]

51 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Well, that's kinda the point. The calipers might interfere with the inside of the barrels 16" rims are only about 14" inside the barrels, which is ~350mm, and 334mm rotors only leave about 8mm outboard for the caliper before you get to 350, And.... that;s not gunna be enough. If the rims have a larger ID than that, you might sneak it in. I'd be putting a measuring stick inside the wheel and eyeballing the extra required for the caliper outboard of the rotor before committing to bolting it all on.

Thanks for that, I'll check it all out. I can always do the brakes last anyway if its a problem. 

The 16's are super cool, if they do fit I'll cruise around with them for a bit.

 

[PranK]

Oh, forgot to add, A few months ago I was getting mixture codes and the car was using crap loads of fuel. You could smell the unburned fuel in the exhaust, it was crazy strong. Economy was over 17.5 l/100 and usually around 19.

I smoked the engine and found a leaky CCV hose which I replaced and then I replaced my two pre cat O2 sensors, I also replaced the MAF. This fixed my mixture codes and improved my exonomy but I'm still 14 - 15 l/100 when pottering about town so something is still amiss.

Throttle response is much better and it has more pep but I'd like to know why it's still so thirsty (and I'm hoping that whatever it is gives me a bit more poke).

 

 

[Duncan]

If you are getting that sort of fuel usage, you might as well be back in the stagea

[soviet_merlin]

What does it look like with highway driving?

And yes, I had a similar thought as Duncan. It looks quite similar in my Stagea and I have made myself accept it as normal. Might have to look into it some day   Highway gets as low as 10l/100km on my end so I'm not as worried about it being a mechanical issue. More likely just the tune on the haltech.

[PranK]

7 hours ago, Duncan said:

If you are getting that sort of fuel usage, you might as well be back in the stagea

You've been so patiently waiting for your moment!  🤣

3 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

What does it look like with highway driving?

And yes, I had a similar thought as Duncan. It looks quite similar in my Stagea and I have made myself accept it as normal. Might have to look into it some day   Highway gets as low as 10l/100km on my end so I'm not as worried about it being a mechanical issue. More likely just the tune on the haltech.

Haven't got enough time on the freeway. I did drive it up from Canberra but I have no idea how it did in this area.