Another silver BMW - 2005 330i Touring
Discussion
WARNING – Idle musings ahead
After deliberating over it for some time, and a lot of time spent posting my boring ramblings on a thread dedicated to these sorts of cars (found here) I decided I should probably start my own thread on my car.
As a private motorist covering roughly 25,000 miles per year, most of which is privately funded, I’ve fallen into the trap of running older cars. Usually this is an old BMW of sorts. The sensible option would be to buy a 320d, or for the ‘mega torque’ life a 330d. After some time in a 330d I decided it wasn’t for me. It absolutely monstered regular ‘outside lane’ motorway driving, but I found it challenging to drive well on the country roads near where I live. The fear of turbo, injector or any other diesel related failure also scared me (and the moths that live in my wallet
). Knowing this I wanted a car that was a little more modern in the hope it would provide less trouble and have some more ‘nice features’. I’m a bit of a tart for the nice twinkly lights a lot of more modern cars have.In steps this 330i touring. I wasn’t looking to buy when a PH’er expressed interest in selling. What’s the harm in looking, right? Well, this was about as ideal as an ‘E91’ (the 2005-2012 3 series touring for the less terminally boring) gets for me. 138,000 miles, Manual gearbox, Cloth interior, upgraded audio system, the later iDrive from a facelift car, upgraded suspension (A Birds B3 suspension kit), and tyres that aren’t made of girders. Just what I’d like as a manual gearbox lover and pathological hater of cheap cow covered seats. Further perusal of the VIN and history shows this was the first ‘customer’ 330i touring. Produced on the 30th August 2005, it was delivered new to a chap that worked for Sytner High Wycombe. The spec is a slightly odd one, and is as follows:
- Professional Navigation, including Bluetooth, BMW Assist, and Voice control
- Cloth sport seats, including Lumbar support (Lumbar is really rare on a 3 series for some reason)
- Window blinds in the rear doors.
Necessities were done which involved a final check over of the suspension by birds prior to sale, which meant I took delivery of the car on a Friday in June, with us departing for the South of France on our annual pilgrimage to see family and buy copious amounts of French plonk from the supermarkets.
First thing to do was sort out one of the shortcomings of the ‘E9x’ platform. No spare wheel. These cars were the first of the generation where BMW made ‘Run Flat tyres’ standard kit. This means the spare gets chucked, along with all of the tools to change the wheel. Disappointing. Before I bought the car I managed to buy a BMW ‘spare wheel kit’ BMW offered this kit to owners that ditched the run flat tyres. It lashes to the boot floor providing in this case a spare 17 inch alloy wheel, wheel brace, jack, and some other bits like a wheel chock. All of this comes in a nylon bag. Not the most elegant of solutions but thankfully the touring model has a little bit more room to accommodate the big hulking thing in the cabin.
It’s always a little nerve wracking taking an older car abroad for the first time. This happened to be when France was seeing a record breaking Heatwave, and travelling down past Paris it definitely felt it. I love the heat, but even this was a shock when getting out of the car. At least the A/C worked fine.
I even took it to the Michelin Museum in Clermont-Ferrand much to the good lady’s displeasure. On a side note, this is a really interesting museum even for people who don’t love cars. I’d recommend it to anyone in the region.
Otherwise it was a standard trip, visiting some of my favourite parts of the world. By the time we arrived in Reims it had really got the ‘road warrior’ look to it.
Otherwise the car performed faultlessly, and made itself good where old BMWs can paint themselves in a less than stellar light. No cooling system issues, oil consumption was lower than expected, and it lapped up the abuse we gave it, covering 1,750 miles in the first week of ownership alone. Upon return from holiday it was business as usual for a while, doing the commute and various work engagements. My commute is 84 miles per day, so the mileage soon racks up. The only hiccup was when the aged battery decided it didn’t want to play ball anymore
August brought us to the time of preparing for winter (Foresight would have helped here) when I bought a set of winter wheels and tyres for it. I also did some other normal maintenance type stuff including a service, new wiper blades and new boot gas struts. This brings us to about 144,000 miles.
In September with the days dropping cooler, I noticed fuel economy was dropping a little more than I’d like, so using the hidden menu in the instrument cluster along with a diagnostic scan, it was noted that the thermostat was sticking open. These engines (The BMW N52) run hot, really hot. 110 Degrees C at a gentle cruise is normal for them, and we were barely cresting 70 degrees C. As a result of that, a new BEHR thermostat and Pierburg waterpump were installed. These engines also use an electric water pump to aid warm up times, and allow the car to cool itself even when the engine is off. Neat stuff, but they’re known to fail every 90,000 miles or so. The current pump had 44,000 miles on it so was past the best miles of its life. It’s easier to fit a waterpump to the older cars, but whereas they’re known as a pain to bleed when the coolant has been dropped the electric waterpump brings one more major benefit. The cooling system can be bled with the engine off! No going for a nervous drive with the heater set to full blast. The car can be left in the air and bled while going for a tea and Jammie Dodger break. Bliss.
In October, at roughly 147,000 miles I noticed when feeling the wheels after a drive (It’s been mentioned I really do need help) the offside rear wheel was warmer than the rest. My suspicions were confirmed when swapping to the winter wheels that the ‘warm’ wheel had a lot more dust on the inner barrel than the rest of the wheels. I ordered up a new set of Genuine BMW brake pads with a wear sensor, and a ‘new’ remanufactured ATE brake caliper. These were fitted and dead fine. The offside pads really were quite a bit more worn than the nearside. Resetting the onboard computer took the ‘miles to go’ on the brake pads from 30,000 to 70,000. After driving the car more and more, it now says 80,000 miles on the rear brake pads. Yay for self-generating brake pads! The first drive post brake work was not all smooth though. Having gone for a short drive and stopping for fuel, upon startup there was a hideous engine noise. HOW!? I haven’t even worked at the front of the car! This was the pulley bearing in the A/C compressor having failed in such a short space of time. With another European roadtrip planned thoughts of selling it off and buying a £1500 shed came to front of mind for a while. Fortunately my Father in law owns his own garage, so I dropped it off there to be looked at.
A new Denso A/C compressor was sourced, with a new belt and belt tensioner. The BMW N52 is usually a really quite stout engine, with many having passed 200,000 miles with very little work. The one issue is the belt tensioner. When they fail, they bend inwards causing the belt to wrap around the crank and be sucked through the front main seal of the engine. This causes the oil pump pickup to be blocked and kills the engine. I figured the new tensioner was a good insurance police against premature death of the engine.
The change from the summer wheels to winter wheels. Wash included!
Following this work, off the car went to Europe again. This time to Spa, Cologne, and back via South Holland. I did a bit of ‘autobahn stuff’ in Germany but the winter tyres limited me to 130.
The company back on the Chunnel was good though. They even stopped us and ran the car through the heartbeat monitor. Obviously thought we looked like people smugglers.
Once back it was more normal service stuff, smashing up and down the A34 and M4, getting really quite dirty at times. Another service beckoned at 149,000 miles because December was a really busy month with no free time.
December was met with the annual trip to Brugge for a nice weekend away around the Christmas markets, and more French plonk for Christmas. Only 12 bottles this time. The rest of December and January were otherwise uneventful with lots of mileage being added for both pleasure and work purposes. All of our clobber fits nicely in the boot, even with the spare wheel in there.
That brings us (just about up to date). I’ve had to replace one of the winter tyres after a sidewall failure caused large scale vibration on the rear, otherwise it’s been plain sailing. Fortunately for me, and the car all of the owners have been ‘enthusiasts’ and a few of them are on PH, too. It’s had various bits changed and improved over from how it left the factory, which is really what sold the car to me. It’s had the following improvements performed
- Facelift front headlights
- BMW ‘Darkline’ rear lights
- ALPINE BMW retrofit amplifier and upgraded speakers
- CIC (the facelift version) navigation retrofit
- Birds (The BMW tuning house, not the custard lads) B3 suspension kit. This consists of custom-valved Bilstein Shock absorbers, and a custom tuned spring. More info available here .
- The all-important Pistonheads sticker in the rear window
The later navigation unit makes the car feel much more modern, with better navigation functionality, media options (more on that below) and a better user interface. The ALPINE upgrade to the audio takes the stereo from ‘fisher price’ to much more acceptable. It includes amplification, and replacement front speakers. It’s a stark difference.
That brings us to just about present day. Currently the car is on ~157,800 miles and running well as ever. I also recently expanded the navigation system with a ‘combox’. This was fitted to very late E9x cars and allows for much more ‘media’ functionality, such as USB input for media, ‘enhanced’ Bluetooth, apps control from an iPhone, and various other functionality. With some help from the forum and coding from a chap in Southampton we were all fitted. It’s now even got 2020 maps so I’m not occasionally driving on roads that don’t exist! This really takes my now old 2005 car into the new decade. Basic AUX in wasn’t cutting it anymore. Control of apps from the phone is the best part, along with album artwork on the centre display.
Now I am all caught up, I do plan to keep this as a running log of how the car is over time. I’ve a couple more bits to update on the way, and when we’re all allowed out I’ll be back to piling on the miles in the usual fashion. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I’m sure it proves a good cure for insomnia.
How do I find it after 19,500 miles? In a word, good. The big six really makes it feel like a BMW should, smooth and tractable with the ability to spin to 7,000RPM. The chassis now with better suspension really does inspire confidence, and is much more capable than I am. The whole package is a really nice daily driver, and all of the upgrades have expanded on a really good base car as is. I’ve not felt the need to replace it, which is rare for me. I’ve kept meaning to take some ‘proper’ pictures of it, too. Once lockdown is over I’ll head to the local beauty spot for some snappy snaps.
Interesting write up.
I went for a 325i a few years ago, as was looking for an estate car whilst we were renovating a house. The house didn’t happen but the car stayed. When it works it’s a great place to be (mine is an SE, so softer ride but rubbish flat seats). Mine has been expensive to run with a few issues; aircon packed up, coolant leak, central locking failed. All added up. Overall though it was a lot of car for the money. I’m replacing the car, but only for another BMW.
I went for a 325i a few years ago, as was looking for an estate car whilst we were renovating a house. The house didn’t happen but the car stayed. When it works it’s a great place to be (mine is an SE, so softer ride but rubbish flat seats). Mine has been expensive to run with a few issues; aircon packed up, coolant leak, central locking failed. All added up. Overall though it was a lot of car for the money. I’m replacing the car, but only for another BMW.
Great write up! Having owned this very car 2010-2014 and put a fair bit of investment into it (Alpine, Birds suspension, LCI headlights, blackline tail-lights) it's lovely to see it still going strong and in the hands of another enthusiast. To date it was one of only two '5 out of 5' cars that I have owned (the other a 205 GTi) and I only sold as I moved abroad for a while. It really is a peach of an engine if the well-documented issues are all taken care of. I think for a 15 year old car its looks have aged well too.
To add to your list of mods, I also added the 'sports' steering wheel (it used to have the uglier one with the hexagonal airbag) and the 'ZHP' sports gear knob (slightly heavier and shorter than standard). Then I had the fuel breather pipe replaced by Phil Crouch at CPC so that I could fill the tank without having a puddle of 98 RON on my driveway soon after - a known but expensive fix!
All in all, an amazing amount of car for the money. I'm now driving an E61 530i SE in titanium silver believe it or not. Gearbox? Manual of course!
To add to your list of mods, I also added the 'sports' steering wheel (it used to have the uglier one with the hexagonal airbag) and the 'ZHP' sports gear knob (slightly heavier and shorter than standard). Then I had the fuel breather pipe replaced by Phil Crouch at CPC so that I could fill the tank without having a puddle of 98 RON on my driveway soon after - a known but expensive fix!
All in all, an amazing amount of car for the money. I'm now driving an E61 530i SE in titanium silver believe it or not. Gearbox? Manual of course!
AceKid said:
Great writeup, i especially enjoy seeing the musings of owning an e91 6 cylinder as this is at the top of my list to replace my slightly wheezy forester.
The facelift lights and the nav upgrades are definitely something i will be looking to do as well.
It makes all the difference especially on an early car. The early navigation system doesn't do full postcode entry, which is a real limitation.The facelift lights and the nav upgrades are definitely something i will be looking to do as well.
dunc69 said:
Great write up. Seriously good choice for a ‘do it all’ daily. And you can’t beat a 6 cylinder petrol, especially since you‘ve come across from the black pump!
Top work that man!
Thank you! I ran a 328ci for years, and decided to try a diesel for doing big miles. It lasted less than a month. Top work that man!
ollyh1988 said:
Interesting write up.
I went for a 325i a few years ago, as was looking for an estate car whilst we were renovating a house. The house didn’t happen but the car stayed. When it works it’s a great place to be (mine is an SE, so softer ride but rubbish flat seats). Mine has been expensive to run with a few issues; aircon packed up, coolant leak, central locking failed. All added up. Overall though it was a lot of car for the money. I’m replacing the car, but only for another BMW.
Looks like my cars doppelganger! Yours has xenons though, which is a useful addition. These cars are the sort of cars you need to tinker with every so often to keep everything right. Otherwise it gets expensive paying the labour to sort out niggles.I went for a 325i a few years ago, as was looking for an estate car whilst we were renovating a house. The house didn’t happen but the car stayed. When it works it’s a great place to be (mine is an SE, so softer ride but rubbish flat seats). Mine has been expensive to run with a few issues; aircon packed up, coolant leak, central locking failed. All added up. Overall though it was a lot of car for the money. I’m replacing the car, but only for another BMW.
fastbikes76 said:
Great write up documenting your journey. There’s definitely something about that lovely big 6 up front.
Thank you. I've been meaning to do it for some time. Spending so much time on the forums it's only fair to give back a little bit. 
alec.e said:
The CIC retrofit is a very nice bonus, very interested in getting the Combox fitted to mine, sounds like just what I need.
If you need any info or the like, send us a PM. The chap I used for a lot of the work was really good too. It looks like a totally OE install.Naldrett said:
Good stuff
Thanks for some more back story. I love it some of the former owners have come out of the woodwork. The sport wheel and clubsport knob make a much more positive experience. The standard plastic knob on the SE models was a massive own goal from BMW. The big stack of history for everything is also nice. Rare to get so much paperwork nowadays.
I've currently got some interior bits on the way for some more interior work. Should be here and fitted soon.
Edited by JakeT on Monday 30th March 09:45
JakeT said:
alec.e said:
The CIC retrofit is a very nice bonus, very interested in getting the Combox fitted to mine, sounds like just what I need.
If you need any info or the like, send us a PM. The chap I used for a lot of the work was really good too. It looks like a totally OE install.Lovely car, and a great review of your ownership experience OP. 
2 years ago I decided I wanted a manual straight 6 E91, but 330s were pretty much twice the price of 325s so I bought a 325 with heated Lemon leather seats!
It had done 132K miles, but had full main dealer service history. I had no issues with it until the electric water pump died at 135K miles. But as sweet as the engine was it just felt a bit underwhelming, so last year I ended up replacing it with an E90 330i in the same colour!
It had done less miles (107K) and had a few options I liked (electric glass sunroof, split/fold rear seats and power-fold mirrors) plus a retro-fit DAB radio and came with a 2nd set of wheels with winter tyres fitted. I'm really happy with it as it performs so much better, and while they are both SE models so don't have the M-Sport seats I really don't find that a problem in a 3 Series that only gets used for going to the shops or the occasional 30+ mile Motorway/dual-carriageway trip. Or at least it used to!
Now I'm just looking forward to being able to use it again.
2 years ago I decided I wanted a manual straight 6 E91, but 330s were pretty much twice the price of 325s so I bought a 325 with heated Lemon leather seats!
It had done 132K miles, but had full main dealer service history. I had no issues with it until the electric water pump died at 135K miles. But as sweet as the engine was it just felt a bit underwhelming, so last year I ended up replacing it with an E90 330i in the same colour!
It had done less miles (107K) and had a few options I liked (electric glass sunroof, split/fold rear seats and power-fold mirrors) plus a retro-fit DAB radio and came with a 2nd set of wheels with winter tyres fitted. I'm really happy with it as it performs so much better, and while they are both SE models so don't have the M-Sport seats I really don't find that a problem in a 3 Series that only gets used for going to the shops or the occasional 30+ mile Motorway/dual-carriageway trip. Or at least it used to!
Now I'm just looking forward to being able to use it again.
They do look lovely with a moderate drop. Don't know how the bone stock OEM suspension rides but mine (clicky above) had sport suspension from the factory. Was rather compliant. Only real downsides - mine was a 320d, which in itself wasn't too bad, but had the older automatic gearbox as well. So a fine cruiser but really needed a manual box and/or a petrol 6-pot like yours. So must be a lovely combo
Mine also had the same cloth sport seats. After trying an E90 with the standard seats... the sports items are much, much better. Also, these blackline taillights you've got are a rare find.PS A Hartge lip would finish the non-sport front off nicely.
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Nice - I really, really miss my old 2006 330i Touring. Just been looking at an Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo E91 on autotrader this morning... maybe...
Look out for timing chain and high pressure fuel pump issues that plague the N47 engine and you'll be grand. I really like the look of the D3BT. It's the same engine as the 123d. Think of it as a 323d. Same peak power as a 325d though. integraf40 said:
Very nice write up! Looking forward to reading more and seeing how far you take her
Aiming for 200k at the least, we'll see how we go with it!alec.e said:
Thanks! Turns out mine has got the Combox previously retrofitted, but needs setting up properly.
Simon at Bavarian Coding on Facebook did mine. Works flawlessely. Mr Tidy said:
Good stuff
It didn't take long, Mr. Tidy. chillbill said:
They do look lovely with a moderate drop. Don't know how the bone stock OEM suspension rides but mine (clicky above) had sport suspension from the factory. Was rather compliant. Only real downsides - mine was a 320d, which in itself wasn't too bad, but had the older automatic gearbox as well. So a fine cruiser but really needed a manual box and/or a petrol 6-pot like yours. So must be a lovely combo
Mine also had the same cloth sport seats. After trying an E90 with the standard seats... the sports items are much, much better. Also, these blackline taillights you've got are a rare find.PS A Hartge lip would finish the non-sport front off nicely.
The Hartge lip looks really nice. My front bumper needs painting after the paint was cracked a few weeks ago hitting a Deer.
Stupid things, glad it did no real damage though.My next project was the last interior chance I really wanted to make. This was upgrading from the old iDrive (CCC) to the later iDrive (CIC) wheel in the centre console.
On the older CCC system (Pic below) the controller allows one to 'quick jump' between the sections. E.g holding the wheel left takes one to climate, and the other directions do the same. My interior, below had the old controller at the time of purchase.
For the newer CIC system (pic below), the controller has the shortcut buttons all around the edges. The older controller works fine with the new system, but lacking the control buttons makes for slow navigation. To swap this, new trims are needed, since I could not for the life of me find the correct silver trim I currently have. I didn't want to go 'too' dark with the trim since the dark dash and carpets need breaking up with something. If I had beige or a nice coloured leather I'd probably fit wood, but dark and wood doesn't do it for me.
I bought a 'nice' (more on that later) set of 'alu cube' trims from a facelift M-Sport car since they're not too bad of a match. Snapped them up for a good price, too. There was a reason for that though. The seller shafted me a little bit.
I needed to swap some bits into the new trims, including the dash air vents, start/stop button and mount the CIC controller I'd bought. The dash vents was a little fiddly, but not too much bother. The start/stop button was easy.
The first giveaway all was not well when receiving the trims was the box STANK. As a result of this, I wiped all of the trims down with an anti-bac wipe. With the times we live in it's only a sensible precaution. Then, when actuating the little door that covers the ashtray it wasn't moving properly, or latching shut properly. Joy. Then on closer inspection someone had broken one of the arms, epoxied it back together, and put a big screw and washer in to hold the door in place. Not what I want. Interior trim issues really get on my nerves.
Fortunately, the ash tray section and door separate, so I could swap the metal cover onto my old (working) mechanism. I could then swap the entire assembly between trim pieces. I'm not super pleased, as I wanted to sell my old trim on, but I won't now as that isn't fair on the next buyer. Otherwise the trims are fine. No real marks, and all clips in tact. The smell has gone after a good cleaning with Autoglym interior shampoo, too. I also took the time to make sure all of the A/C vents and buttons were cleaned properly before they went back in.
The finished article with everything swapped and working as it should do.
All of the trims have now been replaced, and nothing looks too different, bar the new controller. Pleased with the look, even if it was more effort than I'd have liked.
In the car it isn't a stark difference. The newer trims is a little darker than old and has a 'fish scale' look to it vs. the old brushed ali trim. The old to new controller is plug and play thankfully. No wiring changes are needed.
On the older CCC system (Pic below) the controller allows one to 'quick jump' between the sections. E.g holding the wheel left takes one to climate, and the other directions do the same. My interior, below had the old controller at the time of purchase.
For the newer CIC system (pic below), the controller has the shortcut buttons all around the edges. The older controller works fine with the new system, but lacking the control buttons makes for slow navigation. To swap this, new trims are needed, since I could not for the life of me find the correct silver trim I currently have. I didn't want to go 'too' dark with the trim since the dark dash and carpets need breaking up with something. If I had beige or a nice coloured leather I'd probably fit wood, but dark and wood doesn't do it for me.
I bought a 'nice' (more on that later) set of 'alu cube' trims from a facelift M-Sport car since they're not too bad of a match. Snapped them up for a good price, too. There was a reason for that though. The seller shafted me a little bit.
I needed to swap some bits into the new trims, including the dash air vents, start/stop button and mount the CIC controller I'd bought. The dash vents was a little fiddly, but not too much bother. The start/stop button was easy.
The first giveaway all was not well when receiving the trims was the box STANK. As a result of this, I wiped all of the trims down with an anti-bac wipe. With the times we live in it's only a sensible precaution. Then, when actuating the little door that covers the ashtray it wasn't moving properly, or latching shut properly. Joy. Then on closer inspection someone had broken one of the arms, epoxied it back together, and put a big screw and washer in to hold the door in place. Not what I want. Interior trim issues really get on my nerves.
Fortunately, the ash tray section and door separate, so I could swap the metal cover onto my old (working) mechanism. I could then swap the entire assembly between trim pieces. I'm not super pleased, as I wanted to sell my old trim on, but I won't now as that isn't fair on the next buyer. Otherwise the trims are fine. No real marks, and all clips in tact. The smell has gone after a good cleaning with Autoglym interior shampoo, too. I also took the time to make sure all of the A/C vents and buttons were cleaned properly before they went back in.
The finished article with everything swapped and working as it should do.
All of the trims have now been replaced, and nothing looks too different, bar the new controller. Pleased with the look, even if it was more effort than I'd have liked.
In the car it isn't a stark difference. The newer trims is a little darker than old and has a 'fish scale' look to it vs. the old brushed ali trim. The old to new controller is plug and play thankfully. No wiring changes are needed.
In a less interesting update, the summer wheels are ready to go back on. Since I'm now on furlough from work I've cleaned the summer wheels up and sealed them to they're less of a pig to clean when we come out of sitting around the house all the time.
New front boots are on order too, the usual diet of Michelins in the 225/40/18 size. They seem to last forever on the front of these cars. Current ones are marked 2016 which means they've done close to 50,000 miles!
New front boots are on order too, the usual diet of Michelins in the 225/40/18 size. They seem to last forever on the front of these cars. Current ones are marked 2016 which means they've done close to 50,000 miles!
Nice write up OP, those E91s still look good after 15 years.
Have you thought about a darker colour for the summer MV3s? Here’s a picture of my old 330i after I had the wheels done in anthracite. It was also a manual - when I advertised it for sale the phone was ‘ringing off the hook’ but it lives on with my brother now, 4.5 years later.
Have you thought about a darker colour for the summer MV3s? Here’s a picture of my old 330i after I had the wheels done in anthracite. It was also a manual - when I advertised it for sale the phone was ‘ringing off the hook’ but it lives on with my brother now, 4.5 years later.
I have but unlike a lot of sets nowadays they're not ruined. They've had a refurb not too long ago since they've not got loads of weight residue on the inside of the barrels. The rears are totally unmarked, and there's only a bit of kerb action on one of the front wheels. I like the colour of the facelift cars, not too dark but not standard silver. Or I can just not clean them for the same look.
The money is better spent elsewhere at the moment, namely stuff like new VANOS solenoids when it's next time to drop the oil. That's an extra £200 spent right there. Most of the time you wouldn't notice it unless you give it stick from low revs but if it isn't right it's wrong. I'm about all caught up on 'stuff' I want to do with it now either way. It's those niggly little jobs people don't tackle that then makes them want to sell the car. Then it's keeping it right over the coming months/years.
The money is better spent elsewhere at the moment, namely stuff like new VANOS solenoids when it's next time to drop the oil. That's an extra £200 spent right there. Most of the time you wouldn't notice it unless you give it stick from low revs but if it isn't right it's wrong. I'm about all caught up on 'stuff' I want to do with it now either way. It's those niggly little jobs people don't tackle that then makes them want to sell the car. Then it's keeping it right over the coming months/years.
Whilst we've been in lockdown I've also been taking care of little jobs on the car that I otherwise would not have taken care of.
I gave it a 'proper' clean. I'm not an 'I two bucket method to clean my teeth' person, but I've managed to amass some car cleaning bits over the years. In this case, it was.
Also took care of the VANOS solenoids. They were removed, cleaned and then re-installed. I might get new ones at some point, as these ones have 157 large on them. They look well worn, to say the least.
After my drive to go and get some essential foodstuffs, before I put it back on the drive I took a couple of snaps of it with my 'proper' camera. The phone pictures are so-so at best. Not to mention it's nice to look on warmer times in the winter.
I gave it a 'proper' clean. I'm not an 'I two bucket method to clean my teeth' person, but I've managed to amass some car cleaning bits over the years. In this case, it was.
- A claybar on the paint to remove any embedded 'stuff'
- A hand cleanse of the paint with Autoglym Super Resin Polish
- A couple of coats of Autoglym HD Wax.
Also took care of the VANOS solenoids. They were removed, cleaned and then re-installed. I might get new ones at some point, as these ones have 157 large on them. They look well worn, to say the least.
After my drive to go and get some essential foodstuffs, before I put it back on the drive I took a couple of snaps of it with my 'proper' camera. The phone pictures are so-so at best. Not to mention it's nice to look on warmer times in the winter.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff