What are you driving and why would we be interested?

Lounge
64

I absolutely loved the Alpina.

Helen had been clanging about in my old E39 528i having migrated from a W123 E-Class Estate. She liked it more than she thought she would. Then, our daughter suddenly developed terminal car trouble and needed something quickly. She took the 528. Then the B10 E39 Alpina just appeared. We decided to take the hint the Universe appeared to be giving us, and we bought it.

The E39 is probably the best balanced Five Series ever produced. The chassis composure and precision is nothing short of magical for a car of its size, providing it’s kept tip top. It was little stuff that let the E39 down (parking brake faults, corroding rear light clusters, weak water pump, tendency of the boot to rust, phantom front wheel shake, cam position sensors) but I always found it easy to forgive, and it was overall reliable.

The Alpina chassis was a dream. It was a good long distance cruiser but could also handle itself when the forces started to build, going from soft to hard core without the benefit of electronic dampers and active roll bars. Quite an achievement - although business as usual if you are Alpina. I very much regretted letting it go, but Helen wanted to try something else and I had a better equipped, more comfortable, faster car.

Her B10 was the face lift 3.3 straight six. If a V8 had come along we would have taken it, but I’m glad we got a six. I think it’s more than enough, balances well with the chassis, and had that fantastic turbine like delivery, going from growl, to roar, to wail, as the scenery blurs and you run out of opportunity long before you run out of performance. Also, having run an old school E38 V8, I knew how baggy the steering was on the V8 BMWs of that era. The rack and pinion fitted to the 3.3 had good feel and high precision.

When my adored, trusty but too tired 750 reached the end of its useful life for my needs, I thought I would get a F10 M5 to see which I preferred. I ended up with something rather more stupid, if gigantic fun, but I’m convinced that the Alpina would have won.

(The wheels were bastards to clean).

8 Likes
65

Then it’s a job for ‘wheel woolies!’

An excellent investment for wheel pampering…
perhaps along with a Dodo Juice Captain Crevice micro-fibre mitt :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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66

Got some :slight_smile:

The rat size one died when it came off and left me holding a stick. It took a surprisingly long time to extract from the wheel. The vole size one and the badger size one are still used regularly.

I’ve got crevice tools, detailing brushes, those specialised wheel bushes which spray you with dirty water on the back stroke, sponges, wheel mitts, you name it… I also jack the cars up and remove the wheels at least twice a year. My neighbours think I’m bonkers. They’re right.

3 Likes
67

Bring back those one-piece steel wheels I say. With chrome hub-caps. All alloys are a nightmare to clean, & they’re only a cosmetic item on road cars anyway.

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68

On anything other than a daily shopper I would agree but anything with a bit of vroom and alloys do make a difference, Less unsprung weight means much better turn in and also helps the suspension to “work”

69

Rather heavy as well. Although that’s as much to do with size as anything.

70

My Celica has two sets of wheels/tyres

A very helpful mechanic mate offers my car a free wheel change over service twice a year between a winter wheel set and a summer wheel set. My ‘winters’ have Michelin cross climate tyres which drive safer in colder wet weather and can cope better on snow. My 'summer wheel set have Goodyear F1 which are good for low road noise, and fab handling. Taking the wheels off twice yearly gives us the opportunity to check the brakes, clean up the callipers, we often clean up the slider-pins and re-lube with silicone brake grease.

The off-season wheels are given a thorough clean & polish, and put away in safe storage in my garage. It’s a bit of a chore tbh but keeps the car looking sweet and running better : )

P1030082
P1030082.JPG2579×1934 1.92 MB

Summers

P1010759
P1010759.JPG3776×2520 3.02 MB

Winters

8 Likes
71

The use of allow wheels can be very practical too, I was surprised to read that had i selected the option of alloys for my motorhome I would have been allowed another 40kg payload, that’s more capacity for beer or wine! However having hit a few pot holes with my 4 tonne lump of a vehicle I am pleased that I have steel wheels. Chrome hubcaps would be a nice touch though to cover up the rust!

72

I’ve always found BMW wheels to be tricky to clean - they tend to go for lots of spokey bits where there’s always a section that not even an old tooth brush can quite get at. The wheels on my current “dog bus” are typical of the type, so-called “M-Sport” road rollers that are a little bit “Carlos Fandango” but seem to fill out the arches rather better than the ones that come on the non M-Sport model. They look nice and sporty especially wearing the thin strip of rubber that passes for tyres, but they are an utter pig to clean.

2 Likes
73

I swap winter/summer tyres on my car., although this year I skipped it. I used to do it for Helen’s car, but her estate is a recent purchase and we haven’t looked into winter tyres yet. On her Alpina and subsequent X5, winter tyres were worth the time and effort to swap over. On my X6M it’s more marginal unless the temperature stays constantly below 6-7 degrees. When it gets warmer, the car squirms and shuffles, although it doesn’t come unstuck. This year I decided to leave the summer tyres on. With the exception of about 5 days in which the cars were not used, it was the right decision. We haven’t had much of a winter down here.

My winters and silver, in contrast to Deb’s sets.

Summer

x6m40.jpg1000×499 114 KB

Winter

x6m38.jpg800×533 76.8 KB

1 Like
74

I can heartily recommend Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armour. It is used very sparingly, so works out more cost effective than the price first suggests.Providing the wheels are completly clean before application, you’ll never have to clean them again. Just a quick rinse. When it comes to car care and detailing, I’m a butterfly. But I have stuck with a few Gtechniq products for many years because they can’t be beaten (this month). C5 is one of my stock products.

2 Likes
75

I look at winter tyres every year and decide we don’t get enough bad weather to justify the cost of winter tyres. I think I have lost three days in the last five years due to not being able to get through the weather.

76

I highly recommend Michelin CrossClimate tyres.They’re actually a summer type tyre but designed to cope well with very cold wet and snowy weather. They can be used all year around in the UK, most of our winters seem to be more mild wet and mucky with few intervals of cold & snow, so proper winter tyres are not really necessary, the CrossClimate’s are far more versatile, a good all year-rounder and because they are technically a summer tyre, they are good on fuel and low road-noise : )

3 Likes
77

On two of the three cars we have run with winter/summer sets, the change has been worth while because once the temperature goes below 7 degrees or so, regardless of weather conditions, the improvement in grip is worth having. But my present car doesn’t seem to do so well on chewy rubber unless it’s colder still.

I remember about 6-7 years back, I went to a client’s sales conference in January in Helen’s Alpina, with it’s low suspension and big wheels, on winter tyres. Not only did I get to the venue, I spent about two hours driving around collecting people from stuck cars - including a Disco on summer tyres. They didn’t understand how a butch looking, performance BMW could move an inch in snow and ice, let alone steer and stop. Surely BMWs don’t do that? They’re renowned for not going in snow. Well, that all depends.

78

Come the next tyre change, I’m going to revisit this. If I can get the right sizes. Lots of tread to go at present, but it won’t last long!

79

We don’t bother with winter/summer tyres here in the UK. Both the Merc and the BMW seem to cope fine with what passes for winter down here in Wiltshire/West Berks/Hampshire.

OTOH, I put our winter tyres onto the CRV in Vernon at the end of September before heading up to Banff and I was really pleased I did. The snow, east of Golden, even at the end of September justified the swap and also made the snow-bound Icefields Parkway safely passable. Come October is a requirement anyways.

80

You’re right about BMW alloys Richard, they’re all pigs to clean. Worst were on my old X3M Sport; the X5M Sport I’ve got now is only marginally better. I’ve started using Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel Cleaner, which does actually work - just spray it on, leave for a bit, then hose off.

Easiest alloys to clean were on my MB 500SL -

image
71DDB148-6C7C-4ADE-B15E-D3C6015FBA56.jpeg1000×510 135 KB

3 Likes
81

Nothing particularly exciting but I love my 2014 X5 and 1998 MX5.

1 Like
82

I installed Nokian WR G4s on my Sportwagen last fall as an alternative to Michelin CrossClimate. They are very good in summer and winter temperatures and they have a good grip in deep snow. However, when cornering on icy surfaces they do not match real winter tires because the G4s have smooth round edges on their sides to reduce noise.

83

Three. The original one in the cylinder block is still used for the oil and fuel pumps. Trick question really :wink:

1 Like