Newbie :)

[Rosssavage]

Morning all,

Long time lurker, first time post.

Just bought a 2001 3.0i, my fifth BMW and first 4x4.

Thanks to many of you, I've been trawling the forum looking at the buying guides and DIY sections and this has helped me buy a nice tidy motor.

Going to replace the front brake rotors and the tension arm bushes this weekend (slight vibration during braking, which I'm sure is the rotors, and the bushes are old and cracked, although there doesn't seem to be any undue movement yet..)

Still driving my old E46 as it still has half a tank of gas, but looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the x5 this weekend after doing those minor jobs

[TECN1K]

At first I thought it was silly to keep driving an old car just because it has a half tank of gas left in it - then I realized you're in the UK and that's about $500 worth of fuel LOL.

Welcome!

[StephenVA]

Welcome to the family of X5 owners

[tmv]

[RFaber]

You would be surprised at just what a difference the tension strut bushings will make! I would venture to guess you wont need to change out the rotors! (takes a lot to warp them) just my .02$ worth!! ( liked the comments about $500 worth of fuel in the tank! lol)

[Rosssavage]

Thanks all!!

Yeah, gas in the UK is daft expensive - I'd just put about $85 in the tank when I bought the x5.

Pictures - been flat out at work since I bought it, so always dark when I get in. I'll take some this weekend...

with the rotors, there is definitely some vibration when braking from high speed. There is an invoice in the history for a new (OE BMW - yay!) seized right front calliper, so that may have bent the rotor if it was driven for a while like that...

[Rosssavage]

'After doing those minor jobs' I wrote in my first post...

Yeah, probably shouldn't have written that!!!

Rotors, pads, bushings and new tension bars done, some corroded bolts but not too hard.

Those ball joints on the end of the tension bars - no chance!!!! They've been soaking in penetrating oil for the last three days, but I could not get those torx bolts out!!!

Got to the point where I was worried about shearing off the heads (putting some real force on them!) so I gave up before I got into a whole world of hurt. That would be bad if I broke one of them.... Will have another go in the summer with some heat on them, but to be honest it was just too cold today to get into serious car surgery.

Also found a nasty cut (through the cords) on front right tyre when I took the wheel off, so booked in for a new tyre and four wheel alignment next Monday...

[jdstrickland]

Originally Posted by Rosssavage

'
Also found a nasty cut (through the cords) on front right tyre when I took the wheel off, so booked in for a new tyre and four wheel alignment next Monday...

This is a problem for the vibrations. It will feel sort of like an out of balance tire, it will shake at a speed range, but outside of that range -- faster or slower -- it might not shake at all.

As for the torx bolts that won't come out, you are more likely to break your torx head wrench than to break the head off of the bolt.

[Rosssavage]

Yeah, not messing with a cut through the cords though. Lots of tread on the tyre, but risk of a blowout.

That's the criteria for a Boeing tyre (ex aircraft mech) - you can have cuts but if you can see the cords, change the tyre, no messing.

Maybe so with the torx bolt, but it was cold out and I need the car running tomorrow. I'll tackle it in the summer

[RFaber]

You might want to spray the bolts down with penetrating oil every day for a week before you do the job, those torx bolts can take a pile of torque!!! ive found (read article about safety!!) that using HIGH QUALITY hardened steel torx bits is the only way to go! ive broken more than my fair share of the cheap ones !!!
good luck!