Acquired an 03 X5 4.4 last week First mod today

[e30cabrio]

[powers1]

Originally Posted by e30cabrio

after

Nice job,well done .Congrats

[m5james]

Originally Posted by e30cabrio

after

I did a simple plastic cleaner and polish using good ol' waxing pads on my headlights and it helped. What'd you use? I'm wondering if doing tha LaminX overtop what I did will help as well since the adhesive kinda sucks into the chips and basically dulls them until they're less visible, no?

[e30cabrio]

I did not do it. I am horrible at this kind of thing. I paid a guy. He sanded, used a 3m rubbing compound, polished with a wool drill attachment like a car buffing pad, used Maguires plastic polish with the same buffing pad and then with another smaller waffle pad.

Thanks

[e30cabrio]

V1 hardwired.

[e30cabrio]

Got the axles from a mechanic I found on Craigslist the PN comes up as Cardone. One says new made in China, the other reman made in Mexico.









Here is the mess.



Should I keep the old ones in case these fail and have them rebuilt if/when that happens?

[bcredliner]

Were they making noise or just leaking?

I don't recall reading a positive review on axles made in China. The Cardone reviews I have read have been mixed.

Best approach is new OEM. I suspect there is a rebuilder in your area that comes with High BMW experience and recommendation that would be a reasonable alternative.There usually is a good one in most metropolitan areas.
Since you have purchased replacements and probably can't return them and don't want to take a hit on this purchase, wouldn't hurt to stash them away

[e30cabrio]

Passenger outer leaked Saturday. No noise. If the grease had not painted the rim I would not know it happened.

They are easy to R&R. I will install them, rebuild the originals and if/when they are needed install them.

[Ricky Bobby]

well if there was no core required on the axles you just purchased, I would keep them and see if you could get them rebuilt. The "NEW" axle is Carone Select, some members have used them for replacement with good results, the "REMAN" should be A1 Cardone, which is supposed to use an OE core, but might not be, judging by the shaft color (are they sandblasted? OE shafts are black)

You should be fine replacing those, just be sure to torque the axle nut to 300 lb ft with the wheels on the ground, make sure to put anti-seize on everything and wire brush the rust off the hub splines to make install easier.


And you'll also need an alignment afterwards.

[e30cabrio]

The passenger is green seems powdercoated but that is doubtful.



That is the driver. It is black and looks different.

I needed an alignment steering wheel is slightly off center which drives me crazy.

Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to follow them. I already ordered the boots from BMW to rebuild the originals.