winter tires?

[upallnight]

No offense taken.

I have brought my share of Exotic and High end automobiles and have seen first hand how some people either had no knowledge as to what it cost to keep these cars running or think that they can MacGuyver a fix for the car rather then buy original parts. Best MacGuyver fix was using Corvair axles on a Lotus.

If you seen some of my replies to posters on this forum, I told them point blank that a BMW was not the right car for them

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by upallnight

The problem although it's really not a problem is that the value of the early X's has fallen to the point that even teenagers with jobs at Mickey D can buy a X but can't afford to maintain them or buy extras like a second set of wheels for the winter.

OT...
...it's been creeping into becoming commonplace for the past several years, esp on E53s.

There are probably scores/hundreds of well kept E53s/early E70s held by owners that frequent this site; most of us still have those 'well kept' cars, or lucky owner #2 has it.

The rest , (and there are hundreds of thousands), are off to some knucklehead off brand dlr who copped one at auction or the corner used car lot, et al, and on their 3rd to 4th owner. And, this species of car is not your Dad's beater Chevy that just ran and ran, and ran.
GL, mD

[Tonyfeb14]

Definitely get a winter tire if you have sport tires on your X5. Just relaying my experience.

I have Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport tires 255/50/19 front, 285/45/19 rear. Last winter, after going sideways on a downhill icy mountain road I started checking into all season tires. The Bridgestone sport tires are recommended by the Bridgestone for 40 degrees F and higher temps. Good to know after taking a winter drive sideways.

I found only Pirelli made a winter tire, the Scorpion Ice & Snow in the OEM tires sizes. Not wanting to undersize and go with a narrow tire, I took the chance and put the Pirelli's on the car in the same size, understanding they are pretty wide tires. Happy to say, a great tire in ice and snow, dramatic difference over the summer sport tires. Quiet on the highway at 75mph, smooth and great on snowy Colorado roads. I can get up and down a snow filled sloped driveway in the mountains. This is my second season with the Pirelli's. Now about 10,000 miles and wearing well. Should last a few seasons as I swap sport and winter tires pretty easily with two sets of rims for the X5.

I would not drive a sport tire in the winter. A second set is cheap compared to hitting something or someone.

[Clockwork]

Originally Posted by upallnight

No offense taken.

I have brought my share of Exotic and High end automobiles and have seen first hand how some people either had no knowledge as to what it cost to keep these cars running or think that they can MacGuyver a fix for the car rather then buy original parts. Best MacGuyver fix was using Corvair axles on a Lotus.

If you seen some of my replies to posters on this forum, I told them point blank that a BMW was not the right car for them

When I bought my 850, I noticed more "MacGuyver" parts than I can tell you about..
Needless to say its taken about $30K to get it back to factory spec with some tastful mods (wheels, exhaust, stereo...) so I know how these vehicles can be extremely expensive.
I just wish everyone respected cars enough (look at the big picture of the car's life and quality you get from it) to maintain them properly and equip them with the proper parts for the driving experience that these vehicles CAN provide.

[racingbmwm3]

Originally Posted by motordavid

And, this species of car is not your Dad's beater Chevy that just ran and ran, and ran.
GL, mD

The thing about beater cars, is they are built with very wide tolerances and not a lot of frills/options. The car drives just about the same as it did when new because it sucked to start with. It just burns/leaks a little (lot) more oil than it used to, along with all the other fluids leaking. Tires always wear the same since there aren't any adjustments that can be made to the alignment (body on frame design and live axles) and handling/steering are floaty the way they should be.
The upper end beaters are the ones that you can't lock the doors anymore because the power locks don't work, the power windows don't work, the trunk is bungied shut because the remote trunk release is broken...
In the long run, its cheaper to have a cheap car with no options because there is less stuff to break. Thus, the American and Asian cars that never die.

[Clockwork]

Less Luxuries = Less Problems.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by upallnight

No offense taken.

I have brought my share of Exotic and High end automobiles and have seen first hand how some people either had no knowledge as to what it cost to keep these cars running or think that they can MacGuyver a fix for the car rather then buy original parts. Best MacGuyver fix was using Corvair axles on a Lotus.

If you seen some of my replies to posters on this forum, I told them point blank that a BMW was not the right car for them

I'm with you UAN, really getting sick and tired of the complaining threads about "wahhh I just bought my X5 and now I cant afford these repairs", or the intro thread with pics, and then 2 months later the OP comes back in and says its for sale. 10 years ago I could have afforded a used Toyota Supra, or 300ZX, RX-7, cars I dreamed about driving at the time, I just loved those classic 90's Japanese sports cars. I never bought one though, because I wouldn't have been able to afford the upkeep.

Kids today though, a lot of them just want to own a BMW i'm afraid. And the sad part is a lot of them take out loans to buy these 7-10 year old bimmers!

[upallnight]

That's why I like my X. No automatic climate controls, no rain sensor to turn the wipers on, no headlight washers, no parking assist, no nav and the passenger seat is manual not electric. Sort of like a RS America PORSCHE, strip down with no frills.

And if the wife had told me that she doesn't like driving the X because it is too big for her, I would have looked for a 6 speed manual.

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by racingbmwm3

The thing about beater cars, is they are built with very wide tolerances and not a lot of frills/options. The car drives just about the same as it did when new because it sucked to start with. It just burns/leaks a little (lot) more oil than it used to, along with all the other fluids leaking. Tires always wear the same since there aren't any adjustments that can be made to the alignment (body on frame design and live axles) and handling/steering are floaty the way they should be.
The upper end beaters are the ones that you can't lock the doors anymore because the power locks don't work, the power windows don't work, the trunk is bungied shut because the remote trunk release is broken...
In the long run, its cheaper to have a cheap car with no options because there is less stuff to break. Thus, the American and Asian cars that never die.

OT...
was being facetious, slightly...'beater' is hard to define and everyone will have a different mental picture or anecdote. My point is an old(er), multi-owner, not maintained example of an X is often not going to be fun to own, and its reliability may be suspect.

I have 3 old motorcycles, a '94, an '87 and a '75: they all start, run, work well within their limits. They are all 'beaters' to some degree, esp my old '75 Shovelhead HD. My '02 VetteVert, never babied, runs like a fookin 360 HP Vette. My '01 3.0 X runs like a top...all anecdotal.

The board is becoming consumed with 3rd, 4th, 5th gen of owners, in cars that were only slightly maintained over the lifespan, and are in their 9th inning, or their death throes.

Yet, we all offer up 'do this, do that, replace these parts', etc., trying to help the usually neophyte poster. All good stuff, but one doesn't have to be clairvoyant to discern that some of the cars and some of these new owners will have no chance.

But, interesting to read, and no knock on the good intentioned DIY'er, etc.
BR, mD

[Tonyfeb14]

Its amazing what we will all tolerate to support a "brand" and the "marketing" of the superiority of german engineering. The germans never went to the moon, so complicated doesn't mean well engineered.

As an engineer myself, and low mile X5 owner for the past two years (2003 4.4 sport that I bought with 44k miles, now has 73k miles) I have seen more stuff fail than I can shake a stick at. Is it only the X5 and this year that has problems? I have rebuilt engines and raced, so I do all the work myself, but the list is pretty long for such a nice low mileage vehicle.

The list as follows for my Bimmer:

- Front left CV boot (easy $20 fix at 44k mile purchase). Rubber not holding up well on all boots.
- Rubber hoses under engine acoustic cowl disintergrated, designed to direct oil vapors to condensor system, evidenced by engine oil leak off rear bank (easy $100 fix at 44k mile purchase with BMW parts. Seemed to be a design or material problem for this oil vapor recovery system)
-Electrical short in oxygen sensor harness, rubbed against driveshaft, not properly retained away from driveshaft OEM...(just my time diagnosing and learning about multiple fuse boxes, engine ECU compartment, glove compartment and rear compartment...why so many?)
- Radiator ($150 fix) at 60k mile. Pretty early to spring a leak on tank. Core was good.
- Top/bottom Radiator hoses ($100 fix) at 65k mile. surprise.
- Water pump ($150 fix) at 65k having taken this all apart multiple times to fix radiator leak and later have hoses burst. Rubber didnt hold up well on this 10 year old car.
-Driver seat memory switch failure ($200 fix)
-Alternator failure at about 70k miles ($200 fix, found a supplier to NAPA on ebay) Who makes a water cooled alternator..only those germans
-Rain sensor failure (still researching and need to fix)
-Rear Air Springs now start to settle overnight but pump right up (now researching where the leak might be)

But for all the above, it is a fun vehicle to drive, handles great, looks great. I just wish it was less complicated, more reliable. There is no good reason for a 11 year old car to have this string of problems. I think poor quality rubber parts and switches are at the heart of the problem.

Sorry for the rant, but I had expected more after owning Corvettes, Mercedes, Jeeps, Mitsubishi turbo, VW and now experiencing BMW. I will say the factory tour and museum in Munich had sold me, but not sure I would venture again into BMW land once this car has expired.