Intro/Mod/Service History Thread for Our X5

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Sounds like it! You'll love the Opti-Coat. So much easier to keep the vehicle clean. Don't know if you guys can get Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax over in Oz... but the detail shop turned me onto the stuff. It's amazing. I can wash my cars in the garage now and they come out great. The wife and I would love to make it to the Australian Open one of these years... we both play tennis.

Rinseless washing is amazing, its my preferred method now for winter washing, or for a quick wash when the car isn't terribly dirty in the nicer weather, but I don't want to drag the buckets and hose out. I use Garry Dean's Detail Juice (detailjuice.com) but started with ONRW&W, great product with many uses!

OptiCoat is great as well, you'll love it.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by motordavid

Helluva good thread, fun to read and envious of your skills...
That stripped interior shot gave me chills, as I couldn't do that with a full '2nd life' in front of me.

Fine azz looking X, post wheels and detailing.
Good Luck, mD

Thanks for the compliments. The interior stuff isn't that bad, just very time consuming. Posted a how to for the Avin install that details all of it.

Sorry didn't post the wheel specs... they are below. Real ones are ~$3000, and I wasn't going to pay that lol. Nice wheels and congrats to anyone who wants to put OEM wheels on over reps, but I'll stick with the lower quality and slightly heavier aftermarket wheels.

Replica style 336 wheels: $859... on sale now though for $816 Tires cost me $800
Ebay Staggered 336 Reps

Front:
- 20x9.5
- et 45
- hub 72.56 (need small hub rings for hub centric fit, I run without rings no problem though) Have rings and will install on next rotation.
- Toyo Proxes 275/40/20

Rear
- 20x10.5
- et 40
- hub 72.56 (need small hub rings for hub centric fit, I run without rings no problem though) Have rings and will install on next rotation.
- Toyo Proxes 315/35/20

[crystalworks]

May 25, 2015

- Installed a new Super Start Extreme 49EXT battery from O'Reilly's. Didn't absolutely need a new one but I wanted a larger reserve capacity and I can use the 2012 Autocraft that came out of the X5 on my test bench. With the $20 Memorial Day coupon I couldn't resist. $151.29

- Also got my replacement Avin Avant II installed. The original had developed a problem that would not allow me to turn the wifi on. That meant I couldn't tether it to my phone which was a huge problem. Tommy took care of me though. New one looks better and runs better. Mine was an old revision and now comes with new hardware/software. It was pretty responsive before, but is even better now.

[crystalworks]

June 28, 2015

- Not a huge update on anything but did get the AC compressor belt and serpentine belts replaced. Found that replacing the idler and tensioner pulley might be a good idea in the near future so I will be ordering them. They don't make any noise yet... but free spin far too easily for my liking.

Up soon is the front tension arm bushings and ball joints. Will update when that happens.

[admranger]

Nice journal. Reminds me of some of the ones on m3forum.net

I use cQuartz, which is a ceramic coating like your Opticoat, only made for DIY'ers. I'd prefer to have the detail shop do it, but I haven't found one in Vegas that is any good yet (haven't looked that hard either...).

Do some reading on the rear ball joint replacement, especially if you are going to replace the integral link at the same time (I don't know why you wouldn't...). It can be a bit tricky to do. Don't try to kluge together a tool to pull those ball joints. You want one made for the job as they can be really, really tight in there.

Nice looking X! Keep up the great work.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by admranger

Nice journal. Reminds me of some of the ones on m3forum.net

I use cQuartz, which is a ceramic coating like your Opticoat, only made for DIY'ers. I'd prefer to have the detail shop do it, but I haven't found one in Vegas that is any good yet (haven't looked that hard either...).

Do some reading on the rear ball joint replacement, especially if you are going to replace the integral link at the same time (I don't know why you wouldn't...). It can be a bit tricky to do. Don't try to kluge together a tool to pull those ball joints. You want one made for the job as they can be really, really tight in there.

Nice looking X! Keep up the great work.

Never heard of cQuartz... will have to check it out. I preferred having the shop do it to a DIY because everyone said it was imperative that it be laid down evenly for a nice look without having to do an arduous correction.

As for the ball joints on the tension arms... can you not just put a nut on the top of the bolt and pound it out with a mini-sledge? Or hit the arm itself near the ball joint? This is how I break most of the ball joints free on my other BMW's. Works a treat and doesn't damage the ball joint rubbers if not replacing them. Do need to replace the nut though... but I find it much easier to do it this way than using a pickle fork or other ball joint removal method.

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by motordavid

That stripped interior shot gave me chills, as I couldn't do that with a full '2nd life' in front of me. mD

I almost fell out of my chair when I saw it. Keep up the good work...

[crystalworks]

Update: Sold the 4.4i to my brother in law on Thursday (8/13) in preparation for the "Dinan" 4.8is coming home this next weekend. Holy cr*p has this been a long week waiting for the trip! The excitement is getting hard to take...

Well, it seems cars never like to leave my care. Today (Saturday 8/15) the alternator finally gave up the ghost. It had been complaining for a bit but had never failed to out put 14+v after a few revs of the engine. So I gave my brother in law the skinny on what to do if the battery indicator came on after first start of the day (only time it ever complained)... and sent him on his way Thursday. I felt TERRIBLE that it completely crapped out 2 days after selling it to him. So right away we found an alternator locally... Ultima 180A unit with a lifetime warranty from Oreilly's. I know it's not a stock Valeo... but dat warranty! Not a bad job... thought it would be much worse. Took us about 3 hours to install mostly due to being incompetent and forgetting which orientation the large wire terminal was to be correctly mounted. Then lining up the bolts was fun... but 3 hours and ~$225 was not bad.

I'm sure I'll keep updating this thread just for S's and G's but all the mods/maintenance will now be on someone else's dime.

August 15, 2015

- Installed new (rebuilt) Ultima 180A alternator. ~3 hour install and was on my brother in law's dime (I did give him use of my O Rewards coupon though). The coupon and doing the installation with him felt like reparation enough. He was grateful and understood sh*t happens with cars sometimes. I still felt bad until it was fixed. He loves the truck though.

[jopecasa]

Congrats!

Post pics when she arrives!

[crystalworks]

Update: So the Ultima reman alternator has a bad voltage regulator... ugh. Multimeter kept reading ~11.8v all the way up into the mid 15v range. No bueno.

Had them order 2 alternators from Houston since we got the last one that was in town in case the next one also came with a bad regulator. Will be installing it on Tuesday evening. Hopefully that will be the last time there is an alternator problem with the X5 for awhile... but we'll see.