very nice!

Yes, myself and TMV had them as well on his 4.8is. I cleared mine though so they are a bit shinier and I wanted them to be easier to clean.

I baked the burnt orange color on but for some reason I didn't bake the clear coat on so that came off. But I still love the look. I only did the fronts as the rears are not large (4.4 and 4.8iS share same rears, so no upgrade there)

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Fired it up, wiped off the few specks of dust and drove her over for a safety and Emissions inspection. Passed. Driven a whole 200 miles last year. LOL
This shop calls me "Mr Clean" as every vehicle is always detailed BEFORE being presented for State Inspections. Inside, underhood, and exterior. No one brings in clean cars. Most are trash cans on wheels. You have to laugh out loud at some of the crap people drive while waiting in line. Bald tires, stop light broken, wiper with the rubber falling off on the rear, etc. Having been an State safety/emissions inspector in a past lifetime, you come to the conclusion real quick that people are pigs.

Want to have a different response from your local inspector? Clean the damn thing and do a complete walk around. That way you will eliminate all the surprises from light bulbs out, tires bald, etc. You think it was common sense, but 80% don't do it. Most car guys do so maybe you all are like me, clean car, owner inspected, ready for State review.

Tip: if you have obvious faults/failures, the inspector will find it and fail you as his driver's license is on the line if he passes you and you get pulled over. States are constantly running around with bogus cars seeking shady inspectors. Note: some States have centralized State run Station facilities while others, including VA, leverage decentralized inspection stations, ones where it is a local garage and local licensed techs. Inspectors are human treat them as a you would like to be treated, friendly. I personally tip them for doing their job.

200 miles last year? I thought I was being frugal with mine adding only 2000 miles. :D These thing appear to be ticking up in value finally. Clean 4.8's and manual M54 examples anyway. And yours is one of the cleanest for sure. :thumbup:

I agree on the cleaning a car before bringing it in for anything. Guaranteed way to piss off a tech having to reach into an engine bay that hasn't been clean since it was sold at the dealership.

Also agree on being courteous to inspectors. They're doing their jobs. I don't tip them, as they are being paid a wage, but I treat them with the respect anyone deserves who is working for a living. :thumbup:

I have 64K on mine so it is a garage queen (as if I need another). The challenge for me is I have to move 2 cars to get her out of the rear load garage area. The end results is it never goes out in the rain, sleet or snow as "Why drive a clean car in nasty weather?" Stays dry and happy. I try and take them all out bi-monthly for a 28 mile romp and stomp on dry days while the streets are clear.

On my old E83 X3 I put on about 20,000 km and it was still going. There's several stages of growling bearing noises and towards the end it sounds "square". like a lego brick rolling down a hill.

Currently I've put on about 5,000 km and counting on a rear bearing that I bought already growling.

After driving mine every day through the recent Texas ice days, I parked it for a bit and drove my other car when it got nice out. I hopped in the X5 to make a grocery run only to find it misfiring.

replaced the coils and plugs and she's good to go again. I did spot a minor leak on the valve cover and the oil pan, but not bad enough that they're spotting the driveway yet...

After driving mine every day through the recent Texas ice days, I parked it for a bit and drove my other car when it got nice out. I hopped in the X5 to make a grocery run only to find it misfiring.

replaced the coils and plugs and she's good to go again. I did spot a minor leak on the valve cover and the oil pan, but not bad enough that they're spotting the driveway yet...

Just did mine today. Got the FCP kit which worked out well. Nice of them to give an extra pan bolt. It’s almost like they knew one would slip and fall right down the 50 gal waste oil topper hole and into 30ish gals of crappy fluids.

Pan came off fine after draining everything that would come out. It seemed like a lot, but it only took 4ish quarts on the refill before it started coming out again. Started it, cycled thru the gears, left it running and pulled the plug again…another quart-ish, repeat and it was done.

My fluid was sadly dark too, but the pan was very clean. The magnets has an eighth or so of gunk on them. The valve body looked squeaky clean as well. The gearbox has only got 20k or so on it.

While I was down there I put cable wrap on the transmission harness. The plastic cover had long since turned to dust and I did a quick fix with tape during the motor swap. This time I put new plastic wire sheathing on it. I also install two new O2 sensors on the right side. I had done the left side last year, and the right side sensors looked terrible when I pulled them (original).

Does anyone know what the odd cylinder is that is bolted to a bracket, next to the exhaust by the rear o2 sensor? Seems to be solid inside, no wires, etc., but needed to come off to get to the sensor.

Pics when I get a chance.

Happy Marci Gras.