I finally put the protective film on the front and prepped for winter with a solid polish. I met with a guy who did the same on his new (to him) Estoril 4.6. Nice ride- 60K miles. Mine is already shy of 19K miles with a 1,000 mile weekend ahead! :driver:

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/front2sm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/frontsm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/rearqtr3sm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/rearqtr2sm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/46grillsm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/46sidesm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/wheelsm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/46rsidesm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/46frontblursm.jpg

http://www.my02.com/images/4.8is/48frontblursm.jpg

Very nice! :thumbup:

Bravo Zulu to your son on his accomplishments that got him in the door! Hope he finds continued success at Annapolis.

PropellerHead, X5 looks great man!

Well, I handed the SAV over to the detailer today. First time I've contracted that job out, so we'll see what comes of it tomorrow.

Finally reserved some snow tires for the X5. General Artics at ETD Discount Tires; decent performance at a price cheaper than Blizzak WS70's so I made the order. I will finally have a winter with safe tires; actually, the only winter that I will drive in this X5.

I went today to have a protective film installed. Funny, Propellerhead just did the same yesterday, and we have the same truck!

At the same time, they offered me to tint the front door windows to match the rears. I couldn't say no.

So now I'm also ready for winter.

catch-up

head gasket and assorted oddities to reach factory-spec for a needs-nothing ~120k X.

replace lights all-around, face-lift style. One Depo LED AE DOA (left outside), awaiting replacement after ahem much back-and-forth conversation from ebay seller and abandonment by my body-guy that couldn't figure out how to install 'em (needed ballasts as I believed that it had xenons, not so much).
Word for wise, buy them HERE on XOutpost! ! !

Real nice painted under-oilpan plate installed by said body-man after an obvious misunderstanding as I thought I was buying,painting,installing the skid plate seen in many pictures here. It is unique, for the people that ever get to see it -and remove it, so they can actually work on the engine. If you need a true skid plate, I can provide the part number, though I recommend you skip painting it. I am comforted in knowing that should my wife need to drive through earthquake rubble on her way to the grocery store, the lower engine can not be harmed. and I will probably skip RE-painting it should that occur.

4.8i exhaust, delivered ~50 days after it was paid for (here) with a nice bent hanger. Fortunately the shop had no problems installing it. and it looks goo-ood, as opposed to that crap that Bavaria put on to show everyone that you bought the cheap model.

calipers cleaned and painted as the rust on the ol' bastids could be seen from 20 feet. (more cheap-model effect?)

meguirs x 2 (still not happy, signed up for detailing clinic).

conti snows will be ordered as soon as I hear back about the OZ rims with the odd 29mm offset that I'm likin'..

Last of the $2.4k work, tie-rod ends etc. next paycheck.. then done and hibernate ;)

we did get to drive it through all of this and it has been a very pleasant vehicle, for the most part.. exhaust seems to have tamed the take-up issues in 1st gear, though it is probably just us getting used to it.. coincidence is hard to ignore though.. she just seems much happier throughout the range with the 4.8 exhaust. I'm embarrassed to say I rev-limited 1st gear today running from a stop light right turn, testing 93-octane gas. Sure wish they had seen fit to include -at least- the 3.2 variation of the big six. but, hey, I am getting a solid 21mpg, so how can I complain? (only ever got 22mpg from my e12 2.8 @ only ONE-and-a-half tons)

(trying to decide if I should post pics with my HID outside, AE center headlights. They are somewhat singular, heheh.)

Went on a road trip and cleared 19K!

At approximately 100 mph! Excellent...! :thumbup:

I got 80k on you! Yikes!

Fresh transmission fluid and filter! Still shifting smooth @177k I did not flush it, so I plan to drive it a few thousand miles then drain and refill to get the remainder out. A drain/filter swap gets you about 45% there. My magnets were very clean but the fluid was black after all those miles. I bet if you change fluid every 70k or so it will last 250k or more...glad they quit calling it Lifetime fluid.