I laughed my butt off reading this thread... worst car ever built!!! obviously, the OP has been spared from encountering the cars that are really BAD built... say, the ones that hit a curb at 20 MPH (about 30 km/h) and you have 3 fatalities!!! there are cars built by Chinese that are knock-offs of the brand name cars (either GM or Ford was able to stop Chery from building a clone to its car but BMW has a cloned X5 on Chinese streets)...

Inability of car mechanics to remove a car component in order to replace it sounds really strange - the tools should go progressevely heavy duty as the lighter tools fail to yield...

and for God's sake, inability to find some metric tools only referes to RedNeck Central (I live in RedNeck country, and still able to find metric tools - granted, sometimes i go cheap and instead of buying chinese crap at a local store, i buy the chinese crap on-line).

As far as built quality - i can only attribute the quality problems to early units produced at Spartanburg facility, as the facility was brand new at the time of the initial roll out of the E53, and the staff and the tools were "cutting" their teeth... granted, at the expense of the proud owneres of the first E53s rolled off the assembly lines in the first couple of years - while all of the cars are prone to failures, the early units were especially vulnerable...

but hey, if you really want to drive a WORST CAR EVER BUILT, go try a Chery Amulet...

:nanana:

Really? I have an '03 4.4 sport that has never even turned a wheel in the snow or seen the harmful effects of the de-icing products. Carfax provides info on where ALL Xs in the US have EVER been registered. As stated prior, the salts/magnesium chloride spread on iced road are engineered/blended to be tenacious. Not properly removed they will remain on a vehicles chassis/suspension components causing long term rusting (a major problem with the OPs inability to remove suspension parts).

Never heard of due diligence prior to a used vehicle purchase referred to as "monday morning quarterbacking".

FWIW; bcredliner has an '02 that has never turned a wheel on snow too.

I have 228,000 miles on my 2001 X5 and I live in the rust belt (Michigan). I don't have the issues you describe and I have a lot more miles on my X5. But I've owned it for 12 years and I know it has been maintained properly.

I believe the problems you are describing are attributable to prior owners not doing the proper care and maintenance, which you are now paying the price for.

It is Monday morning and my teams won yesterday. So.... time for me to lace up my pads, slip on my jersey and strap on my helmet - BOOM! The 1/4 Quarterback is here yo!

So.... the environment a car lives in DOES play a part in it's well being. Ask my mates who live in England or Northern England about rust issues. And as someone else mentioned - same is true if you live by the beach in Southern California, or ask the guys in Daly City who see constant fog and moisture. I saw a Lotus Espirit rust to the bone in Daly City.... due to the environment.

And now to run my slant.... I think OP's initial post was just excessive venting. Yeah, he exaggerated QUITE A BIT - probably on the number of cars he has owned and on not being able to find tools. Harbor Freight stores pretty much carry the same kind of inventory nationwide. I have a ton of their tools in my garage - great cheap tools to have and with their warranty - it's worth the cost.

Really, watch an episode of Wheeler Dealer, 8 yr old MBs that have undersides that look like rust flakes holding hand.

Rolling thru NM a few months ago I had to stop and check out an auto salvage yard with DOZENS of +50 yr old restorable vehicles out front. Looked underneath a few early '60s VWs and was amazed at the condition.
The 2 I owned in the 70s were rotted thru the floors when I got them (NJ)!

While searching the used X market in FL I came across a few with significant underside rust, Carfax pull showed they were transplants brought to FL from the NE. Walked.

These are all common sense, nothing new... We just don't know exactly what caused OP can't do what he wanted to do, perhaps he did not have the right tools as he mentioned.

Before the OP goes any further in making the rest of you think Midwesterners are idiots and/or consummate BS'ers, I'd just like to go on record as saying that I have had NO problems whatsoever finding 16mm, 19mm and larger sockets in the KC metro area. I'm a pretty light DIY'er (oil changes, sparkplugs, valve cover gaskets, etc.), but the only tools I've had to had shipped in are the larger (and almost BMW-specific) oil filter housing removal tools.

Perhaps this is what the BMW mechanic uses a crescent wrench for..:nanana::rofl:

http://www.southbaybmw.com/dealerima...er-service.jpg

I had to order the 12pt 36mm axle nut socket. Otherwise I have had everything I needed so far.

It should work. I prefer thick wall 6pt sockets for high torque applications, reduced chance of splitting.