What have you done to your E89 today

Today had the car geometry re-aligned.

My goto place is Automek in East Kilbride..they race/rally cars as part of their DNA..so a good place to go for sanguine advice.

I had disassembled most of the steering and suspension so I'd put it back together using an iPhone spirit level app and a 1m steel ruler.

Also the ride height had been upped about 30-40mm to approx standard Z4 ride height whereas earlier settings were based on the much lower ride height.

Bearing in mine there's been over 50 significant changes to the powertrain / chassis what follows is not standard!

For those not used to reading these charts a quick primer..

The top picture shows the settings BEFORE adjustment as is..the bottom picture shows the setting AFTER adjustment.

The colour coding is based on BMW's standard recommended settings. Green is good, red less so.

However working our way through this..

So I'd done a pretty good job on the front camber with my ruler and digital spirit level -0.9 both sides

Front toe in was off as I suspected but I'd not tried to adjust that.

Rear camber was so so, again I'd not tried to adjust it.

Rear toe was again so so..not miles out.

With these guys its like some sort of intellectual duel.. there's a multitude of questions and challenges.

Given my spec was:

High speed hooning, stability on bumps and at speed we ended up as follows:

Front castor (fixed by design, did have variable castor / camber plates but the noise, vibration, harshness NVH was too bad)

Without either machining the top of the strut tower or refitting camber plates I'd got as far as I could on the front camber..ideally for the tyres/wheels/power/weight/use 2 ish degrees would be nice..but we couldn't get that..

Toe we debated..they wanted zero toe..I negotiated a small amount of toe in for stability with more understeer than they would like.

Rear camber is to a large extent defined by front camber..rule of thumb is about 1 more degree on the rear than front..given modest front camber the rears were set at 2.0 ..BMW for ensuring massive under steer use 2.5.

Again rear toe was set on the dainty side..they really want the Yellow Peril turn and not just go in a straight line.

So how does it all feel..

Bearing in mind we have uprated tie rods, suspension arms, uprated arbs on max stiff, 80nm/96nm vs 60nm/70nm springs, stronger RTAB plates, bushes plus fully adjustable drop links and camber arms as well as the Ohlins...

Ride is definitely firmer, badly worn tarmac is definitely more jiggly at low speed...but...stability, tracking, turn in are all so so much more positive and assured. Hard to tell on wet and greasy roads, the NC500 in March will be a very good test. Ride on smooth roads is very good and as you can imagine bump control is mcuh more assured,,dampers are on 8 clicks, stock 10.PB55BMW 300102026.jpgIMG_1186.JPGIMG_1185.JPGIMG_1173.JPG
 
Last edited:
Picked her up last Saturday, so today as the rain has stopped I decided to give her a first clean. Ceramic coated, tidied up the plastics, cleaned engine bay and greased hinges. Not a scratch, dent or stone chip to be seen, its terrfifying!
 

Attachments

  • 20260131_155731.jpg
    20260131_155731.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 13
  • 20260131_154138.jpg
    20260131_154138.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 11
  • 20260131_154130.jpg
    20260131_154130.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 12
So two unconnected issues although same area of car..

On its first proper drive to get the geo done (first was just a few local miles)..I noticed something wrong with the HVAC..really hot air on the screen..but no ability to change direction and/or temp.

Fault code reader showed various HVAC errors.

I'd (and others) had similar issues when taking the dash trim off for things like hiding a MMI box out of site.

The smaller of the two multi pin connectors looks like its properly seated..but it isn't!

So this time made really really sure it was seated..quick test now showed air being directed to various locations!

Separately tried to debug the CIV sat nav..although my back up unit was working when I checked the GPS pages it gave no reassurance that anything was working even though patently it was!

I tried a separate discrete GPS aeraol..no change..

So I put the original unit (now repaired) back in..tried GPS ..no info..

I think either the MMI Mr 12 Volt CarPlay box and/or the ID4Motion digital cluster is causing an issue with an inability to interrogate said GPS pages?

Anyway I've buttoned it up and I'll wait for a dry day to test out the nav.. I know the CIC nav unit was working in Poland as it showed a location there..whether my epoxy GPS aerial fix works I'll find out when I take it out..with a garage with a metal roof and loads of electrical stuff I don't think its going to get an initial fix in there come what may!

First world issues!


IMG_0315.JPGIMG_1217.JPGIMG_1216.JPGIMG_1215.JPGIMG_1214.JPGIMG_1213.JPG
 
It has been a year since I bought my (new-to-me) E89 3.0i, a 10-plate with 85K on the clock. Unfortunately, it came with no service history, but looking good enough.

Early on, it had electric power steering problems, which were resolved through reconditioning by ECU testing chaps and fitted by AJ Robertson in Hove. What followed was a year of absolutely trouble-free ownership. I run it in Spring, Autumn, and Winter whenever the weather allows, and I enjoy every mile, clocking up about 5K over the year.

Late in autumn, I went through all the rubber bits with gummi-phlege and some other rubber-conditioning stuff, hoping to preserve the boot's sealing integrity.

The time has now come to do the MOT and a service, so I decided to treat the car with a visit to Munich Legends, which is quite local to me. It passed the first time with no advisories, but to my horror, they discovered plenty of water in the boot. Apparently, the boot lid seal is gone, and 3 different seals need replacing. So waiting for them to do that and hopefully pick up the car tomorrow, £600 poorer :(

Other than that, it has been a good journey so far.
 
superpima said:
It has been a year since I bought my (new-to-me) E89 3.0i, a 10-plate with 85K on the clock. Unfortunately, it came with no service history, but looking good enough.

Early on, it had electric power steering problems, which were resolved through reconditioning by ECU testing chaps and fitted by AJ Robertson in Hove. What followed was a year of absolutely trouble-free ownership. I run it in Spring, Autumn, and Winter whenever the weather allows, and I enjoy every mile, clocking up about 5K over the year.

Late in autumn, I went through all the rubber bits with gummi-phlege and some other rubber-conditioning stuff, hoping to preserve the boot's sealing integrity.

The time has now come to do the MOT and a service, so I decided to treat the car with a visit to Munich Legends, which is quite local to me. It passed the first time with no advisories, but to my horror, they discovered plenty of water in the boot. Apparently, the boot lid seal is gone, and 3 different seals need replacing. So waiting for them to do that and hopefully pick up the car tomorrow, £600 poorer :(

Other than that, it has been a good journey so far.
Click to expand...
Better check and dry the raft of ecus in their otherwise mucho trouble will ensue!
 
What sorcery is going on in my kitchen ?

colour.jpg

Having bought the Coral red Scratch colour it was tiny bit bright and needed to be bluer so I ordered some navy dye and mixed 5ml in 100ml of red.

The marks on the bolster have nearly gone (just a couple more thin coats to go)

IMG_20260103_152644249.jpg
 
Bombur said:
Great, thank you. Thats the one I have saved in Ebay. It looks good. Did you make an offer or just pay full price? Also did you paint it yourself ? If you did how was it?
Click to expand...
They'll 'haggle' down from £85 to £82 if you get lucky. That's what I paid too if I recall correctly. Or maybe £80.

Rear spoiler.JPG
 
superpima said:
It has been a year since I bought my (new-to-me) E89 3.0i, a 10-plate with 85K on the clock. Unfortunately, it came with no service history, but looking good enough.
Click to expand...
Have you changed the Salmon Relays in the boot? Most consider this the first preventative maintenance job. Easy and cheap job and can save lots of cash ref roof motor failure.
 
Between a pause in the biblical weather we've been enjoying I managed to get the first wash on my new to me E89. I fitted the SmartTOP last week that I'd removed from a previous E89 so thought I'd take a video of it in operation - wheels look a bit tatty but they are off for a refurb next week 👍

 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom