[Insane Devil]

Hey Sahil,

couldnt stay longer, as i had other plans after reaching hyd. Got back to hyd on the 25th. We left Mumbai early morning around 3:30 and reached hyd at 1:30pm! 700kms exact in 10 hours, with bkfast break for half hour in Solahpur, and small stops here and there.
The roads were fair enough, and traffic was light. Touched 220km/hr on the Expressway, with still lots of power under the belt, but as it was dark then (around 4-4:30am) so couldnt see the road too far. after the expressway, was doing around 140-180 most of the way. excellent car, superb handling, and the tubeless tyres did great justice to the car in the potholes on the highways at high speeds.

I still have to give u the sizing details of the Spare tyre, Sorry i forgot all about it. Will do in a couple of days.

Btw, installed the AC Schnitzer Exhaust Tips in place of my oems. looks smashing!

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

Btw, installed the AC Schnitzer Exhaust Tips in place of my oems. looks smashing!

can you post some pics of your car already??

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

I still have to give u the sizing details of the Spare tyre, Sorry i forgot all about it. Will do in a couple of days.

Btw, installed the AC Schnitzer Exhaust Tips in place of my oems. looks smashing!

You still have to give me a lot of other things such as PICS ! and a trail on the Springbooster

Infact just yesterday I came across you're thread on e60forum regarding the exhaust tips and wanted to ask how you managed to fit it since the pipes bent downwards?

[Insane Devil]

hahaha! Sahil, simple as 1-2-3

1-cut off those stupid looking bent pipes. (Kept 3-4inches from the muffler box.
2. put this ACS Exhaust tip in.
3- Tighten the bolts on the Tip.
GO!

About other things, eh, very soon! very soon!
Already got a hatrick scratch on the front bumper left side near the fog lamps. looks cool thou..like as if a gal scracthed it on my body with her fingernails So i am keeping that for now, but looks like a "nazar ka tiika" also! hahaha!

@Akshay: very sorry dude, will put some soon. Done with the mods...almost.
Just waiting for the final touch - Angel Eyes bulb upgrade. Putting in Xenon matching bulbs in place of the ugly yellowish bulbs. Its on its way now, might reach me any day now!

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Insane Devil

hahaha! Sahil, simple as 1-2-3

1-cut off those stupid looking bent pipes. (Kept 3-4inches from the muffler box.
2. put this ACS Exhaust tip in.
3- Tighten the bolts on the Tip.
GO!

Err...Not that simple afterall. I dont think i want to get into chopping off metal just yet!

Why don't you let us see the rest of the pics in the meantime before and update with the lightening upgrade later?

I need to order the ACS trunk spoiler after looking at the pics or stick with the m5 style ones. Did you're ebay seller than the regular m5 trunk spoiler offered too?

[Insane Devil]

Hi all!

As i am not getting time and a nice location to take some pics of the car i have posted some teasers. They are only of the mods i have done, and not of the complete car. The car is looking awesome with these mods, but then again, thats upto one's view.
Pics are of the mods as follows:

1. AC Schnitzer Exhaust Tip
2. Kidney Grill - M6 type - Note the top chrome bars
3. ///M logo in place of the oem letterings, and the ///M Sport Number Plate Grill (the grill costed me a bomb! Rs.11k for a set of 2 but well worth it, i think. Can get the numberplate in it without any screws on them!)
4. AC Schnitzer Roof Spoiler.
5. !Pics Later! - Carbon Fibre Door Lock Pins.

(Request the mods to please update the thread title to (Mod Pics on Pg.11)

[Sahil]

finally some pics! Thanks ID
But what happ to the ACS trunk spoiler?
Can you post a long short of the back to get a proper view of the exhaust tip..Also I'd like to see how the 245s sit on those alloys.

[Insane Devil]

Firstly, Wishing u all a very happy new year!

My new year started off with my first "accident" with the car!
Coming back at around 4 am after the newyear party, some dunkards had put some stones on the road on a blind turn. As soon as i my wife took the turn and saw the stones, she steered to take around the stones, but on of them hit the side of the tyre, and the tyre got ripped, and the rim got scratched a little.
New tyre ordered, and the rim has been given to my mechanic to paint patch that scratched portion properly!
Luckily, we managed to not go over the stone, else would be more damage. And as i never drink and drive, i had given the car to my wife to drive as she doesnt drink. but it was like, i had seen the stones first. Maybe i could have steered the car out even better, avoiding it completely, but then its a "maybe" as i would never be driving it on that nite anyway!
To put it up in a positive way, My wife says maybe the car had some bad eye, and with this its come off! well if thats the case, i am very very happy, as then it would mean, no more accidents this year hahaha.

Now theres a point to note here:
The stone was quiet sharp and the size of tear in my tyre was big... almost 1" by 1" square piece of rubber came off and the rim got scraped good on that corner. If i have had the RUNFLATS, i would have definately endured the same.
Luckily i had purchased the spare wheel kit, and that came in handy, else i would have been stranded there in the night, waiting for the bmw ppl to come and replace with a new RFT tyre costing rs.23-25k. It would be that i am paying a lot more for nothing!

The Space Saver spare tyre kit cosists of : Spare Tyre with steel rims, Jack, Jackrod, Wheel Spanner. Costed me around Rs.21,500. MAx speed for these tyres : 80kmph.



@ Sahil: Very soon will post more pics. but about the Trunk Spoiler - it didnt turn out to be a very good fit eventually. was giving away from the corners, so am not putting it up now, lets see what i come up with in future.
About the exhaust, will take a long shot and show u soon!


Regarding the AngelEye bulbs, got it today, and will replace it next week sometime and show u all the pics.

[Sahil]

Sad to hear about the accident. I didn't quite get why the tyre should have torn under hard cornering as you mentioned that you didnt hit the stone. Since you have 245s do they bulge out a lot for them to get ripped easily? Do post a pic of the tyres too so we can see how 245s fit on 7.5J alloys
Although if you were on RFTs you would not have been stranded at all, there would be a bulge but the car would drive back without any problem. Thats the one and only big advantage of RFTs!
Btw how much is the new tyre costing you?

[diki24]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Although if you were on RFTs you would not have been stranded at all, there would be a bulge but the car would drive back without any problem. Thats the one and only big advantage of RFTs!
Btw how much is the new tyre costing you?

Sahil, do you think that he would have been able to drive back (say 10-20 Kms) even with that 1 sq inch popped out?

[Insane Devil]

Sahil, i think u didnt get the situation right... I DID hit the stone... but didnt go over it.

the stone struck the wheel on the edge. and no, the 245 tyres are not coming out of the rim, like a baloon tyre or something. It is infact listed on the tyre pressure chart pasted on the door sill.
So with the impact, any tyre would have got torn, as i said, it hit real hard on the edges.

[ImmortalZ]

That's what RFTs do - run flat. They become useless afterwards and cost a bomb, but they'll let you travel upto 150KM (above 300KM for some types) at reduced speed (90KM/h - pretty fast). The very nature of RFTs would have prevented shredding in his case - their sidewalls are extremely tough. Maybe he would have escaped with a scratched rim and nothing else!

All speculations though.

[Insane Devil]

Sahil, the new tyre is costing me around 15k. Pirelli Zero Rosso 245/45/17

And btw, the space tire size is a mere135/80 R17!

@ ImmortalZ, i will put up pics of the hole in my tyre, i doubt any tyre in teh world could survive that off, even if RFT, maybe wouldnt have been such big hole, but surely it would have gone waste, and would have had to replace with new one.

[BeamerBoy]

@ID: Sad to hear about that accident. The good part is that eventually everything is in place (ept for the tyre).

Your post exactly reads in the manner the showroom guys explained me the benefits of RFTs. Getting stranded with your better half on the most unruly night of the year!!! For the time, I am sticking to my set.

@ diki24: I have done that. Drove ~ 200 Km from Samalkha to Chandigarh with a 1" rip in the sidewall. The tyre got damaged by the Delhi Metro construction material. 4:30 am, heavy fog & I get the tyre pressure indication. The car handled OK till Chandigarh.

[sujithnk]

Guys 5 months and 4 tyre change.
Lucky i took BMW secure . all the 4 tyre had issues when i was driving at a speed of 130-140 km/hr and the tyre fell in small pot holes on road . i actually stopped immediately to see how big the holes were and trust me they were SMALL

THE WORST HAPPENED ON 25TH DECEMBER
.
On my way back from munnar which is a hill station and the tyre again fell in a small pot hole on road and immediately got a tyre pressure loss warning.

I stopped the car and trust me it was quite small hole on the road VERY SMALL. was driving at around 100-110 km/hr that time.

Tyre had a small tear next to the rim and i drove like 200 kms using that tyre and the small tear became quite large .

took it to BMW service and then i realized my alloys were bent and because i was driving the RFTS had some other issues with suspension .

they told me RFTS would cost me 10000 INR after they took the tyre tread measurement which means 50 percent depreciation and the car has run 4000 kms only . i asked them how was that possible cause i was driving very carefully and was not ripping the tyres but to no avail.

ALLOYS had to be changed which i m sure was not bent when i checked in munnar when the tyre pressure loss warning was shown . so i think it got bent because i drove the RFTS for 200 kms and now i have to use up my insurance for that and as a result i lose my no claim bonus.

The suspension part is out of stock and as a result during new year car was in service centre and today is like the 5th day the car is in service centre .
again i think driving on RFTS caused the suspension problem .

I had enquired with quite a few BMW owners in cochin and on an average here a BMW 530 owner and 525 owner had changed atleast 3 RFTS within 5000 to 6000 kms.

Spoke to an insider in BMW Service and i was told the situation is even worse than than and there are quite a tons of issue on RFTS .

One owner of a 530 spoke to the dealer and he was contacted by the BMW head office and the BMW owner who complained was told by the BMW Head office that the RFTS were a runaway success in EUROPE and in india BMW cant help him because the roads are in very bad condition .
DONT BMW TEST THESE VEHICLES ?

I was also told by an insider that one of the test car literally had 4 RFTS blown on route to coimbatore and he told me never to drive to coimbatore .
MAN WHAT A JOKE NOW THEY TELL US WHERE TO GO AND WHERE NOT