Guess what… I have a “new” car to bring home

Well I got a call from the BMW Melbourne that my car is not going to be ready in one day. Well they do not have the part (the adaptive headlights) from Australia. Show one has to be ordered from Germany or hopefully get one from Asia. So for safety, BMW Melbourne gave me a loaner. I treaded a key of a small diesel car will come to be. But instead, they gave me a brand new 17km on the clock 325i sedan, which is fully optioned up. It has sat nav, comfort entry, premium sound system, sunroof and stuff. Very cool.

Only the colour is quite mid life crisis-ish :(. And BIEGE :O leather.

It does not do 8L/100km. Try 24L/100km if you stuck in traffic from Southbank to Heidelberg.

 

Wood grain makes me look old… But I quite like the sat nav and the new iDrive, particularly it has a TV. But the language setting is only English, French and Portuguese. Hmmm. Not Chinese for these few weeks.

 

More pics and performance data later. :)

Headlamp failure!

Frustration cannot sum up my feelings. It is a well known problem in the other makes that headlights can have water vapour getting inside the case. This is happening to a top of the range BMW. It is not even common in the RX-8. When I heard about it in the 8, it is normally due to the seal not being tight around the edges and when you spray water to say… clean the car. Water will get it and block the lens.

To top that… the xenon light die on me the next day. I have called BMW Melbourne which offer me a spot on the same day for repair. Unfortunately the work is tight on Mondays and I will have to go tomorrow. Here are some shots of the mist before it goes away tomorrow. They have asked for my rego, hence the VIN number and I guess they will just change over the parts.

Oh I replaced the RDash LED before tomorrow. It only took me 1/2 for 2 lights. I somehow wonder the workmanships of some of the so called professionals.

Wheel repair… OU>>CH!

I have hit a kerb!
The damage is heart breaking. I was made aware of people doing mobile alloy repair in Sydney by lovely people here in 1addicts.... so after crawling the web I have found the following website called www.thesmartguys.com.au. Their number is 1300 WHOOPS haha... I was going to repair it at Morrabin but I also have a dent from I dunno when. So it is more convenient for me. Wheel cost $150 to repair and dent is $100.
I was not intending to replace the wheel but I called BMW to get a quote.... $1025 each back wheel!
Before

After

Before

After

This is how they fixed my wheels. Firstly they smooth it out with an orbital tool. Then put some fillers in. Then cover all the parts (brake disc, caliper, body, logo on the wheel etc). Then 2 coats of paint (undercoat and cover).

Sun tan treatment :)

Racing Dash LED light installed

I went to a local BMW “cosmetic” shop today call Carware @ Keysborough for this kit. As I told many others, from my reading the RDash does not give the brightest light but it is white. Really white that it is whiter than the D1S Xenon. Since I hate the yellow ring so much, I am prepare to sacrifice the brightness for some whiteness. If you want brightness, go for GT Thunder or MTEC bulbs.

This is the ballast and the bulb, the bulb will spray open when it lights up. I guess if it does not return back, it will get damage when I remove it. So when you install it, make sure you are surely secure and fitted properly before lighting it up. Otherwise you may not be able to fit it in!
 

Taken from Carware, this is the before and after photos. See how white it is but it is not as eye catching in day light. Even with Xenon on at the left. It is still brighter.

This is the photo of one light being installed (on the right)
 
You can still see the reflection from the door of the ring.
 
Colour matching the Xenon very nice though.
 

Team 135i (WAY and TAKA) @ Australian Tarmac Challenge (VIC)

This is a playlist of all the videos of Day 1 to 3 of our debut ATC. Well we took it very seriously indeed.

Day 1

We started from the famous Phillip Island GP circuit. We do a few laps there as well a few motorkana exercises around the car park.

After that weekend I finally have respect for my mate WAY's driving.

He is a good besides having loads of money afterall .

Click HERE if the video does not load.

Day 2

We arrived at Lang Lang’s Holden proving ground full of confident and we were about to show them the power of the car. Well until shit happened…

Today combined skill and error, friendship and hard work.

Enjoy and pray for the BMW parts and pieces that were left at the Holden ground.

Day 3

The car is fixed and my TAKA alternator belt is on. It is going to be faster! (in case you don’t know what happen, you have to watch Day 2 footage). We went to Haunted Hill climb in Moe/Newsborough to have a go of the circuit for the first time.

It is not something we should do when everyone else is so fast!

 

Bonus footage – Wayne Final run @ Haunted hills, Taka’s final run @ Haunted hills.

Go cool lights

The first thing I don't like about the 135i is the yellow angel light. I have thought of changing it but really fear of throwing a light code.

There are option like:
EFX
Race Dash from Taiwan...
Ebay sells RD for around $160 from a Sydney seller.
Hmm... tempted to go hunger for a few days just to get one.