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#1. Re: Warranty running out/extended warranty options. - from S Lafredo
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 08:18:53 -0700 (PDT) From: S Lafredo <slafredo@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Warranty running out/extended warranty options. Watching the list I was told that both of these companies are verygool. www.warrantygold.com www.warrantydirect.com --- Anthony Pun <apun@Paradigm4.com> wrote: > Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 07:41:20 -0700 > From: Anthony Pun <apun@Paradigm4.com> > Subject: [E36M3] - Warranty running out/extended warranty options. > > Hey Everyone, > > Also, does anyone have any opinions about Warranty Gold extended > warranties? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/
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#2. warranty work & loaner cars - from russell
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 09:33:52 -0700 (PDT) From: russell <driver8m3@yahoo.com> Subject: warranty work & loaner cars i've been to tate bmw in maryland and they won't give me a loaner car because i didnt buy my car from them. in fact, i had some service work done there (inspection I) while i had a rental car from an accident case last month. plus they were taking care of a few other things. they screwed up FIVE different things from my work order, necessitating a return the next week. i actually had to argue with them in order to get a loaner car, which wasnt even available until the following week. and it was a piece of crap, very dirty 325i. the funny part is, i had gone to tate looking for a yellow 99 m3 in august 1999, and was told by a sales person that the 99s were sold out. i came across the car i bought by accident. i friend that knew i had been looking for a 99 yellow m3 was buying a used car from VOB BMW and happened to see my car on their lot. russell __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/
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#3. Suspension goodies have arrived! - from vernon@sprynet.com
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:41:19 -0400 From: vernon@sprynet.com Subject: Suspension goodies have arrived! Santa arrived early today, delivering a wonderful box of goodies from Ground Control. Coil-overs, adjustable Koni's, rear shock mounts and front camber plates. M3 surgery will commence this Friday evening with a planned Saturday tune day and auto-x on Sunday. Gonna be a fun weekend! Updates to follow... Vern Anderson 98 M3/2 Stock for another 72 hours......
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#4. Re: Detecting the limit (was Re: M3 handling) - from Sean Hester
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:22:21 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Detecting the limit (was Re: M3 handling) > Sean> usually in the "after session talk" i get asked "how could > Sean> you tell i was at the limit? i didn't feel anything?" which > Sean> is when i usually give the speech about the e36 not being > Sean> the best car for learning where the limit is. followed by > Sean> some tips about how to detect the limit with no signs from > Sean> the car. > >Please, do tell, how do we go about doing this? the biggest tip is to go drive a skid car so you can experience the feeling in slow motion, for 2-3 hours in a row. once you feel it over and over and over and over in slow motion, it's alot easier to "feel" it in a regular car. i just got back from portland where i attended my 3rd skid car school of the year. you can never get enough. the way i can "feel" it coming on is a combination of two things. one is just being used to the car and what it's limits are. several years ago with my M3 (and before i ever went to a skid car school) i basically found the limit by trial and error. i'd go faster and faster until i went over the limit. (usually spinning, every once in a blue moon saving it) after several of those, i got used to how fast i could go. so when i'm in an e36 with a student, i pretty much KNOW the speed you can enter and exit the corners, so i know they're near the limit when they're going near that speed. this requires intimate knowledge of the tracks and cars. and it's far from foolproof because things change (condition of the track, mods to the car, condition of the tires, etc.) but it's good for a "rough guide" and it's better then nothing. the "real" way is getting used to the feeling of slip angles. at "the edge" you're slipping a few degrees. meaning that your car is POINTING in a different direction then it is TRAVELLING. (by roughly 5 degrees, maybe as much as 10) in a regular car, at speed, this is very hard to "pick up". the effect is very small, and (when you're learning) you're usually only slipping for a very short time. (because you go back to no slipping, or you spin) BUT. someone invented skid cars to save us. in a skid car you can get into some good slides that last 5-10-15 seconds. you can get used to the feeling of your car pointing in a different direction then it is travelling. so when you feel it hapen in a regular car you "know" it's happenning. in non-M3s there's also a third method. it's detecting the "flaws" in the car's handling. most cars, at the limit, exibit one or more "bad" behaviours. so when you feel these "bad" behaviours, you know you're at the limit. sadly (or gladly depending on your perspective) the M3 has no "bad" behaviours at the limit, so this third method doesn't work for M3s. so... go sign up for a skid car class. it SO worth it. i'll probably continue to do it 1-2 times a year for as long as i'm racing. (once before the season starts DEFINETLY, and probably once about mid way through) you can never get enough practice "feeling" the limit, and "saving" skids, and i'd much rather practice it in a controlled environment, going slow, in someone elses car. ;-) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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#5. FS: ITG filter - from John Hearn
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:29:50 -0500 From: "John Hearn" <john.e.hearn@vanderbilt.edu> Subject: FS: ITG filter I have a ITG drop in filter for the stock airbox on any 92-99 3 series except the 318. It was in a Euro airbox on a 95 M3 for 4 months. Comes with ITG spray and ITG stickers. Good as new. $40 OBO Please reply directly to john.e.hearn@vanderbilt.edu <mailto:john.e.hearn@vanderbilt.edu> Thanks, John Hearn
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#6. Re: [E36M3] re: M3 handling - from Sean Hester
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:34:16 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] re: M3 handling >I think that you're doing a great job of describing this. I also think >that Ken Robb hit the issue directly when he said: > >"The courts have decided that if a car goes off nose-first the driver was >going too fast for conditions, but if it goes off ass first it was a design >flaw so try and find a stock car that oversteers." > >and > >"But if you are trying to force a car designed for understeer to drive >loose you are not going to be very successful." > >BMW engineers who dialed in the understeer probably didn't consider the >dynamics of the car when attempting to drive outside it's performance >envelope. that's probably true. they spent all their time trying to make sure the car covered for you, at all costs, until the last minute. and for 99.9999% of the world that's a good thing. noone (except silly racers) is looking for the limit, so designing the car with an easy to detect limit is NOT one of the design considerations. >From personal experience, I think that the E36 M3, on street tires, is >easier to "read" near the limits than the same car on R-compound tires. YES! that not just your experience. that's everyone's. and again, it's a design consideration issue. in order to design tires that provide the most grip it's a "known issue" that the tires provide ALOT less feedback to the driver. not just about "the limit" but about everything. race tires "feel" bad. and the more grip the provide the "worse" they feel. someone on the list (who's name i'll never remember) was defending bfg g-force tires (which i hate) by saying "yeah... they feel like crap, expecially at the limit, but they provide more grip so i use them" it's assumed that racers are "good enough" at detecting these things that they can deal with less feedback from the tires. it's also assumed that people who aren't good at this will not buy these tires. so... be warned... r compound tires, while providing more grip, provide less feedback then street tires. so if you're trying to learn the limit, and you are doing it with an M3 with r compound tires, you're making it much harder on yourself. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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#7. Re: [E36M3] Uh oh....my VANOS gear looks like it went.... - from Sean Hester
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:39:37 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Uh oh....my VANOS gear looks like it went.... >Hey guys. While backing out of my driveway on Saturday, I noticed a very >different sound coming from the engine compartment. It was more apparent >since >it reflected (sp?) against the adjacent walls back through my open windows. > It >sounds like a loud rattle coming from the valve train...more apparent when >you >blip the throttle and the revs are on the way down. At first, I thought it >might be bad gas, but even today after draining down to about a gallon and >then >filling up, it was the same. When I was waiting around for the autox and >started 'er up with the hood open, you could definitely hear a cluck, >cluck, >cluck coming from the front of the engine near the valve cover. Everyone I >asked said that it was most likely the VANOS gear. DOH! > >The car has 20,500 miles. Does it sound like it's the VANOS system? Am I >doing any harm driving it around while it's in this condition? I will >probably >try to bring it in for service sometime this week. Bummer. > >Oh, btw, if it is the VANOS gear, then for the people who are concerned >about >their cars, don't worry...you can definitely tell the difference once the >problem surfaces. yes, that sounds like the symptom i had when my vanos gears were "broken". the biggest "clue" is that it sounds worse when the car is coming down from high revs (like after throttle blipping) about driving around that way. i was told that there was a 99% chance that nothing bad would happen. even if the gear failed completly (so it was freewheeling) you'd just lose a bit of power (as the cams would not advance) but... that there's a 1% chance that the gear would "feeeze" which would probably break the timing chain and send valves baning into the top of pistons. (not a good thing) for some data points. i drive probably 4000 miles with bas vanos gears last year and never had any other problems because of it. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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#8. pulling to right - from Kit Wetzler
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 11:18:26 -0700 From: Kit Wetzler <kitwetzler@mindspring.com> Subject: pulling to right Hi Everyone, I'm fighting an alignment issue. I had my car aligned at a local wheelworks, which has always been good with making my car drive straight, and aligning to my specs. The last time, they failed... these are the specs: toe .07 .11 (toe-in) caster 7.1 6.7 They say that the caster is enough to cause a pull, I say they screwed up the toe setting. What do you guys think? I think that a minor caster difference isn't enough to cause this strong of a pull... thanks all. -Kit 97 M3/4
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#9. Re: [E36M3] pulling to right - from Sean Hester
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 13:48:56 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulling to right >I'm fighting an alignment issue. I had my car aligned at a local >wheelworks, which has always been good with making my car drive >straight, and aligning to my specs. The last time, they failed... these >are the specs: > >toe .07 .11 (toe-in) >caster 7.1 6.7 > >They say that the caster is enough to cause a pull, I say they screwed >up the toe setting. What do you guys think? I think that a minor >caster difference isn't enough to cause this strong of a pull... i didn't think toe could cause a pull at all. it can cause tire wear and other problems, but pulling isn't one of them, because no matter how "off" side to side the tow numbers are set at the alignment rack, your tires equalize on the road (and move your steering wheel off center to do it). meaning that once you drive 10 feet you're at .09 and .09 not .07 and .11. only the total toe (in your case .18) is important. the only side effect of your settings being .07 and .11 instead of .09 and .09 is that the steering wheel would be a small amount off center. and i'm talking a SMALL amount. i used to align my car to .02 (in) and .02 (in) for a total of .04 total toe in. (not very much toe in by the way, but that's another thread) but because 90% of the tracks i go to are counterclockwise i wanted my wheel off center to the right ON PURPOSE so i didn't get as much arm crossover on tight left turns. so i then started getting my alignment set to .28 (out) and .32 (in) on purpose. this left me at the same .04 toe in total, but left my wheel cocked a few degrees to the right. no pulling occured as a result of that HUGE (compared to your numbers) amount of "wrong" toe. i'd blame something else besides toe for your pulling. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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#10. FS: Dinan High Flow Euro Air Box - from Jim.Millet@intermec.com
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Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:41:20 -0700 From: Jim.Millet@intermec.com Subject: FS: Dinan High Flow Euro Air Box I've got an E36 Dinan High Flow Euro Air Box in my garage that needs a home. It will fit any 3-series E36 except the 318. Dinan sells this air box for $495. You can have mine for $200 plus shipping from Seattle. I'll even throw in a K&N airfilter with cleaning kit. If interested e-mail me at james.millet@gte.net or call 425-348-2603 between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM PDT. Jim Millet 1995 M3, Hellrot, Sharked and more.