[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

I would like to remain known just as E90Fleet on the forum for personal reasons.

ok. must respect that. anyway sounds like the 3 of you made 2 new friends each on your visit day.

all the best.

[Broken1]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

I would like to remain known just as E90Fleet on the forum for personal reasons.


Broken1's story is almost right

I was actually there first and stoped at the pumps for Petrol. When they were almost finished filling the car up I saw Broken1's 320d come flying in, park and him run into the garage shop. So I paid for the petrol and drove over to where he had just returned to his car

Yup. I didn't have breakfast and was looking for a snack. I had a very unhealthy..but gooood superM (like a chocolate drink thing)

And if E90Fleet is implying I drive like a maniac...I don't ...really I don't! I drive like a sports sedan

[dlk001]

Hey Thrill30 and Broken1, very nice machines you have there. After seeing both your cars, I’m convinced that I made the right decision by ordering the Black Saphire.

I’m interest to find out how you guys keep your cars clean. Thrill30, in your earlier posts you talked about glazing your car with a product to protect the paint. What is the name of the product? What is your experience of it so far?

A friend of mine from the UK bought me the Zaino product. I will try it on my new baby when she arrives in November.

TD

(Due in November: BMW 325i, Black Saphire)

[Broken1]

I keep my car clean by going to Jacksons Diner Car Wash (bryanston) - they are very good there and to date haven't scratched my car. I also sometimes polish my car

[E90Fleet]

I reccomend Meguiars NXT wax

You can get it from Makro

[thrill30]

Originally Posted by Broken1

So it turns out - broken1's real name is Dale.

... and it turns out that Thrill30's real name is Cyprian... yep, not a very common name, just like thrill30 ... but guess what? I've never been to Cyprus though

[thrill30]

Originally Posted by dlk001

Hey Thrill30 and Broken1, very nice machines you have there. After seeing both your cars, I’m convinced that I made the right decision by ordering the Black Saphire.

I’m interest to find out how you guys keep your cars clean. Thrill30, in your earlier posts you talked about glazing your car with a product to protect the paint. What is the name of the product? What is your experience of it so far?

A friend of mine from the UK bought me the Zaino product. I will try it on my new baby when she arrives in November.

TD

(Due in November: BMW 325i, Black Saphire)

Thanks for the kind words....

I wash my car every weekend. I wash it at a nearby garage in Engen because their machine does not have brushes... it uses high pressure jets to do the wash... there is no contact between the machine and the car.... I've washed my car in another car-wash just once, and then I immediately noticed a minor scratch above the front fender :mad: ... i'll try to avoid these other car-washes which have too much contact with the car.

However, I have a few microfibre cloths that I keep in the car...you can find these cloths at Shoprite... I use them to keep the car clean during the week... especially after rain.

Yep, Black Saphire is great.... there is no other colour for me at the moment... you will love it, I'm sure..... congratulations on your coming baby

Yep, I was sold on the glazing thing from an Engen garage, but after 3 months, I cannot see any trace of that glaze :mad: ..... Sorry, I do not remember the name of the glazing product, as I did it from a garage(I didn't buy the product). The glazing looked great at the time, but I guess I was fooled by the fact that the car was still new.... after a few washes, the glaze was gone .

I think your best bet is Zaino.... because a lot of people in this forum have expressed positive feedback on it. I will have to research sites that ship Zaino to other countries.... in my earlier search, the US online stores that sell Zaino, did not cater for international cutomers .

You are very lucky(read proactive) indeed, to have Zaino ready for your new baby.... good thinking ... I should have done that too.

I'm sure the wait is killing you .... since Novemeber is here

[sysop]

Very pleased to be invited, along with 8 other 'top' clients (!) to be flown from George for a plant visit on November 23rd. I reckon this is good PR!

[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by Broken1

Yup. I didn't have breakfast and was looking for a snack. I had a very unhealthy..but gooood superM (like a chocolate drink thing)

They call them Big M here. Totally unhealthy!!!

So anyway, tell us about the tour. What did you learn B1 & Thrill and what did you teach the factory tour guide Fleet?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by sysop

Very pleased to be invited, along with 8 other 'top' clients (!) to be flown from George for a plant visit on November 23rd. I reckon this is good PR!

Great, shure it will be fun

Make shure to tell us all about the trip

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by David325Australia

what did you teach the factory tour guide Fleet?

Just corrected him on a few points he wasnt shure about ( like a question on the Fin antenna, and if some engines still come from Munich [ which they dont] )


And according to him "I kept him on his toes"


But couldnt catch him out on questions about who the paint technology providor is or who makes the paint locally ( only found out after I asked him that he used to be high up in the paint shop for many years )

[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

Just corrected him on a few points he wasnt shure about ( like a question on the Fin antenna, and if some engines still come from Munich [ which they dont] )


And according to him "I kept him on his toes"

i just knew you wouldn't let the side down. may goodness rain upon you.

btw, i guess that the 5 series (540 if iam not mistaken) in the pics on this thread Belongs to you. nice line up with the other members cars.

all the best fleet, you really are one of a kind.

[thrill30]

Originally Posted by David325Australia

So anyway, tell us about the tour. What did you learn B1 & Thrill and what did you teach the factory tour guide Fleet?

Some of the things I didn't know:
1. The petrol/fuel tank is divided into two... one portion on either side of the car... then there is a small "bridge" in the middle of the car....it joins the two.... apparently for balance and weight distribution.

2. At the factory, they do not inflate tyres the same way we do. They put some object between the tyre and the wheel to allow pressure to get into the tyre... then they place the wheel-tyre combo in a chamber with a specified pressure. Once the required pressure is reached, they quickly remove the object between the tyre and wheel... and there you have it.... a properly inflated tyre .

3. A car with sunroof/moonroof is not at a disadvantage in terms of rigidity of its structure. This is because they put an additional cross-member on the roof.

4. All the E90's get fed BP fuel/petrol from the factory.

[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by thrill30

Some of the things I didn't know:
1. The petrol/fuel tank is divided into two... one portion on either side of the car... then there is a small "bridge" in the middle of the car....it joins the two.... apparently for balance and weight distribution.

2. At the factory, they do not inflate tyres the same way we do. They put some object between the tyre and the wheel to allow pressure to get into the tyre... then they place the wheel-tyre combo in a chamber with a specified pressure. Once the required pressure is reached, they quickly remove the object between the tyre and wheel... and there you have it.... a properly inflated tyre .

3. A car with sunroof/moonroof is not at a disadvantage in terms of rigidity of its structure. This is because they put an additional cross-member on the roof.

4. All the E90's get fed BP fuel/petrol from the factory.

Nice one Thrill!
1. That is the same or very similar in at least the e46 as I understand it. Under the rear passenger seat.
2. how do you do it? I just pucker up and BLOW!!!
3. ok. Good to know.
4. do you know how much they put in? Especially when there are large seas to cross?

How long was the tour?

[Broken1]

Originally Posted by David325Australia

Nice one Thrill!
1. That is the same or very similar in at least the e46 as I understand it. Under the rear passenger seat.
2. how do you do it? I just pucker up and BLOW!!!
3. ok. Good to know.
4. do you know how much they put in? Especially when there are large seas to cross?

How long was the tour?

The tour was about 2-3 hours...I didn't have a watch.
4. The tour guide said they put in 15l of petrol. (and then obviously burn some up when they do the short dyno test and drive it forward to set the wheel allignment!


What I thought was really excellent, is that they sequence all the parts - so when the guy reaches out to get a roofliner, if you ordered a sport model, the next one waiting is black. When he reaches for trim...the right trim on the order is waiting there :-) They have a whole warehouse dedicated to just sequencing the parts!

Another "cool" fact is that the engines are plug and play. The radiator just clips on and all the hoses are "quick clips" like garden hoses (Gardenia?)!



Peronally, I think there is better petrol then BP in this place - but the giude made the joke that B P makes everyone happy:

British Petrolium (for the brits)
Bavarian Petrolium (For the guys in germany)
Bantu Petrolium (For us South A's)



At the end of the tour we also watched a short video which mentioned E90 being tested as far back as 2002/2003 - which kinda sticks it right in the face of those idiots who think "BMW rushed" the back to get it out in time...I'm sure the whole car was well considered!

[MCS]

Thanks for the pics. Looks like you guys had a great fac tour and looking forward to the q/a posted.

[David328M-Sport]

Originally Posted by Broken1

The tour was about 2-3 hours...I didn't have a watch.
4. The tour guide said they put in 15l of petrol. (and then obviously burn some up when they do the short dyno test and drive it forward to set the wheel allignment!


What I thought was really excellent, is that they sequence all the parts - so when the guy reaches out to get a roofliner, if you ordered a sport model, the next one waiting is black. When he reaches for trim...the right trim on the order is waiting there :-) They have a whole warehouse dedicated to just sequencing the parts!

Another "cool" fact is that the engines are plug and play. The radiator just clips on and all the hoses are "quick clips" like garden hoses (Gardenia?)!



Peronally, I think there is better petrol then BP in this place - but the giude made the joke that B P makes everyone happy:

British Petrolium (for the brits)
Bavarian Petrolium (For the guys in germany)
Bantu Petrolium (For us South A's)



At the end of the tour we also watched a short video which mentioned E90 being tested as far back as 2002/2003 - which kinda sticks it right in the face of those idiots who think "BMW rushed" the back to get it out in time...I'm sure the whole car was well considered!

thanks for that b1. can i call you b1, b1?

i remember reading that the next model usually starts from about half way through the current model's life. of course with cad/cam to do the work, lead times can be reduced compared to models from a few decades ago. still, time is needed for testing etc. bmw were doing that with the e46 in the mid 90s, so i dont doubt the e90 testing phase happening some years ago. so the designers have to make a 2001/02/03 developed car look like a 2005 car - literally before its time.

the sequencing is practiced worldwide and is also called the "just in time" method. this method had just the right stock for the or
er just in time before it was required. this method was the key to saving harley davidson from oblivion in addition to other fixups.

anyway im off topic slightly but it must be great for the assembly operator to reach over and install the correct part at that precise moment.

take care.

all the best.

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by Broken1

Peronally, I think there is better petrol then BP in this place - but the giude made the joke that B P makes everyone happy...

At the end of the tour we also watched a short video which mentioned E90 being tested as far back as 2002/2003 - which kinda sticks it right in the face of those idiots who think "BMW rushed" the back to get it out in time...I'm sure the whole car was well considered!

We used to call BP Bad Petrol, but it has improved. I only used to use Mobil but that has gone to the dogs here...

As for the "idiots" I am one of them. The timeframe you are talking about is still short in automotive terms.

Anyway, the fact remains that in some details the engineering is not complete, the CIP dates, the steptronic lurch on 6cyl models, the backward step in iPod integration, the features from the manual not existent, and still not in the latest CIP.

These are all fundamental things that anyone could pick up easily. We aren't talking about esoteric shortcomings, but real issues that fairly smack you between the eyes - on test drives even!

Surely you aren't trying to argue that the car was complete in every detail and couldn't have benefited from another 3-6 months engineering to finish things off properly. You are joking right??

And to label people like me who have IMO a legitimate position on this matter "idiots" is plain offensive.

[Broken1]

Originally Posted by JamieA

These are all fundamental things that anyone could pick up easily. We aren't talking about esoteric shortcomings, but real issues that fairly smack you between the eyes - on test drives even!

Surely you aren't trying to argue that the car was complete in every detail and couldn't have benefited from another 3-6 months engineering to finish things off properly. You are joking right??

And to label people like me who have IMO a legitimate position on this matter "idiots" is plain offensive.

I do agree that they could have moved production up a bit to accomodate these things.

The "idiots" I was reffering to are not the poeple who belive the engineering should have been given more time - it's the poeple who have made comments on this forum about BMW rushing the rear end design "last year" and changing it because of Audi (Audi's are great cars (for a completely different purpose) - there's one in the garage)

Don't take offence!!!

Then again, software is software is software. All windows (bad example) versions have come out with bugs in the first copies... even cellphones have software bugs (nokia helloo) - so if they were just having some minor "software" issues with the car - why delay production...
Granted, I am studying to be an accountant - so my engineering/design oppinion is weak! :-) I'm all money baby

haha ;-) Don't fret. I am one of those who bought an early production car...

[Bimmerista]

Guys, thanks for posting your experiences on the first meet. And e90Fleet - your wisdom, knowledge and therefore presence on this forum is very very precious - keep up the dedication.

All the best to you you all from WAAAAY up North of the 49th parallel - Canada.

It looks warm in your pictures - last night we had 1 degree Celcius (35'5 Fahrenheit).

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

Guys, thanks for posting your experiences on the first meet. And e90Fleet - your wisdom, knowledge and therefore presence on this forum is very very precious - keep up the dedication.

All the best to you you all from WAAAAY up North of the 49th parallel - Canada.

It looks warm in your pictures - last night we had 1 degree Celcius (35'5 Fahrenheit).

Thanks for the kind words


Yes it was very hot that day ( around 33`C / 91`F if I remember correctly ). Summer is well on its way here

[E90Fleet]

Interesting thing about the fuel they put in is they put in 97 Octane for USA ans Japan cars, but we cannot get 97 from any service stations here ( goverment controls price and octane availability here ), its specifically made for BMW


Broken 1 you for got BP is also "Boere Petrol"

Did quite a extensive test with 3 different model BMW's and BP's new "Cleaner unleaded", and found all the cars ran very well on it and could fin no bad point to it, so there is nothing wrong with the BP they put in.