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12-23-2010, 11:18 AM | #133 |
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Well, after a several step process and being without the car for almost two days, I got the wheels re-done. I went black this time, as the gunmetal color only looked good when darkened by brake dust (so I thought). The only darker color was black though.
Crappy cell phone photo from the parking garage Also, despite the beefy and loud Hotchkis sway bar, taking an off-ramp at high speeds today I noticed it rubbing for the first time (further shown by the line in my tire where it was making contact) |
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12-23-2010, 07:03 PM | #134 |
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Holiday success story
Managed to order the alcantara steering wheel cover, shown here: Ordered from my local dealer today. Price, with tax and holiday savings was $21.37 List price is $81.32 |
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12-24-2010, 01:14 PM | #135 |
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Based off yesterdays off ramp rubbing, and knowing the hotchkis should have mitigated the body roll, i decided to check the sway bar this morning. Sure enough, the four end link nuts had backed themselves off the bolts; end link was easily movable by hand with the car on the ground. Surprisingly, there has been little to no noise recently, which should have been the opposite. When the endlinks are tight, noises a plenty; but when theyre only loosely attached, theyre quiet. I must live in topsy turvy land.
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12-27-2010, 12:51 PM | #137 |
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Managed to get the car back in the air and tighten up the endlink nuts today. There's no way to get them tight enough using the lame-ass allen ended bolt system they gave me, but luckily I was able to get a crescent wrench on the back of the bolt to get some real torque on it.
So far, no noises |
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12-27-2010, 01:04 PM | #138 |
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Also, got the iCarbon spoiler installed finally.
Honestly, somewhat disappointed with the quality of it. After laboriously prepping and painting it and the diffuser, when I installed in, many surface imperfections showed up. Leading to many light-distortion regions on the surface. I know it's only fiberglass, but still. Here's a bit plateau right in the middle of it: Which you can see as the warp in the middle in this photo: Which wasn't there during prep/painting: |
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12-27-2010, 04:14 PM | #139 |
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Thank You
I just wanted to thank you for your post. What a fantastic read.
I currently have an 08 Z4. Thinking of getting a new or slightly used 135 next. I'm sure I'll be going through this thread again when I get it. |
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12-29-2010, 08:37 PM | #140 |
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Mitch,
Hard to input too much on the situation. We do what we can to prep the FRP as best as we can before shipping, in contrast to most companies which give you a purely fiberglass piece that has NO prep on it whatsoever, or very poor prep at the best. FRP pieces require quite a bit of prep before shooting it with paint, and we’d be more than happy to prep it for you, but I know you prefer to do all the prep and paint yourself. Honestly, we’ll probably discontinue doing FRP because of situations like this – it leaves our customers with a sour taste in their mouths, which leaves us feeling the same, when in reality what we do and do better than anyone else is carbon fiber. Carbon Fiber is nice and smooth when painted, so we’ll just offer that in the future. If at any point you want us to prep and paint, we can definitely do that for you - our offer still stands |
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12-29-2010, 08:57 PM | #141 | |
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Just for the record, I don't fault anything iCarbon did in terms of production, it's just sort of the nature of fiberglass pieces sometimes. Can't always tell how any inside structures may become visible on the outside when the piece is conformed during installation. iCarbon is a great company to deal with, and for a less-than-carbon price for these pieces, I'd still recommend anyone contact them In other news, I got the alcantara steering wheel cover tonight. Here's a crappy out of the box photo: Hope to get some daylight installed photos soon |
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12-30-2010, 08:22 PM | #142 |
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Endlinks clunky as hell already again
These fucking things are the worst at having the nuts back themselves off. |
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12-30-2010, 09:49 PM | #143 |
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Something's wrong if that happens. Put some threadlocker on.
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12-30-2010, 09:52 PM | #144 |
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Something's wrong alright. Bought a fresh tube of blue threadlocker last time I tightened them up
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12-30-2010, 11:39 PM | #145 |
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Try the stonger red stuff. If using the OEM links, maybe trying doing a little over the tightening torque, and check your torque wrench too. Otherwise the nut might have stripped to. Nuts are almost always made of a softer material than the stud to the nut strips first as it can easily be replaced.
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12-31-2010, 01:38 PM | #146 | |
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Quote:
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12-31-2010, 06:51 PM | #147 |
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After the end link tightening, and following a weeks worth of rain, the 135i got a much needed wash and wax today. Took a few photos from the Happy Cow Carwash (awesome name ).
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01-04-2011, 03:01 PM | #149 |
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It's a good and cheap alternative to getting some more tactile alcantara to match the shifter. Doesn't look as good as the performance steering wheel, but at 10% of the cost it's still a good alternative.
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01-05-2011, 11:19 AM | #150 |
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3-day report: red threadlocker also ineffective at keeping endlinks happy. Passenger side lower end loose again
Called Hotchkis to ask for advice on what to do about the like-clockwork 3 day loosening of the endlink nuts. They told me I should buy new locknuts until the new endlinks become available; which is scheduled for March new, instead of February. Last edited by Mr. Clarkson; 01-05-2011 at 12:40 PM.. |
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01-06-2011, 10:55 PM | #151 |
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Well, that's it. I'm done with aftermarket front sway bars for my car; going back to stock.
Going over a speedbump tonight I heard what sounded like a gunshot from my front end. Upon stopping, I checked the endlinks (as usual), and the bar just moves around under the car. It either broke in half from the tension of one side being compressed at a time over the bump, or (despite having grease and teflon tape) transferred it's force through the poly bushings and sheared off the chassis mounting bolts. Taking it in tomorrow to tear it apart, inspect, and (fingers crossed the mounts are fine) mount the stock bar back up. |
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01-06-2011, 11:36 PM | #152 |
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Wonderful thread. Very enjoying read. Sorry to hear about the hiccups, one must expect them though. With every new car I tell myself that if I just spend the money everything will work the way it's supposed to. Sadly, the credit card machine is usually the only thing that is 100% mission capable. Looking forward to your future (hopefully brighter) posts.
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01-06-2011, 11:47 PM | #153 | |
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Something must be different for 2011+ (N55) 135i's, as all these bars (which came out for N54 135's) are failing on me. |
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01-06-2011, 11:55 PM | #154 |
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Have you bumped the part #'s on the online catalogs?
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2015 435i Gran Coupe - Current 2008 AW 135i - Sold |
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