BMW Round 2

[CaminoRacer]

2020 330i, 1 previous owner (leaser) with 33k miles

Options include the convenience package, premium package, and M sport steering wheel. It has heated seats and no random missing options since the build date was Feb 18, 2020

It's got some water or sap spots on the back window and quarter panels. I clay barred some of it this evening, I'll have to keep at it to get it all off. I'll probably just clay bar the whole car and re-wax it. The front passenger side brake pads also squeal a bit, they look new so I think the back of the pad just needs some more anti-squeal lube. I'll have to get used to cleaning the wheels really well again, with the classic dusty BMW brake pads.

It drives really well, definitely more suited to Utah roads than the Miata. Soaks up all the road imperfections and cruises at 80+ with ease. I haven't needed a radar detector but it might be useful in this car. I also need to figure out the best way to wire my dashcam.

[Eye of the Tiger]

What is this, a Miata replacement?

[CaminoRacer]

What is this, a Miata replacement?

Yeah. Miata goes to the body shop next week and then I'll probably sell it once it's all fixed up. It's been fun but I've been needing a more practical car and it's less fun after being hit twice. The BMW is a more relaxing commuter and will be great for road trips.

[CALL_911]

Ha I've had an itch to do a GR86 or a Miata. Going in the opposite direction from me- sweet car. Those are great. Congratulations

[Laconian]

Cool car! And don't worry about leaving the Miata gang. You're still an enthusiast, it's the other cars that are getting worse. The misery of contending with distracted drivers with ginormous blindspots is making me a little jealous!

Your car would be thrilling to uncork on the long 100+mph stretches near Moab!

[CaminoRacer]

I've been ignoring the El Camino a lot since I've had the Miata so I'll probably drive it more often  now. The Miata is easier to hop in and drive, and it's just as fun, so it was the default.

[veeman]

Beautiful car!

[Eye of the Tiger]

Straight pipes?

[giant_mtb]

Things you may have laying around to take care of sap or water spots...isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and/or acetone.  Or if you prefer a store-bought product, Stoner's Tarminator is wonderful.  Nobody these days uses actual clay bars...we use clay bar mitts.  Highly recommend over the ancient and tedious tech of clay bars.

Anyways, beautiful car!

[CaminoRacer]

Yeah I've got a synthetic clay pad (foam pad instead of a mitt).

I'm curious if the old school style clay bar might be stickier to pull the stuff out faster, but it's nice to be able to use non-specific spray and not have to worry about folding/kneading the bar all the time.

[Raza]

Very nice! It looks great!

[CaminoRacer]

Ha I've had an itch to do a GR86 or a Miata. Going in the opposite direction from me- sweet car. Those are great. Congratulations

I'll sell you my Miata lol

[CaminoRacer]

The front cigarette lighter doesn't work with most 12v plugs. There's a service bulletin about swapping the screw at the bottom of the hole for a longer one. $5 for a 100 pack from McMasterCarr and $9.60 shipping.

Anyone want one of the screws? I have 99 extra

[giant_mtb]

What size/thread?

[Eye of the Tiger]

I make my own screws now

[CaminoRacer]

What size/thread?

M3 x 0.5mm, 8mm length

[Eye of the Tiger]

M3 x 0.5mm, 8mm length

I already have a giant box of those.
Next time, I can mail one to you.

[CaminoRacer]

I already have a giant box of those.
Next time, I can mail one to you.

Lowes has some too but they're all phillips head from what I could find. I wanted a cap screw like mentioned in the service bulletin. And stainless steel.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Lowes has some too but they're all phillips head from what I could find. I wanted a cap screw like mentioned in the service bulletin. And stainless steel.

Oh, now you're getting fancy. I might not have that.

[CaminoRacer]

The new screw works.

It's barely larger than the original one. The head is 0.96mm taller according to my micrometer. Guess that's enough.

It's probably good that I didn't try a random screw from the store, good chance it wouldn't have worked.

[MrH]

The new screw works.

It's barely larger than the original one. The head is 0.96mm taller according to my micrometer. Guess that's enough.

It's probably good that I didn't try a random screw from the store, good chance it wouldn't have worked.

Wait, what?  The 12V outlet didn't work because of a tolerance stackup led to it being 1 mm short??  Wow.

[CaminoRacer]

Wait, what?  The 12V outlet didn't work because of a tolerance stackup led to it being 1 mm short??  Wow.

Yeah.

I saw some forum posts that just globbed a bit of solder on the end of a plug and it worked. Or some people sanded down the plastic so the plug would sit in their deeper and that worked. But obviously more ghetto than the real BMW fix. I assume some intern got to sift through a thousand little screws to figure out which one had better dimensions

[CaminoRacer]

The car had new brake pads on it, but I don't like them. Too dusty and noisy. I think the noise could be fixed with some grease on the back of the pads, but I decided to just replace the pads with Powerstop Z26 pads to also reduce the dust.

[CaminoRacer]

The car had new brake pads on it, but I don't like them. Too dusty and noisy. I think the noise could be fixed with some grease on the back of the pads, but I decided to just replace the pads with Powerstop Z26 pads to also reduce the dust.

For the rear brakes, you're supposed to put the electric parking brake into "service mode", but that would require a $35 Bimmerlink app and a bluetooth OBD connector. Instead, you can just unbolt the motor from the back of the calipers and use a T40 bit to manually release everything. The T40 bit doesn't fit quite as well as I'd like, but it all worked out fine.

[giant_mtb]

For some reason, German cars always seem to accumulate notably more brake dust than other vehicles.  I don't know if it's the pads they come with or maybe it's that they generally have more open-spoke wheel designs that allow more dust to escape to the wheelface.

[r0tor]

For some reason, German cars always seem to accumulate notably more brake dust than other vehicles.  I don't know if it's the pads they come with or maybe it's that they generally have more open-spoke wheel designs that allow more dust to escape to the wheelface.

More aggressive pads to deal with high speed braking on zee autobahn

[CaminoRacer]

Supposedly they're just "normal" semi-metallic pads but they definitely seem dustier than other OEM semi-metallic pads.

[Morris Minor]

For some reason, German cars always seem to accumulate notably more brake dust than other vehicles.  I don't know if it's the pads they come with or maybe it's that they generally have more open-spoke wheel designs that allow more dust to escape to the wheelface.

My wife's M-B CLK had the problem. Acres of black dust all over the wheels within no time at all after a wash. Used to drive me batty.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Plenty of people go with ceramic pads even if OE are semi-metal.

[CaminoRacer]

The rear brakes still squeal a bit when I'm reversing. Oh well. At least it fixed the squealing in normal driving.