Road trip story & Project thread: 2001 Titanium Silver e39 M5

[Sreten]

I'm so sorry to hear about your rims, I totally understand where you are coming from. I just got 2 new tires installed on my street set and I care about them as much as you do - they are 99% mint and I apply a couple coats of Poorboy's wheel sealant every year so it's easy to clean. I took it to a shop that is well-known in the local grassroots motorsports community and was a bit worried, but low and behold the only marks left on the rim were some residue that easily wiped off. And it's not like their machines were the latest Hunter touchless, just a couple young guys in their 20s that knew what they were doing. I'd recommend next time taking a bunch of closeups pics of the rim before getting the tires installed as proof that they are truly mint prior to replacement.

Also out of curiousity approximately how much was the alcantara needed to redo your entire headliner? I did my A & C pillars with some stuff that cost about $40 CAD/ 1 m2.

Thank you! I'll need to find a trustworthy shop as well.

I bought 4m x 1.5m material and it was plenty enough for E38 iL, I even have leftovers. For my E39 M5 without a sunroof, I needed exactly 3m.

Great work! That black headliner conversion looks fantastic. Bummer to hear about the wheel, how aggravating.

I think the e38 with m-parallels is one of the sleekest and best looking car ever.

Thank you! Love M-pars too, I couldn't imagine it with different rims.

Sorry about the wheels, I would’ve gone berserk given all the headaches involved last year to get them done correctly.

Awesome job on the E38’s headliner.

That ride height is perfect.

Was the E38 wheel really that bus-like? Do you know the diameter? I still think about doing the E38 heated steering wheel retrofit into our X3 but I can’t imagine I’d be happy having a bigger wheel than what’s already in that car.

+1, E38 with M-Pars is my favorite full-size sedan of all time.

It sucks but I'll fix them again.

It really was bus-like, I didn't measure it but I found online that the diameter is 393mm. Think that would definitely be too big for X3. Maybe you can find E53 heated steering wheel? I had one of them with that option and the steering wheel size/type was the same as in E46.

Like the new steering wheels. Looks minty fresh.

I'm not a big fan of those old four spoke wheels.

Me neither, they really look outdated.

[Sreten]

Meet the rod bearing lover.

[t.er]

Cosmetically it looks rough but wow, the underside of that thing is so clean

If you happen to get a TUV inspector familiar with BMWs I would love to see the look on his face when he realizes its a 6-speed!

[Hornung418]

Shame you can't keep the anti roll bars. Looks like it's going to be a great car! Love that wee10 sound!

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[Galapolis]

Awesome video. You should bring it to a Stammtisch or M5 meetup and record their faces when they see it's a manual! The one time America got the good stuff and Europe didn't. What shipping service did you use and what port in America did it leave from? I'm in NC/Raleigh too and will eventually have to get my car back to Germany as well.

[fredo]

Excellent video, I enjoyed it. I'm surprised the suspension seems to be ok with those miles and age. Good for you !

[28firefighter]

“Oh, Jesus Christ” - exactly the reaction you want to have when you get into your new car. Hahaha.

[Sreten]

Cosmetically it looks rough but wow, the underside of that thing is so clean

If you happen to get a TUV inspector familiar with BMWs I would love to see the look on his face when he realizes its a 6-speed!

My go-to TUV guy has an appreciation for cars that I bring so this should make him smile.

Shame you can't keep the anti roll bars. Looks like it's going to be a great car! Love that wee10 sound!

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Maybe I can get away with it but I'll see. The biggest thing is I don't want to put the primary cats (it still has secondary ones), it sounds absolutely amazing now and with stock system it'll be quiet.

Awesome video. You should bring it to a Stammtisch or M5 meetup and record their faces when they see it's a manual! The one time America got the good stuff and Europe didn't. What shipping service did you use and what port in America did it leave from? I'm in NC/Raleigh too and will eventually have to get my car back to Germany as well.

True. The US was lucky with this example. Berlin Motors USC, the same one that shipped my E38 from Dubai, 2nd great experience with them. I believe New Jersey and then to Bremerhaven.

Excellent video, I enjoyed it. I'm surprised the suspension seems to be ok with those miles and age. Good for you !

Thanks, Fredo! Me too, pretty okay for the most part but I bet shocks aren't that optimal with this many miles.

“Oh, Jesus Christ” - exactly the reaction you want to have when you get into your new car. Hahaha.

Lol.

[704sw]

“This sounds like a piece of agricultural equipment.” Exactly what you want to say when describing a high revving, high maintenance V10 lol.

Are you considering a CIC iDrive retrofit? The CCC system in my dad’s E60 is absolutely useless at this point, and I ejected the disc so I didn’t have to listen to the optical drive spinning anymore.

Will you have to replace the trunk lid to fit a German plate? I always found it odd that the M5’s is shaped for a specific market’s plates, whereas the non-M E60’s trunk lid isn’t market-specific.


As always, great video. Entertaining, informative, and the 30 minutes flew right by.

[Sreten]

Lol, with those misfires it really did.

I haven't considered it yet and if I do, it'll probably be the last thing I do since it needs so many other things, but yeah that system is really outdated.

The bottom part of the trunk lid is a separate plastic piece and I actually already sourced Euro one in the same color that I'll swap out. It's actually pretty easy.

Thanks, really glad to hear that!