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01-26-2017, 01:15 PM | #1 |
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I bought a used TT BMW as a daily driver... pray for me
Well, pray for BMW's CPO warranty, I'm not that stupid!
Just got bored of my CC-R after 2 years, it was a great trouble free car but was otherwise lifeless. It looked great, got good gas mileage, and was cheap. On the flip side, it was gutless, boring to drive, and our lowered performance pack GT mustang had better ride quality (go figure). But the number one thing that killed my enjoyment in the CC was the unrelenting dash rattles. The sh*t just wouldn't stop. I went through, removed panels, stuffed in felt liners and tightened things down, but no matter what I did, every bump, something was rattling, creaking, moaning, etc. It drove me NUTS. Yes I'm probably more OCD than the average person by a long shot, but come on, the car is 2 years old, driven to and fro on mirror smooth highways, what in the actual F. My 2007 Passat (previous daily) was as tight the day I turned it in with 100k+ miles as it was on day 1. Based on my experience, VW's quality has been moving in the wrong direction. All that aside, I was just getting the itch again, and wanted something to get excited about on my commute. Being a Russian male I had gravitated towards S classes, G wagons, and 7s all of my life. I just never thought I'd actually be able to afford one. Its the Russian right of passage, as authentic as Adidas track suits, pumas, and gold plated AK47s. So after a few months of window shopping the intrawebs I'd noticed that a local LCI F01 750i had its price lowered from 48 to 45k after sitting for a month, and thought, well, let me go see if I like it. I honestly didn't know what to expect, seeing as I had never even ridden in a 7 series, let alone driven one. I tend to like very light cars and the associated dynamics, didn't know how I'd feel about a land yacht. The car drove every bit like the land barge I expected but for some reason it felt very me, and I just couldn't get over how much car I was getting for the money. I will mention that this was not my first stop in the past month as I like to browse many different cars in the price range to see if anything jumps out at me. I had driven loaded XE's, 3s, TTS, new E classes (E300 interior is incredible, powertrain is absolute trash), new C class (same verdict), and even drove a Golf R for sh*ts n gigs. With the exception of the TTS (which I thought was absolutely brilliant), all the aforementioned was kind of a let down. I mean, they were nice, but I never got excited or felt like I had to have them while driving them. The 7 was different, probably because I'd never owned a real luxury car before. The build and material quality, ride, isolation, and overall technology overload was tugging at my heart strings. I am also very keen on it aesthetically, this is very subjective but I find the car incredibly handsome and classy (something I cant really say about the new G11 7 series). Plus the thing just rolls around on an effortless wave of torque everywhere it goes; feels like you're driving around a levitating bank vault with a rocket strapped to it. I remember pulling over into a parking lot during the test drive (I was by myself), climbing in the back seat, turning on a movie left by the previous owner in the dvd changer, cranking the B&O, and just laughing. I felt like I was in a home theater, I mean for christ sakes, there is sconce ambient lighting on the B pillars The car felt every bit of its 102k msrp, and felt like a bargain for less than half that amount. I just couldn't fathom being impressed by anything else for the 40-50k range like I was by this, so I yelled YOLO real loud and the salesman appeared. Being that the car was absolutely pristine inside and out (even by my OCD standards), and I had utter peace of mind through the 2 warranties; I offered them 45k drive-out, they shook my hand, and the rest is history. Specifics; 2013 BMW 750i CPO N63tu TT V8 (445hp/480tq) ZF 8spd Auto 28,000 miles 1 year left on OEM Warranty (all services and wear items paid for by dealer) CPO Until end of 2019 $45,000 out the door (42.5k sale price before TT&L) Lightning Package -Full Adaptive LED headlights -Automatic Highbeams Executive Package -Power side window shades -Power rear sunshade -Heated/Ventilated seats -Full leather dash -Ceramic controls -Heads up Display -BMW Apps -Smartphone integration -Soft close doors -Power rear trunk -Hands-free trunk opening -Auto dimming mirrors -Homelink -Park distance control -Rear view camera -Ambient lighting M-Sport Package -Aero Kit -Shadowline Exterior Trim -Anthracite headliner -M Sport Wheel w/ Paddle shifters -20x8.5 20x10 303M Wheels Rear Seat Entertainment Package -Pair 9.2" floating rear screens -Connected Drive -iDrive rear controller -6 Disc in dash DVD Changer -Aux/Usb Inputs Bang & Olufsen Sound -1200 Watts -16 Speakers (7 tweeters, 7 midrange, 2 dedicated subwoofers) -Ambient lighting for grilles Some pictures from the day I saw her at the dealer; Signed the papers, and drove the big girl home the following night; |
01-27-2017, 02:57 AM | #2 |
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Congrats on your new beast. Honestly, since you have the N63tu, you should be bereft of any major issues. The tu (updated N63 engine) came with many improvements, which also helped extinguish some of the reliability issues with the original N63.
Also, the N63tu is far more tunable and capable. Throw a tune on her and she'll be giving some exotics a run for the money. Enjoy the new ride.
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01-27-2017, 02:41 PM | #3 |
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Got the car home, started going through and absorbing every menu, setting, and feature like the big auto nerd that I am.
Also pulled the hideous front plate frame off, revealed 4 large bolt holes (why ), and scheduled an appointment with a body shop to get the holes repaired and a few other small goodies installed. |
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01-29-2017, 09:15 PM | #4 |
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One of the first things I did was take the car to get a fresh alignment (since the tires were brand new). I also went to a local discount tire to remove all 4 wheel/tire assemblies and have them re-balanced. I didn't feel any vibrations but its good practice to check, plus it gives me an easy opportunity to inspect the brakes, suspension, ball joints, bushings, etc.
2 of the 4 assemblies were off balance by 1 oz, and we also noticed that the left rear wheel was ever so slightly bent. I tried to bitch and moan to the dealer that this should have been caught in the CPO inspection but I was politely told to pound sand. I understand that they have no way to gauge whether I was trying to pass damage I caused myself on them; and of course the techs, covering their own ass, are saying all wheels were straight as an arrow when they "balanced" them. Surprising myself, I did not press the issue and left. With everything ship shape I took back to the streets; Over the weekend some of the first goodies came in. I'm a big stickler for wheel fitment so I wanted to bring the factory 20s out a bit. Went with BMS 12mm/15mm spacers front and rear, respectively. Also threw some LED reverse bulbs in from VLEDS, and ditched the "free advertisement" dealer plate frame for a nice oem M Sport unit. But before all that, I spent the better part of 4hrs with 2 bottles of Lexol Cleaner & Conditioner cleaning and then conditioning every single piece of leather in the car. Suffice to say, there is a lot of leather. Well worth the effort, everything is clean, buttery soft, and has that rich matte sheen that new leather has (not the nasty greasy shine that dealer prep is known for). Front Before/After Rear Before/After I was extremely pleased with myself at this point as the car looked perfect in my eyes |
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01-29-2017, 09:25 PM | #5 |
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So I wanted to unlock some of the goodies the European folks get but we don't, courtesy of our archaic legislature.
I set off to 'Houston BMW Coding' where Chris promised to convert some of my hard earned smackaroos into new tricks for the german sled. After an hours worth of me pacing back n forth and the clickity-clack of Chris's keyboard, he had accomplished the following;
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02-12-2017, 09:39 PM | #8 |
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So as I stated earlier I couldnt live with the 4 bolt holes in the front bumper so I planned to have it repaired. Just as well, upon closer inspection I found that the bumper had been sloppily repainted/touched-up in the past (you can see some of the contaminants in the clear from spraying in a poor environment), so it was a chance to make that right. There was also dimpling in the black trim from rock impacts, the grilles had been weathered and were turning gray, rock chips galore, and the usual underside front clip abrasion from improper entry/departure angles and parking curbs.
The car was dropped off at a good friends shop (CMS Collision) to have all of the aforementioned repaired. Additionally, I procured some black kidneys from Bimmian, and instructed the shop to color match the ugly amber reflectors to the body color. While the bumper was off I took the time to clean the condensor, oil cooler, and tranny cooler of any debris, leaves, etc. I also cleaned up all the surrounding plastic trim and inner kidneys; restored it to black, and made otherwise sure that anything that could be seen through the mesh was tidy, and black. I then set out to restore the lower mesh. Not exactly difficult work by any stretch, just a pain in the ass to get into all of the crevices. Cleaned; Restored; All said and done I dropped the grilles back off at the shop and a few days later I got this beauty back :heart: I was really afraid the black grilles were going to look out of place on the 7, but I was very happy after I saw it in person. It ties it all together for me and looks better than I envisioned. Same to be said about the reflectors, which disappear into the bumper at anything more than a few feet away. Before/After Before/After |
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02-12-2017, 09:40 PM | #9 |
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Got my new plates in. We're very spoiled in Texas and have hundreds of designs to choose from. I couldn't think of anything clever that wasn't too cheesy to go on a 7 so I just got a plate to match the car (silver), with no message. Being OCD I'm not particularly fond of the fact that the plate silver is lighter than the car silver, but such is life.
I ordered something I knew I'd change the day I bought the car. Got the OEM 760 diffuser and quad exhaust tips on the way. Should give the rear end a lot more presence, can't wait. Oh, and I like my new M start-up animation (one of the things I had coded in). I was wondering why I wasn't seeing it at first but I think the iDrive starts to boot as soon as you unlock the car. So if you're walking up and unlock with the fob from a distance the iDrive has plenty of time to boot and when you start the car it just jumps directly in the Nav, etc. If you unlock from the doors it doesn't have time to boot by the time you go key-on so you get a start-up animation. |
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02-12-2017, 09:41 PM | #10 |
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Well, this didn't take long. I guess I'll be knowing my service advisor on first name basis by the end of this ownership
I saw this failure while driving at night out of the blue, yet everything seemed to be working perfectly. Headlights were both on and tracking left and right as far as i could tell. Got home, shut her off, fired back up again to see if the error stuck, it did. I decided I would bring the car to the dealer and let them have at it Monday (today). This morning on my way to the office I fired her up, no error. I hesitate wasting a trip to the dealer just for them to say there's nothing wrong. |
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02-19-2017, 08:11 PM | #11 | |
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Quote:
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02-23-2017, 09:09 PM | #12 |
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02-23-2017, 10:55 PM | #13 |
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I had noticed after getting the car coded and having access to real time pressures from the tpms, that the right rear tire was always a few pounds off from the others. The first time I noticed I blamed the dealer. Second time I raised an eyebrow. Third time I finally accepted that I had a leak. It was very slow, maybe half a psi a day, and would usually be week and a half before I'd lose enough pressure to trigger the tpms warning. As slow as it was my money was on a pinched/damaged tpms o-ring.
So, off to Discount Tire I go; Pulled the assembly off, inspected it, no nails, no damage. So we dunk it; No leaks. So, we blow it up to max pressure (50psi), dunk it again. No leaks. Now I'm starting to think that this may be something that's load specific, and with no car weight, we're not seeing the issue. I ask him to break the bead, rotate it about the wheel and dunk it again (and to change the tpms seals while we're in there). Finally, the culprit. Found 2 tiny leaks at the bead/wheel interface (marked in yellow). I have seen chrome wheels rust and leak from the bead in the past, but never aluminum wheels, so I was scratching my head. I did notice an area on the barrel with a heat affected zone when the tire was off, so maybe a previous repair had somehow warped the lip slightly? Regardless, we broke the assembly down again and used bead sealant to band-aid the issue. Seated the tire and dunked it for the 3rd time, leaks were gone. All buttoned up, right as rain. Will keep an eye on it over the next week or two. |
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02-23-2017, 10:56 PM | #14 |
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I don't understand why the M-Sport package comes with a nice aluminum dead pedal but neglects the gas and brake. 100k+ car, plastic pedals, thanks BMW.
I couldn't find aluminum pedals to match the factory dead pedal exactly, but I did manage to find a set on Bimmian that looked reasonably close. To start, I removed the plastic brake pedal cover off of the metal brake pedal (snaps right off). Used a clamp to secure the new cover into position and drilled my pilot holes. The fastening hardware (socket cap bolts, washers, nuts) are included with the pedals. On the brake, you can drill through and step up the diameter until you can slip the bolts through, slap on a washer on the back end, lock the bolt with an alley key, and use a ratchet to run the nut up from the back end. On the gas, you don't have access to install washers or nuts on the back end as there is no physical clearance, but they're really not necessary here. While the brake pedal is metal, the gas is plastic. I just drilled an undersized pilot hole and let each bolt just self tap into position. Worked like a charm. Came out looking like it should have from the factory; |
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02-23-2017, 10:57 PM | #15 |
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Tackled another little project I knew I'd have to do since day 1, but had been putting off because its a ginormous pain in the ass. Polishing the previous owners carelessness out of the wood. First world problems indeed.
Side Rant: You know, I bought this car because I thought it'd be an absolutely awesome way to ferry people around in quiet luxury. I have since realized, I hate people. Exhibit A: Female rear seat passengers; What in the actual F?! Looks like a damn CSI episode back there, was she dusting for prints? How the hell do you get make-up all over the headrest, center console, and door card? Next time she wants to hang out with us, she's taking the bus But, I digress, so lets get back to the task at hand. Some fresh microfibers, applicator pads, Scratch-X 2.0 for a light cut, carnuba paste wax to seal, and some detailer for interior plastics and fingerprints; This is what lay ahead; Now obviously, a professional with a mini rupes or the like would have made quick work of this and achieved a much better correction than what I can muster with a few applicator pads and dosage of tennis elbow. That being said, after the lady and I got through, I can now drive in sunlight without looking at swirl city all over the interior. I'd call it a 80-90% correction; Some Before/Afters; More Afters; |
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02-23-2017, 11:03 PM | #16 |
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Diffuser was finally painted (oem B27 Dark Shadow Metallic) and we got everything installed today.
Old diffuser removal is a snap, literally. No fasteners just removes with force; Old tips are held in place with 3 bolts, out they go; While in there I modded the butterfly valves in the exhaust to remain open constantly. And by modded I mean I zip-tied the valves in the open position Everything was supposed to be a bolt-on affair but we quickly found out that there is some "assembly" required. Even though the 750/760 diffusers and tips are interchangeable, I doubt they use the same mufflers as the 760 tips wouldn't clear the oem 750 muffler exits. We ended up having to trim a piece of the midsection out to get the new tips to clear the muffler exit. Look at the size difference between the quads and the old tips, no wonder you need a new diffuser. New (yet identical looking) diffuser going back on. All buttoned up! So pleased with it, just adds that bit of classy aggression to the rear end. Will get some more pictures after it stops raining cats and dogs. Before/After |
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11-20-2017, 11:39 PM | #19 |
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Car is currently for sale in the classifieds, gorgeous car at a great price;
http://www.7post.com/forums/showthre...2#post22448022 |
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11-27-2017, 02:48 PM | #20 |
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Drives: 2021 Alpina XB7
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Manhasset, NY
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Garage List 2018 BMW i3s REX [10.00]
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Dude this looks amazing! Nicely done. I love all the tastefully done modifications. Thanks for sharing!
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12-03-2017, 08:51 AM | #21 |
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