Greydog

Morning Chris and Welcome good luck with the new car and most importantly ENJOY

Hi Emma Personal preference for me is to have the same Brand tyres front and rear do you have Bridgestone's on the front? Also as you currently have run flats that will restrict choice some what, you can run non run flat tyres quite safely which would widen your choice in available tyres and price. Good luck

Morning Emma and Welcome So many things have an effect on tyre life not least of which is driving style but will include tyre pressure, suspension set up and condition. Is the wear even across the tread? If it is then the answer may be in your right shoe!! If wear is uneven both edges worn shows under inflated and centre tread wear shows over inflated, If wear is on one edge then I would look at the suspension bushes and alignment all sorts of things will have an effect here from pot holes to general wear. The X5's are well known for chewing up tyres but with suspension in good condition I normally get around 20k + miles from a set of tyres Hope this helps

Morning Mark I just spoke with the BMW specialist I use he says that 9 out of 10 times it is the diversity antenna but says you can remove it open it and clean the pcb board with a soft tooth brush then test it. He said this normally works, when you put it back together make sure you seal the antenna case with a sealant to prevent water getting in again. He says he has done this on several cars with 100% success he has never seen a loom issue but doesn't discount it.

Hi Mark and Welcome The diversity antenna is in the spoiler behind the 3rd brake light my brother in-law had the same problem with his 530d he tried the old disconnect the battery trick to reset everything. That worked once but after a short time the issue returned apparently some get water ingress that damages them he had his changed at a BMW specialist cost about £300 from memory. I am told its not a difficult job just fiddly so you could get a diversity antenna and DIY Good luck

In my experience ECU tuning on a normally aspirated engine never shows big increases and in real world driving difficult to feel. Forced induction Turbo or supercharging is a very different matter. Moving to a 4.8 will give the extra power but may also potentially bring other issue's. So on the "better the devil" theme if your 3.0 is a good one stick with it would be my advice

Welcome Tony the ! series are great cars You shouldn't have any issues with the brakes all straight forward stuff. If you go online log onto www.realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your vin and it will bring up your cars parts list search brakes you will be able to get the OEM part number so you can cross reference if buying factors etc. Most factors have a part number cross reference program

Hi Paddy Welcome to the Club lots of help here should you ever need it (we all hope not) Good luck with your new wheels Enjoy

Verrrrry nice Welcome to the Forum Watch out for speed cameras !!! Enjoy that M3

Morning Matt Welcome to the forum I hope you enjoy your X5 There are many debates on oils but as long as it meets BMW LL ACEA A3 spec it should be fine. If I recall in the hand book it gives a pretty wide range of oils to cover all geographic locations. I use 5W 30 fully synthetic I have read that additives can cause lazy lifters but have no personal experience, I may go to 5W 40 fully synthetic now mileage is over 100k

Morning Ian I cant say I have noticed any difference at junctions etc but then I am on my second Beemer so if it is happening perhaps I have got used to it ? As there are so many BMW's on our roads now (well there are around here) I don't think anyone singles us out, but hey the world is full of strange people. If they are jealous of your new car just feel good about it. I did used to have a particular chap driving an Impreza who used to try hard to provoke a drag race when I had the last AMG never worked with me but one day with my wife driving we were exiting a roundabout when he rocketed past making some hand gestures. To much for her so she accelerated beside him hit race mode and floored it, back tyres lit up and he disappeared behind. She then slowed down and as he passed returned his gesture I was laughing my head off strange he never did it again. That and having a Porsche keyed are my only experience of car envy that I am aware of that is.

Oooooh Shiney Welcome to the Forum The car looks terrific ENJOY

Morning Phil If I recall (it was sometime ago when I loaded mine) firstly is your version of Win 7 32bit or 64bit ? It gets more complicated in 64bit. My old laptop is 32bit luckily. I made a new folder for the desktop and saved the software to the folder. Open the folder and check the drivers are there, makes it easier to locate them later. Now click windows start and select control panel In Control Panel select Device Manager Select Universal Serial Bus controller You should see BMW Scanner or similar Right click BMW Scanner and select update drivers from the drop down menu In the pop up Window select Browse my Computer for Software or Locate and update drivers manually (cant remember which) A new window should open make sure sub folders box is ticked then hit browse and select the folder where your software is stored. IIRC a window will open allowing you to select the drivers It will return you to the Browse window and you click Next at the bottom. Your drivers should load Now you should see a confirmation window saying best drivers installed or similar, click close Right click BMW Scanner and select properties to check all is OK I dont remember if a screen pops up when you start the program asking for administrator rights or saying allow this program to make changes to this computer click yes or agree. I think the usb lead has to be plugged in also for the drivers to load properly. Seems complicated when you write it down but it is simple enough. Now plug it into the car and start the program This should open with out problems Good Luck Dave

I remember reading some time ago when my X5 binnacle was acting up something about the dash binnacle on the Z3 where the loom to the unit chaffed behind the dash causing some intermittent dial faults and always eventual total failure. The fix was to check very carefully the loom repair any sign of rubbing or damage and secure it with ties to prevent re-occurrence. Well worth taking out the binnacle and checking as it costs nothing but some of your time if it works. There are also a number of companies that repair BMW binnacles a telephone conversation may spread more light plus if it needs repair they will be cheaper than a garage if you go direct.The binnacle on the X5's tend to suffer from pixel failure 2 screws pull the binnacle forward unplug and send it away mine took 48hrs and was under £100 (was awhile ago).

Looks really nice ENJOY Oh and WELCOME

Hi Mick and welcome The 330d is a great engine and round town should be low 30's Motorway mid 40's is what I would think you could expect to see Not easy to give an opinion here as MPG will depend on so many things. 1, How many miles has the car covered. 2, What it's condition is mechanically service history etc. 3, Brakes are they binding. 4, Diesels particularly cars fitted with a DPF need to regenerate them short journeys are not good as they never reach a high enough temp. The EGR valve could also be blocked. All of these will have a detrimental effect on MPG. Oh the last thing is your right foot !! Me, I budget for 15mpg and average over the last 30k is 19.8mpg thats mixed driving and towing a horse trailer so I am happy

Try taking a look on www.realoem.com put in the last 7 digits of your Vin and search seats it may give you some clues as to what is there and what is an extra. If it doesn't show as an extra then my bet is it's part of the original harness

I believe the E53 was fitted with a complete wiring loom so under your seat you should find the spare plugs taped up. you will need the seats and the switch panel at the bottom of the centre console above the ash tray. Ooops don't forget check the fuse box and make sure there is a correct fuse in place.

M6 !! Who is ever going to get close enough to here it

Welcome Joe Enjoy your new ride

Hi James and Welcome 650i 6er while I have no direct experience I do have a friend who owns one he has had his from new in 2011 he has had quite a few niggles which all seem to be electrical. He has had issues with the soft top, seat adjustment, nav system and a few others which I forget now all were fixed under Warranty. Sadly the frustration caused has left him with a bad taste for BMW, however when he drives it he smiles and forgets every time he lets the beast out of the box. So my advise would be make sure absolutely everything works as it should when you want, and get a warranty just in case. Then smile when you let your beast out !!!

Hi Phil I assume your car is an E46 they had the following wheels 7JX17 ET:47 X 4 Part No 36116753816 A previous owner has brought the wider copies to give a staggered set up similar to the M3. Have you tried a good wheel refurbishing company I had two wheels buckled on my AMG and they were recovered and refinished

You have an alternator, AC pump, Power Steering and Water pumps plus the tensioner. I would first check the belt condition as a frayed belt will make strange noises. I would also check that the cooling fans are operating as they should AFAIK the 4.8 has electric engine fans. Replacing the tensioner and belt is good practice and while the belt is off you can check all the other pulleys for any side movement and free running. To fix your door lock you will need to remove the door card and peel back the vapour barrier to get access to the lock the issue will be corrosion on the lock mechanism if you use the search function we covered this recently in the X5 section Hope it's all simple fixes Good luck

I know where to come when I need a boy with big muscles then !! I bet that was a lump. ZF seems to be the best box in the X5 though I have read some early boxes did have some motronic valvebody issues they seem to have been rare in fairness to ZF. Did you use your old torque converter or fit a new one? If you used your old one then you could have (technical term now) Crap from your old converter in your new box so a flush will definitely help things. I would also look for a good auto box/ZF specialist to ensure you have the latest software in the box. fingers crossed it is a simple fix bud there should be a reward for hard work.

Question your side angel eyes are they LED? If you took out the lamp to look at it try taking it out and turning it 180 deg LED lamps are current direction sensitive.