Project E39 Revival

Nitrojan · 10 Apr 2012 at 09:55

[TW]Fox;21650171 said:
If you are going for the Sport bumpers, you want a matt finish to the plastic strips not a gloss one.

For my plastic strips, I am having to fill in the hole where the M5 emblem would usually go. I couldn't for the life of me find strips with the M-Sport logo and as my car isn't an M5, I don't want to brand it as one. More work to do.. lol

Picking the car up this afternoon and dependant on my workload, may end up fitting my projector headlamps and sorting a few bits out. Pics to follow

[TW]Fox · 10 Apr 2012 at 10:34

You can buy the strips from BMW. If you don't want the M Tech ones surely its better to just buy new blank ones rather than fill them? They are not expensive.

Nitrojan · 10 Apr 2012 at 11:51

[TW]Fox;21650922 said:
You can buy the strips from BMW. If you don't want the M Tech ones surely its better to just buy new blank ones rather than fill them? They are not expensive.

I was under the impression that BMW OEM strips would be very costly and have bought the strips now anyway. Lesson learned - they need filling now lol

[TW]Fox · 10 Apr 2012 at 11:58

The plain ones without any badging are not expensive and are even cheaper second hand on Ebay or whatever. Infact dont you already have them? They were standard fit on all 6 cylinder prefacelift E39's.

Only the M5 and the Sport models had the strips with the raised section with either the M5 or M logo in. It seems like a bizarre way of doing things to get hold of M5 ones, remove the badge and then fill it in, because it'll still be sitting proud of the strip and look completely wrong? Surely you would have paid a bit for the M5 ones anyway as they are more sought after than the plain ones!

I would be amazed if the black strips cost any more than a few quid used. Heck I chucked mine away when I replaced them with brand new ones a few years back!

Nitrojan · 10 Apr 2012 at 12:03

[TW]Fox;21651548 said:
The plain ones without any badging are not expensive and are even cheaper second hand on Ebay or whatever. Infact dont you already have them? They were standard fit on all 6 cylinder prefacelift E39's.

Only the M5 and the Sport models had the strips with the raised section with either the M5 or M logo in. It seems like a bizarre way of doing things to get hold of M5 ones, remove the badge and then fill it in, because it'll still be sitting proud of the strip and look completely wrong? Surely you would have paid a bit for the M5 ones anyway as they are more sought after than the plain ones!

I would be amazed if the black strips cost any more than a few quid used. Heck I chucked mine away when I replaced them with brand new ones a few years back!

The ones I had on the car had the chrome on them, and a search on eBay back when I bought them didn't bring up any results. I was after the strips without any logo but all I could find was M5 ones

I paid an arm and a leg for them too.. Grrr :rolleyes:

[TW]Fox · 10 Apr 2012 at 12:07

So resell them and buy the right ones, don't fill them in because it wont look right

paradigm · 10 Apr 2012 at 12:08

Nitrojan said:
I was after the strips without any logo but all I could find was M5 ones

They exist, at least according to the diagram on RealOEM, however the part number is missing so you'd have to talk to a BMW parts department to order them.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=DT52&mospid=47546&btnr=51_2259&hg=51&fg=20

[TW]Fox · 10 Apr 2012 at 12:11

paradigm said:
They exist, at least according to the diagram on RealOEM

As I said they are the defacto bog standard E39 rubbing strip. No idea why there is no part number for them, which is a tad odd, but they are literally everywhere.

Nitrojan · 10 Apr 2012 at 23:24

A few more updates:

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Good as new! Minus the bumpers and side mouldings.. oh and mirrors lol. Should have those at the weekend

needs a good clean now!

Nitrojan · 14 Apr 2012 at 20:15

Installing the bumper.. looking more like a car now! Excuse the garage door it's knackered

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[TW]Fox · 14 Apr 2012 at 20:18

Looks nothing like a 15 year old car now :eek:

paradigm · 14 Apr 2012 at 20:34

Oh, by the way, the wood goes with your light interior far better than the fake carbon DiNOC

Keep the wood tbh.

Tbid · 14 Apr 2012 at 20:50

Love E39's I've driven so so many cars and still, for long distance cruising the E39 is my car of choice.

Nitrojan · 14 Apr 2012 at 20:52

paradigm said:
Oh, by the way, the wood goes with your light interior far better than the fake carbon DiNOC

Keep the wood tbh.

It's not cheap vinyl dinoc, it's material I bought from NeffyWrap

wood is old skool!

"It is made of a superthin 0.4mm composite fiber and is extraordinarily elastic, perfect for wrapping around corners and edges. We feature the thinnest dry carbon fiber fabric available."

[TW]Fox;21685010 said:
Looks nothing like a 15 year old car now

I know, I was pretty amazed myself lol! Looks quite modern now

Sone · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:13

Tbid said:
Love E39's I've driven so so many cars and still, for long distance cruising the E39 is my car of choice.

i think this is the one weakness of the e39, for cruising the competition is better.

A6, E class and S80 are better cruisers, the e39 beats them at just about everything else though.

mejinks · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:20

Sone said:
i think this is the one weakness of the e39, for cruising the competition is better.

A6, E class and S80 are better cruisers, the e39 beats them at just about everything else though.

Each to their own I suppose. I totally disagree having driven all of the above.

[TW]Fox · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:21

No complaints about the cruising ability of my E39. Infact my only complaint is that the damn thing is so good I'm going to be stuck with it for so long i'll end up looking like a hobo driving a 30 year old BMW.

Sone · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:22

mejinks said:
Each to their own I suppose. I totally disagree having driven all of the above.

E39 is just too hard.

I had a S80 and drove to glasgow in back in a day. Had 2 e39's (an se and sport) and would not do it in either!

Old mans had a few A6's and they seemed comfy, not spent loads of time in e-class of that age but it seemed nice and wafty.

[TW]Fox · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:23

Sone said:
I had a S80 and drove to glasgow in back in a day. Had 2 e39's (an se and sport) and would not do it in either!

Drove to Edinburgh from Plymouth in a single day.

Enjoyed it so much that I'm driving to Inverness in 6 weeks and spending my entire summer holiday later in the year doing 3000 miles around Europe. They are fantastic for long trips like that. Infact they are just fantastic full stop, <3 E39's.

Nitrojan · 14 Apr 2012 at 21:25

[TW]Fox;21685453 said:
Drove to Edinburgh from Plymouth in a single day.

Enjoyed it so much that I'm driving to Inverness in 6 weeks and spending my entire summer holiday later in the year doing 3000 miles around Europe. They are fantastic for long trips like that.

Bloody hell that'll be some fuel usage! What mpg do you get? lol