What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
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Soldato
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- 29 Jul 2013
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Fair enough. I hope you got a good price for it, I really enjoyed following your thread on mx5 nutz. I hope the Cupra won't seem too boring in comparison!
The Cupra will probably be dead boring by comparison but also much more refined and comfortable, which is the main thing that started to irk me about the MX5. Its a good fun car but for commuting it feels a bit primitive really.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
300BHP hatchback? Dead boring? Come off it
To be fair when you are not deploying 300bhp, which is basically 95% of the time, it will feel like you are driving a Seat Leon. Because you are.
By contrast the far less powerful MX5 doesn't have 'pointless amounts of power you can barely legally use' as it's key strength - its fun at a wide range of speeds and when you are not nailing the throttle it'll still feel like you are driving a small sports car. Because you are.
Soldato
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Nice, hope you got what you wanted for it!
Did seriously consider it in the end after making the decision to buy another car again but had the same thoughts as you re: wanting something for the long run without the £ worries on running an older car. Plus if I'm staying where I am I need some proper boot
Soldato
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Oops!
Finally got round to replacing the front discs and pads on the 640d with Brembo's.
Simple enough job but those spring clips are a pain to put back on!
It's got rid of the vibration I had at over 60mph but I now suspect one of my wheel bearings is on the way out, I can definitely feel some clicking when turning it by hand, without discs or calipers fitted.
Simple enough job but those spring clips are a pain to put back on!
It's got rid of the vibration I had at over 60mph but I now suspect one of my wheel bearings is on the way out, I can definitely feel some clicking when turning it by hand, without discs or calipers fitted.
Only a few snags but nothing major:
- BMW use fixings that seem to be uncommon in typical sets, so make sure you have 9mm hex socket and a 18mm socket or spanner before you start.
- The spring clip is a pain to refit without scratching the caliper.
- Check the level of the brake fluid in the reservoir before you start, especially if you've had it topped up during a service. When you push the caliper pistons back in that fluid has to go somewhere and will pee out of the lid on the reservoir! I used a Calpol syringe to remove excess brake fluid cleanly and easily, probably removed about 40ml of the stuff.
- Make sure you pump the brake pedal before moving off, you'll hear the caliper pistons close.
- Remember to reset the maintenance schedule on iDrive.
With the discs being so expensive, wait until Eurocarparts have a deal on, I got about 40% off the lot when I bought them many months ago.
Regarding the rears, I've only replaced the pads. As the same pads do the parking brake and is motor driven, technically you need a ££K machine to send the command to retract the piston. Nah! Remove the motor/servo from the caliper and retract it by hand using a torx bit, then push the caliper piston back in. Refit motor, pads and caliper. 3 hours exploratory work one side, 30 minutes the other side doing that job!
I'm not sure if the pads have been changed before I bought the car at 22k miles, but the discs definitely not, so 56k for the discs and probably the same for the pads. The pads were worn but hadn't tripped the wear sensor, but was starting to wear the tip of it. I can post a pic later if you want to see how much material was left on them. I replaced the rear pads about 5k miles ago I think.
Gearbox oil changed, the stuff that came out was a filthy dark grey, compared the the nearly clear new 75w80 oil.
That being said, BMW describe it as "lifetime fill" so no doubt the crap that dropped out was 13 years and 103k miles old.
That being said, BMW describe it as "lifetime fill" so no doubt the crap that dropped out was 13 years and 103k miles old.
Has it done many miles? Id imagine you must be the only 640d driver to work on their own car
Has it done many miles? Id imagine you must be the only 640d driver to work on their own car
It's done almost 57k. I don't know about being the only 640d diyer, doing the front discs and pads myself saved over £400! Probably save the same again doing the front wheel bearings as you have to remove the disc and calipers.
No errors, but when you come to resetting the iDrive service timer the parking brake has to be off (definitely when resetting the fronts, can't remember about the rears) or it will say "reset unsuccessful".
Today I have managed to completely misjudge where the curb was at the security barrier at work and ruin one of my alloys
I did that about 1 week after collecting mine at the barrier at Manchester Airport - didn't notice the kerb curved around to the right slightly so I clipped it with the back, luckily it was enough of a clip to go up the kerb rather than scrape the alloy so no damange, result
It's funny how much crap you need to often drag out of the garage for a simple brake job isn't it