New Member

Hi,

I joined the BMWCCA several days ago. After eight years without a BMW, in February I purchased a 2006 E90 330i / Sports Package with 34K miles on the odometer. After catching up on some maintenance (oil and microfilter changes, battery, new RFT Pilot Sports, alignment), and purchasing an aftermarket warranty (a spur of the moment decision), I have several questions:

1. After reading a number of posts about RFTs, I don't like the thought of driving without a spare (yeah, I know they eat up trunk space). I see a couple of posts that refer to Bavarian Auto's donut spare, but it doesn't seem to be listed it on their site. Are there any other sites that might carry them?

2. At 75, the speedo runs about 4 -5 miles fast when compared to my GPS. Is this normal?

3. The local BMW dealer says that Castrol 5-30 syntthetics are now recommended. My previous E36 M3 used Mobil 1. Which is prerferable?

4. The steering requires constant correction on the interstate roads, but is OK on the local back roads with smooth surfaces. The dealer claims the studded tire grooves on the interstate is the cause of this. Is this true? The wheel alignment sheet showed that very little correction was needed, so I don't think this is an issue.

5. When the car is parked and not driven, how much drain is there on the battery? Even with the new battery, and being parked for several days, I found that recharging on my 8 amp charger required about half an hour before it went to trickle state.

6. The Pilot Sports are Y rated (Costco said that Michelin told them the W's were out of stock and no production run had been scheduled), and and the manual recommends that Y pressures for below and above 100 mph be 30/33, which is lower than what is reccomended for the W rated tires. Why is this, and would running higher pressures like those recommend for the W rated tires be acceptable?

Questions, and probably stupid questions, but if anyone has insights on any of them I really would appreciate learning about them.

Thanks, Jim

2. all BMWs do this, it's because in Europe the manufacturer can be sued if the speedo reads low and someone gets caught speeding

3. either one's good, as long as it's got the LL-01 specification

Welcome to the club & the forums, and welcome back to bimmerdom!

Can't help you with where to find a donut spare, but hopefully somebody 'round these parts knows somethin' about it.

ti's reason for the speedo sounds logical; I think it does seem to be a true-ism that BMW speedos run a bit faster than one is going.

Can't help you on oil specifics - seems like that's been discussed and argued over interminably; search the other BMW forums on the 'net and this one, you'll likely find some worthy information, hopefully.

If your alignment is within spec (and there are no other front-suspension issues with components being worn or anything like that), I don't know that I'd expect perfect tracking, but I wouldn't expect it to be all that bad either. Newer cars use wider, lower-profile tires, and more tread-width on the ground is going to mean more susceptibility to tramlining - and worn roads won't help any. See if it's any different across lanes - presumably, the truck lane or lanes (right hand lanes) should be the worst.

Here's just one of the Tire Rack's inflation pressure topics, peruse the others that are also pertinent to inflation pressure and you'll presumably be able to decide what you safely can run, or want to.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=196

Can't comment on battery drain, as I don't have experience or knowledge as to what it might, or should be, for your model.

Any questions asked in earnest, even if repeated, are never stupid - one always learns more, ideally, from asking and it's better to be knowledgeable, in most cases, than blissfully ignorant!

1) Try Tischer and tirerack

3) Oils that meet BMW LL-01 are listed on BMWNA website - search for LL-01

4) Google "tramlining"

5) I've gone a week and no worries. There is certainly a fair drain at rest, but you don't need a full charge to start. In fact (search for "battery registration") constant charging like you've done may shorten the lifetime of your battery, since the car manages charging and you're disturbing that.

Thanks for the wealh of information all of you provided. I now know about tramlining, LL-01 spec oil, and not to worry about discharging the battery. I suspect that all of you will forget more than I'll ever learn.

As for a spare tire/wheel, I did run across BimmerZone's spare which fits my E90:

http://www.bimmerzone.com/product/BIM-SST-E90-KIT.html

For peace of mind, I'll probably get one and carry it when going on long trips.

Now I'm looking for a cover for the 12 V auxiliary inlet in the center console, as one didn't come with the car. I can't readily find one on the web so meanwhile I'm using a cork.

Thanks, Jim

I have almost the same car as you do.

Haven't noticed a speedo difference between the dash and GPS. I was supposed to do a run to Huntsville this weekend, and would have done a good check, but the impending Fed shutdown cancelled my trip.

My car was a tramline monster with the RFTs. Then I put pneumatic tires on, and then it became very well behaved. I have some buddies that report the same with their bimmers. I run my Conti Extremecontact DWSs at 34 psi.

Spare tire is a tire plug, and pair of pliers and small 12V compressor. The back-up to that is my cell phone and roadside assistance insurance.

The car has sat for three weeks at a time with no battery problems whatsoever.

What brand of cork?

1. My dad will be replacing the RFTs on my mom's 2008 335i with Continental DW non-run-flats in the coming days. This is the spare tire kit he ordered for her car:

http://www.bimmerzone.com/BMW_Performance_Spare_Tire/BIM-SST-E90-KIT.html

5. We found that our E60 535i would need a slight charge if not driven for any period longer than a week or so. Dealer said it was normal.

Welcome to the club!

Its a Bavarian Liebfraumilch type, haha. I found out the name of the cover aka "Stopper plug-in socket" and part number 51 16 8 222 183, and picked up one from Tischer.

I decided not to get the spare tire kit, and instead am carrying an 18x8 rim, PS tire, and BMW jack kit. I know it takes up trunk space, but if and when a flat tire occurs I don't have to worry about the low speed limitation of a donut spare and their limited range.