Desert Garage

[max225]

Accelerating doesn’t matter ... braking is what counts and it doesn’t matter if you had 9 drive wheels and 8 diffs for that

[Johnny_P]

Then again my summers were adequate in the snow.

Differential wizardry had nothing to do with that either.

"AWD does not affect the way a car drives in snow or ice." -Forumbro

[Johnny_P]

Then again my summers were adequate in the snow.

Cheating death, sir.

No puppies or children were harmed during my drive home, believe it or not.

[Johnny_P]

Accelerating doesn’t matter ... braking is what counts and it doesn’t matter if you had 9 drive wheels and 8 diffs for that

ABS didn't kick on a single time. No TC light flashing, nothing. I was watching the diff split screen that shows which wheels have traction and which don't and none of them lit up red so

Then again I was going slowly. Like any responsible driver should in such conditions.

Put it into "Auto +" for diff setting. Which raises the sensitivity for diff lock, leading to the likelihood of more even power distribution between the 4 wheels, where it's normally 35F/65R or something.

[max225]

Accelerating doesn’t matter ... braking is what counts and it doesn’t matter if you had 9 drive wheels and 8 diffs for that

ABS didn't kick on a single time. No TC light flashing, nothing. I was watching the diff split screen that shows which wheels have traction and which don't and none of them lit up red so

Then again I was going slowly. Like any responsible driver should in such conditions.

Put it into "Auto +" for diff setting. Which raises the sensitivity for diff lock, leading to the likelihood of more even power distribution between the 4 wheels, where it's normally 35F/65R or something.

Sounds like this is all driver being a responsible human is a rare trait

[4zilch]

Then again my summers were adequate in the snow.

Differential wizardry had nothing to do with that either.

[Desertbreh]

OK, I had the new Bilstein B4's and Michelin AS3+s installed along with an alignment.

1. Wowza, were those old dampers blown. We have moved from Cadilac mush ride to firm and controlled. My tire guy was "yeah wow, those things were shot." VERY HAPPY with the B4 selection vs. going B6 in this car, still a nice ride quality.

2. New tires completely eliminated the wubba wubba from the old tires, car drives incredibly quiet at 80+ highway speeds now.

3. Daughter is piloting this thing with reasonable aplomb in the learner's permit phase, doesn't make me too nervous except she needs TO SLOW THE FUCK DOWN when parking next to a curb. These fking tires are $230 each installed. Has also taken some left turns without slowing much, I'm pointing out to her that it's a fking 90 degree turn. Nothing too crazy.

4. Took it out on the highway yesterday, thing is a machine for making the miles disappear.

5. All in with fancy new tires, struts, tintz, TT&L I'm right at the $9500 mark. You don't have to spend $40K to have a nice car, but the lack of tech would make some people kill themselves. It has an auxiliary in for tunes but no "Jewtooth"..... Max.

6. Still amazed by the interior quality of this car. 12 years and 90K miles and the interior shows ZERO WEAR....every part of it.

7. The new struts increased ride height a bit....maybe 1/2 an inch? I'm fine with this as it will now clear the tallest parking stops my 16 year old can locate.

Will take pics when I have time to detail the exterior.

[wap]

[max225]

OK, I had the new Bilstein B4's and Michelin AS3+s installed along with an alignment.

1. Wowza, were those old dampers blown. We have moved from Cadilac mush ride to firm and controlled. My tire guy was "yeah wow, those things were shot." VERY HAPPY with the B4 selection vs. going B6 in this car, still a nice ride quality.

2. New tires completely eliminated the wubba wubba from the old tires, car drives incredibly quiet at 80+ highway speeds now.

3. Daughter is piloting this thing with reasonable aplomb in the learner's permit phase, doesn't make me too nervous except she needs TO SLOW THE FUCK DOWN when parking next to a curb. These fking tires are $230 each installed. Has also taken some left turns without slowing much, I'm pointing out to her that it's a fking 90 degree turn. Nothing too crazy.

4. Took it out on the highway yesterday, thing is a machine for making the miles disappear.

5. All in with fancy new tires, struts, tintz, TT&L I'm right at the $9500 mark. You don't have to spend $40K to have a nice car, but the lack of tech would make some people kill themselves. It has an auxiliary in for tunes but no "Jewtooth"..... Max.

6. Still amazed by the interior quality of this car. 12 years and 90K miles and the interior shows ZERO WEAR....every part of it.

7. The new struts increased ride height a bit....maybe 1/2 an inch? I'm fine with this as it will now clear the tallest parking stops my 16 year old can locate.

Will take pics when I have time to detail the exterior.

I can’t preach no mo!

Good job on bringing some of it back to life ! My buddy just picked up a 2016 E350 great tomb mobile. Drives nice and smooth ... his also has 80k miles. Interior shows 1/5 of the wear as the 2018 mustang with 16k miles I drove

[Desertbreh]

OK, I had the new Bilstein B4's and Michelin AS3+s installed along with an alignment.

1. Wowza, were those old dampers blown. We have moved from Cadilac mush ride to firm and controlled. My tire guy was "yeah wow, those things were shot." VERY HAPPY with the B4 selection vs. going B6 in this car, still a nice ride quality.

2. New tires completely eliminated the wubba wubba from the old tires, car drives incredibly quiet at 80+ highway speeds now.

3. Daughter is piloting this thing with reasonable aplomb in the learner's permit phase, doesn't make me too nervous except she needs TO SLOW THE FUCK DOWN when parking next to a curb. These fking tires are $230 each installed. Has also taken some left turns without slowing much, I'm pointing out to her that it's a fking 90 degree turn. Nothing too crazy.

4. Took it out on the highway yesterday, thing is a machine for making the miles disappear.

5. All in with fancy new tires, struts, tintz, TT&L I'm right at the $9500 mark. You don't have to spend $40K to have a nice car, but the lack of tech would make some people kill themselves. It has an auxiliary in for tunes but no "Jewtooth"..... Max.

6. Still amazed by the interior quality of this car. 12 years and 90K miles and the interior shows ZERO WEAR....every part of it.

7. The new struts increased ride height a bit....maybe 1/2 an inch? I'm fine with this as it will now clear the tallest parking stops my 16 year old can locate.

Will take pics when I have time to detail the exterior.

I can’t preach no mo!

Good job on bringing some of it back to life ! My buddy just picked up a 2016 E350 great tomb mobile. Drives nice and smooth ... his also has 80k miles. Interior shows 1/5 of the wear as the 2018 mustang with 16k miles I drove

Yeah I can honestly say "I'm done" with any improvements at this point. Sidenote: The brakes on this thing dust like a mthrfkr. Not too surprisingly, they work! with excellent bite. The MB Forums constantly complain about the dust, with one guy saying "If you can't deal with the dust, perhaps you aren't cut out for Mercedes Benz ownership." Nobody knows shit about cars on luxury vehicle forums.

[max225]

I can’t preach no mo!

Good job on bringing some of it back to life ! My buddy just picked up a 2016 E350 great tomb mobile. Drives nice and smooth ... his also has 80k miles. Interior shows 1/5 of the wear as the 2018 mustang with 16k miles I drove

Yeah I can honestly say "I'm done" with any improvements at this point. Sidenote: The brakes on this thing dust like a mthrfkr. Not too surprisingly, they work! with excellent bite. The MB Forums constantly complain about the dust, with one guy saying "If you can't deal with the dust, perhaps you aren't cut out for Mercedes Benz ownership." Nobody knows shit about cars on luxury vehicle forums.

The e350 I test drove had more initial bite than my m3 which weighs 600lbs less and has 2” bigger rotors and fixed calipers.. it has got to be the pad materials

[Desertbreh]

Yeah I can honestly say "I'm done" with any improvements at this point. Sidenote: The brakes on this thing dust like a mthrfkr. Not too surprisingly, they work! with excellent bite. The MB Forums constantly complain about the dust, with one guy saying "If you can't deal with the dust, perhaps you aren't cut out for Mercedes Benz ownership." Nobody knows shit about cars on luxury vehicle forums.

The e350 I test drove had more initial bite than my m3 which weighs 600lbs less and has 2” bigger rotors and fixed calipers.. it has got to be the pad materials

The 440i doesn't dust AT ALL.....and as you know the initial bite sucketh. It's all consumer response to Muricans who don't like to wash their cars.

[Tar]

My wife's Santa Fe got aftermarket rotors and ceramic composite pads for an entirely different reason (OEM quality was shit), those pads were surprisingly clean and worked pretty good. I could see myself doing that again someday.

[Desertbreh]

For my 50th last Friday, ze woman took me to the BMW Hi Performance driving school out at Thermal. Was fun. 3 events, a short track event where you got to drive a bevy of BMWs, M2, M4, X6M, X5M, 550il Msport, and the gargantuan V-12 760il pictured below. Then timed driving on a different track loop in M240is, then the "rat race" where the partcipants raced each other on the skidpad.

A fun day for sure.




Many M3s




Such purple, so wing, very gold calipers. Wow.





Oranj M2



Twin Turbro V-12 AWD 760il

[wap]

For my 50th last Friday, ze woman took me to the BMW Hi Performance driving school out at Thermal. Was fun. 3 events, a short track event where you got to drive a bevy of BMWs, M2, M4, X6M, X5M, 550il Msport, and the gargantuan V-12 760il pictured below. Then timed driving on a different track loop in M240is, then the "rat race" where the partcipants raced each other on the skidpad.

A fun day for sure.




Many M3s




Such purple, so wing, very gold calipers. Wow.





Oranj M2



Twin Turbro V-12 AWD 760il

Happy birthday, Dirk!
to the colonoscopy club.
Have you scheduled yours yet?

[Desertbreh]

That would be funny if it weren't such a legitimate question.

[Davestr]

That would be funny if it weren't such a legitimate question.

Fine get scoped - real men want to know your fave Mcar was???? Nice gift as well. Looks to be a superb event to attend!

[Desertbreh]

That would be funny if it weren't such a legitimate question.

Fine get scoped - real men want to know your fave Mcar was???? Nice gift as well. Looks to be a superb event to attend!

No big surprise that the M2/M4 were way more fun that the two 4X4s and the two boats. I didn't have enough seat time to meaningfully differentiate them....both were fierce. The X6M actually handled pretty well in a physics defying sorta way. The straight line hammer down acceleration on the 760il was also legit. Its a ridiculous car in every phase.

[max225]

For my 50th last Friday, ze woman took me to the BMW Hi Performance driving school out at Thermal. Was fun. 3 events, a short track event where you got to drive a bevy of BMWs, M2, M4, X6M, X5M, 550il Msport, and the gargantuan V-12 760il pictured below. Then timed driving on a different track loop in M240is, then the "rat race" where the partcipants raced each other on the skidpad.

A fun day for sure.




Many M3s




Such purple, so wing, very gold calipers. Wow.





Oranj M2



Twin Turbro V-12 AWD 760il

Which one did you like? And which vehicles did you end up driving ?

Thoughts ?

[wap]

That would be funny if it weren't such a legitimate question.

I was being funny/serious. You should get it done. I can walk you through the procedure if you're so inclined, to assuage any nervousness, either publicly here or via PM.

[Desertbreh]

For my 50th last Friday, ze woman took me to the BMW Hi Performance driving school out at Thermal. Was fun. 3 events, a short track event where you got to drive a bevy of BMWs, M2, M4, X6M, X5M, 550il Msport, and the gargantuan V-12 760il pictured below. Then timed driving on a different track loop in M240is, then the "rat race" where the partcipants raced each other on the skidpad.

A fun day for sure.




Many M3s




Such purple, so wing, very gold calipers. Wow.





Oranj M2



Twin Turbro V-12 AWD 760il

Which one did you like? And which vehicles did you end up driving ?

Thoughts ?

As you have discussed at length, "real" Mcars have stiff suspensions, big tires and big power, and these are the features that rule on the track. As noted the X6M in particular drove with a lot of control for being a lifted vehicle. The M550i and M760i were all soft by comparison. We each got a "hot lap" at the end in the passenger seat of an M4 while the instructors basically burnt rubber and drove in anger for 5 minutes, which was like going on an amusement ride.

If I was going to BMW myself and actually purchase, I would most certainly look into the M2 Competition. The M240i is a fine vehicle, but not materially different than the car I own. With regard to your issues with the non M cars, that can be remedied with a square 255 setup BUT to rotate you would have to remount the tires because the front 255 will only work with a different offset than the rear.

In any event my next move is ditching the Brahhoe for a but that will not be happening in Calendar year 2019.

[Johnny_P]

Nice to hear the E class has been restored to its former glory! Agreed they are nice ass cars and perfect for long road trips.

I want that 7 series...

[Desertbreh]

That would be funny if it weren't such a legitimate question.

I was being funny/serious. You should get it done. I can walk you through the procedure if you're so inclined, to assuage any nervousness, either publicly here or via PM.

I took my woman in for one. Such camera. So Invasive

[Desertbreh]

Nice to hear the E class has been restored to its former glory! Agreed they are nice ass cars and perfect for long road trips.

I want that 7 series...

The back seat was YUGE

[D Griff]

Awesome birthday present and happy birthday man.

Did it inspire you to take the C6 to the track?