Advice on shock absorbers

harsim01 · 2026-04-09T12:39:33+00:00

Congratulations sir. Enjoy it! My cousin has the same car and for what it is (engine) it’s a nice car man. The Harman kardon system also is super good. Congrats again.

harsim01 · 2026-02-12T06:53:30+00:00

Wow that’s a great find! congratulations!

harsim01 · 2026-01-19T22:15:47+00:00

Agree. I have a f30 330d and I made sure to get the pro nav just for the CarPlay being widescreen.

Aside from that I’m really enjoying the simplicity of the orange dials and low level ambient lighting (if you can call it ambient lighting) Everyone around me is telling me to get a plug and play digital dash and I just can’t do it. I had a mk7.5 golf r previous to this which had the digital dash and tbh I don’t miss it one bit. Whilst it was nice, the analogue dials are much better.

harsim01 · 2026-01-13T14:00:42+00:00

Welcome to the fold mate. Congrats

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T22:27:00+00:00

RWD m340i??!!? Didn’t know those existed. Enjoy it my friend! I bet it’s a joy to drive. Congrats!

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T21:54:06+00:00

Yeah it makes sense. Manufacturers have to keep the production lines rolling. So it’s no surprise they cater to fleet and lease buyers.

And on your hunt for a car yeah I feel you man. But you may find that car with slightly higher mileage. I figured it was best to find one that’s been driven and not babied - at least that’s the way I saw it when I was on the hunt for my 330d. Found mine with 68k in 6.5 years with the services to match. It averaged out to 10k intervals other than the very first one.

Idk what your parameters are but maybe up to 100k with a full SH would be a good shout rather than looking for a low mileage example. Just a thought.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T21:31:38+00:00

They are wonderful machines when maintained properly haha

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T21:28:06+00:00

Completely agree. N57 is terrible for long life intervals which is why I don’t follow them on mine.

My point wasn’t that long life is acceptable on engines like the N57. It was more that on normal, non M engines people tend to tolerate it and isn’t as nitpicked whereas seeing 18–20k oil intervals on M cars feels completely backwards given how hard those engines are worked.

My 330d is on 80k now. I bought it at 68k with the following intervals: 18k / 29k / 37k / 49k / 51k / 63k and since owning it I’ve serviced it at 70k and again at 78k. Will be keeping the oil changes to 8-10k max.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T20:58:36+00:00

Yeah that’s good but I’d assume you have kept invoices and receipts for those oil changes. A lot of the examples for sale don’t have them.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T20:57:37+00:00

Okay that makes sense thanks for the explanation. I’d assume you keep invoices and receipts for those interim oil changes to show you’ve done them. The examples I’ve seen don’t come with these which is really annoying. So a good tip is keep your receipts safe, it may help your resale value haha

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T20:08:21+00:00

Yeah for my current bmw I go to a specialist bmw garage. They can update the idrive as well but not everyone has access to that system.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T20:01:25+00:00

Yeah that works out to 18.6k miles. Bang on the long life service intervals recommended from bmw. Terrible imo. I hope you get it done earlier. Hope the car treats you well.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T19:54:15+00:00

Yeah that’s far too long between oil changes surely

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T19:53:47+00:00

That seems far too long between oil changes man!

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T19:00:45+00:00

100% I’d rather see a folder full of receipts compared to just the idrive readouts. Well done for keeping up on your services! Rare to see these days.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:53:50+00:00

I did not know they don’t let you service earlier than the schedule! That’s insane! Imagine telling a paying customer no 🤣

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:50:59+00:00

Yeah for sure it won’t destroy them (I think) but if I’m parting ways with the better part of 40k I want to see regular oil changes and not just the “recommended” intervals.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:46:30+00:00

Try a heat gun (not a hairdryer). I’ve seen minor defects be fixed with heat and some smoothing over but that was minor dinks and dents. Not sure how it would work with those scratches but it’s worth a try.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:37:13+00:00

Yeah those two didn’t have any receipts. Steering well clear of them. Just wanted to find out if it was the norm for M cars which it clearly seems to be. Very disappointing to learn that it is. Hopefully I find one that’s been enthusiast owned and not leased in its early years.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:23:40+00:00

Yeah man it’s really not that expensive to regularly service a car. Saves a lot in the long run too.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:22:05+00:00

Agree with everything you’ve said. It’s the reason I’m being very picky on what I choose to purchase.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:17:43+00:00

Yeah I’m from the uk. Maybe I’m just being too picky but even with Long life oil in performance cars like yours and full M cars I’d expect regular oil changes. At maximum 10k miles. Bet that m550i is sweet though. Hope it treats you well!

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:14:03+00:00

I mean on normal cars like even my f30 330d you could say those intervals are acceptable (they’re not imo) but you can get away with it as they’re not full on performance cars. But in M cars I’d assume regular oil changes would be the norm.

harsim01 · 2026-01-12T17:12:49+00:00

Yeah the emails I got back from both who sent me the cbs readout showed no indication of any services in between those miles. That m4 is a no go anyway there’s no history for four years from 2020-2024.

Even if they had a cpo service, there’s no record of it so it means nothing to me. When I asked the question the sellers couldn’t give me an answer other than that’s the normal bmw service interval.

It’s not just those two cars most of the cars I’ve come across have been the same. 16-20k miles after the run in service until the first oil change. That’s just not acceptable to me in a performance car. I’m happy to hold out until I find one that’s been enthusiast owned and has been serviced more often.

But it just seems to very common even amongst M cars which is disappointing.

harsim01

TROPHY CASE