Doog's Mercedes-Benz E350: My Biggest Update Yet

[WrxScooby]

If I had the free choice I would get it back to solid running shape and start scoping out new toys toss the bimmer online and see what kind of offers ya get! Go drive some manuals and get a real idea what its like (Drive highways/streets), I was really nervous about buying a manual with no actual driving experience with them, but I couldn’t be stopped from my dream machine. So I went for it and after about a month it was back to driving as usual (Where you’re not constantly thinking about your shifting and back to driving)

Unless you really love that car. Then embark on the adventure of modding the bimmer, it will be pricey and as with modding most things its never as easy as "Dropping it in" you gotta work at it especially if your swapping between different years/models.

What else would you look for car wise if you sold the Bimmer? If you could find a realistic enough deal your parents might at least hear you (Getting a job would probably really aid here) if they are willing to support a major fix they would have to consider the other side of selling and buying instead. I mean if the Bimmer is having Transmission issues and its reoccurring then why not at least consider options? How much of a hole has the issue burned already? What about future and it happens again only worse?

Come on up to Flag and drive the Scooby I just put a short throw in haha.

 

[Doog]

If I had the free choice I would get it back to solid running shape and start scoping out new toys toss the bimmer online and see what kind of offers ya get! Go drive some manuals and get a real idea what its like (Drive highways/streets), I was really nervous about buying a manual with no actual driving experience with them, but I couldn’t be stopped from my dream machine. So I went for it and after about a month it was back to driving as usual (Where you’re not constantly thinking about your shifting and back to driving)

After thinking about it some more, I know one friend in Phoenix with a manual vehicle; an '08 Ram. Might have to pester him to let me drive it around some...

Unless you really love that car. Then embark on the adventure of modding the bimmer, it will be pricey and as with modding most things its never as easy as "Dropping it in" you gotta work at it especially if your swapping between different years/models.

I've never been too into the idea of modding; I'm too cheap (which isn't a bad thing with the meager amount of cash I have), but I don't want to do anything to compromise the daily driveability. Lowered E39s can look nice, but I don't want to be constantly going through tires because the stance wears them unevenly; rubbing doesn't sound very nice either. I don't like having to wonder if my car's gonna scrape or not when going into a steep parking lot, though I'm still careful. The most I'd want to do is put a nice exhaust on it and deal with that one scratch on the door.

What else would you look for car wise if you sold the Bimmer? If you could find a realistic enough deal your parents might at least hear you (Getting a job would probably really aid here) if they are willing to support a major fix they would have to consider the other side of selling and buying instead. I mean if the Bimmer is having Transmission issues and its reoccurring then why not at least consider options? How much of a hole has the issue burned already? What about future and it happens again only worse?

The thing about the Bimmer is that I can't, in good conscience, sell it for anything near what my parents bought it for: $11k. Now that I know that it's been in an accident and that it keeps going through torque converters, and that I'm the fifth owner, it could only fetch so much. The only thing I can offer is that I've kept it up cosmetically and haven't driven it like an idiot, and that it's received a few fixes in my ownership.

I'm picky as hell when it comes to cars, but this 330i still catches my eye. It's gone down in price by $1k since I last saw the ad, too...

Come on up to Flag and drive the Scooby I just put a short throw in haha.

 

[WrxScooby]

After thinking about it some more, I know one friend in Phoenix with a manual vehicle; an '08 Ram. Might have to pester him to let me drive it around some...

Do eeeeetttt.

I've never been too into the idea of modding; I'm too cheap (which isn't a bad thing with the meager amount of cash I have), but I don't want to do anything to compromise the daily driveability. Lowered E39s can look nice, but I don't want to be constantly going through tires because the stance wears them unevenly; rubbing doesn't sound very nice either. I don't like having to wonder if my car's gonna scrape or not when going into a steep parking lot, though I'm still careful. The most I'd want to do is put a nice exhaust on it and deal with that one scratch on the door.

I didn't mean modding in those terms persay. I just ment that if you loved the car enough to keep it that you would modify it by doing a tranny swap that isnt factory(Mod). You can tastefully/subtlety mod your car with factory style enhancements to make your base model stronger in areas its weak. Didnt mean slam it/big powahhhh haha. Me for example, Im not going for crazy JDM/hella/fatlace stuff (for now at least ) Im looking at bettering my car with OEM products from Subarus other models that werent giving options from factory for my model(wagon). STi Turbo, STi Struts, STi Tranny, and so on.

The thing about the Bimmer is that I can't, in good conscience, sell it for anything near what my parents bought it for: $11k. Now that I know that it's been in an accident and that it keeps going through torque converters, and that I'm the fifth owner, it could only fetch so much. The only thing I can offer is that I've kept it up cosmetically and haven't driven it like an idiot, and that it's received a few fixes in my ownership.

Well I wouldn't hurt to toss it out there, a couple bumps and bruises isnt that big od a deal breaker, and its only got 69k on it which is bad either for its year. You never know who might really want your car for whatever reason. Since your not in a hurry to sell just let it ride (No pun intended) toss it around on forums as a Feeler to see what people think its worth, and see what your playing with. Thats also why you want to get it to good running condition and sell it with that mentioned. Its been well maintained by you and you keep it in good shape. Plus with that new job you got lined up, along with what you could get for the BMW you could go for a new/used car and do payments(Just be careful and make sure you know what your looking at).

Its all about what you want, and mainly what your REALLY willing to do for it. 👍

 

[Harry6784]

Don't think of it as modding, think of it as 'selective maintenance'. When something breaks that means it time to upgrade it

 

[WrxScooby]

Don't think of it as modding, think of it as 'selective maintenance'. When something breaks that means it time to upgrade it

Exactly

 

[Doog]

The Bimmer continues its hibernation under the car cover out front; my dad found a rebuilt transmission for $2300, so it'll be installed in a couple weeks. After driving the Lexus for a couple weeks I started to crave some actual steering feel, so I drove the Mini to South Mountain, which has some of the best roads within the city. Being relatively secluded and in South Phoenix, South Mountain's kind of a sketchy place to visit. After exiting the highway, I had to drive south for a couple more miles which took me right through the 'hood, where the hyper blue Mini stuck out like a sore thumb amongst aging Silverados feathering the throttle to save gas.

I arrived at the actual park behind a late model Camry SE with a smashed-in front end and a hanging mirror, not to mention that it was absolutely covered in bird ****. In the front seat were two homies pulling a gangsta lean, but to my surprise they took the tighter corners at respectable pace. We eventually caught up to a MKIV Jetta going a bit slower, but still making decent pace. The entire time we went up (it's about six miles), only one car came down the opposite direction. Eventually we came to a fork in the road, the Jetta going right and the Camry going left; I decided that I'd rather take a chance with the Jetta and followed them another mile or two to a parking lot. Upon arriving at the parking lot, we were the only two cars there; I stuck around long enough to take a drink and look at the scenery, then left before anything bad could happen. I retraced my route down the road but took a right, which lead me to an empty parking lot. Not hearing any animals or seeing anyone around, I got out and took a couple of pictures.

I got back in the hyper blue hatchback, which had made a competent traveling companion thus far. It tackled the tightest of corners with ease, though the automatic got a bit confused on some of the hills and downshifted a bit too early. Precise steering inputs and minimal body lean allowed me to fly through the bends with confidence, with the brakes easily scrubbing away excess speed. The roads were rather narrow which made passing by oncoming cars a bit nerve-wracking, though that's somewhat expected when you're the smaller car every time. I backtracked down the mountain, this time taking the wrecked Camry's route, which led me up to a parking lot that was thankfully heavily populated. There were a few homies, but there were also enough women and children that it felt fine to me.

Since my water bottle was becoming a bit light, I decided it was time to head out and came down the mountain, a journey during which I finally saw other folks who'd came there for the road: a red crotch rocket and a red AP2 S2000 piloted by two grim-looking women. I took another picture halfway down the mountain, then got in and drove back through the 'hood to the highway, where I proceeded to drive right past the correct onramp and spent ten minutes on an unfamiliar highway to retrace my steps. Eventually I found the way and returned home with about 75 miles added to the Mini's odometer.

Getting on the highway in the 'hood and not getting off until you're in one of the nicest, cleanest parts of town is a weird feeling.

 

[ildd]

That last picture though lordy I might just have to you know what*





*Move to a scenic place and buy a real camera because suburbia etc etc sucks no scenic places etc

As for the BMW, is it getting replaced at the dealership or at a local shop?

 

[Doog]

As for the BMW, is it getting replaced at the dealership or at a local shop?

My mom's friend's brother is a retired mechanic, and he had some dental work done at my parents' dental office but still owes them some cash. So instead of paying, he's gonna install the transmission with my dad's help (because he lifts) at an independent shop on the other side of town.

 

[ildd]

My mom's friend's brother is a retired mechanic, and he had some dental work done at my parents' dental office but still owes them some cash. So instead of paying, he's gonna install the transmission with my dad's help (because he lifts) at an independent shop on the other side of town.

That's a little sketchier than what I was expecting but OK. Good Luck.

 

[Doog]

After seven weeks of not darkening its door-sill, the BMW is finally in a driveable state. The transmission (a rebuilt unit) was originally slated to be installed two weeks ago, but somehow the folks sent the transmission for a FWD car! After another two weeks for them to send the right transmission, it was installed without any issues yesterday. It was unknown whether the torque converter or the entire transmission caused the problem, and the only way to know is to pull the transmission out. The culprit ended up being the torque converter (the second one the car's had, the first was replaced under a recall, evidently), but a new transmission's always good to have. The drive home was uneventful, although I watched a BMW brother sister (it was a nice-looking chick) get cut off by some Texans in a Honda Odyssey. Watching that black E46 tailgate the Odyssey hard for the next mile gave me my fill of road justice for the day, but unfortunately she wasn't the only BMW to be cut off. Later on, I was moving into the middle lane from the left with my signal on, when I looked back to see a new A4 with no signals also moving in from the other lane. The twenty seconds of horn-laying that ensued surely let everyone else know that I was a nut.

The folks at the shop were nice enough to give the Bimmer a place to slumber, although it spent the days outside. Unfortunately, we've had a couple of haboobs during that time, but the car wasn't too bad. Still, the car was rather dirty.

Needless to say, the Bimmer received a shower, in horrid 99 degree (37 celsius), humid weather conditions.

Not pictured: some pieces of crap in a new-edge Mustang who peeled out to my left and drifted out of the lot. I did, however, get a new driving line to follow when leaving this gas station.

It's good to be back.

 

[Doog]

The BMW is running excellently. The transmission shifts smoother and is more responsive than the last, which wasn't rough or unresponsive at all. Got the itch to take some photos of my car and spent the morning looking up places to do so, but I concluded that the urban stuff I wanted would probably be too busy, because weekdays and such. So I headed back to the south side of town to the appropriately-named South Mountain just before rush hour. South Mountain Village was bustling with battered, slow-moving pickups as usual. The time being just past five, hikers and bikers and such had not yet arrived at the mountains to...hike and bike after work, I guess. This meant that other than a GMC Acadia with an atrocious New Mexico plate (teal? wtf?) and a weird Nissan Maxima that thought it was yielding to me by stopping slightly over the lane, traffic was pretty sparse on the way up. Thankfully, I did not encounter any oncoming traffic (well, the Maxima was, but it was stopped, so...), but I was taking it easy regardless. Shoving a normal-sized car through the relatively narrow, twisty roads up the mountain, lined with rocks, guardrails and scratchy bushes, is nowhere nearly as confidence-inspiring as it would be in a hot hatch.

McMansions on the fringe.

In case you forgot where the exit of this tiny parking lot was.

Welcome to Phoenix.

inb4 @Katiegan brings lectures and parking tickets. inb4 everyone else says "LOL BMW PARKING OVER THE LINE WHAT A RICH ASSHOLE."

I should replace that discolored black panel.

THUG LYFE.

gotta go faste (seriously, he was hauling ass)!

gotta go faste(r)

Nothing too notable happened while coming down the mountain, although gravity did its best to make it much more involving than the drive up. The drive through the 'hood was highlighted by some idiot in a Chevy Colarado tapping his brakes for every parking lot until he found the right one, and a construction zone that was not there two hours prior! Overall it was a good drive, and the BMW appears to be running well.

 

[Swara]

Nice ride, Doog! BMW's have a unique drive 👍

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Arizona is so beautiful. Brings back memories of my visit to Phoenix, Sedona, and Flagstaff years ago. Thanks for sharing the pics and great to hear your BMW is running really well.

 

[Crash]

Just gotta say, yay, it's back on the road!

 

[mohammadsen]

I love your car doog. Amazing pictures as well and congrats for getting it back on the road.

 

[Doog]

Now here's a drive I've been wanting to go on for a while: Bartlett Lake. Roughly 35 miles away, it takes about an hour to get to since there's no full-fledged highways near it, and the speed limit varies a lot when you get to the Tonto National Forest. The final stretch to the lake itself (about ten miles, I think) is a favorite for Phoenix-area bikers, and apparently bikers exclusively, as I didn't see any other cars an enthusiast would drive. Having heard about police activity on the road, I kept it near the speed limit. Luckily, the police - who were driving scarily discreet Ford Expeditions and Explorers (you can usually tell undercover vehicles because they're base models, but these weren't) - had already pulled over an unlucky 1-Series Cabrio and Saturn Aura on opposite sides of the road; a double-whammy. The road had a rather jittery surface, weird since it was new asphalt, but it was still a pleasure to drive on. Classic rap - the only station that was getting clear reception in the mountains - didn't quite go with the scenery and driving style, but minimal traffic made it enjoyable.

After reaching the end of the road, I backtracked a bit and turned off onto a different road, beginning with an electronic sign warning of debris on the road, and boy was it right. Unlike the main road to the lake, this one went through a rather sandy area, with large piles of sand lining the sides of the road, having been blown about from the past week's stormy weather. The sand wasn't exclusively in the piles, however - quite a bit of it was still on the road, like so:

This was in the parking lot; the road to here was a good deal curvier and desert-ier.

Luckily, most of it was exclusively sand with minimal rocks and actual debris, although I did have to slow down and drive around some of the rough stuff. Today I learned that driving through sand at speed is somewhat interesting; I could actually feel the car's position on the road shift slightly. Nothing to incite alarm, but it was an interesting feeling. I think this sandy road was about five miles long, and my car'd gotten a bit dusty by the end of it:

It's worth noting that despite still being a ways a way from the lake, I could see it clearly from this little perch and could definitely hear the boats. The boats were pretty entertaining to listen to, seeing that most sounded like muscle cars at the drag strip. It was as if an amphibious Plymouth Roadrunner was tearing up the seas. The scenery around the lake is quite nice, although the lake is rather polluted in places. That said, the weather (90 degrees F/32 degrees C) was breezy and very hospitable. Thankfully, the only creatures I saw were small insects and a very quick lizard.

Damn green desert sticks!

rip in peace big-ass bug 2k14-2k14 (1 like = 1 flap of its spiritual wings) </3

Oh yeah, took some pictures of both of the baes a couple days ago:

Good drive!

 

[Katiegan]

You better keep an eye on that Freelander...

 

[Doog]

Another drive I've been wanting to go on: Canyon Lake. Similar to Bartlett Lake, Canyon Lake is, well, a lake in the desert. Whereas Bartlett is solidly northeast of the valley, Canyon Lake is situated to the far east, past a fringey town called Apache Junction. From my house to the end of the canyon road (where it turned to dirt, screw that), it was roughly 70 miles. Certainly not a downside, seeing as I like long drives. After a longish highway drive that was interrupted when I exited to follow and photograph a Noble M400, I was in the desert and pretty much free to do whatever I wanted. Being 9:30am, the weekend boating crowd hadn't quite showed up yet, so the canyon road was mostly free of traffic.

If you continued onto the canyon road after it became dirt, you'd eventually wind up at Roosevelt Lake.

For the first several miles in the canyon, the asphalt quality was just as trashy as it looks, so I took it easy. Always a good idea when there's lots of blind corners, of course. This part wasn't too interesting since you couldn't really go fast for fear of seriously abusing your car over the rough pavement, and getting stuck behind sightseers. Because it's in the best interests of my organs to not be jostled around, I happily pulled off at the next opportunity to get out and take some pictures. An extraordinarily white trash family yelling at each other while loading into a Chevy Express certainly took away from the ambiance, but the scenery was nice.

Back on the canyon road, prehistoric asphalt quality and desert foliage lining the road continued to limit the good times, although the former would soon change.

A cautious trip over an amazingly beat-up stretch of pavement appeared to be the gateway to fun times, as the roads quickly improved thereafter. Blind corners gave way to long sweepers with excellent visibility, and choppy pavement transitioned into tarmac as smooth as a squeaker's face. Because actually being able to see ahead of you instills confidence, the speed became to climb, and the suspension started to receive a workout. Just as I dived through the first corner, I looked in the rear-view to see a sheriff's Expedition parked off the road! Luckily, he must've been busy, as he wasn't facing the road, and he didn't do anything after I passed.

The road continued to improve, and I sliced and diced each corner up the mountain; the speed continued to build. Disclosure - Latch came onto the radio (a sure sign of a good time), which served as a great conclusion to the uphill portion of the drive. The road abruptly turned to dirt, necessitating a u-turn to continue chooching down the mountain... or so I thought. Roughly halfway down the nicest portion of road, I saw the same sheriff's Expedition coming towards me! Behind him was an F350 in similar garb, and both were hauling ass. As they passed me, the F350 turned on its lights. Luckily, they weren't looking to bust any gray sedans. After that I took it easy and drove home, a drive in which I gained a big 'ole rock chip in my windshield (two in two weeks!), and had to take a detour from a detour off the highway because the police were having a little pow-wow in the middle of the road in front of some shops. Maybe someone got robbed, who knows. Overall, though, it was a fun drive and I'd go on it again.

Having not washed in two whole weeks, I quickly got down to business in correcting my car's dirty state.

Someone (not me, of course) should totally investigate that weed situation.

I swear, half of my seat-time in the Lexus comes from moving it in and out of the garage.

That Volvo's parked like a boss-ass bitch.

An interesting occurance, I was lurking on Craplist about a week or two ago when I saw a picture of my car in an ad! It wasn't one of my photos, though, but rather the same one used in the ad for my car in December. Clicking on it revealed that the previous owner of my E39 was trying to sell his next E39... with the pictures of mine... that did not match the description of his car at all. *sigh*

Edit: forgot to mention that I decided to park my car with the others at the weekly car show (usually I just park somewhere off in the distance because who wants to see a gray E39 every week) tonight.

Some guy said "are you serious" as I backed in.

 

[Tornado]

At least its not like the baby boomers around here who can't afford to just go buy a new Camaro and pretend that is car show worthy, so they just show up in their immaculate late 80s Devilles then act offended when people get confused.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

@Doog where do they usually hold the car shows now, and do they do it on Fridays or Saturdays? I use to go when I lived here but since I've moved back I haven't had time to look it up or ask around (until now since you brought it up). Also you should take some images near Roosevelt Dam if you haven't already.

 

[Doog]

At least its not like the baby boomers around here who can't afford to just go buy a new Camaro and pretend that is car show worthy, so they just show up in their immaculate late 80s Devilles then act offended when people get confused.

That's happened more than a few times! Typically, the boomers stick to their side on the south end of the lot - it's divided down the center, south being boomer stuff and the north being everything else - which means that there's always an abundance of stock C6s to ogle. Needless to say, I don't spend too much time on that side.

@Doog where do they usually hold the car shows now, and do they do it on Fridays or Saturdays? I use to go when I lived here but since I've moved back I haven't had time to look it up or ask around (until now since you brought it up). Also you should take some images near Roosevelt Dam if you haven't already.

The car shows happen at the Scottsdale Pavilions (Indian Bend and the 101, pretty close to the exit) on Saturday evenings. Come early if you wanna check out the punctual baby boomers, come after dark if you wanna see the cool stuff. There's also a Cars & Coffee on the first Saturday morning of each month at the Shops Gainey Village. I'll have to plan a separate trip to Roosevelt - haven't checked it out in-depth, so I don't know of any routes besides that dirt road - though.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

The car shows happen at the Scottsdale Pavilions (Indian Bend and the 101, pretty close to the exit) on Saturday evenings. Come early if you wanna check out the punctual baby boomers, come after dark if you wanna see the cool stuff. There's also a Cars & Coffee on the first Saturday morning of each month at the Shops Gainey Village. I'll have to plan a separate trip to Roosevelt - haven't checked it out in-depth, so I don't know of any routes besides that dirt road - though.

Thanks when I get a break from school that isn't a few hours to watch a part of a race and come on here I'll go. Since I live in Tempe off the 101 it isn't all that for of a drive for me. As for Roosevelt I don't remember how to get to it it's been about 12 years since I last took a trip there, I've been everywhere in Arizona and the only places I can tell you to get to are Oatman and Bisbee and the Hoover Dam

 

[motortrend]

Don't mind the comments, you probably have the cleanest car there

 

[Doog]

Re-found the ad I was talking about, if anyone cares. Those were the same pics used in the ad I saw in December that led to me getting the car.

 

[Doog]

So I decided that I wanted a wood-trimmed steering wheel a couple weeks ago, but some research confirmed that there was no option for a wheel with my car's vavona wood trim. I happened to be watching a video on a Russian 525d when I noticed that his wood trim (and wheel) looked pretty nice. I posed a question to Bimmerfest about wood-trimmed steering wheels when another member pointed me towards a set that he had for sale. Sure enough, it was the same trim as in the Russian E39: Muschelahorn. The deal was done quickly, and the parts arrived at my doorstep just two days later. I attempted tackling the trim pieces myself that weekend, but BMW must have put them in there like they meant it. For fear of breaking the trim, I decided to let the professionals do it.

So after the installation today, the trim looks pretty good!

Because I was testing out my new tripod that shipped today, I took some general photos of the rest of the car. Lucky for me, the vacant lakeside bank I decided to visit was occupied by an E92 M3.

 

[Crash]

More and brighter pictures of the wood!

 

[Doog]

More and brighter pictures of the wood!

Yeah, I would've liked to have taken more pictures of the wood at the time. It took a good while to correctly set up the tripod for different angles, but what really would've helped is if the wireless remote I'd also ordered came today. Maybe they put it in with the mail, who knows. All I know is that I wasn't too good at releasing the shutter button without moving the camera slightly and ruining the photo. Since it was sunset, I opted to get what good pictures I could instead of potentially missing the time slot while trying to figure out how to set the timer.

Basically, excuses!

 

[Doog]

 

[motortrend]

Wood looks great, I really like the feel of a wood steering wheel, makes the car feel more luxurious.

 

[Doog]

It's been a little while! Haven't really done anything in my car noteworthy enough to warrant a post here, although there was an incident last month where the alternator and water pump took a crap while I was in a drive-thru, which was kind of embarrassing. The car was towed to the shop and requested for another $1k to be thrown its way, making this a rather expensive car to maintain this year! After that, it ran without fault.

Today I decided to drive to a road called Vulture Mine Road, a longer road (~30 miles I believe) west of Phoenix, out in the sticks. It starts in a 'town' (I didn't see much other than a gas station and travel shop) called Tonopah and ends in Wickenburg. I got in my car to see that the Check Engine Light was on! I hadn't seen it since the last repair. I wasn't too interested in taking the Lexus or Mini to the desert, so I went anyways. The drive was just the kind I like - 60 miles of highway going through downtown, the suburbs, the fringes and eventually a whole lot of dirt. I exited at 335th Avenue (christ alive) and headed to Vulture Mine Road. My companions on the road were a smattering of trucks, some big rigs and a couple motorcycles. I should note, though, that I wasn't driving with them, but rather they were all oncoming traffic. This was a typical two lane desert road.

I've only put about 8,000 miles on the car. It'd be higher if I didn't drive the Lexus on a regular basis.

The majority of this road is straight, but as you near Wickenburg, there's some nice scenery and curves. After I passed the 'cattle guards' (no idea what their purpose is, they're just grates in the road), I felt comfortable enough to do some uh... scientific tests. The next couple miles passed by... quickly. I cruised through a couple casual curves, then conducted another study. Suddenly, I heard a pop from under my car! I looked back to see a black object flying out from behind my car. The driveability had not been affected, but I was now hearing a slapslapslapslap. I cautiously pulled over to take a look, expecting to be missing a plastic bit from under the car. Instead, the result was a bit worse. I hadn't suffered a blowout (nor was the incident nearly as dangerous as that), but there was a line of rubber hanging off the inside of the driver's tire.

Everything went better than expected.

At this point, I was some 80 miles away from home. It wasn't exactly an option to get a tow, so at my mom's advisement over the phone, I started driving home (carefully). The slapslapslapslapslap didn't seem to vary in intensity, which I was worried about, in case it lead to a blowout. As I neared the I-10 freeway, the slapping stopped - RIP that bit of tread. Still, my driveability was not affected. The drive home went without fault, and I met my mom at the tire shop. Thankfully, I'd recently researched tires and decided on some Continental Extreme Contact DWs, so at least I got something accomplished that I was looking forward to.

The Continentals were installed that afternoon, and what a difference they made. I always figured my car's heavy steering was characteristic to older BMWs - but to my surprise, it was a good deal lighter, but with no detriment to precision. The car is so stable at highway speeds, and it really sticks to the road when cornering. Another plus, the steering is no longer influenced by the cracks in the road - you point it straight, and it goes straight. Overall, I'm pretty happy about the upgrade. I have no regrets about the drive, but I'll be retrying it soon.

Also, I finally got a job, which is always good.