2018
For April Fools day, Kennan had the great idea to film an E39Source Intro- in the voice and grandeur of US President Donald J. Tump. You have to see this video!
Kennan filming Trump’s intro with my M5.
The April Fools video was a HUUUUGGEE success.
For the summer of 2018, I added the Rogue Engineering Diablo resonated x-pipe to my exhaust setup, which now features stock headers and cats, the Rogue x-pipe, and the 4x76mm Eisenmann Race mufflers. I love this sound and have no future plans to further change it. It has a great low-RPM sound, and screams like a Ferrari in the upper ranges. When driven tamely, it draws very little attention to itself too. The perfect setup! In May, I did some more basic maintenance: a brake fluid flush, e-box blower fan motor, and fresh center exhaust bushings to go with the new x-pipe.
Rogue x-pipe
X-pipe installed.
Timmayfest this year was different. Instead of being in Columbus, Ohio, it was shifted to Pittsburgh! We had just as much fun.
August, 2018
By August, I had done another good Zaino detail and was ready for a photoshoot! The majority of cosmetic improvements are now done. I am proud of how this car presents itself at 196k miles.
Finally seeing my move to California coming up, I did some last minute work to my M5. Driving in San Diego is vastly different than Ohio, you use a highway everywhere you go. My front bumper and headlights were still in excellent condition, so I wanted to have film applied to them before it was too late. This kind of labor is cheaper in Ohio, so I had a local shop install XPEL Ultimate Plus film on the headlights, front bumper, exterior door handles, and the mirrors. The hood was beyond caring about, due to the last 50k miles of stone chips. I’ll repaint it again someday, and film it then.
California doesn’t offer 93 octane fuel, so my 93 octane Shark tune had to go. I opted to re-tune it with the 91 octane version of the same tune. I don’t notice a difference.
DME box (box fan is under all of that.)
Days before loading the car onto a truck, I decided to replace the hood latches and cables. My latches on the core support had been rusty for a while, and was one of the few remaining visual detractors on the car. The rusty latches also required more force to operate them, which meant my hood cables required replacement again. I decided to rebuild the entire system, latches, cables, handle and all. It’s now butter smooth!
Old rusty hood latch.
Hood release cable, old and new. The rusty latches were over-stressing these cables.
One of the final drives on Ohio roads. Hi Joe 😀
September, 2018
It’s time to ship my M5 to California. It’s a moment I had been dreaming of for years. But, in the moment, it was bitter sweet. Near the end, all of the memories of the beginning come back. I learned to drive in this car. I learned to drive manual in this car. I learned to work on cars on this car. I made 2/3s of my friends through this car. All here, in the midwestern town Hudson, Ohio. Sending it 2,500 miles away was hard, especially since it had to leave 3 days before I did. Picking a shipping carrier was also very challenging, since there are horror stories for every shipping company that exists, right next to the 5 start reviews. I settled on Bear’s transport, and couldn’t be happier.
September 27th, 2018. Loading up.
I got lucky! My M5 was on top, all of the way in the front of the truck. It wouldn’t be touched or moved until delivery.
October, 2018
Delivery in San Diego happened smoothly on October 1st, 3 days before my arrival. I had my new neighbor take delivery of the car. Upon arriving a few days later, I was thrilled to see that it had not suffered any damage during the transport.
October – December, 2018
Having my M5 in California was surreal. I had dreamed about having it here for many years. The smooth roads, wide highways, Pacific Coast highway, mountains, switch-backs, desert roads, etc. Photos of my first months in California:
Swapping in the West disk!
Rancho Santa Fe cars and coffee, with Nate Jones and his 530i!
199,000 miles. October 8th, 2018.
If you can’t tell, we like M5s.
E39 and F90 M5. Why it continues to grow 10% each year, I’ll never know.
Silverstone pops under San Diego’s blue skies!
La Jolla
La Jolla
My M5 had tint installed by the previous owner back in 2005. It was a ~40% non-ceramic tint made by Llumar. I am very thankful that Dave installed tint, because in with Ohio’s relative lack of sunshine, it helped preserve my interior from the sun’s harmful UV rays. I wanted a more modern ceramic tint, and a fresh install now that the car is in California. The old tint had some vertical scratches on the driver’s front window that were starting to bother to me. In October, I did research and determine the Formula One Stratos tint from Llumar to be among the best on the market. I did 35% on all of the side windows and rear window. I elected not to do the windshield at this time, since this windshield is fairly chipped up. I’ll replace it eventually and film the front glass at that time, along with the sunroof- perhaps.
Llumar Formula One Stratos 35% tint
My driver’s side lower cabin air filter box had some cracked plastic. This will not stand. I replaced the lower box, the hood sensor, and filters.
Fresh lower cabin box, cabin air filters, and hood sensor.
Here in California, I have made some new friends! Dmitriy’s 2000 M5 is on the right, mine is on the left (top photo, reversed in bottom). His M5 is one month newer than mine, and optioned identically. His is 100% stock and original, and pre-facelift. It’s a great example of what my car used to look like!
December, 2018
I drove the 200,000th mile on my M5 at 7:15am on December 22nd, 2018. It was a biblical experience, driving during sunrise through San Diego. Here are a few photos taken near downtown that morning.
Harbor Island, San Diego skyline.
The USS Midway.
200,000 miles.
2018 Summary:
Rogue Engineering Diablo resonated x-pipe
Brake fluid flush
Center exhaust hanger bushings
E-box blower fan
Re-tune to Shark 91 octane, SAI delete, Euro throttle
Hood latches, cables
XPEL Ultimate plus film on headlights, mirrors, front bumper, door handles
Shipped to San Diego, California
Llumar Formula One Stratos window tint
Driver’s side cabin box housing
Front passenger’s door lock actuator
200,000 miles!