Home of the 5-series BMW

Introduction

(that's me in the car in the middle)

"Each machine has its own, unique personality which probably could be defined as the intuitive sum total of everything you know and feel about it. This personality constantly changes, usually for the worse, but sometimes surprisingly for the better... The new ones start out as good-looking strangers and, depending on how they are treated, degenerate rapidly into bad-acting grouches or even cripples, or else turn into healthy, good-natured, long-lasting friends."

Robert M. Pirsig
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This web page continues to exist in order to share the good information that I have learned from the best BMW mechanics and the most devoted BMW enthusiasts from all over the world. It's a good way for me to give back to the people that have helped me over the years. I have also owned a few different BMWs from which I draw my knowledge, Here, I include general articles I've written about BMWs, and some articles on the 5-series model. There are also a few articles written with the help of other BMW fans.

Articles about BMWs

Here are some articles I have written as I continue on my journey in Zen and the Art of BMW maintenance:

Review of the New BMW 2004 5-series, after two fun-filled weeks in Germany, at the IAA 2003, and at the Nürburgring. BMWs at the IAA 2003, Germany's premier Car Show in Frankfurt in September 2003. The BMW Brake FAQ, discussing years of BMW research to perfect the most important subsystem in our BMW. Flushing Your BMW Brakes, an article discussing the annual maintenance you can perform to prolong the life of the system, and a clever bleeder pressure kit, designed by two fellow enthusiasts.

• BMWs Ice Racing on Newfound Lake, including photos from the 2002 Ice Racing Season.
• Renting a BMW in Europe, for anyone, from any country, that wishes to rent a BMW in Europe and experience the best highways in the world. Don't leave home without it!
• The Bon Ami FAQ, explaining how to care for your BMW windshield, including a BMW service bulletin about Bon Ami, a product to deep clean a windshield.
• Tags and The BMW Mailing List, where I discuss a popular method for posting to the BMW Mailing List that makes it more efficient for many readers.

Articles about E28s (1982-1988 5-series BMWs)

The E28 5-series existed from 1982 to 1988. It included the 518, 520i, 525i, 528e, 533i, 535i, 524td, and M5. These cars were excellent value for the money, if you could find one that wasn't abused or neglected. I have performed most repairs and maintenance on the ones I own, and I've written some articles on how best to take care of these cars. With careful maintenance, they'll not just last for well in excess of 200000 miles (I have over 500000 miles on two of them, collectively), they'll become reliable companions that you can race with and attend driving schools with.

• E28: Replacing Lower Control Arms, where I discuss a foolproof procedure for replacing these components in your suspension.
• E28: Fixing the Electric Headrests, courtesy of Don Eilenberger.

Links to Other BMW Sites

Long before the Internet was a household word, some computer people who happened to be BMW fanatics joined together to use the resources of the Internet to seek help on their car problems and share solutions they had developed. Predominantly do-it-yourself BMW mechanics, most of us had Internet connections due to the kindness of our employers. Around 1988, Richard Welty, an SCCA enthusiast, set up the BMW Internet Mailing list. Friends and relatives found it amazing that I could be at home using a computer to ask a BMW-related question, and within days, or sometimes hours, get valuable answers and solutions... for FREE!

As time passed, many people found out about the mailing list and subscribed. Jim Shank and Jon Saperia created "The BMW Web page" (still long before the World Wide Web was popular) to collect the good information from the mailing list into one place. They included answers to oft repeated questions. With this, BMW enthusiasts could scan through a database of information about BMWs and keep the mailing list fresh for new questions. This helped a great deal, for awhile. This page eventually was closed, and the closest replacement has been The Unofficial BMW Page, which hosts much of the best BMW content available on the Internet.

As we are now in a new millennium, the World Wide Web had undergone dramatic change. While the original BMW mailing list is still in existence, smaller, members' only lists, like the E30 M3 list at Filippo Morelli's bimmers.com have blossomed. In the web today, there is so much information floating around, it has become exponentially more difficult to find the useful, and eliminate the chatter and spam. If you need more help with a BMW, start looking at Ben Liaw's BIG BMW Links page.