April - GGC BMW CCA

Mr. Procrastinator
By Twisted Rhodes
I’m a chronic procrastinator—have been for
years. There’s even a nasty rumor in my family that
I was born late. Of course I’m in denial... although
I have been meaning to write about this topic for
months now.
One of my excuses for not using procrastination
as a subject for a column has been the nagging
feeling that it would be more interesting if I could
somehow relate it to BMWs. Recently, two events
helped give me that tie-in. The first was the highperformance
driving school in March at Infineon
Raceway. Driving the M3 daily between work and
home is a continual reminder of how well BMWs
hold together, but pushing the car at Sears Point
brought to light repair/upgrade issues— the kind
of things Mr. Procrastinator loves to have a say in.
The second event was my odometer turning
over 110,000 miles, a point where upgrade-itis
rationalization gets into gear. I’ve never owned a
vehicle for this many miles. The previous record
was my 1995 Toyota Tacoma, which I still own,
with 89,000 miles on it. I bought it with the intent
to have it until I drove it into the ground. With
the M3, and now the X5, I’ve goen so spoiled
by BMW handling that I avoid driving the truck.
I kept telling my wife how much I want to sell it
and use the money for down payment on a Mini
Cooper S. She wanted me to keep it. Fine, it’s hers
now, and I’m still looking for a way to find enough
money for a decent down payment on the Mini.
Our five-gallon change jar is about 2/3 full of
change—that might buy me a wheel.
Now see, I just engaged of one of my procrastination
techniques for you—diverting aention
away from actually working on something… like
wandering from my subject. Now, back to procrastinating…oops,
I meant the topic of procrastination.
The two events made me realize that I have
a somewhat schizophrenic relationship with my
automobiles’ maintenance needs. Before I continue,
I must make it clear that I am not a neglectful
owner—I’m just not the concours type. Routine
stuff like oil changes, Inspection I and II, tire replacement,
wiper blades are done without hesitation.
Replacement of anything critical that fails
is done since “critical” typically implies “the car
no-worky.” However, if the items aren’t routine or
imperative in nature, Mr. Procrastinator takes over.
Those of you who actually read this column
might recall a few months back where I eschewed
upgrades for the car when it’s more cost-effective
to upgrade the driver (i.e. through a high-performance
driving school.) While my M3 feels prey
great even aer 110,000 miles, there’s no denying
it’s an old car with aging parts. Herein lays a source
of some internal conflict: I don’t see the point of
upgrading just for the sake of upgrading, but if I’m
going to plunk down serious cash on maintaining
this elderly high-performance car, why not make
it beer performing? (Is that conflict, hypocrisy, or
rationalization?) Yet my past history with replacing
parts may give you an idea how this procrastination
thing sprinkled with upgrade-itis works:
1. Suspension. Factory shocks were noticeably
worn out around 40,000 miles. I replaced them
at 80,000 miles with an H&R/Bilstein setup.
2. Engine. The stock oil-pan gasket started to
leak, so an M3 Lightweight oil pan was purchased
for replacement. It was installed two years later.
3. Radiator and hoses. Many people state that
anything over 50,000 miles on the stock radiator
is asking for trouble—I’ve been in trouble for over
60,000 miles. It was recently replaced with an aluminum
version that has 50% more capacity.
The paern is prey clear.
Now when Mr. Procrastinator takes a weekend
spin around a race track, that’s when it becomes
readily apparent that the parts that hadn’t proved
sufficiently dysfunctional for daily driving have
become roadblocks to fun on the track. Add into
the equation the 110,000 miles on the odo, and my
upgrade-itis rationalization kicks in—isn’t it beer
to replace the OEM part with a performance-oriented
upgrade?
Aer a few hot laps under heavy braking at
Infineon, the M3 started to exhibit signs of badly
warped rotors. But I had a similar problem once
before, and it turned out to be worn rear bushings
on the front lower control arm. That time I didn’t
get around to replacing the bushings until some
time later when they had become so badly worn
that light braking with cold rotors shook the wheel
from my hand. That’s how the car felt at Infineon.
A jack-up-the-car-and-push/pull-the-wheels-tosee-if-there-is-play
check showed that my original
lower control arm and wheel bearings were okay.
So that wasn’t the culprit—although I know I’ll
need to look into replacing these old original parts
soon—but hey, these parts don’t have sexy upgrade
possibilities, so they’re perfect candidates for procrastination!
Hmm, those OEM brake calipers could be the
cause of the vibration, they probably need a rebuild
aer so many years and miles. Let’s see, a big-brake
kit would be a prey cool performance upgrade.
But first I have to find an upgrade for the broken
dead pedal, which means I then have to replace
the busted tilt lever on the passenger seat with a
new seat, which will have to wait until I replace the
worn out driver’s seat, but before I can do that....
TwistedRhodes@ggc-bmw-cca.org
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