The BMW UUC Digest 
Volume 3 : Issue 410 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
  Re: CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
  Re: CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
  buying a 3-series touring
  Big Brother is watching
  Re: Big Brother is watching
  Re: Big Brother is watching
  Re: Big Brother is watching
  Re: Big Brother is watching
  E34 touring rear headests

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:50:34 -0500
From: Ed MacVaugh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


Female colleague in the office has an E46 325i sedan that I encouraged 
her to purchase used with a CPO warranty from the local dealer.

She just came by my house at midnight with what looks like a sticking 
right front caliper. Wheel is too hot to touch, let alone the rotor 
where the left front is cold and I can touch the rotor with my fingertips.

Squeals going forward, is silent going in reverse. plenty of pad visible 
on the outside pads on each front wheel.

Car has 65K on it, well within warranty.

Are brakes covered under that warranty? Will they try to sell her pads 
and rotors at high cost to make up the cost of the caliper pin or 
whatever is making the caliper stick?

She might have driven on it long enough to crack the rotor, what effect, 
then?

TIA,

Ed

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:00:44 -0600
From: "Jamie Howton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Ed MacVaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> Female colleague in the office has an E46 325i sedan that I encouraged
> her to purchase used with a CPO warranty from the local dealer.
>
> She just came by my house at midnight with what looks like a sticking
> right front caliper. Wheel is too hot to touch, let alone the rotor
> where the left front is cold and I can touch the rotor with my fingertips.

It sounds like a stuck caliper to me.  If the car is still CPO'd it
should be covered, including any other damage that may have been
caused by the sticking caliper such as rotors and/or pads.  I had two
sticking front brake calipers replaced on my 00 M5 under CPO with no
issues at all.

Regards

Jamie Howton
06 M Roadster
04 645Ci
95 M3

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:37:18 -0800
From: "Brad Houser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Ed MacVaugh'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[email protected]>,
        <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Brakes are covered, not the pads. There should have been 5mm of pad left
based on the CPO checklist, so if there isn't she shouldn't have to pay if
the wear was caused by the stuck caliper.

http://www.bmwusa.com/cpo/benefits/warranty

--
Brad Houser


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:bmwuucdigest-
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ed MacVaugh
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:51 PM
> To: [email protected]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [UUC] CPO Question <E46> sedan brakes
> 
> 
> Female colleague in the office has an E46 325i sedan that I encouraged
> her to purchase used with a CPO warranty from the local dealer.
> 
> She just came by my house at midnight with what looks like a sticking
> right front caliper. Wheel is too hot to touch, let alone the rotor
> where the left front is cold and I can touch the rotor with my
> fingertips.
> 
> Squeals going forward, is silent going in reverse. plenty of pad
> visible
> on the outside pads on each front wheel.
> 
> Car has 65K on it, well within warranty.
> 
> Are brakes covered under that warranty? Will they try to sell her pads
> and rotors at high cost to make up the cost of the caliper pin or
> whatever is making the caliper stick?
> 
> She might have driven on it long enough to crack the rotor, what
> effect,
> then?
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Ed


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:44:31 -0500
From: "Jason Kay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: UUC Digest <[email protected]>
Subject: buying a 3-series touring
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Hello mighty list,

Bambi is on her last legs (the head gasket is starting to leak and the torque 
converter is starting to slip... at 173,xxx miles.

So I was starting to look at E46 Tourings, with a manual, preferably w/ sport 
package, and possibly as an ix... other than actually finding one on the dealer 
lot, what else should I look for (besides CPO)... are there any good FAQs or 
buyers guides out there? 
What are known weak points?...

TIA! 

-Jason
'86 951 "Sparky"
'70 240Z "Dusty"
'97 Contour "Bambi"
'03 325xi "Daisy"


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:50:51 -0600
From: Clarence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: UUC Digest <[email protected]>
Subject: Big Brother is watching
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Given the recent thread on speeding, thought I would pass this along. 
American Family Insurance is offering free in-car cameras for families 
with a teen driver, free for a year.  The article refers to a 
'triggering event' such as hard cornering or abrupt stop, yet a it goes 
on to state that it caught one of the participants doing rolling stops.....

Who sets the parameters for the triggering event?  Will my BMW's 
cornering speed be dictated by data input for a Chevy Suburban boat?

Using the data in a lawsuit is likely.  Imagine the historical data that 
could be amassed and then used against a driver in a lawsuit.

OBMWC:  when I viewed the page, there was an ad from BMW.  :-)

Clarence - insured by........American Family
West Bend, WI


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=571405

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:00:55 -0500
From: Dennis Liu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Clarence'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
        "'UUC Digest'" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Big Brother is watching
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Hey, I'm as paranoid and libertarian as the next guy, if not more so.  I
absolutely abhor the idea of stop light cameras, etc.

BUT. 

Let's consider this.

We all seem to freak out at the though of police and insurance companies
accessing black box data in our cars, post-accident.

Why is that?

Is that because, generally, we all speed and violate other laws, and don't
want to get busted for it?  (I'll be the first to raise my hand.)

Consider the other point of view.  Wouldn't you WANT to have black box data
available to SUPPORT you, if you did not cause the accident?  Wouldn't it be
great if the data, or the in car camera, clearly showed that the OTHER party
was at fault?

These things cut BOTH WAYS.

Similarly:

Many of us have life and health insurance, right?  We pay LESS in premiums
if we are not smokers.  Why?  Because smokers tend to cost a lot of money to
insure (both life and health).  And because insurance companies can
SEGREGATE smokers into a different risk category, and charge them a higher
premium, NON-SMOKERS can save on their premiums.  When you get down to it,
this is how insurance works.

With car insurance, premiums are predicated on a number of factors, the
biggest ones being past record and age (read as: experience).  But these are
not particularly granular; drivers are lumped into broad categories, and
charged accordingly.  If insurance companies had a tool for better
segmentation, then the safest drivers among us would be paying LESS.

That's why at least one company has offered an OPTIONAL deal:  allow us to
install a special black box in your car, that measures a bunch of driving
data.  If this data shows that you are especially safe, you get a giant
discount on your insurance.

Seems reasonable to me -- even though, admittedly, if I had such a box, my
premiums may well be much higher.

Everyone, while we all have knee-jerk reactions sometimes, take a moment and
think about things from the other point of view....  Just my $0.02.

Vty,

--Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Clarence
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 10:51 AM
To: UUC Digest
Subject: [UUC] Big Brother is watching

Given the recent thread on speeding, thought I would pass this along. 
American Family Insurance is offering free in-car cameras for families with
a teen driver, free for a year.  The article refers to a 'triggering event'
such as hard cornering or abrupt stop, yet a it goes on to state that it
caught one of the participants doing rolling stops.....

Who sets the parameters for the triggering event?  Will my BMW's cornering
speed be dictated by data input for a Chevy Suburban boat?

Using the data in a lawsuit is likely.  Imagine the historical data that
could be amassed and then used against a driver in a lawsuit.

OBMWC:  when I viewed the page, there was an ad from BMW.  :-)

Clarence - insured by........American Family West Bend, WI


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=571405
Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]


__________________________________________________________________________
In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA.

UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate Short
Shifter - accept no substitutes!
908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:45:30 -0600
From: "Dennis Wynne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Clarence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "UUC Digest" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Big Brother is watching
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Sounds like the DriveCam to me:

http://www.drivecam.com/

A couple of years ago I saw the documentary that is mentioned here:

http://www.cptv.org/local/special/TeensWheel.asp

and tried to see about buying/renting a drivecam for my soon to be
teen drivers. It was not available at that time, but I could maybe get
in on the beta for $1,500 or so (ouch).

You fix the "black box" to the window glass and it has/had a front
camera that views the hood and road ahead as well as a driver's cam
that shows what the driver is doing. They also record the in car
audio.  What is does is continuously record the video and audio in a
first in, first out type buffer. Then if an "event" is triggered (too
high g' in any direction, with the threshold patent settable) it saves
off the video and audio for xx seconds BEFORE and after the trigger.
So in the event of a wreck, you get to see/hear the before, during,
and after.  Pretty clever stuff. You hook up a laptop to the USB port
on the black box and download all the events and watch/listen and plot
graphs and stuff.

The documentary was pretty eye opening showing the kids really being
bad drivers. One kid with a Mini was the worst (if you were his
parent), he would load it up and get "air" speeding over roads with
dips. That kid didn't have a wreck, but some of the others in the
documentary did - with the drivecam running.

They STILL do not have this available to the general public yet, but
it looks like they have gone to cell technology to upload the stuff
out of the black box. So it "phones home" and then you can log into a
web page and watch the vids and stuff.

I ended up putting a Davis "Car Chip" in the car. It plugs into the
OBDII port and records trips, engine load, speed, distance, g's
(acceleration and braking only), and other stuff.  They now have one
with an alarm beeper - so you set it for 0.25g or whatever and 70mph
or so and it beeps if that is exceeded rather than wait for the date
to be downloaded and then be fussed at.  Like the DriveCam it reports
if someone tampers or unplugs it.  So we would pull the chip from time
to time and run reports and check things out. These can be used to
pull codes and reset the CEL lights as well.

http://www.davisnet.com/drive/products/carchip_products.asp

There is another company that has a 4 axis version that you install
under the seat that works in a similar manner but can detect high g
turns as well.

If my insurance company offered me the DriveCam and I had teen
drivers, I would sign right up.

Dennis


On 2/28/07, Clarence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Given the recent thread on speeding, thought I would pass this along.
> American Family Insurance is offering free in-car cameras for families
> with a teen driver, free for a year.  The article refers to a
> 'triggering event' such as hard cornering or abrupt stop, yet a it goes
> on to state that it caught one of the participants doing rolling stops.....
>
> Who sets the parameters for the triggering event?  Will my BMW's
> cornering speed be dictated by data input for a Chevy Suburban boat?
>
> Using the data in a lawsuit is likely.  Imagine the historical data that
> could be amassed and then used against a driver in a lawsuit.
>
> OBMWC:  when I viewed the page, there was an ad from BMW.  :-)
>
> Clarence - insured by........American Family
> West Bend, WI
>
>
> http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=571405
> Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________________
> In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA.
>
> UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate
> Short Shifter - accept no substitutes!
> 908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com
>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:45:26 -0600
From: "Dennis Wynne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Big Brother is watching
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

I think my #1 question I would ask the insurance company is:

Do you have access to this data?

Do they see the videos and get the "report card" or just the parents
and the teen driver?  If the former, then I would be a little hesitant
to sign up since they could decide your teen is a "bad driver" based
on THEIR criteria and not yours.  If they really are just trying to
help, then they will not be looking - then it is between you and your
teen.

To answer Paul's concern (and yours), as shown on the documentary the
limits could be set. With this insurance tie and other changes in the
system over the last 2 years I could not say - you may have to use
their limits. As to "false alarms" - if your teen has to slam on the
brakes to avoid a car turning in front of them or running a light, the
camera should see this - remember you get 30 seconds (or so) BEFORE
the event and after. So your teen is cruising at 30mph and someone
turns in front of them, they trigger an event with a brake or swerve.
You see these - and congratulate your teen on a job well done. Now if
they are going 60 in a 30 and have to lock them up it is a different
story. Taking the on and off ramp and a higher rate (something I love
to do) would be forgiven by me - but maybe a "slow it down" warning,
while a high g turn like a bootlegger's turn at speed would not be.

You watch the video, see what happened before and after and what was
said.  If your teen as a car load of friends and they dare them to do
stuff - you hear it. If your teen says "watch this" and triggers an
event, you will hear them say it.

One of the humors parts of the documentary was about one of the teen
girl drivers. She did not wreck and did not speed much, but she took
corners "at speed" so she would set off the event trigger. Nothing
real bad, just did not slow down as much as "normal" for curves in the
road. One time when the download the data they watched the front cam
video and sure it enough, nothing but swerves setting it off. But when
they played back the in car video, it was HER FATHER driving the car!
Seems he need to run an errand and took her car - and he drove the
same, exact way. Clearly she "learned" that was proper from years
riding with her Dad.   I would hate to think what my kids learned from
riding with me (hiding head in shame) :-) .

Dennis

On 2/28/07, Peter Loron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Yeah, I was just reading this morning (WSJ? Not enough coffee yet) about
> the DriveCam and AmFam insurance. It is abhorrent, but as a parent also
> attractive. I know that _I_ pay more attention to obeying the rules when
> I think there's a cop around, etc. I can see how it would promote good
> behavior. Dunno what I'll do...although I've got abut 10 years to mull
> it over.
>
> I agree 100% with Paul K's post...basically there's little incentive for
> an insurance company to lower your rates. And they can set the criteria
> for being a "safe" driver arbitrarily low.
>
> Also, "driving events" that may be unsafe for my kids driving a Tahoe on
> all season tires in the rain may be perfectly safe for me in my M3 on
> dry roads. There would need to be universal recording of vehicle
> actions, conditions, etc and some kind of impartial judge (AI?) for that
> to really work fairly.
>
> -Pete
>
>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:42:26 -0800 (PST)
From: P Kroon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Clarence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
        UUC Digest <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Big Brother is watching
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Dennis,

Let me take the paranoid libertarian view devil view (which I'm admitted good 
at).  While your point is well taken (i.e., if you are a good driver, and the 
insurance company has data to support that, they will charge you less), a huge 
potential problem is that the decision is left to the insurance companies as to 
whether your driving is truly safe, and such a decision may be based on less 
than ideal data.  While allowing the insurance companies to determine 
parameters for "safe" driving may be reasonable since they are the ones 
insuring our risk factors, the paranoid libertarian in me says that very, very, 
very few people who would actually benefit from this.  It would be entirely too 
easy for the insurance companies to set "safe" driving criteria so low that, 
from a practical standpoint, only a miniscule number of people would meet the 
criteria.  Remember, "safe" is a relative term.  This would result in the 
perfect excuse to increase insurance premiums on the vast majority!
  of "safe" drivers. 

On top of this, there is no practical way to factor in many other variables 
which are just as (if not more) important to "safe" driving and the blackbox is 
likely to report inaccurate "unsafe" driving conditions.  For instance, there 
is no way for a black box to know that you suddenly stopped at an intersection 
(where you had the right of way) because you were alert enought to see that 
another driver (who may otherwise be driving "safe") didn't see you and pulled 
out in front of you.  To add insult to injury, your sudden braking to AVOID the 
accident may trigger an "unsafe" driving condition in the blackbox, thus 
actually penalizing you for avoiding the accident.   

There is no practical way for an individual to monitor and keep track of the 
"unsafe" driving alerts that the blackbox may record.

Just another perspective.

-Paul
95 M3




----- Original Message ----
From: Dennis Liu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Clarence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; UUC Digest <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 11:00:55 AM
Subject: Re: [UUC] Big Brother is watching


Hey, I'm as paranoid and libertarian as the next guy, if not more so.  I
absolutely abhor the idea of stop light cameras, etc.

BUT. 

Let's consider this.

We all seem to freak out at the though of police and insurance companies
accessing black box data in our cars, post-accident.

Why is that?

Is that because, generally, we all speed and violate other laws, and don't
want to get busted for it?  (I'll be the first to raise my hand.)

Consider the other point of view.  Wouldn't you WANT to have black box data
available to SUPPORT you, if you did not cause the accident?  Wouldn't it be
great if the data, or the in car camera, clearly showed that the OTHER party
was at fault?

These things cut BOTH WAYS.

Similarly:

Many of us have life and health insurance, right?  We pay LESS in premiums
if we are not smokers.  Why?  Because smokers tend to cost a lot of money to
insure (both life and health).  And because insurance companies can
SEGREGATE smokers into a different risk category, and charge them a higher
premium, NON-SMOKERS can save on their premiums.  When you get down to it,
this is how insurance works.

With car insurance, premiums are predicated on a number of factors, the
biggest ones being past record and age (read as: experience).  But these are
not particularly granular; drivers are lumped into broad categories, and
charged accordingly.  If insurance companies had a tool for better
segmentation, then the safest drivers among us would be paying LESS.

That's why at least one company has offered an OPTIONAL deal:  allow us to
install a special black box in your car, that measures a bunch of driving
data.  If this data shows that you are especially safe, you get a giant
discount on your insurance.

Seems reasonable to me -- even though, admittedly, if I had such a box, my
premiums may well be much higher.

Everyone, while we all have knee-jerk reactions sometimes, take a moment and
think about things from the other point of view....  Just my $0.02.

Vty,

--Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Clarence
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 10:51 AM
To: UUC Digest
Subject: [UUC] Big Brother is watching

Given the recent thread on speeding, thought I would pass this along. 
American Family Insurance is offering free in-car cameras for families with
a teen driver, free for a year.  The article refers to a 'triggering event'
such as hard cornering or abrupt stop, yet a it goes on to state that it
caught one of the participants doing rolling stops.....

Who sets the parameters for the triggering event?  Will my BMW's cornering
speed be dictated by data input for a Chevy Suburban boat?

Using the data in a lawsuit is likely.  Imagine the historical data that
could be amassed and then used against a driver in a lawsuit.

OBMWC:  when I viewed the page, there was an ad from BMW.  :-)

Clarence - insured by........American Family West Bend, WI


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=571405
Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]


__________________________________________________________________________
In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA.

UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate Short
Shifter - accept no substitutes!
908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com

Search the ARCHIVES:http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]


__________________________________________________________________________
In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA.

UUC Motorwerks - BMW Performance Fine-tuning and home of the Ultimate
Short Shifter - accept no substitutes!
908-874-9092 . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:34:54 -0500
From: "Gregory Bradbury" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: E34 touring rear headests
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

I'm going to retrofit rear headrests on my E34 touring, I managed to find 
sets at a yard in Switzerland when I was there earlier this month.  VERY 
simple to do, I'll do a write-up and part numbers for the small plastic bits 
(some $10-20 at a dealer).

The short benefit is that I have a spare set of rear headrests (three) 
surplus to my needs, in nice condition.  They are grey leather, so easy to 
redye to match your interior.  The covers remove easily (wrap and velcro), 
so you could also have redone by a local seat shop.

Drop me an email if you want the "how to" in advance of my article in 
bmwe34.net.

If you're interested in spare set of headrests, drop me an email.  BMW NA 
wants more than $120 each, I'd be happy with significantly less -- and help 
someone with a nice & easy project.


Gregory in Georgia



------------------------------

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