17' Wheels

EBay is your friend in times like this.

Do a search for BMW E90 RIMS. You will get OEM and aftermarket hits. You can narrow the search by specifying OEM and 17 INCH in your parameters. Since you live in snow country, you might find that your tire store has less costly steel rims to mount your snow tires on.

Well, if you can afford a second set of tires, and you need rims for them, then the sky is the limit.

I found some very nice E36 rims for my '94 325i convertible that came from a '95 M3 on eBay. I paid $600 for all five rims, put rubber on them, then wore the rubber off of 4 of them and bought a new set, and the cost for all of those tires (9) and rims (5) was less than 2 sets (8) of 15 inch tires for the rims that came stock on the car.

I would think that since your car is new, maybe the rim availability might be a bit slim for now, but there are always people out there that want to replace stock rims with 18s or 19s, so you ought to be able to find a good deal on a set of factory take-offs.

You might end up with a set of rims for your summer tires that are 18s, and use the 17s that you have now for the snow tires.

PS I have never seen a car with snow tires on it. Sucks to be me ...

I have never heard of that, but I don't have a turbo and don't really know. I've driven a few turbos and never observed that rule. Sorry, I can't confirm or deny ...

I'm pretty sure that the turbos on the E9x series are water cooled, and are provided with an electric coolant pump to keep the coolant moving for a period after shut down.

That said, it's prudent to go light on the throttle and avoid boost for the last few miles to your destination - particularly if you've had an "enthusiastic" drive ;-)

Cheers

/daytripper '00 s4 6spd - original biturbos still working perfectly

Hi

I'm afraid that none of our five BMW turbo diesels had a water cooled turbo. Not even our

We had two Audis that had the electric water pump that ran on after shut down, but BMW have not put these on their diesels.

It is always a good idea to idle for at least 30 secs after a run to allow some heat to dissipate from the turbos (through the oil if nothing else) and to let it ( the turbo ) slow down. I have seen some idiots rev the engine on a turbo car and then turn it off.....

It is also prudent not to rev a turbo car for the first half mile or more to let the oil warm first. The oil does a better job of protecting the components when it's temperature is raised to the operating temperature of the engine.

HTH

David Skelton

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So, what if the last minute or so of travel was essentially at speeds just above idle? For example, you get off of the interstate and drive on surface streets where the turbo(s) would not be used -- similar conditions as idle, excep the car is moving at moderate speeds -- and then you pull into the parking lot. Would the 30-seconds after a run rule be satisfied, and could you then shut the car down and walk away?

I get that one would want to avoid trips where the turbo was kicking in, and then pull over and shut the car off without a cool-down period, but it seems to me that if 30 seconds of idle is all the cool-down that's required then surface street driving -- or any driving that does not invoke the turbo -- would satisfy the need.

I have never heard of this rule, by the way.

I'm almost 100% certain that if one is concerned that the turbo charger needs to be protected from heat damage by waiting for it to cool down before shutting the engine off, then the oil is at operating temperature -- or the turbo is operating at conditions that would harm it anyhow, and waiting for it to cool off before shutting the engine is the least of the things the driver would care about.

That would be ideal to get airflow through the engine compartment.

I would still let it tickover for 10 seconds.

It is common practice in Europe, if it is not a company car...... ;-) We have had nine turbo cars since 1989, three petrol, some handbooks stated that it was a good idea to allow the engine to idle before switching off. The length of time of idle is dependent upon the driving style of the last few minutes of the trip.

It's not just about the heat, even though some drivers use 'dino' oil in their engine which is more inclined to carbonise on the bearing spindle / shaft, but also the turbo spindle / shaft spinning without adequate lubrication. At full boost, some turbo shafts can spin at more than 200,000 rpm.

I have known turbos to produce a small amount of boost even at idle, albeit not a lot, but the turbo is pushing air and therefore loaded.

I do not fully understand the last paragraph... but I think it is prudent to allow *any* car a little warm up time before giving it some hard work.

Best regards

David Skelton

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