[graaja]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Nice read. This is definitely a 'one of a kind' GT...

Thank you so much for the kind words.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

The multiple brake pad replacements coupled with rare disc replacement gets my imaginative mind running and lets me believe that you often follow the 'acceleration-braking-deacceleration' cycle and that 'engine-braking' is a distant alternative. Correct me if I am wrong here.

You are correct.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

The iDrive feature: quick drop in KM left for brake pad replacement from '10000 KM left' to '2000 KM left' (assumption) in the space of a day or two seems quirky!

Correct. The iDrive prediction on brake pad life is completely useless and can put you in a spot in times. This is one of the quirks I have accepted with the car.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

The suspension upgrade that has been performed on the car during its early days may have provided you the benefit of a stiffened suspension. However, it is my assumption that this move in itself may have been contributing to the bend alloy issue that you have been facing.

I don't think the bent alloys are because of the suspension. Even the MSport suspension is quite supple and is not too harsh. I think it is a combination of the stiff sidewalls of the RFTs, lower profile with the 18" wheels and weak alloys that resulted in this. I had 3 bent alloys around 30k kilometers and the bend was significant. After this, I have driven 50K kilometers on the BBS alloys and tubeless tires and only one of them bent enough to warrant a replacement. The other that I replaced was mainly to replace them in pairs. It is still very much usable. So it is just one BBS alloy bent in 50K kilometers vs. 3 OE alloys bent in 30K kilometers.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

If the brake pads need replacement then they should have gone ahead with that job first before inadvertently coupling it with disc replacement. I understand that both were worn out. However, they didn't have the discs in stock, but they did have the brake pads. Then they should have gone ahead with brake pad replacement. "Their denying you that service because they brought up a 'dependency' which they say comes up under their BSI+ policy": this argument seems to be on a slippery ground.

Yes. BSI definitely has some inconveniences. They have some rules on when a part can be changed and many times, this leads to multiple service center visits. This is another quirk I have accepted with the package. There are a couple of instances when BSI worked against me.

One was during the Munnar drive incident when I had to drive on worn pads because of disc dependency. But they asked me to drive only after removing the pads and inspecting them to be evenly worn and can easily last for the distance.

The other was during my Arunachal drive. But this time there was really a lot of life left in the pads and I consider it fair that they were not willing to change it under BSI.

I have not been put under any severe inconvenience yet by BSI. Maybe if I face such a situation in the next one year (before the 6 year package expires), I may switch to pay on demand service for the freedom.

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Another question to you: What is the condition of engine mounts, transmission mounts?

I have not inspected the mounts. So I do not know the exact condition. I only mentioned that there was some vibration when the engine is started that lasts for a minute or two and they said engine mount needs replacement.

[graaja]

Roofbox installation and Nadugani trip

Roofbox Installation:

One of my hobbies is Astrophotography. I sometimes travel to places with low light pollution to do some astrophotography. These times, I have to carry lot of equipment in the car. Usually, I can accomodate all the equipment in the car by folding down the rear seats. But on occasions when I have 3 passengers, the available space is limited and I have to drop one of the equipment. I have been planning to add a roofbox to the car for some time. As I have another astrophotography trip to Coorg coming up later this month, decided to get this done.

Thule roof boxes were very expensive costing more than a lakh. A friend of mine in Coimbatore had installed a roof box from a company called Pentair and it was quite good in quality. The only issue was the clamps had very coarse fixing dimensions and would not fit the fixed cross bar installation on the GT. Thanks to TBHPian "itwasntme", I got introduced to another company called Farad and their roof boxes also were of very good quality. They also had quick release clamps with slots that can accomodate a wide range of cross bar spacing. Went ahead and ordered the Farad Marlin 400 Liter roof box. Earlier, I had the Thule wingbars with Proride bike rack. Since I quit triathlons and cycling a couple of years back, I had removed this setup from the car and had stored it. Decided to use the same Thule cross bars and fix the Farad box.

Unboxing the roof box.






The complete kit - Thule wing bars, Thule footkit for F34, Farad roof box and clamps.


The box opened.

These clamps are quick release. Just pull the top leaver and the clamps open up to be released from the cross bar. Press the lever and the clamps close and tighten on the cross bar. With this quick release design, it takes about 5 minutes to mount and unmount the box.


Fixing the feet (base for the bars) to the roof.


Fixed the Thule wing bars.


The box installed.


Nadugani Drive:

I joined the TBHP group from Bangalore in the Nadugani overnight TBHP meet organised by RSUDARSANAN. I drove from Coimbatore through Kotagiri and Ooty and joined everyone in Nadugani, spent a night in a cozy little resort and returned back the next day. I will share more pictures in the Nadugani drive thread. Sharing a few pictures of the GT here.

A few pictures of the GT during the onward journey. Drove through some beautiful hill roads with mist.

















To avoid the heavy weekend tourist traffic in Ooty, returned through Kerala. Took the Nilambur -> Mannarkad -> Palakkad -> Coimbatore route. I, TBHPian 500CountryCruiser in his CLA and Brraj in his Getz drove together during this return journey. A few pictures from this journey.







That's all folks, I have for now.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by graaja

Roofbox installation and Nadugani trip

Thanks to TBHPian "itwasntme", I got introduced to another company called Farad and their roof boxes also were of very good quality.

Looks fabulous and quintessentially Euro. Glad I could help in some way; pretty sure I'll also pick one up shortly to make up for that pathetic excuse of a boot on my 330i.

Couple of queries: how's the wind noise & turbulence? Overpowering or acceptable and what is the speed ceiling with it on? Further, any noticeable ride and/or handling deviations?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Looks fabulous and quintessentially Euro. Glad I could help in some way; pretty sure I'll also pick one up shortly to make up for that pathetic excuse of a boot on my 330i.

Couple of queries: how's the wind noise & turbulence? Overpowering or acceptable and what is the speed ceiling with it on? Further, any noticeable ride and/or handling deviations?

Thank you for the kind words!

I don't hear much wind noise inside the cabin and I did not feel anything different regarding turbulence etc. But I was not doing any great speeds during my trip to Nadugani. The top speed I did was 100 between Walayar and Coimbatore on the 4 lane highway and I did not feel anything different. I am sure the box can withstand highway speeds without any issue. But with the roof box on, need to be careful while cornering in the curves. Too much high cornering speeds can put pressure on the mounting points on the roof.

[bottle]

Is your BSI/BRI valid for 6 years? Unfortunately I chose 5 years and seems BMW has discontinued 6th year BRI now due to frequent claims.

As few others were asking, last week they identified left lower arm and link rod needing replacement. Even though it is recommended to change both sides together they only replaced the worn side in BRI

[graaja]

A Few Updates

The GT crossed 88K kilometers.


The next oil service is due in 3K kilometers and I plan to get it done mostly in March. Will get the engine mount changed during this service.

During the last wash, noticed a problem. The door beading had come off loose from the surface in one of the rear doors. Will get this checked as well during the next oil service.


Also, got the insurance renewed from Tata AIG for 63K. This is the 6th year insurance and have taken the complete package with zero dep and engine cover.

Astrophotography Trips to Coorg

Did a couple of Astrophotography trips to Coorg. These events were organized by Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS). In the first trip in last week of December, took all the astrophotography equipment and my two daughters. In the second trip in January, went solo, but took the bigger telescope. The roof box came in handy in both these trips. A few pictures from these trips, and a few collages of the celestial objects that I managed to capture.

The payload!






A beautiful sunrise!






The smaller telescope setup in December.


The bigger telescope setup in January.


The gear in action.


At the event.




The group.


Collages of the pictures shot during the events.






I have written a detailed report on the trip in the below thread.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ery-coorg.html (Coorg Star Party - An Astrophotography / Visual Observation Trip to Talacauvery, Coorg)

That's all folks, I have for now.

[HammerHead]

I have been checking this thread regularly and I must say that you have been literally 'using' every inch of your 3GT! While we all talk about practical aspects of the car, using it for real practical purpose is another thing altogether. Kudos to you.

Thanks for sharing those amazing pics.

Any thoughts on black rims? Since you now have black front grill

[dagger8]

Thank you for showing how these cars should be used. Truly appreciate the post and for the inspiration.

[brraj]

Originally Posted by graaja

To avoid the heavy weekend tourist traffic in Ooty, returned through Kerala. Took the Nilambur -> Mannarkad -> Palakkad -> Coimbatore route. I, TBHPian 500CountryCruiser in his CLA and Brraj in his Getz drove together during this return journey. A few pictures from this journey.

I never did this trip with you

By the way wonderful Astro pictures.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

I have been checking this thread regularly and I must say that you have been literally 'using' every inch of your 3GT!
...
Any thoughts on black rims? Since you now have black front grill

Thank you so much for the kind words. I have not thought about going for black rims. Happy with the current ones. And most of the time, they do sport a black look from all the brake dust

Originally Posted by dagger8

Thank you for showing how these cars should be used. Truly appreciate the post and for the inspiration.

Thank you for the kind words!

Originally Posted by brraj

I never did this trip with you

By the way wonderful Astro pictures.

Ah. That was a typo. It was "KRRaj".

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[RJ2285]

Hi Graaja,

Is this the camera angle or some issue with the DRL?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by RJ2285

Hi Graaja,

Is this the camera angle or some issue with the DRL?

Hi, the DRL is fine. This is just the shutter speed sync with the DRL’s drive frequency.

[graaja]

Kavalur Astrophotography Trip

A small group of astrophotographers spent a weekend in Kavalur for astrophotography. We stayed in tents at Gogo Camping. Everyone stayed for a night, but I stayed 2 nights thus having the whole site for myself on the 2nd night. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy (it even rained heavily on the first night) and I could not capture much of astro images. Got less than 2 hours of clear sky both the nights combined. But loved the drive in the 3GT, and the experience of staying in a tent and setting up all the equipment. As usual, the ample boot space and the roof box came handy in packing all the equipment. A few pictures from this trip.

Somewhere on the highway.


The last 300 meters of road leading to the camp site was filled with loose stones. Had to drive very carefully on this road. Had a couple of wheel spins and mild underbody scraps. But the GT managed to reach the camp site.


Someone had dropped this haystack on the road. Had to move it aside to proceed.


Everyone ready with their equipment.


The campsite in the morning. We had to keep the equipment covered due to a heavy downpour in the night.


A few pictures of the GT and the equipment at the campsite.













When the sky opened up, it was spectacular. Manged to get one picture of the car and the equipment under the stars.


As a consolation, managed to capture an hour's data on Sombrero Galaxy (resembles a sombrero hat)


Drive to Kotagiri

A small group of friends - RSUDARSANAN, Dr.AD, Abirnale, KarthikK, Tilt, PraveenBalan and I drove to Kotagiri and had a small get together. Abirnale has covered this trip in his travelogue below.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...nary-trip.html (Bavarian, Indian and Japanese machines | An ordinary destination and an extraordinary trip!)

I did not get any pictures during the trip. But Dr.AD and Abirnale clicked some awesome pictures of our cars. A few pictures of the cars from this trip.

Picture credit: Dr.AD and Abirnale













Faulty DRLs

Originally Posted by RJ2285

Is this the camera angle or some issue with the DRL?

Like RJ2285 had rightly noted, one of the the DRLs on the left headlight went completely yellow. I noticed this during the Kavalur trip. On the way back from Kavalur, dropped into the BMW workshop. At the workshop, they also noticed that one of the DRLs on the right headlight had also started to become dull.

Left headlight. The inner DRL is completely yellow.


Right headlight. The outer DRL has started becoming dull and yellowish.


They took pictures of both the headlights and immediately raised a warranty claim for the headlights and today the Service Manager told me that BMW has approved warranty replacement of both the headlights and they have received the spares. As the car is due for oil service as well, will get all the pending services done in one visit.

That's all folks I have for now. Will update the thread once the service is completed.

[graaja]

Oil service and warranty replacements

A few days after my previous update in this thread, I got a call from the Service Manager that they have received the replacement headlights. They sent a driver to pick up the car. They completed the following work.

1. Both the headlights replaced
2. Engine mount replaced
3. Oil service performed
4. Brake pads/disks cleaned and brake bleeding done (I had reported the brakes were not as sharp as before)

Still the rubber beading is pending. They have raised a warranty claim and expecting the spare to arrive.

The invoices for the job below.

18K for oil service.


50K for engine mount and labor charges for both engine mount and headlights.


3.23L for the pair of headlights.


I had paid about 1.4L for the 6th year extended warranty. I am very glad about this decision. Even the service manager mentioned that it turned out to be a good investment.

90K Kilometers Up

During the Thanjavur drive, the car crossed the 90K kilometers mark.



Trip to Thanjavur

In the 2nd week of April, did a trip to Thanjavur.

A few pictures from Gangai Konda Cholapuram.









The 3GT at Gangai Konda Cholapuram.


A few pictures from the Big Temple at Thanjavur.











The 3GT in front of the Thanjavur Palace.

[graaja]

Astrophotography Trip to Talacauvery, Coorg

In the third week of April, went to Talacauvery (our regular Astrophotography place) for a couple of nights of astrophototraphy. Most probably, this is the last trip for this season as summer showers have started and monsoon will follow.

Usually, during the star parties, the place will be filled with astrophotographers and visual observers. But this time, only three of us went for photography and had the whole place to us. It has been a long pending dream of mine to photograph the Milky Way and the 3GT with the MilkyWay. I used to carry my DSLR to all the star parties. But due to the focus on the main deep space photography setup, I never got to photograph the Milkyway. Also, as the parking spot will be filled with several cars, there was no chance to capture the Milky Way with the 3GT.

This visit was at the right time where the Milky Way was right above the head in the middle of the night. Was able to capture a few pictures. Also, got a good picture of the 3GT with the MilkyWay above. A few pictures from this trip.

The equipment loaded in the car.





Somewhere on the forest area after Hasanur.





The DRLs are back to their original glory.


Three of us had the whole place for ourselves (usually, there will be 50+ people).


The car and the equipment early morning.





This was also the fireflies season in Coorg. The whole area gets lit up with fireflies. With darkness everywhere, it was a mesmerising experience to see these twinkling light sources in the trees. There was also lot of synchronization in how the flies lighted up. Got to see stars above in the sky and below on the ground too. This brought back childhood memories of fireflies in the village and how we used to hold them in the closed palm and see the hand light up with their glow. Caught a few fireflies this time too (and released of course). A picture of a tree lit up with fireflies.



A meteor burning bright in the sky. This can be seen in the timelapse video at the end of the post.



The 3GT under the Milky Way. Took me more than an hour to get this shot. About 30 minutes to get the position of the car right and another 30 minutes to get the foreground lighting right so that the car was just illuminated without whitewashing the picture which is a long exposure of 20 seconds.



The astrophotography equipment under Milky Way. In this picture, the telescope is pointing to the Trifid Nebula which is in the Milky Way field of view.



A panorama of the Milky Way. This is made by stitching 10 images spanning the whole length of the Milky Way. A friend in the astrophotography group mentioned this resembled a Dolphin!



Sombrero galaxy shot with the telescope setup. This galaxy is situated at 28 million light years from earth and has a diameter of 49000 light years. As the bright core creates the shape of a mexican hat, this is called the Sombrero galaxy.



The trifid nebula is a massive star forming region in the Milky way. It is situated at 9000 light years from earth and is 21 light years wide.



Made a couple of timelapses of the Milkyway moving in the sky. At 00:17, the camera captured a big meteor and the subsequent atmospheric disturbances caused by the meteor burning up as it entered the atmosphere.

https://youtu.be/Xr5Jh3bvxFs

That's all folks I have for now. Thank you for reading!