WORST - BAD - GOOD - GREAT WORST :
Got the car recently serviced, It was the major service which costed me 81,000 INR, Expected so not an issue. But then just 4 days after i got the car serviced, The car faced a RAT BITE! Well it wasn't technically a rat but a small mice, I started the car in the morning to get the error of "BRAKE SYSTEM" popping up, I knew it instantly it was a rat bite, Popped the hood to find a big chunk of "Pao/Bread" Inside the engine bay kept way below. I totally had a heart break, Felt like how we feel when we breakup with our first girlfriend? Shared it with dad & he instantly said to send the car to BMW to our trusted SA and get it fixed in the most safest way possible. Sent the car to BMW Navneet thane my SA after doing the complete inspection for 1 full day gave me all the details to what has to be done & an estimate of around 90,000 INR (Why 90k?, More on that later) A few wires near the ABS sensors were cut apparently as well as a couple of other small wiring, SA confirmed they can be easily repaired and there won't be a need to change them completely, HOWEVER! the main battery wire which comes all the way from the battery in the boot was damaged and badly! As soon as the SA shared this i knew it has to be changed & was confirmed by the SA, Its risky to repair the main battery cable specially when it was damaged quite a bit.
I gave a yes to replace the main battery wire & repair the others, Problem was the main battery wire is almost NEVER needed in a car and hence it was not in stock, has to be ordered from Germany and would take around 1 week to come, I was left with no choice but to hope for the best, But another heart break was that ill be missing the valley run in which i was looking forward to participate with the 330 HP monster, But well even thats fine i mean, I just wanted the car back to its 100% asap.
Now why did the rat bite happen? I am using the tar brush solution since years now & it never bothered me! Even my XUV is parked at the same place with the tar brushes and touchwood nothing has happened to it for years now, Apparently this small little rat was sneaky enough to avoid the tar brushes and use the small tunnel area below the wipers to chew the wires!
THE CAT STORY
I had been leaving some milk to a cat in my building whom i have seen had caught 2 rats till date! One of the sight was i reached the building and i got down of the car & i there i see her the cat with a dead mouse in her mouth! She looked at me and walked into the darkness & i had peace i knew she is there to look after the rats for me.
But well one night i was late to reach home post a long drive, She must have thought i won't be sleeping at my regular house & maybe she dint like it, she must have left, I din't see the car for several days, And this is when my car was faced the rat bite, Surprisingly she was back the same day my car was back from the service centre, She might have gone for a vacation but well her vacation costed me 60,000 INR, & now i have made sure the watchman of the building gives her milk every night and keeps the cat happy. Trust me if you can, Keep a cat near your cars, They do wonders, I make sure they get fed milk in between both my car's so they are always around my car waiting for the milk & keeping the rats on the run.
Solution for the rat now?
Going the extra mile, Got the round tar brushes and the long ones fitted below all the four tyres & every where possible near the engine bay including the area below the wiper system, I have still gone and did this. Seriously cannot afford another rat bite at any cost. All of this was done at BMW at no extra charge kudos to the guys there
All four tyres are also protected by this now.
THE BAD :
Replacing the main battery wire! Well it meant a lot of stuff had to be removed and refitted in order to replace the wire & all of this meant a lot of labour time & i had to personally go down to the service centre & make them understand the alterations i had done near the exhaust system, To which again add to the time for the install. It took them around 2.5 days to install the new wire and test all the wiring, Still fair enough as everything went well.
THE GOOD :
Its always great to have a service centre a good SA to handle your car in the best way possible, I had given my car on tuesday & got the estimate on wednesday and it was the day we decided change the battery cable and it was ordered on the same day & i was told it would take 1 week for it to reach and another 3-4 days for install and testing, Which seemed fair enough and hardly anything else could be done, But well! The cable arrived in 4 days flat! & the install was started on next week monday itself & yes the car was ready by tuesday exactly in a weeks time! Not bad! But well the good things kept coming, I final bill amount was down to around 65,000INR, Which included 10k GST which can utilised in our company, Yes even 65k is a lot but think about the car and how worst it could have been, I simply took it as a bad dream and moved on.
THE GREAT:
The car is back in full glory! I had sent the car to PMP car care directly from the service centre for the 6 months ceramic maintenance coat & yes the car was all glossy and shining back again! Finally i had the car back with me, All serviced, Remapped, Downpipe installed & is shining like a new baby!
Now all i had to do for months to come was enjoy driving it every bit possible and yes well sure i am.
The car turns black many times!
Post the 6 months ceramic maintenance job, She is all new!!
Drives continue to happen, For business/ Leisure, ODO at 40,000kms driven her for about 21,000 kms in about 13 months & in the planning process to do a 3000 kms trip next month!
How does it drive with the 330 HP/ 680 NM tune
A question i had got everywhere, On every social platform & from many many people, I could not tell them exactly but yes i guess now i can probably, Its simply
CRAZY! I still remembered the first time i floored the throttle in sports mode on BKC & i had wheelspin & Traction control light blinking all the way from 0 kph till 120 kph & i eventually had to brake!
Honestly even on the highways now there is no need to switch to sports mode for the additional and instant power the comfort mode itself will make the over taking impossibly quick & the sports mode simply takes it on another level! With the tyres i am on and stock suspension, Driving around in the city in sports mode is really risky, the car will bite, It shoots ahead very violently & you fill the gap you wanted to much earlier then you wanted to & you almost rear end the car in front of you, Its scary! The power from the standstill is crazier than before as the rear tyres go mad to find any traction they could, The car simply flies post remap there is no two ways about it & i am glad i went ahead with the remap exactly after owning the car for a year, I will be posting some acceleration videos soon. If my research is correct with performance rubber the car should be able to do 0-100 kph sprint in less than 5 seconds, FE has actually improved if you drive sedately now, Even the engine is much more silent than before!
Wagnertuning downpipe:
I was skeptical at first to get a downpipe, Diesal's don't really sound good regardless of what you do with them, This is what my thinking was, But well with the stage 2 map i had to go for it and well glad i did. Instantly now all the way upto 5500 RPM it seems your driving a petrol car, The engine just does not feel restricted and strained like before post 4000 RPM specially, Its simply very very free revving now along with the free revving nature what has come into play is the sound the car makes post 3000 RPM! Which is totally a crazy! I did not expect the car to sound this good & i really cannot believe how a diesal car can sound this good, Its really "Petrol like" & only starts coming in at 3,000 RPM and gets louder and louder till 5500RPM! Which also means driving around normally you won't hear anything! Niether people outside well, The car is quite just like how the stock car was, A very very slight "Brum brum" Sound is heard if the music is turned off & there is no sound outside too, Which is fine really, What happens if you revv the car inside the tunnel is simply crazy though, the sound is actually loud outside but the sound insulation in the cabin is that good you really don't get to know exactly how loud the car is from outside, But well its loud in a good way so i usually lower my windows to enjoy the sound post 3,000RPM, Only thing probably i don't like is the black smoke in the 1st and 2nd gear under full load, But after changing the air filter it has reduced though.
Stock DPF Removed. WG Downpipe!
A small clip,
More videos to follow soon.
Upgrades Pending:
Staggered Setup Performance rubber (Mostly RFT Contis)
Suspension upgrade, But only after i cross 50k i think.
k & N Air filter
Maybe an exhaust system, But i am sure the car will be very loud, As just with the stock exhaust & WG downpipe the car is surely loud post 3k RPM, Still when brands like remus & supersprint having bolt on exhaust system for the 530d is surely tempting.
Also Thanks to Akshay1234 & DAD for the Remap & the DP Install.
Surely a big thumbs up to Navneet Thane BMW & my SA Mr Sumantra!