<misc>Various BMW Tidbits

[r browne <r_browne@xxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings:
  Was at The Price Club and Sams today, and ran across a couple of
items digesters may be interested in.

Price Club (specifically the one on RT 1, College Park Md) had the
heavy-duty Lincoln Hydraulic Jack for $150.00.  I forget the lift
capacity, but it was somewhere between 2-4 tons. Blue, very heavy
duty, and the box touted a very low slide under height, to accomodate
"low heights of sport cars".  

Sam's Club, Laurel (Bowie?) MD. sells yet another gimicky steering
wheel anti-theft device, which I personally fell for, since I gave
away my previous double-hooked Boa type to a friend.  This one is
called (gulp) the Gorilla, approximately 18 inches long,  and has an
alarm/led built in.  It attaches snugly around two spokes of your
wheel, which makes the old hacksaw cut method a bit more difficult.
The other end rests on top of your dash, beneath the windshield.  The
alarm has some sort of shock sensor built-in. Place it on the wheel,
click it in place, and you have 30 seconds to exit.  After it's armed,
once its touched or a noticeable shock is detected, (ie my trunk slam
set it off), the alarm sounds..pretty loudly I might add, enough to
make your ears ring considerably if you are in the car when it goes
off.  Combine this thing blaring, your std alarm going off externally,
your parking lights flashing, and man, a thief may just want to move
on a bit quicker.  Its powered by a 9-volt alkaline battery, and the
siren itself is situated in such a way that it cant be easily
covered/muffled.  It does reset itself after 1 minute in case it
accidentally goes off for some reason.  Had mine for about 4 weeks
now, and kind of like it.  Price: $19.99

Same Sam's now has the front license plate Laser diffusers.  Most
folks know that cops shoot their laser beams at the front tag, as its
reflective, giving them a better image to shoot at.  Car and Driver
did a test back in 1996 and found most anti-laser devices junk, but
did verify that the tag diffuser in question did reduce the range of
the laser beam by a sizeable amount, down to 400ft from well over 1000
ft without the diffuser, if I recall.  didn't have a price listed, but
didn't matter to me, 'cuz I dont use no stinkin' front tag! (M-Technic
bumper covers/spoilers look sooo much better without them, or with a
real European plate, which brings me to:

 the following website, which sells real plates for $15.00.

http://users.sgi.net/~vwsport/vw/

Hope this helps someone..

Ron Browne
1992 318is
Bowie, MD

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