E34 M5 <WOB>, aero shield and tire questions

["Shah, Anand" <anand.shah@xxxxxxxxx>]

I had initially queried a bunch of folks about transplanting my E28 M5 
motor into an E34 touring.  To make a long story short, after 
investigating this I concluded it simply is not something I could afford 
from a time or money standpoint, especially since the E34 wagons are 
holding their value so well.  So I found a 93 E34 M5 for sale in 
Georgia, had it checked out by friends and an independent mechanic 
(thanks for pre-purchase advice from Steve Castle), flew out there and 
bought it.  

During the drive back from Atlanta to Albuquerque I had to endure the 
wrath of God in full force.  Of course the weather channel said it would 
be rough, but I was on a tight schedule and made the ill-advised 
decision to drive instead of waiting a couple of days.  Never have I had 
such a bad drive (fog in Georgia, heavy rain and flooding throughout 
Louisiana and east Texas, heavy rain and a hailstorm in west Texas, and 
two blizzards and heavy fog in New Mexico).  Needless to say I am now 
sufficiently bonded to the vehicle after this trip.

I would have to say that the E34 M5 is an absolutely incredible car.  I 
think that the differences between E28 and E34 cars are rather vast in 
terms of refinement and comfort (ancient vs modern in looks/feel comes 
to mind).  Unfortunately by virtue of being so much more refined than 
E28s, I think that the E34 car is really missing much of the edge of the 
older car.  I really am going to miss my older M5, especially the shriek 
and roar of the engine which is quite a bit more muted in the E34.  I 
drove an E46 recently and yes I will admit it is a wonderful car, but 
jeez it is so refined and smooth it borders on being bland.

technical content:
1. Running on a very snowy road in southern New Mexico I turned a corner 
   and was greeting by what looked like a huge pile of snow and ice in   
   the middle of the road.  This mound ripped of what looks like an      
   aerodynamic cover for the bottom of the engine.  I remember this      
   being a sore point on early E36 M3s.  Is anyone familiar with this    
   piece on E34 M5s, and is it a 'must' replace?
2. The car has new Falken Ziex ZE-502 tires.  I had never heard of them
   before.  These are Japanese high performance all-season tires,        
   probably in the same vein as Pirelly Supersports.  After 1500 miles
   on them, I can say that they are pretty noisy and great in the rain.
   But I was blown away by the performance they gave on snow and ice.  
   If the car had standard summer performance tires, the trip would have 
   taken me an exrta day.  My E28 M5 could barely make it out of the     
   driveway in snow on Dunlop SP8000s, but the new E34 with these tires  
   was very confident in some very bad ice and snow that had many other  
   vehicles spinning off the road.  Dry handling is a bit mushy, but not 
   too bad.  Has anyone else heard of these tires?

Thanks,
Anand
'new' 93 M5
93 VW Corrado

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