re: Jacking adapters, dented rims, ellipsoids

[jkerouac@xxxxxxxxx]

re: Jacking adapters
    Seems appropriate that Jack should write answer an inquiry about
'jacking (b:
I bought Steve D.'s jack hole adapter for the E36 soon after I bought my
//M3.  It is well made to close tolerances that slip into the jack hold
snugly yet not so tight you can't get it in or out.  the foot on it
mates with the cup on any floor jack.
If you position your floor jack parallel to the sid eof the car, then
when you jack the car up you can still get a jack stand under the
plastic jacking pad on teh botton of the car.
    I like to further pad the area between the jack stand seat and the
plastic pad on the floor of the car with a piece of 2x4 to insure no
floor damage.
    To reach Steve D., call (201) 262-0412.  His price a few years ago
was under $125.  Best doodad I ever bought for my car.

Ellipsoids:
Best most practical in day to days driving non doodad I ever bought for
my car has got to be those marvelous ellipsoid headlights.  Like old
Cibie Z beams but even better.  They come with 50 watt bulbs, put 100's
in and you a navigational deflector better than the starship
enterprise's.

Dented rims:
    Dented rims are well worth fixing if they are cosmetically sound.
One tip I got a log time ago to prevent dented rims was to burn the
sticker on your door pillar that lists factory air pressures.  Those
lawyer based underinflations come from the same underinflation mentality
as the lawyers at Ford who mandated low pressures for the Ford
Exploder.  These pressures are guaranteed to cost you bigtime.
    Shortly after purchasing a new BMW in the early nineties, it came
with el cheapo wobbly sidewall Dumbflop tires rather than the stiffer
more expensive Michelins, I found two dented rims on one side.  These
were driven on the same roads I had driven for years with older models
with no rim problems.  After the usual dealer runaround and the
salivating service advisors drooling over their commissions at dealer
list price plus 20%,  I managed to get BMW to replace those two rims at
no cost to me.
    No matter what BMW I have driven since then, my front tire pressures
have been at least 40psi, my rear pressures at least 36.  I have not had
a single dented rim since then despite the 17" rims and 234/40x17 front
tires.
Enjoy,
'jk

------------------------------