Description
By: the memebers of the BMW Car Club of America .
Book Description
For more than 25 years, informed BMW owners have relied on the Roundel, the magazine of the BMW Car Club of America, to make their "Ultimate Driving Machines" more ultimate. Now a selection of articles on driving, performance, service and tech tips have been collected in a single book. Whether you drive a sporting 325iC or the uncompromising 850CSi Sport Coupe, this book will serve as a valuable maintenance guide, performance handbook and technical reference source, to help you understand and care for your BMW.
- Valuable insights and technical information ranging from basic service tips to advanced driving theory—written by BMW owners and club members specifically for BMW cars.
- Inside secrets on maintaining, preserving and caring for your BMW. Find out how to properly wash and wax your car without damaging the paint, and how to reset the service indicator lights.
- Driving techniques ranging from basic car control to choosing apexes on the track. Discover whether your car understeers or oversteers, and how weight transfer affects traction and vehicle dynamics.
- Learn the difference between torque and horsepower, how to select the right tires for your BMW, which performance modifications work and which ones don't.
Chapters
- Lubrication and Maintenance
- Care and Preservation
- Engine, Clutch, Transmission
- Fuel and Exhaust Systems
- Electrical Systems
- Brakes
- Suspension, Steering, Tires and Wheels
- Body and Interior
- Performance Modifications
- Driving
Editor's Introduction
What is the BMW Enthusiast's Companion? In short, it's a distillation of great articles from the official magazine of the BMW Car Club of America, the Roundel. It features technical articles and tech tips, but you'll also find Skitz Von Bimmerhead cartoons, challenging crossword puzzles, humorous satire and other historical and entertaining Roundel stuff. I have endeavored to capture years of BMW Car Club culture—the essence of BMW enthusiasm.
The book is organized into ten chapters. Chapter 1, Lubrication and Maintenance, covers safety and basic maintenance topics. Chapter 2, Care and Preservation, deals with detailing and car care subjects. Chapters 3 through 9 contain the more detailed service, troubleshooting and modification information. All of these chapters conclude with a Technical Correspondence section of brief tech tips.
Chapter 10, Driving, covers driving theory and other owner insights into performance driving. I have selected quite a number of driving articles because: a) newer BMWs are becoming virtually maintenance free; and, b) BMW, more than any other car on the road today, is a driver's car. Freude am Fahren —the joy of driving —is what BMWs and the BMW CCA is all about.
For those of you who never intend to work on your BMW, this book will serve as a valuable owner's reference guide—an enthusiast 's companion. Those of you choosing to get your hands dirty will find many service and modification procedures with hundreds of photos covering basic maintenance and repair work. Most of the work can be done with ordinary tools, even by owners with little experience in car repair.
Nonetheless, some work is best left to the professional. To prevent getting into trouble, read the articles from beginning to end in order to know what to expect. I especially urge you to consult your BMW dealer before beginning work on (or modifying) a car that may still be covered by one or more of BMW's extensive warranties. Be sure to read the disclaimer on the Copyright page and the warnings and cautions on the following two pages before doing any work on your BMW.
The wit and wisdom in these pages was written by BMW owners for BMW owners. Most are considered experts on things BMW by friends and other club members. Keep in mind, though, that these opinions are based on personal owner insights and don't necessarily represent the opinions of other club members, the BMW CCA, or of Robert Bentley, Publishers. Remember also that the book is an historical compilation and that some technical information may no longer be as accurate or as valid today as it was the day it was written. As an article's original publication date can provide a valuable perspective, look for these dates at the beginning of each chapter, on the table of contents pages.
As in other compilation works, favorite articles are inevitably overlooked. I have attempted to choose useful, relevant articles that would appeal to most of the BMWs on the road today. Given the limited amount of space afforded me, I apologize for omissions.
This book represents a lot of time and work on the part of many. I wish to acknowledge all the enthusiasts who contributed to this work and allowed us to reprint their material. I'd also like to thank the directors and officers of the BMW CCA, especially Mark Luckman and Paul Johnson. And, of course, thanks to the people at the Roundel, in particular Joe Chamberlain and Yale Rachlin. Lastly, thanks to all the members of the BMW CCA for their energy, enthusiasm and camaraderie—they're glue that holds the club together and make it what it is today.
Putting an enthusiast's book together on BMWs was a tough job, but someone had to do it. Imagine being coerced into reading twenty-five years of Roundel back issues: all those edifying driving articles, all that technical rhetoric, silly cartoons, and hoity-toity editorials. Whew! As an enthusiast and BMW nut, you can imagine how much fun it was. I feel both fortunate and privileged to have had the opportunity to edit this collection and I sincerely hope you get as much pleasure and enjoyment in using the BMW Enthusiast's Companion as I did in putting it together.
Charles A. Burke
Senior Editor, Robert Bentley Publishers
