I have read the horror stories myself, as I was concerned about my tyres, as I have the staggered set up on mine, and the tyres on it when I bought it earlier this year were slightly different tread depths front to rear, but all the tyres the same make - nowhere near worn out though, roughly 50 ...

Ditto!! When I bought my E53 last March, I was surprised at how much heavier it was than my previous E61's steering. As they are built in the USA (I believe?) it is all the more surprising, as I thought the yanks liked their PAS to be super light.

I have got more used to it now, but slow ...

Ditto the above! The amount of engine braking depends on how hard you step on the brakes, so it will vary each time, a heavy braking application will drop the gearbox down two gears instead of the usual one. Applying the accelerator changes back up again.

Now some of you guys have "frightened" me - I have ordered a further 3 Nexens to replace the other 3 tyres, so they are all new - apart from the one Nexen I had to buy recently, but that has only done about 800 miles, so all 4 will be essentially "new", and all the same make, and so should be good ...

Sleepyfolks link was interesting, as the fan in that is different to the E39 fan, which was the same type as computers use for cooling only smaller, still if mine is drum shaped like in the link, it will be that much easier to clean! I will give it a go later, and let you know if it helped!

Thanks ...

As we have had some hot weather recently (for a welcome change!), I have had the aircon turned on, but every time I switch it on, it is very slow to blow cold air. When it does, it is cold, so not a question of a regas I don't think, the only thing I can think of is that the little fan inside the ...

I am beginning to think buying an X5 was a big mistake _ I have never had a car that demanded a set of 4 new tyres if you punctured one tyre and the others are half worn. It doesn't seem a wonderful design, not having a centre diff, relying on a clutch to provide the slip, to me it would have made ...

It is a shame that headlight covers like these get so badly affected, I have had a few BMW's and all of them have been affected to a greater or lesser extent. I have tried several different restoration kits, the 3M one works pretty well, and to be fair even polish like Brasso is quite succesful. I ...

Forget that query - I checked on Realoem, and it appears that the transfer box changed to the xdrive type in mid 2003, so mine is an xdrive.

Would that mean that my 2004 E53 3.0D is not xdrive, and has the fixed ratio transfer box??

Or change the girlfriend to a taller one 

Interesting comment kkx5 - but why do you say that? Have you had a bad experience with Nexen or Accelera?

Also, why do you say about saving up for transmission repairs? Forgive me, but not all of us can afford to buy premium tyres, which I guess is what you are hinting at, and frankly I would not ...

There are a few things it might be, including a drive belt tensioner bearing worn, an worn alternator bearing or pulley clutch (if it has one) on the alternator. I would get it looked at as soon as you can.

Is the Halfords puncture repair no good??

Thanks guys for both those recommendations, I have seen a few good reports on the Toyo Proxes, they were on my list of "possibles" and from what you say give quite respectable mileage. I may put another Nexen Roadian on the front to match the new one I had to fit, when the current tyre wears a bit ...