New Owner saying hello...

[Ex_Stig]

Hello everyone. Been lurking on this site for a couple months while my car was in production and transport and figured it was time for me to join.

I've been a member of another M5 board since 2001, but the traffic over there really fell off so it was time for me to move to another online home.

Ordered the car at the end of November and originally had a January production spot. My sales guy was then able to go online and grab an open production spot from a dealer in the mid west, so the car showed up yesterday. I tracked it pretty much the entire way with an app on my phone and even got the Panama Canal to tell me what day/time my ship was going through. It still needs to be prepped and tinted, so the plan is to pick it up on Friday.

It's optioned as follows:

2014 Monte Carlo Blue
Black Extended Merino Leather
Anthracite Wood Trim
Comp Package with 20" 601M wheels
Driver Assistance Plus
Executive Package
Lighting Package
Delete Badge
Black Kidney Grilles (needed to delete the front badge)
Turner Motorsport Carbon Fiber Side gills (needed to delete the side badges)

I am coming out of a 2011 M3 sedan (with competition package) and previously had a '03 M3 as well.

A little bit about me... I am a former high performance driving instructor with both the BMW CCA and National Auto Sports Association (Arizona Region). I stopped instructing a few years ago and moved on to be a freelance automotive journalist focusing on high performance driving schools and sports cars. I've driven some pretty fantastic vehicles (Ferrari flew me and my photographer out to LA, twice, to drive the California back in '09 and the 458 in '12).

Since then I have moved on from writing since it was just a hobby and didn't pay the bills. Sadly, my real profession just started taking up too much time.

I've got a solid amount of track time here in AZ and have spent time on the following tracks:

Phoenix International Raceway
Firebird
Arizona Motorsport Park
Boundurant (private track for the school)
Laguna Seca
Infineon
Miller Motorsport

I'm looking forward to contributing to the forum.

First question... I noticed that my car came with Pirelli P Zeros and not the Michelin Pilot Super Sport that everyone else seems to have gotten. Actually, now that I think about it, I have never seen Pirelli come standard on an M car. Mine have always come with either Michelin or Continental. Anyone else get the Pirelli?

Here is the first live pic from yesterday...

[SEWELLGT]

Welcome, congrats on the new ride. You'll love MCB. I too came from a 2011 Comp Pkg M3 Sedan, there are definitely things I miss about that car but the M5 is a complete beast and has all the tech and comfort you could want.

As far as tires go, it's luck of the draw. Originally, all M5s were coming with the Michelin PSS but the P zeros have now been added in the mix. My '11 M3 came with P zeros. Very sticky tire but they don't wear very well. The PSS is a tire that defies logic so I'd plan on making the swap when it's time for the first change.

[ghueser]

Welcome,

Yes the Pirelli P Zero's have recently been OEM approved by BMW. I just picked up my 14 M5 last week and it had them as well. You probably know more than I, but think grip and performance would be comparablle. Only downside is the Pirelli has a wear rating of 220, whereas the Michelin has 300.

[Ex_Stig]

What can I say, I'm a sucker for blue! My M3 is Interlagos and I love the color. I knew I wanted MCB ever since it was released.

For the tires, the only problem is that I am a low mileage driver. My M3 is 37 months old and it has 18,800 miles on it. The way tires wear, I'll end up having to replace the rears with the P Zeros at least once before replacing all four.

My sales guy said that the P Zeros were quieter and stickier. I'm hoping to get about 8k miles on the rears.

[DrKevM5]

Welcome and congrats!!! Like you I was a member of the M5board since '01, but it REALLY lost its way in the past three years. This board is a wealth of info.

[RPiM5]

Hey welcome to your new home. I've seen you around on other forums as well. I too made the forum switch a while back and I don't regret it. This is a great community, although just a little too regulated for me occasionally.

Great build for your 14' M5. Although I don't understand all the badge deleting. The front grille is obvious, since it's rarely ever been part of an M5. The rear trunk is understandable, seriously most ordinary people don't even know what an M5 is with the badge still on the rear trunk. I once had a girl tell me she liked the colors of the ///M on the rear trunk but had no idea what it meant. Lol! But the side grills? They are so small anyways. Lol! I would think if you had a more stealth color like Sapphire Black or Singapore Grey an all around badge delete would go a long way, but MCB with the 601M's, your car stands out like a sore thumb anyways. Lol!

Anywho... Yeah P-Zeros are luck of the draw now, but you'll definitely want to throw PSS's on there when the time comes. As has already been stated, they defy logic. They lasted me almost 20,000 miles with some very very very hard driving. Without hard driving, I guess they would last 25,000 miles easy!

Also let us know if you are thinking about aftermarket exhausts. There are too many options now. Everything from RDSport to RPi, Eisenmann, Turner Motorsport, Vorsteiner, Switzer, etc etc, the list goes on. Or you can do something I'd be highly interested in hearing, just do catless downpipes with your stock Comp Pack exhaust and maybe add an exhaust-meister with it. That is an untested and unheard of setup, and I think it would probably sound very good.

If you track your 14' Comp Pack M5, you will find that it is a very different experience from your E90 M3. On the straights the M5 feels like it has a warp drive anti-matter core in it, but in the turns it feels like the M5 has aircraft carrier anchors attached to the wheels. But being an instructor, you probably already know what I'm talking about.

Also, I highly reccomend that you get your M5 coded as well. There's lots of little goodies that BMW didn't enable for us stupid Americans.

[Ex_Stig]

Yeah, I've had a lot of people ask me why I am debadging the car. It was an interesting experience to say the least because the factory option only removes the rear badge. I went round and round with BMW NA on this asking what is the point to have an option to remove only 25% of the exterior badges.

Basically, I am debadging it because I work in a small office environment. It is a family company (and I am family). I've been here for 6 years and have a successfully career prior to joining, however, some people still choose to see things how they want.

I know that there will be a person or two who are going to google to price of the car (as sad as that sounds). However, none of the people in my office are "car people" so they really won't know what it is. Also, you can get a 535i with the sports package in MCB, so that is pretty much my plan. I was going to put a 535i badge on the back, but decided against it (although I still think it would be funny to be a reverse poser).

Where do you get the coding done? I would love to get some of the options, like being able to see the PSI of each tire and things like that. Does it have any impact when you take the car in for service and they update software? I'm definitely interested.

No plans for mods or track time right now. The M5, while a fantastic car, just isn't really suited for a road course (in my humble opinion). I tracked my '03 M3 extensively, probably put close to 8k miles on it from the track. That car took a beating. While it held up just fine, I don't feel like doing that to the M5 this time around. Besides, with two small daughters at home I hardly have the time right now.

[MichaelJohn]

Welcome aboard.

When I put new PSS's on my M3 a couple of years ago they came with a 30,000 mile pro-rated tread life warranty which really surprised me. I would think it's the same for the PSS's on our M5's. Great tires.

[EdM5]

Welcome and congrats!

[MichaelJohn]

Just read on the Michelin site that their tire warranty is cut in half with split fitment vehicles (different sizes front and back - can't be rotated). That's us.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Welcome and congrats, Best colour IMO. I may be Biased though.

[Jason]

Congrats and welcome to BIMMERPOST!

You've been added to the owner's list sticky.

[RPiM5]

Originally Posted by GNALUZU

Yeah, I've had a lot of people ask me why I am debadging the car. It was an interesting experience to say the least because the factory option only removes the rear badge. I went round and round with BMW NA on this asking what is the point to have an option to remove only 25% of the exterior badges.

Basically, I am debadging it because I work in a small office environment. It is a family company (and I am family). I've been here for 6 years and have a successfully career prior to joining, however, some people still choose to see things how they want.

I know that there will be a person or two who are going to google to price of the car (as sad as that sounds). However, none of the people in my office are "car people" so they really won't know what it is. Also, you can get a 535i with the sports package in MCB, so that is pretty much my plan. I was going to put a 535i badge on the back, but decided against it (although I still think it would be funny to be a reverse poser).

Where do you get the coding done? I would love to get some of the options, like being able to see the PSI of each tire and things like that. Does it have any impact when you take the car in for service and they update software? I'm definitely interested.

No plans for mods or track time right now. The M5, while a fantastic car, just isn't really suited for a road course (in my humble opinion). I tracked my '03 M3 extensively, probably put close to 8k miles on it from the track. That car took a beating. While it held up just fine, I don't feel like doing that to the M5 this time around. Besides, with two small daughters at home I hardly have the time right now.

Yeah I know what you mean about keeping a humble appearance. It's the same reason why I decided against buying an R8 instead of the F10 M5. There's just no way I would be able to drive an R8 to my job and park it in the lot without people wondering stuff about me.

Also a bit of advice, if you ever get the time. Take your M5 out to Lake Mead near Vegas to the State Park. Some of the best roads in the country and you can really stretch the legs of the F10 M5 there. It's just glorious.

Here's a video of me when I went out there last year.

[N.S.A]

congrats, looks great, my favorite color. But Pirelli does come on M3 too, but did not know they come on the M5 maybe its those rims but does not make sense, I have not seen an F10 M5 with Pirelli's, my M5 has the Michelin Pilot super sports

[whiteM5]

welcome to the club.

[M5essex]

hi all,

I'm new too. sorry to hijack your thread GNALUZU... still figuring out the process of a whole new thread thing... and I can't start one until i've posted once.

Great choice BTW, as this too is my preferred colour and spec. did you consider carbon ceramics or was it not worth the extra? I'm still weighing this up before giving the green light to the dealer.

I too have an 2011 M3 with competition pack and i'm hoping the M5 will be a worthy successor. I love my M3 and will be sad to see her go.

I'm engrossed in reading as many threads on here of members/owners opinions, which is seriously helping me be convinced the f10M5 is the next one to have just wish it was sportier looking....

[Ex_Stig]

Originally Posted by M5essex

Great choice BTW, as this too is my preferred colour and spec. did you consider carbon ceramics or was it not worth the extra? I'm still weighing this up before giving the green light to the dealer.

No worries about the thread jack, I don't mind at all.

Regarding the CCBs, no I never considered them. In my opinion, they are not worth it. Very expensive components to replace. Yes, they will last longer, but when you go to sell the car the next buyer is going to have to realize that replacing pads/rotors is not cheap.

Also, contrary to what some think, you really aren't going to see any performance benefits on the street. CCBs are designed to resist fade under high temp situations. On the street they take a bit of time to warm up and you will notice the difference. Also, here in the US, they are not covered under the scheduled maintenance program.

We've got the CCBs on the California (they come standard) and on cold mornings the braking distance is definitely worse than after they heat up.

If you are going to be doing a lot of time on the track, then... No, I still wouldn't get them. The M5 is a heavy car and if you are going to be on the track I would say, get a dedicated track car.

Not trying to piss anyone off with this post, I just don't see the need for carbon ceramic brakes (even on a Ferrari).

[M5essex]

this is exactly what I wanted to hear Gnaluz, thank you. you've just saved me about £7grand! you clearly seem to know what you are talking about and that's good enough for me. my dealer is useless and has never driven a car with CCB so cannot comment!

I can go for B&O system and rear entertainment options instead

[Ex_Stig]

Just remember, my opinion/advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

I'm sure others would be happy to offer advice to the contrary, but it sounds like you were looking for justification to not get them. Glad to help.

[RPiM5]

Top Reasons to get CCB's

1. Brake Fade Resistance on the track
2. Extremely little to no brake dust whatsoever
3. Reduces the unsprung weight of the car
4. They look special and cool, thereby making you look special and cool
5. Very long life if not driven on the track 10 times a month: 50,000 mile pad change and 100,000 mile rotor change.

Top Reasons Not to get CCB's

1. Very Expensive Option to order from the Factory
2. High maintenance costs when it's time to replace the rotors or pads
3. For normal street driving you won't notice the difference in stopping power than standard steel rotors.
4. Depending on your country, they are not covered under the standard 50,000 mile maintenance plan (I think).
5. The rotors may be susceptible to damage from small rocks and stones.


There you have it, but these don't take into account the bragging rights and coolness factor your M5 will have over others. How much is the occasional ooh and ahh's worth it to you when people see you have gold painted calipers on your BMW that general public doesn't understand what an ///M car even is.

[Ex_Stig]

I always find it humorous when people talk about weight savings on a car that tips the scales at over 2 tons.

By the way, not saying that you are using that as rationale, I just find it silly in general when people try and save any weight on a car this size.

[GOLFFRR]

very nice! congrats and welcome