well, I collected my 8 on Monday, had the new tyres fitted Monday afternoon and spent a bit of time yesterday checking stuff on the car, swapped a knackered bulb or two and filled up the washer tanks etc. Took the car to the "Strassenverkehrsamt" = Road Traffic Authority = MOT Test to you chief. To begin with everything went really well, the tester is niceish sort of bloke and he seemed actually interested in the car. He climbed around underneath, shone his torch all over the place and seemed happy enough. Brakes tested out very good - I wasn't too certain about them myself, they do need a fairly hefty shove before they bite but they do stop well enough. Steering all OK, no wobbly joints or split gaiters or such.
Problem was with the rear shocks - LH (drivers side for me) F&R both OK, RH side, F OK but the rear was down on efficiency pretty badly and the difference across the back axle is 35% - here you're allowed up to a max of 30% difference across one axle. So, one - no make that two new shocks needed as there's no point in swapping just the one.
Other problems - the headlights are a different colour - height adjustment and alignment is fine but the previous owner (henceforth known as "prat") put different bulbs in each side and they're clearly a different colour. I should have spotted that one myself.
One other problem is that my "niceish bloke tester" turns out to be a little analy retentive when it comes to paperwork. My 8 has Remus exhausts and BBS 8 x 17 wheels. Over here, if you fit something to a car that it didn't have when it left the factory you need a "bewilligung" / permission from the MOT people. I have one for the Remus exhausts, a paper that lists out all the cars that can use Remus exhausts and yes, the list includes 850i - there's the problem, my car is an 850 Ci. So for the want of a "C" I have to get another document from Remus.
Same BS for the BBS wheels - not listed. Tester reckons this is not a problem as he's sure I can get a document from BBS - my comment would be "well if you're so sure WTF do I need to get the */&%ing paper for?"
Ah well, could have been a lot worse I suppose, two shocks and two bits of pare isn't all that bad and it's good to know that otherwise the car is in quote "really good condition Sir" unquote.
How much of a PITA job is swapping rear shockers?
Sorry for the length of this post, turned out to be a bit of a rant but I feel better now 
Any tips?
) - the radio wants the code. I called at the BMW dealer and using the VIN number he managed to find the code - great, only problem is it's not the correct code. AT some point in its life the car has had a radio swap. Does anyone have any tips as to how I can get hold of the correct code? Any tricks I can try?
