DriveTribe – Have I ruined my BMW E39? Or improved it?

Eighteen months since buying my BMW 523i E39, I am proud and very relieved to say it’s finished. No more will I be glued to eBay in the early hours looking for parts, as it’s now fully modified – meaning all I have to do is drive it.

When working up my plan to improve it I decided to focus on the car’s four weakest areas, namely: the rubbish handling, terrible brakes, skateboard sized wheels and the candle-like headlamps.

Here are the changes I made to improve the car. But did I get it right? Or have I ruined a potential future classic?

Because cruise ship in a storm handling is terrifying

Being an SE model, my E39 suffers from terrible arch gaps in which you could put many things. It also had soft and wallowing dampers that were showing their age after 90k miles by being generally sh*t – while offering terrifying cornering ability similar to a listing cruise ship in a massive storm.

To fix this issue, a set of FK automotive coilovers and new top mounts were installed instead of the vastly more expensive OEM replacement parts, making the arch gaps and terror handling things of the past.

Wobbly brakes fill you with terror

The rusted and lipped brake discs were binned in favour of a set of cross drilled versions. The fancy looking drilled holes may not make them any better at stopping, but there’s no denying they look way cooler than stock.

Sourcing original wheels took a lot of patience

Because the car is nearly two decades old, trying to source a decent original set of wheels was a huge task. But after much searching, I finally lucked out with this fully restored set of BBS Style 42s, in ultra rare 18-inch spec with new tyres.

Back in the early 2000s, these rims were very rare, making the fact that I found a decent set in 2018 all the more satisfying.

Because candles don’t make good headlights

Like the rest of the car, old age had firmly caught up with the headlights. Despite a partial restoration, they offered as much light as a candle on a very dark night, meaning they had to go.

To fix this a pair of orange sided Hella OEM units were sourced to keep the car original while giving the front a more modern look.

All worth it for the end result

After a bit of playing around with the ride height, I settled upon very low because why the hell not?

During the initial slightly nervy test drives, there were no bangs or rattles (very good), with the car successfully making it over speed bumps and potholes without any hint of scraping (even better).

The new shocks have vastly improved the handling, while the new brakes work by stopping the car without any scariness – because being scared is terrible after all.

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So DriveTribe, have I ruined what one day could be a classic car? Or have I successfully improved it? Vote below and add your thoughts to the comments.