It turned out that the culprit was an improperly tightened set of bolts that attach the bearing housing to the hub assembly. Not knowing that there was such a set of bolts, this owner didn’t know of a potentially disastrous failure had the hub and bearing assembly separated. Once again, the collective knowledge of like-minded individuals contributed to what turned out to be an easy fix.

As a side note, we love owners who do whatever work they can on their E39 M5s. Aside from saving money in labor costs, working on your BMW M5 enables you to learn about your car and anticipate what things can go wrong or merit some extra attention.

See rear wheel bearing discussion thread here.

What’s nice about this track is it’s got plenty of straights that lets the driver floor the throttle for long periods, allowing the engine to rev high on its powerband. That’s when you hear the engine’s sweet song. And when it hits those straights, the acceleration is be pretty fierce because the car following in the back becomes a mere dot pretty soon. As an all-around car able to take to the track with little preparation, the E39 M5 is highly unique. Sure, a Porsche can do the same thing, but the M5 can then do duty the following day as an executive transport or as a tourer. Even do duty as school transport. Few cars are as versatile as that.

See that rear facing video here.

Two points of interest entered this discussion thread, one being that not all aftermarket 17-inch wheels necessarily fit the E39 M5. The other is a suggestion to use front-sized tires for the rears, as this will give better performance in snow conditions. It must be equal parts fun and scary to be driving an E39 M5 out in the snow. A light and gentle foot is certainly required if we don’t want to see these cars against a snowbank or worse, a tree. It would be better if an E39 M5 is garaged for the winter but not all owners have that luxury.

See the discussion here.

But if a guy goes into owning an E39 M5 with both eyes open, as this thread helps illuminate, and is not afraid to get his hands dirty from time to time, then owning such a car will be a truly memorable experience.

See E39 M5 ownership opinions here.

There’s also some discussion on where to get the specialized Torx bits to allow replacement of the MAF. Unless you want a BMW-stamped tool to work with, these Torx tools are available at most electronics supply stores. As always, you get what you pay for and it’s not advisable to buy those twenty dollar tools sets. Improperly fitting bits can gouge or deform the heads on the screws and you will only end up with more work to do.

See the thread here.

The owner just decided to sell the whole car rather than deal with the problem. Although the asking price was for 8k as is, the final sale price was not mentioned. It’s hard to judge the owner for seemingly giving up so easily on such a great car because there are a lot of options for an enthusiast to bring such a car back to life. With a tuned chassis like that, an ordinary 540 engine with forced induction would give a lot of power. We’ve also seen an E39 M5 with a turbocharged Toyota 2JZ. Although it’s blasphemy for the purists, such an engine can easily produce 600 hp without breaking the bank.

Let’s just hope that this car didn’t end up at LeMons, as one poster offering 500 dollars for the car threatened to do.

See the thread here.

The advent of graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop has enabled enthusiasts to see the effects of their intended mods on the screen, even before spending a dime. While the colors above would not be to everyone’s taste, a roof with a carbon fiber weave has been an acceptable aesthetic mod ever since the M3 CSL showed its possibilities.

3M makes a very nice carbon fiber wrap that looks like the real thing and has apparently been used to clad a whole E60 M5. For an accomplished and patient do-it-yourself E39 M5 owner, playing with this material is a cheap way to alter the looks of your car.

See the discussion here.

It’s interesting to note that one owner replaced his alternator with one from an X5. This is certainly a viable proposition, as the alternators from an X5 should have improved reliability. The fact that it is not an M part would also be a reason for it to be cheaper. It’s also noted that the 540’s alternator is water-cooled whereas the M5’s is aircooled. Wonder what BMW’s reason is for that disparity. At any rate, heat is just one reason for an alternator to fail and as mentioned above, these components do wear over time and can fail without warning. If your E39 M5 is getting long in the tooth, it would not be a bad idea to do some preventive maintenance at this point. Better yet, get another alternator, have that refurbished and use it while having the original one rebuilt as the spare.

See the discussion here.

There are two things going against buying this E39 M5 for use during college. The first is that it will really cost to maintain the car. And having run 116,000 miles, you’re not really sure if something major is going to break, leaving you stranded without a car. The second factor is that the E39 M5 looks like a car dad would use. However we have to give credit to the poster for recognizing the M5 for what it really is. It would be an ideal situation if this guy had, say $5,000 left over from his car budget and bought the M5 as a keeper, as well as a clunker to hit the curbs with when he gets too many beers in him.

See the discussion here.

A good question that was asked was what the reading was on the cluster and if there were any dead pixels on the display. This is a good question because it won’t be an easy thing to test this unit. It would have been nice if one of the pictures posted was of the display lit up. The seller hasn’t answered that question as of this post. It is important to have that question answered for possible buyers. Owners of this generation of M5 should realize that they should hoard parts for their cars, if they can be cheaply obtained, and if they plan to keep their E39 M5. The price for this part is reasonable, on the assumption that the entire gauge cluster and digital display is in good working order.

See the ad here.