Must own tools for German vehicle ownership

[Cooked Rice]

I'm debating on dipping my toes into the German car market. I do just about all my own work on my cars, exception of alignments and tire changers, not to say I haven't aligned with string, tape and a straight edge before. My experience with Germans have been minimal, no pun intended . What are some must own tools for a DIYer on a German automobile, I will throw out it'll most likely be a BMW.

[JustinMCS]

A big wallet.

Jokes aside, the only tool I had to buy was for the oil filter housing, it's a massive wrench. Got it from the dealer. Part 83300493936

Otherwise bolts are mostly common sizes, like 17mm. Tons of DIYs on Bimmerpost and once you get into the coding with a laptop, appropriate enet or dcan coding cable, you can reset, reprogram features and resets etc.

just do a little search. OEM parts are more expensive and if there are big things that go wrong that the dealer has to reset with their computer or program to your car, thats where the cost is.

my .2

[Sugarphreak]

...

[J.M.]

Torx screwdriver set/sockets

[mr2mike]

^^ Yep.

No real specialized tools.

Rear brakes can take some time to figure out with their setup but no special tools.

Their ECU reader is custom though.

[DeleriousZ]

Originally posted by J.M.
Torx screwdriver set/sockets

This, torx and 12pt sockets/drivers is an absolute necessity

[J.M.]

Forgot to mention, get a code scanner tool for your car. I believe the BMW C110 scanner tool is one of the more popular ones for BMW's, you can get it off eBay for around $60 shipped. I think it supports up to 2010 models but I can't really remember for sure.

If you feel like messing around with BMW DIS/TIS/SSS for other diagnostics and also coding certain features on/off for you car, find a cheap laptop that has specs that can run the software. People also sell the software on eBay as a package along with the necessary cable for your car. My advice if you decide to code your car is to do LOTS of reading before you do it, you can really mess your car up if something goes wrong.

What year BMW are you looking at?

[Inzane]

If your BMW (or whatever) has lug bolts instead of nuts, I recommend you get a wheel hanger.

Basically it's just a rod that threads temporarily into one of your lug holes, handy when doing your seasonal tire swaps.

An example here:
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E90-335...ger/ES2636265/

[Inzane]

Originally posted by J.M.
Forgot to mention, get a code scanner tool for your car. I believe the BMW C110 scanner tool is one of the more popular ones for BMW's, you can get it off eBay for around $60 shipped. [/B]

I see this on ebay. Lots of listings from China/Hong Kong. Are these devices knock-offs of knock-offs, or are they legit?

[J.M.]

Originally posted by Inzane


I see this on ebay. Lots of listings from China/Hong Kong. Are these devices knock-offs of knock-offs, or are they legit?

Worked pretty well for me, mine was from HK and it was all brand new and packaged good. There's a few reviews on YouTube as well and a lot of users on bimmerfest recommend it too. I think the latest version is V3.1 so make sure you get that one.

[mrsingh]

A cheque book?

JK I think certain items will be specific to the year range of the car. With the exception of wrenches, what you need to diagnose electronics for an E28 or E30, isn't going to be the same for an E92.

[Milk2%]

You've made the right choice. Enjoy

[D. Dub]

A little poly or aluminum jack adapter for those stupid little plastic jacking points.

[Inzane]

Originally posted by D. Dub
aluminum jack adapter for those stupid little plastic jacking points.

Uh... if you want to jack from a corner I suppose.

I always lift the car either from the front (cross-member) or the back (diff center of mass), never just a corner at a time. I haven't seen the need.

[Graham_A_M]

A cell phone, a Black Visa, and a good towing company is all you need really.

[GTS Jeff]

OEM warranty is what I would consider most important when owning a German car. A bunch of torx bits won't fix loose turbos and carbon deposits.