[748adam]

Hi Guys,
Looking at getting my 335 inlets walnut blasted. Cannot find anyone in the north of england that does it, does anyone know anywhere up north that does it?
Loads of places down south, non up north though

[old grey steve]

To be honest a lot of the indy's could of / had the opportunity to do something in the past we got or equipment directly from BMW but this was back in 2013 and it was straightforward thing to do, the issue is now BMW have so I'm told restricted the possible purchase of the hardware the main unit is ordered via one place I think in Austria the attatchments are orderded from another in Germany, I don't know the issue but we've had a good few indy's call us asking where we got our equipment from and when I tell them we got ours via our local BMW dealer they say they've already tried. That's what I understand.

To a degree its all down to looking ahead, BMW did many years ago hence they bought the equipment to market,and it works, when I bought my 335i in October 2012 I was aware of the issue, I called my local dealer to make the initial enquiry late in 2012 and by early 2013 we had ordered the hardware and haven't looked back, if you look at other manufacturers like VW/Audi for instance due to their port shape you cannot use the BMW tools, but VAG cars despretly need to find oa way of sorting out their products in the same way BMW managed to do, but if tools could be made to say fit the ports of their cars the service could be offerd to VAG owners as well and many FSI cars they produce including the RS4's suffer badly from intake port contamination, yet unlike BMW, VAG dealers have nothing in place to my knowledge to compete with the straightforward option offerd by the BMW walnut blast set up and the other issue re their products is simply they have different port designs making tooling I guess more complex, BMW offer 4 different tools to suit Mini's and BMW we have them all but thats a different subject.

I dare say to sum up Adam you might have to do what a fair few people up north have eventually done and bite the bullet and venture down south to find a solution

[Juz5i]

Have you tried Graham Martin St Helens?

Seen to remember reading something about them offering it. Although I could be wrong.

[Thermobaric]

So are BMW restricting the sale of the gear so they can have a monopoly on walnut blasting?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Thermobaric

So are BMW restricting the sale of the gear so they can have a monopoly on walnut blasting?

No idea I'm just aware that its now more difficult the issue may also be related to equipment supply itself but a lot of places missed the boat I think

[748adam]

Thanks for the info Steve, I will carry on looking but I think I will either have to travel down south or speak to bmw and see if my local dealer offers this service

[RENT-A-GOAT]

Is this just an option problem with the 6cyl petrols or can this be done on my 318i if this also builds up in this type of engine?

[Thermobaric]

Only an issue with the x35i N54 & N55 I believe.

[bishbosh]

I had my 2.0d N47 engine walnut blasted by an outfit (can't remember the name) in Sheffield. Paid £300 and they had the car for a day.

Actually they had to reassemble the car as the blasting machine broke after doing the first couple of ports and they couldn't get a replacement part for the machine for a few weeks. The machine was BMW dealer stuff. The garage called me back a couple weeks later and they finally sorted everything.

[748adam]

If you could remember the name it would be great!

[bishbosh]

I just remembered, CLP Automotive Just off Rutland Road in Sheffield.

Edit: they also took before and after pictures and sent them via email. It was coked up quite badly so glad I got it done

[748adam]

Belting! I'll give them a ring in the morning

[R99]

Is it worth getting walnut blasting done on the diesels?

I have a 3.0 M57, and wonder if I would benefit?

[E60525d]

The intake manifold and EGR are well known to get very dirty and blocked with carbon on the M57 engine.

A friend of mine just removed and cleaned his and it was it was terrible with the amount of carbon buildup.

I'm assuming the intake ports would be just as bad.

[bishbosh]

Here's a before and after shot, car had done 164k miles at the time!

[R99]

Originally Posted by E60525d

The intake manifold and EGR are well known to get very dirty and blocked with carbon on the M57 engine.

A friend of mine just removed and cleaned his and it was it was terrible with the amount of carbon buildup.

I'm assuming the intake ports would be just as bad.

Is this likely to cause an intermittent hesitation whilst under light throttle load?

My car is under AUC warranty - would they blast it for me at BMW?

[b16jsy]

I know the main dealer Cooper BMW in Boldon, Sunderland can definitely do it. My mate had his 335i done last year and I'm sure the price was reasonable around £300. He even got a courtesy car for the day!

[E60525d]

Originally Posted by R99

Is this likely to cause an intermittent hesitation whilst under light throttle load?

My car is under AUC warranty - would they blast it for me at BMW?

It could do, depends on how bad it is. On some examples Ive seen the buildup is really bad and affects operation of the swirl flaps.

If BMW can trace your fault down to the carbon buildup they will. But i have not heard many example of this being done.

[Iain]

Cooper BMW in Teesside can do this also. My wife's Mini Cooper S was done in there I think it was £250 about 2 years ago.