My dad bought me an ifixit repair kit for my birthday or Christmas or something and it is absolutely up there with the best, most frequently used presents of the last decade. It had the weird Ring doorbell bit when I tore down Amazon's spy doorbell. It has an odd bit for my ebike, it has all the computer and phone repair tools to crack open modern devices. This was more of a phone/tablet/computer kit. Maybe Ifixit or someone else will make a repair kit specifically for vehicles with anti-consumer "features"

Ouch with that google share link

Torqued to spec AND properly aligned.

It's a special bit, that's it. Do you have any idea how many bits/sockets/adapters I already own that only fit one vehicle? TONS. That's just the nature of vehicles and maintenance. And I'm pretty sure if you own a BMW, you can afford a $5 bit. This is a nothing burger. It's just people jumping on the BMW hate, which if you were smart, there's plenty of actual things they overcharge up the ass for. This isn't one of them. You might as well complain about locking lug nuts as a whole because that's really all this is.

Have you done any work on your own vehicle? Because buying a tool just to do one job happens all the time.

If you work on your own car you have enough savvy to go out and get a specialty bit.

I am so happy to live in a non-HOA neighborhood...

The day when the only options are subscription based cars will be the day jailbreaking your car is as common as jailbreaking an iphone.

It's a choice to live there. And you have a choice on how you spend your money. No one is holding a gun to your head making you buy a shitty car.

Aliexpress will have one in about 2 weeks.

And they won't be worried about BMW's lawyers when they do it.

Sega tried this back in the 90s and already lost in court. The court ruled that by making the use of it's trademark a required element in order to perform an otherwise lawful activity, any resulting trademark confusion was the fault of Sega.

I'm not entirely sure some Chinese company that neither of us has heard of is worried about that risk.

It'd be cool to see a compatible tip with some additional breakaway segments to bypass the logo law.

Right to repair class action suit incoming.

I'd buy 20 knockoff security bits before ever intentionally adding a flat head screw to a car

I loved my E36. Every one I see now is a clapped out POS except an occasional M3

Its all a plan. People think I'm a conspiracy nut when i explain it. I think they're dumb for not seeing it. Capitalism is the best planned scam.

At that point that bolt is getting destructively removed and replaced with a different bolt from the hardware store. Unless they have custom thread pitches, there's going to be an easy replacement.

Edit but I don't own a BMW and never will, my first car was the bargainest basement commuter car and my next one will be too.

BMW drivers have this fame of being douchebags (most absolutely are) , which makes me wonder, how the hell do we describe Tesla drivers then?

neither the bit nor the screw head can withstand the torque of a standard Torx or Hex fastener

Which "standard" Torx head? Maximum torque of 0.43Nm of a T5? Or maybe 10.5Nm of a T20? 132Nm of a T50? T60 is rated for 437Nm.

If you need a bolt that can handle 50Nm, you put a head that's sized to that on the bolt.
If it's a Torx, you put a T40. If it's Hex, you put an 8mm on it. And if it's a stupid BMW one, you pick the size that can handle 50Nm. The shape doesn't matter.

Yes and and violating anti-circumvention is now a crime... not a civil offense, prison. For repairing an item that you own.

I guess that's what we, the labor class, get for not spending tens of millions of dollars on lobbyists like the Founding Fathers intended.

The digital millennium copyright act? That thing that companies use to take down copyright violation videos and photos?

I think this is more likely patent law which is not something that has ever stopped Chinese manufacturing from producing cheaper alternatives to the same concept.

No. It is a physical item. So long as 5here is no branding it would be fine

Nice catch lol

Same!

The O ones are the hardest to get out.

Haha, nice.

Funnily enough I've been talking to people a lot about screw types recently. My wife was taking some hardware out of the house and cursing the varied kinds of screws used during installation; a friend and co-worker has been obsessed with the varieties ever since I met him; and my six year old found some of the screws dropped by my wife and asked why they were different.

That's just a plus^[pun intended].