US specs car to EU Specs

Chi-town expat wrote

Hi there,

Could anyone tell me if there are any differences between the software/hardware of US spec M3's vs Euro spec?

I'm temporarily living in the US and would like to buy an E92 M3 somewhere in the near future to take it with me to the Netherlands when I return. I have checked with my BMW dealer in the Netherlands what adjustments I'd have to make and he says that they can adjust the lights to make it compliant with Dutch regulation, but that BMW in the NL would not be able to do any software/programming related work.

Is this true? Or are they just being tough as they don't like the fact that I'm importing a car for which I paid half of what you'd pay in the NL? Could anyone tell me where I can find the right info about this?

Thanks a lot!

Hi!
I just went trough on all this sh.t...
I have a US spec M3 here in Germany...First of all was a problem whit registering a car because the headlight,and the "mil" on the dash board..
This "mil" light in the US calld "service engine soon".I had to prove them that,they are the same...After this they just accept the headlights also:-))
I find out the US cars changing the frequency on radio every 0.2 MHz,the European 0.1 MHz.So the car can't receiving traffic info....I ordered a new European CIC ,also EU. lightmodul,and EU instrument combi ...
Then after we just find out,non of them I needed...1 guy in Austria,solved the
problems just for 400€...1 thing never will be work on my car:BMW online services...US cars don't have 1 part,some communication module.The wire is in the car,but even if I install 1,will not communicating whit US spec.
Now the radio,the headlights work as a European one!!

Do you know what the Austrian guy did or let someone do? I saw a new thread two weeks ago about someone in Austria possibly having a solution but two days later the thread disappeared.

Bmwforewer wrote

I find out the US cars changing the frequency on radio every 0.2 MHz,the European 0.1 MHz.So the car can't receiving traffic info....I ordered a new European CIC ,also EU. lightmodul,and EU instrument combi ...Then after we just find out,non of them I needed...1 guy in Austria,solved the problems just for 400€...1 thing never will be work on my car:BMW online services...US cars don't have 1 part,some communication module.The wire is in the car,but even if I install 1,will not communicating whit US spec. Now the radio,the headlights work as a European one!!

So just to make sure I understand: this guy was able to program something into the car differently that lets you tune in the european FM frequency increments and your CIC works fine? So does your traffic info work now as well? When was your M3 produced by the way?

Could you find out more about what this guy did to program the car? Also, what is the name of the shop and where exactly is it? Maybe you can tell him that there is a business opportunity for him here because there are several US-spec owners looking to get this work done.

This is great - many thanks for finding and posting this info.

Bmwforewer wrote

Hi!
I just went trough on all this sh.t...
I have a US spec M3 here in Germany...First of all was a problem whit registering a car because the headlight,and the "mil" on the dash board..
This "mil" light in the US calld "service engine soon".I had to prove them that,they are the same...After this they just accept the headlights also:-))
I find out the US cars changing the frequency on radio every 0.2 MHz,the European 0.1 MHz.So the car can't receiving traffic info....I ordered a new European CIC ,also EU. lightmodul,and EU instrument combi ...
Then after we just find out,non of them I needed...1 guy in Austria,solved the
problems just for 400€...1 thing never will be work on my car:BMW online services...US cars don't have 1 part,some communication module.The wire is in the car,but even if I install 1,will not communicating whit US spec.
Now the radio,the headlights work as a European one!!

Do I understand you bought a new EU radio fr EUR 400?? My dealer told me EUR 2,000 as I needed to old one as well for software updates, so rather than swapping, I needed an additional radio...

Let me know, thanks!

PS: great I started my first sticky on this forum

Atny286 wrote

Do I understand you bought a new EU radio fr EUR 400?? My dealer told me EUR 2,000 as I needed to old one as well for software updates, so rather than swapping, I needed an additional radio...

Let me know, thanks!

PS: great I started my first sticky on this forum

Hi everyone!
Sorry for the late answer,I was on my way for a few days...
So Atny286,my car was produced 2009. Jan. and I have a CIC system in it...
The CIC computer including the tuner,the hard drive Dvd slot etc...
The price I had to pay for it was 750€,and there is refund 1000€.If you want to keep the old CIC you have to pay that also...So your dealer was correct about the price...
I was ordered all the parts at first,but afterwards I did not needed any of them....!!! I just paid 400€ for the programing.Everything work fine, except the navi,but this is because I have the test version on my hard drive...BMW AG don't give me the 2010 softver version,because they still don't know will be ok whit my car or not...BMW said,I can use the 2009/2 ,because this version don't have any unlock code...(the navi softwer of 2010 have a "freigaben" unlock code,you must order along whit the 3 dvd-s,and that code is coming especially for your vin#)
I planing to take back the car to Austria tommorow.(they will do:-)Installing the navi softwer take about 6!! hours (10gig/hour can be upload to the car)...

Sorry guys,but before I ask them,I can not give any contact info here on this forum....
When I'm back let you know!!

Take care!
Bye!

Hi everyone!

I just back from Austria...
Everything ok,TMC,Navi,radio,dvd(during drive also),headlights....
Need no extra parts,just programing:-))

That sounds really great! I'd even consider the drive from the Netherlands if I can't find any addresses who can do it over here. Any contact details?

Bmwforewer wrote

Hi everyone!

I just back from Austria...
Everything ok,TMC,Navi,radio,dvd(during drive also),headlights....
Need no extra parts,just programing:-))

Sounds excellent. Can you PM me their contact info? Where in Austria are they located (general area, like city, not necessarily address). I assume they would be very happy to have referrals for more business?

Also can you post more details as to what your system software is doing/indicating? For example, does TI or TMC show up on the navi screen? Can you tell what version of the maps/software is loaded (go to Navigation - Options - Show Version). Maybe you can post some screen shots of the traffic display running to see what it shows?

Paardshoofd wrote

That sounds really great! I'd even consider the drive from the Netherlands if I can't find any addresses who can do it over here. Any contact details?

E90M3CDFR wrote

Sounds excellent. Can you PM me their contact info? Where in Austria are they located (general area, like city, not necessarily address). I assume they would be very happy to have referrals for more business?

Also can you post more details as to what your system software is doing/indicating? For example, does TI or TMC show up on the navi screen? Can you tell what version of the maps/software is loaded (go to Navigation - Options - Show Version). Maybe you can post some screen shots of the traffic display running to see what it shows?

Another customer here!

Hi!

Sorry for the late answer,I'm traveling a lot in a last few weeks....
The navi sw.:2009/2 PREMIUM
Here is some pics...

I still can't give any contact info,because I don't have a permission yet from them...Hopefully I can call the guy monday...

Thanks for posting those screenshots. If you like, I can PM you an email that you can forward to them if they want to contact me instead? You should let them know that there are a number of potential customers out there for this conversion.

Same for me; I'm happy to provide my details to enable them to send me an email.

Thanks for posting these. A couple of questions:
- These screens look slightly different than my 2009 system. Is this from a 2010 or did the programming flash it to the 2010 software?
- If you can give out the contact information I'd like it too by PM. By the way a place in Würzburg did a German maps update for me, but they couldn't do anything to the system like what you had done here. I mean, to activate TMC, etc.. I have been looking for a place to do this for me for awhile.
- For the white ring angel eyes and DVD while driving: how much did that cost you?
- Last, what was done to the Radio? Did you have the U.S. HD Radio in there and if so, did they have to remove it?

Bmwforewer wrote

Hi!

Sorry for the late answer,I'm traveling a lot in a last few weeks....
The navi sw.:2009/2 PREMIUM
Here is some pics...

Any updates on Bryanwxup's questions?

Here are a few questions to Atny286 for more details on his thread:

- How did you delete the orange led corners in the front? Did you replace the entire headlights??

- the back taillights? I guess there, for sure, you had to replace the taillight? Or just the covers?

- the speedo: they just replaced the "plate" with the numerals, right? (I got the Canadian setting part..)

- finally, the radio: did you guys manage to get it to work with 0.1 increments??

Would like to know from BMWForever whether it's still not possible to get details from the Austrian company where they reprogrammed his car.

As for the changes of my car:
- dimmed operation of headlight indicators cancelled through resistor network; no new headlights (would have been expensive since I have the adaptive headlights)
- rear fog light added, but no replacement of rear lights; only the light switch was changed to enable selection of rear fog lights
- license plate holders were already European because the car was delivered through the ED programme.
- navigation language pack replaced with European version (Dutch, UK English and German or French - not sure).

Waiting anxiously...

Just a shot in the dark...where did you stop for gas in Austria?

incredibly helpful information - thanks for that to all the posters.

Do any of you know how the daylight running lights (the orange ones) are being taken out/changed that they are not on at all time?

I am about to ship my car from California to Germany and would like to make the necessary before I ship the car

thanks everyone!
cheers
Rupert

sfbimmer13 wrote

incredibly helpful information - thanks for that to all the posters.

Do any of you know how the daylight running lights (the orange ones) are being taken out/changed that they are not on at all time?

I am about to ship my car from California to Germany and would like to make the necessary before I ship the car

thanks everyone!
cheers
Rupert

If you are talking about your angel eyes, you can turn off DRL's in I-drive. If you are talking about the corner lights/blinkers, I believe you can access them from the wheel well & change out the bulbs.

Moxie wrote

If you are talking about your angel eyes, you can turn off DRL's in I-drive. If you are talking about the corner lights/blinkers, I believe you can access them from the wheel well & change out the bulbs.

thanks Moxie - appreciate the reply!

Do any of you know if I can buy a used E92 M3 Euro instrument cluster and get it coded so that it reflects my original mileage/km?

I found some M3 DCT used Euro instrument clusters in Germany, but I am worried about the different mileage/km on them

cheers and thanks in advance
Rupert

@sfbimmer13,

I am not sure if the " orange corner delete" is covered in details in this thread, but just know that they can not be turned off (the way the DRLs can be) and as you will see in some of the DIY threads, it is not a 2 minute job... and to tell you the truth I am still looking for a very clear description on this very topic.
I wish that Atny286 would get back on-line to let us know...

Concerning your question related to the display in kmh... I believe that Atny286 covered this topic in his reply of 10-06-2009... but long story short, you can swap the US cluster by the Euro one and as long as you switch to the Canadian settings (ie, in km) all should be ok.

Atny286 wrote

For all those that want to import or bring your US car into Europe, here is what I changed to get it as EU as possible.
First I had some required changes in order to have it imported into Holland, ... .

Required:
- Orange front leds to be taken out

Before:


Orange fronts:

Thx to the OP, for pioneering and posting!!

I'm guessing the orange fronts before is the true US or before condition. The first picture in your post (before) seems to already have head unit EU clear glass rather than the US orange turn signal glass. I'm trying to get to the essence of the requirement:

"- Orange front leds to be taken out"

This because EU turn signals tend to be orange. . Can you elaborate or refer to a link in any original language, thx