2008 E92 AW/FR Intro and Journal

[Flying Ace]

Thank you for your service sir.

[Drifter2090]

Originally Posted by crowtrobot

Finally got the sidemarker situation squared away. iND fender grills arrived, paint is obviously way better than the rattle can job I did.

Attachment 2329226

Unfortunately, the fitment wasn't as good as the paint, the screwdown for the light fixture was off by a few mm. Ended up drilling out the hole on the light fixture to accommodate it. Not a huge deal, but went with iND to avoid this kind of stuff...

Weird, every IND part I've bought had been an OEM piece. I wonder if the nut moved left and right?

Also definitely do CIC upgrade if you're not planning on doing the single hump! Miles better than the CCC haha

[crowtrobot]

Originally Posted by Drifter2090

Weird, every IND part I've bought had been an OEM piece. I wonder if the nut moved left and right?

Also definitely do CIC upgrade if you're not planning on doing the single hump! Miles better than the CCC haha

Thanks for the input!

Is the CIC with new maps decent? I tried the nav for the first time since buying the car, and wow, even worse than expected, haha! Super slow, super slow to reroute, eventually it just gave up when I stopped following the directions... was like using an old standalone TomTom or something.

I think my ideal is to go no-nav, but pulling the dash and most of the interior trim looks pretty daunting, and sourcing some of the parts looks like a bit of a pain. If I don't do that, I'm looking at CIC or an Android unit so I can just use my phone - this seems like the most future-proof option. I haven't found any of the aftermarket solutions allow for wireless Android Auto yet, so may sit on this decision for a while.

[Helmsman]

Welcome onboard OP! Great thread, always nice to see another E9M landing in the right hands.

[Drifter2090]

Originally Posted by crowtrobot

Thanks for the input!

Is the CIC with new maps decent? I tried the nav for the first time since buying the car, and wow, even worse than expected, haha! Super slow, super slow to reroute, eventually it just gave up when I stopped following the directions... was like using an old standalone TomTom or something.

I think my ideal is to go no-nav, but pulling the dash and most of the interior trim looks pretty daunting, and sourcing some of the parts looks like a bit of a pain. If I don't do that, I'm looking at CIC or an Android unit so I can just use my phone - this seems like the most future-proof option. I haven't found any of the aftermarket solutions allow for wireless Android Auto yet, so may sit on this decision for a while.

I still wouldn't use it for navigation lol. I'd swap it for the sole reason of it looking much more modern and hi-res than the CCC. The problem with the android units is that the audio quality will suffer, I dont think there is a good one out yet.

There are some apple carplay adapters that can be installed and those seem to work well (I think you need CIC for them though).

I would swap in the CIC and just use a BT adapter or DAC and aux. Maybe use your phone for nav

[crowtrobot]

Originally Posted by Drifter2090

I still wouldn't use it for navigation lol. I'd swap it for the sole reason of it looking much more modern and hi-res than the CCC. The problem with the android units is that the audio quality will suffer, I dont think there is a good one out yet.

There are some apple carplay adapters that can be installed and those seem to work well (I think you need CIC for them though).

I would swap in the CIC and just use a BT adapter or DAC and aux. Maybe use your phone for nav

Thanks for the input!

I spoke to someone at bimmertech the other day, they said they would be offering a new unit in a few months time that will integrate wireless Android Auto for E9X cars. I'm not too picky about my audio, honestly, I could probably count the number of times I've played music in the 1er on one hand. Would much rather listen to the fun noises from the V8

[crowtrobot]

Another small detail fixed up - the drivers-side seatbelt butler.

Had a common issue where the catch of the seatbelt extender becomes too floppy and folds back as the arm moves forward, instead of catching the belt and bringing it closer as it should. This is due to a lack tension on a tensioning spring inside the arm that should keep the catch pressed against the belt. The lack of tension comes from a cheap piece of metal inside the arm either bending (and relieving some tension on the spring, as was the case for me), or outright breaking and relieving all tension on the spring. You can see the crap metal used in the picture below. Later revisions of the part look like nice sheet metal, which should hold up better. I had tried to fix this using a budget DIY fix where a screw is drilled into the arm to prevent the catch from sliding back, but this was not sufficient, so ended up ordering a new part.



"Why thank you, car!"

[crowtrobot]

Picked up a set of 18x10ET25 Bimmerworld TEAL's from a friend for a pretty reasonable price, and wrapped them in 275/35/18 Dunlop Direzza ZII's. Wheels look great (even better than the RAC Monolites if I say so myself)! Tires are noisy AF at highway speed, but definitely have more grip and load up better than the Conti DWS06s that came with the car. Looking forward to track time in August finally.

Also took the opportunity with the track wheels to code out the TPMS and code in FTM, thanks to this helpful thread here: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1487472

Some notes from this little project:

• Tried just pulling Fuse 27 instead of disconnecting the RDC module. The iDrive controller is also tied into fuse 27, so unfortunately, there was no way around disconnecting the module.
• CCC does not have a CIC module to code, the only RDC parameter I could find was RDC_CCC in the CAPPL module, which I set to nicht_aktiv.

Other than those two little things, coding out the TPMS worked like a charm, and saved me a bit of money. One less system to worry about.

[crowtrobot]

Been a while since the last update, mostly just been driving and enjoying the car. Finally was able to get the car to the track for an advanced group, open-lapping weekend at Watkins Glen, been looking forward to this for months!

Car handles fantastically, nowhere near the level of understeer as in my 128i, even with the old car on camber plates and the new one with a stock alignment. The extra power adds a new dimension for me as well, as I can now rotate the car more easily with the throttle. After the first session, I was already faster than my previous PB, by the end of the weekend, I'm down to a 2:17 (5s/lap faster than the 128i), with plenty of time to be found at a few corners.

I found that I had to be aware of brake temps, as the pedal started to get soft after a long session, and would go to the floor after sitting in the garage bay. This is with PFC08s and Motul 600 fluid. It's possible I did not flush enough of the old fluid out, though I did the last flush with INPA and ran about 1.5L of fluid through the system. I'll put some stainless lines in, and do another flush before I go to Tbolt in a few weeks. I also experienced what seems to be a common issue with the P/S reservoir boiling over and spraying blowoff in the engine bay. I've ordered a catch can to deal with this in the future.

Tire wear and brake wear were better than expected. The outside front wore a bit on the edge, so I'm going to slap some Dinan camber plates on to address this. Overall, really happy with the performance of the car. Looking forward to getting to know the car better with more events!

[crowtrobot]

Spent the remainder of the weekend after the track day cleaning up the bug/tire carnage.



Needed a bit of polish to get the tire marks off, which had the surprising side-effect of brightening up some of the dinginess of the PPF that came with the car. Ended up going over the whole clear bra to try and clean it up. Not perfect, but it still helped, I think!

Half-and-half:

Fully cleaned:


Lastly, took some mag polish to the exhaust, the stainless is looking pretty sharp now:

[OwnAge]

[aggieshan]

Very nice write up!

[crowtrobot]

Went ahead and purchased some minor upgrades in response to the first track experience with the car.

Purchased some 75mm wheel studs from FCP Euro to make my life easier swapping wheels. I know that these heavy cars can be prone to snapping the studs (I snapped two on my 128i even), so I decided to get these from FCP given that they have a very generous warranty policy. The ones on my 128i broke after barely more than a season of tracktime, so my thought is to replace these at least yearly.

Also installed some stainless lines from FCP. I had some heating/pedal issues with the brakes at WGI, but I'm not quite ready to give up on the stock brakes yet. Starting with the cheap upgrades and will work my way up; hopefully a BBK isn't totally necessary.



The power steering fluid was also getting super hot and spraying all over the engine bay through the blowoff hole in the reservoir cap. Made a fix using the parts suggested in the thread here: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpo...2&postcount=52



Lastly I purchased some Dinan fixed camber plates, though the shop I used convinced me not to bother. I used these previously on my 128i and was able to get ~2.0* front camber with M3 control arms and the plates, and I liked the lack of moving parts, however the plates for the E9X are slightly different. The E8X plates come with studs pressed in from Dinan, so install is fairly simple; the E9X plates require disassembling the stock suspension tophats, which adds a ton of labor. Ended up just knocking the alignment pins out and maxing out the front camber. Shop was able to get -1.6* front, and then went with -1.9* in the rear with a little bit of rear toe.

Heading to NJMP Tbolt tomorrow, excited to see how the car behaves.

[crowtrobot]

Been a while - it was a short track season last year, but starting to get prepped for 2021 track days!

NJMP taught me that the stock brakes are still not quite enough for longer sessions, so I ordered an ST40 kit from Bimmerworld back in November. Unfortunately, a continuous series of delays kept pushing the date further and further, and eventually I pushed to see what else they could offer. They had an ST60 kit in stock for a reasonable price - it's a little more than I need I think, but it sure does look badass, and it was actually going to get delivered.

Once ordered, the in-stock brakes arrived quick enough, and they're now installed. Easy little weekend project.



Before the final order, I used a template to double check the fitment on the BW TA16s I have for the track, there was some doubt whether they'd fit the 380mm set. Fortunately, it just baaaaarely fits (prob 3-4mm of spare room):



Old:



New pretty kit:





Installed some PFC08s right away to test at Lime Rock next week.

[crowtrobot]

Got the car up to Lime Rock a few weeks back with the new BBK - held up wonderfully. It was my first trip to this track, had an excellent time! PFC08s barely had any wear, and swapping back to street pads was a breeze with the new ST60s!

[crowtrobot]

With the brakes sorted, I indulged a little and spruced up the bare trunk with an OE BMW Performance CF Spoiler.

When it arrived, unfortunately it had some manufacturing defects in the corners, but getbmwparts was speedy in getting a replacement out, excellent service!



Used 3M tape to anchor, as it's a little easier to deal with on install, and if it ever needs removal. I used it on my 1er's ebay spoiler and it held up perfectly to years of track speed.



Very happy with the result!

[crowtrobot]

I've been back and forth about the iDrive system since I bought the car - when I was shopping, I really wanted a single hump dash, but it wasn't giong to be a deal-breaker for me when buying. Afterwards though, I hated the bump, the slowness of the CCC, the way the screen was black-but-still-on when turned off...ugh. Here it is originally:



Since I got the car, I've been doing some research about what it would take to remove the dash. My primary concerns were whether the servotronic controls and MDM controls would still function, whether any additional wiring was necessary, and obviously, whether I'd be able to take everything apart and put it back together without making my dash rattle like a cheap beater.

I wanted to try and test ahead of time if possible. The shop I use suggested trying to code out the nav screen ($609) and physically remove the unit and see what happens. This was an easily reversible job, so I tested it out, and found that the car basically did everything I hoped! The service menus and options all moved to the stalk menu, M button still worked, servotronic changed with the M mode... Game on! I then started browsing for parts the and found that a local BMW scrapyard had pretty much everything I needed, so I figured it all came together and I'd take on the project.



I got a brand new set of trim tools, and took my time taking everything apart. Kept all the screws taped to the part they came from in an effort to stay organized. Miraculously managed to get the whole thing done without any broken tabs or clips! Whole job took about 6hr start to finish (including the coding), with some breaks waiting for rain to pass and beer. I documented the parts and coding necessary for a swap here: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1733231




Really happy with the end results. Cabin looks more classy to my eye, no more dumb screen, and no rattles after the swap!

[Msidhu1]

Replacing a dash looks like a daunting task... but I agree that no Nav dash looks way better... This is on my to do list as well.

Great info on your tread...

[tbuck]

Love this thread! Great work and awesome to see what can be done with a bit of research and lots of TLC! Fantastic to see a somewhat neglected M car put to proper use! Very inspirational!

[crowtrobot]

Originally Posted by Msidhu1

Replacing a dash looks like a daunting task... but I agree that no Nav dash looks way better... This is on my to do list as well.

Great info on your tread...

Thanks!

Looks daunting, but it really wasn't that bad. It is a bit cliche, but in this case, the big job really was just a bunch of small jobs. You can find good DIYs or instructions for removing pretty much every piece of trim on an E90, so just keep following those until all you have left is the dash. It was pretty straightforward, but still time-consuming.

Definitely had way worse DIY projects...

[crowtrobot]

Been a minute since I've updated the thread, but haven't stopped with the car.

My experience with the Stoptech ST60s was quite good, and made the brake pad changes significantly easier. I was in the process of moving to a less-accessible garage, so I wanted to make maintenance as easy as possible and bought an ST40 kit for the rear. No regrets.





Results held up well at WGI:


I've since had multiple open track days and the rear pads and rotors are basically still new.

[crowtrobot]

To address the outside wear on the tires at the track, I wanted to get some camber plates. I had been recommended Vorschlags, but liked the idea of the street bearings/bushings included with the Ground Control plates, so I ordered those with stock spring hats (for the Dinan springs on the car).



They unfortunately arrived without the appropriate spring hats. This took nearly 5months of back and forth with GC support to get the situation fixed, not great. I think, given the support experience, I'd recommend Vorschlag in the future. Had a shop do the install since the car would require an alignment anyway. The first stab at a more aggressive setup is -3.0* up front, and -2.0* in the back.




The wear has really improved at the track, just barely kissing the wear triangles on the fronts.