My Second Zed Thread (2010 E89 sDrive30i)

[Timmyboybunter]

Some very random updates....

Wheels

My mate came good with the snapped bolt and managed to drill it out using a table drill. He did say he caught the top of the thread, but it looks ok to me. Had a message from my refurb chap, he hopes to get them back to me this weekend. I have blue threadlock already, so good to go.

I've posted elsewhere in the wheel forum, but having Googled a bit the general consensus is that no sealant of any kind is required between the split rim pieces for these type of wheels, I've also bought some 'Race Glaze Nano' sealant which I'll apply prior to assembling the wheels.

I also need a full set of non run flat tyres, currently looking at Hankook Ventus V12's as a mid range option (£119 rear, £81 front - exactlly £400 for the set fitted) but would be good to hear opinions on other options.


Music

I've used the Firefly for a few trips now, including some near 3 hour drives - it works very well, sound quality is excellent (as long as you have the phone volume around 70% or it distorts), no bluetooth drop-outs, it just sits plugged into the USB port and powers on/off with the car and connects without issue to my phone; basically a faff-free solution which was what I was looking for.

Also finally got around to sorting out a small selection of MP3s just for some added convenience - chose around 130, then used a free program called 'MP3tag' to sort out any missing artist/track/album data etc. Loaded onto the car using the glovebox port, all working nicely. Bit disappointed to find no album art displays on the iDrive screen (also checked using a USB drive in the armrest - same result) but I'm possibly expecting too much from a 10 year old car!

Installed a 'Yosh' magnetic phone holder - used one on my E85 and they work very well.

Yosh.jpg (184.47 KiB) Viewed 1466 times

Random question: I can't seem to get the spoken navigation instructions very loud - I know the volume needs to be adjusted when an instruction is being read, and that works fine, but the 'max' volume just isn't very loud. Fine for normal driving, but at motorway speeds with the top down it's quite hard to hear.


Auto folding mirrors

I enabled this with Carly when I bought the car but could never figure out how/when this should be working - though a couple of times they DID fold when I left the car so assumed I had some kind of fault. Turns out you just need to hold the 'lock' button on the remote just slightly longer to fold the mirrors, now works every time I want it to. Doh.


Steering wheel

No sign of any heated wheels yet, which doesn't surprise me in the slightest
I have however bought an M-Sport wheel (not yet fitted) to replace my standard wheel - I did a similar swap in my E85 and much prefer the chunky thick rim over the thin standard one. I'm not overly fond of the black multi function button surrounds though so will probably swap over from my current wheel. I found a post from someone else who has done the same, looks like the below which I think looks great but won't be everyone's cup of tea:

Wheel.jpg (180.3 KiB) Viewed 1466 times

[Timmyboybunter]

Arm rest/cup holders

My commute to work, thankfully only every couple of weeks, is 150 miles each way - 2.5 to 3 hours. Having a coffee mid way through that breaks the journey up nicely but I don't want to be stopping at services. My car came with the arm rest cup holders, which do work fine but mean you have to travel with the arm rest raised to use them - bit daft. Together with the very-out-of-date phone cradle means this storage space is a bit wasted, so I've fitted the full tray option instead.

Before starting - excuse the spilt coffee

Tray 1.jpg (234.03 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

Remove the rubber mats in both cup holder sections to reveal 2 of the 4 screws. The other 2 are underneath the phone cradle - I did crack this unfortunately, as do most people it seems when removing it, despite trying to be as gentle as possible.

Tray 2.jpg (187.42 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

Removing the tray leaves you with this: (that PCB is the last thing that needs to be removed so the leads can be tucked away neatly)

Tray 3.jpg (180.78 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

And finally the new tray fitted with mat in place - much better!

Tray 4.jpg (196.3 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

And so onto the cup holder conundrum. How hard can it be? Fairly

Here's the first attempt - only around £6 to £8 depending on where you buy from:

Cup 1.jpg (205.15 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

It has 2 quite sharp bits of plastic on the rear which dig into the leather on the arm rest:

Cup 2.jpg (229.26 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

Which are easily removed/smoothed with a dremel:

Cup 3.jpg (248.54 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

But, the outer edige of the unit is still too thin and sharp and would damage the leather, especially when the car is in motion. I bought some cheap rubber edging:

Cup 4.jpg (225.23 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

Cup 5.jpg (212.61 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

This is a lot better and should not leave any marks. Pic installed

Cup 7.jpg (193.75 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

Looks a bit naff, but easily removed and tucked behind the passenger seat as I'd only use it on long journeys.
You can also buy this same item with a very cheap looking fake leather cover which I think is applied to the front and rear, which would probably offer the same protection as my rubber strip.

[Timmyboybunter]

I've also bought this one just as a comparison/possibly better match to my interior - for the sake of another £9 I don't mind exploring the option.

Cup 8_.jpg (31.72 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

[Silverstar]

Some very random updates....

Wheels

My mate came good with the snapped bolt and managed to drill it out using a table drill. He did say he caught the top of the thread, but it looks ok to me. Had a message from my refurb chap, he hopes to get them back to me this weekend. I have blue threadlock already, so good to go.

I've posted elsewhere in the wheel forum, but having Googled a bit the general consensus is that no sealant of any kind is required between the split rim pieces for these type of wheels, I've also bought some 'Race Glaze Nano' sealant which I'll apply prior to assembling the wheels.

I also need a full set of non run flat tyres, currently looking at Hankook Ventus V12's as a mid range option (£119 rear, £81 front - exactlly £400 for the set fitted) but would be good to hear opinions on other options.

For not much more I purchased Goodyear Eagles F1 Asy 3, they cost me around 440 GBP the tyre shop told me that the F1 Asy 5 were more or less the same price but decided on the Asy 3 apparently they are a bit quieter. I have read some people on this forum mention Vredestein Vortrak (not sure how you spell it) are good mid range tyres.

Regarding the phone cradle I got as far as your first image but I couldn't figure out how to remove the black cable with the PCB from the phone cradle without hacking it, so how did you remove it? and can it be put back together again if needed (for whatever reason).

[Timmyboybunter]

Ta for the tyre tips - visited a few more online retailers and can also throw in Toyo Proxes, Pirelli Pzero and Bridgestone Turanza into the mix with the Goodyear you suggest at a similar price, will think about it for another week or so.

On the PCB, yes had me stumped for a bit as I was pulling the wrong bit. See this photo I found on the web and then professionally updated

PCB.JPG (197.62 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

I tried to pull the black plastic looking bit away from the silver square bit, horizontally to the PCB - that is wrong, it is attached and will not remove. Instead you need to pull the silver square bit up and away from the PCB (i.e pull perpendicular to the PCB) so basically that whole cable including the silver square will come away. On the other side of that square is the little connection socket which is visible on the outside of the cradle when it sits in the arm rest - you're literally pulling that little socket backwards through the PCB.

When the PCB is off, that cable and the rectangular black plastic moulding a couple of inches just before the end of it can be tucked away through the hole underneath the oddments tray.

[Silverstar]

Thanks for the tip, but the problem I am facing is how to get this PCB board out of the black phone cradle without breaking it apart. This is how far I got before I got stuck as to how to remove the black cable, which I now see is attached to that PCB board.

IMG_6884.jpeg (330.98 KiB) Viewed 1424 times

[Timmyboybunter]

Ah, ok see what you mean. That cradle is actually 2 pieces, so the bit that the cables plug into completely separates from the outer section - mine was easy-ish to remove as the front bit (the bit with the big push down button) had cracked, so I could easily pry the inner bit out. There are a few more plastic tabs to ease open though - I'll get another photo.

[Pbondar]

For reference you can get artwork to be displayed with your setup but the picture tagging seems to be an inconsistent process...I only ever got about 60% of my library to display artwork...in the end after weeks of struggling I used an old iPhone as an iPod via the usb / lightning connectors and that works perfectly

[Timmyboybunter]

Interesting thanks - bit of Googling shows it to be a very frequently asked question. I'll have a play around.

[Rassi]

Just a heads up that https://www.hubauer-shop.de (BMW online dealer) are selling the 19" Style 276 as a set for 623 euro (free shipping over 290 euro, delivered to Belgium) with handling it comes to 647 euro. I just ordered a set, which will allow me to sell on my current set.

You need to order #36116782908 (rear) and #36116782907 (front). Think it is an absolute bargain (17” is twice the price), and I very much like the clean design.

[Timmyboybunter]

Thanks for the tip, but the problem I am facing is how to get this PCB board out of the black phone cradle without breaking it apart.

Not sure if these will help, but they show 2 cradles, one with the 2 pieces assembled together, one apart - you might be able to see a bit better what needs to be persuaded open but it does just need a bit of force.

[Timmyboybunter]

Just a heads up that https://www.hubauer-shop.de (BMW online dealer) are selling the 19" Style 276 as a set for 623 euro (free shipping over 290 euro) with handling it comes to 647 euro.

Thanks for the tip - I did mention those wheels earlier in this thread actually as I quite like them, but from a different source which comes in at about £720 delivered. Your link is a good chunk cheaper at £543 - but that excludes delivery and I think they only deliver within Germany. Good option for some though (your 2nd part number has a minor typo too - should be '36116782907').

[Timmyboybunter]

So, I didn't hear from my wheel chap over the weekend which was a bit odd, he came to see me tonight. Another chapter in this car's history unfolds

Long story short, 1 of the 4 face sections has come up a slightly different colour - he thought it was some kind of simple mistake and acid dipped/powder coated them 3 times over the weekend but got the same result each time. The explanation was lost on me a bit, but he thinks for whatever reason the composition of one of the faces was subtly different and it didn't achieve the same temperature each time as the other 3.

In daylight and even in the garage under lights, it's hard to spot the difference - but in the photos below you can see quite clearly one is coloured differently to the other 3. The pictures make it look far worse than it actually is.

To be fair, he actually arrived with a 10 pack of Thachers Cider as an apology and was adament he wasn't going to take any money as he was so disappointed in the result. I thought that was a bit much, though there are a fair few other imperfections that if I were paying £400+ for I would be disappointed with (3 of the most obvious bits are in the holes where the valves go - I wonder if this is where he had them hanging up). I gave him £120 in the end (previously agreed £180) as they're 90% decent and perfectly usable, plus will no doubt be curbed at some point in the next 6 months anyway so I don't need them perfect.

Onwards!

[Smartbear]

Powder coated items need to be earthed before the spraying process as the powder carries a charge & is attracted to the item, giving a better coverage. As you say, it looks as though the piece of wire/hook has been located in the valve recess leaving an obvious mark.the other marks look like poor prep, possibly not tacked down or blown clean with an airline.
Just a bit sloppy really
Rob

[Nictrix]

I think I would have gone for a different coloured centre like black to mask the different colour as that would annoy me.
I am having my X6 wheels redone as one of them had laquer lifting after the tyres were changed, the powder coaters could not give a good enough match as their silver was brighter than the silver already on the wheels so am having the 4 wheels redone.