[Nerdking]

Has anyone upgraded their CIC to NBT in their E90? I'm trying to get an estimate on what it would cost to upgrade and what stuff will no longer work.

I really like the NBT equipped cars when I have them as loaner cars, they're very fast and smooth and have better smartphone integration.

I still have a CPO warranty, perhaps I should wait until my warranty expires?

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by stridenttube

Has anyone upgraded their CIC to NBT in their E90? I'm trying to get an estimate on what it would cost to upgrade and what stuff will no longer work.

I really like the NBT equipped cars when I have them as loaner cars, they're very fast and smooth and have better smartphone integration.

I still have a CPO warranty, perhaps I should wait until my warranty expires?

I went from non-iDrive to NBT and it wasn't terribly expensive, you won't have to buy a new dashboard or a lot of other small random things I needed to buy. As far as pricing goes, honestly if you just take your time and look for deals on the pieces you need it works out to be a decent price. I wasn't in a rush to get my NBT retrofit done so I would just stalk eBay and the forums for good deals on the things I needed. I got it done for under $1800, which is extremely cheap compared to some other retrofits I've seen.

At a very bare minimum you'll need the NBT unit, F30 NBT screen (and HSD cable), and a retrofit adapter. This will be the bulk of your expenses...everything else you need is there, just requires changes to get working (bluetooth mic, bluetooth and GPS antennas, USB, etc.). You can use your CIC iDrive controller, it has to be on the CAN1 side of the car, I opted to go with the touch iDrive controller for a little extra money.

I've been meaning to post my retrofit...maybe I'll do that today.

Good luck, if you need help or get stuck, feel free to PM me or post here...there are a few guys who have tackled the NBT retro.

[Nerdking]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

I went from non-iDrive to NBT and it wasn't terribly expensive, you won't have to buy a new dashboard or a lot of other small random things I needed to buy. As far as pricing goes, honestly if you just take your time and look for deals on the pieces you need it works out to be a decent price. I wasn't in a rush to get my NBT retrofit done so I would just stalk eBay and the forums for good deals on the things I needed. I got it done for under $1800, which is extremely cheap compared to some other retrofits I've seen.

At a very bare minimum you'll need the NBT unit, F30 NBT screen (and HSD cable), and a retrofit adapter. This will be the bulk of your expenses...everything else you need is there, just requires changes to get working (bluetooth mic, bluetooth and GPS antennas, USB, etc.). You can use your CIC iDrive controller, it has to be on the CAN1 side of the car, I opted to go with the touch iDrive controller for a little extra money.

I've been meaning to post my retrofit...maybe I'll do that today.

Good luck, if you need help or get stuck, feel free to PM me or post here...there are a few guys who have tackled the NBT retro.

How much coding did you have to do to get it to work? That is the thing that scares me, I haven't messed with coding much. Funny since I'm an IT systems engineer.

Are codes still able to be pulled from the car when it's installed?

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by stridenttube

How much coding did you have to do to get it to work? That is the thing that scares me, I haven't messed with coding much. Funny since I'm an IT systems engineer.

Are codes still able to be pulled from the car when it's installed?

The only coding I had to do was change my car's build date to after 09/2010 and change my VO to include navigation and voice control, and remove professional radio so that it would know to send information as if I had iDrive from the factory. I also had to recode KOMBI (cluster) so that it would send check control messages to my iDrive as well. The NBT was precoded to my VIN, so it was plug and play.

I'm also still able to code my car completely, and pull any/all error codes.

[Nerdking]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

The only coding I had to do was change my car's build date to after 09/2010 and change my VO to include navigation and voice control, and remove professional radio so that it would know to send information as if I had iDrive from the factory. I also had to recode KOMBI (cluster) so that it would send check control messages to my iDrive as well. The NBT was precoded to my VIN, so it was plug and play.

I'm also still able to code my car completely, and pull any/all error codes.

Oh Wow, Technic said it would break coding and software updates for the rest of the car and that since the VO wouldn't match it would screw stuff up.

Where did you buy yours that was already matched for your VIN?

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by stridenttube

Oh Wow, Technic said it would break coding and software updates for the rest of the car and that since the VO wouldn't match it would screw stuff up.

Where did you buy yours that was already matched for your VIN?

Nope, no issues with coding whatsoever; I don't foresee the E9X getting any software updates but if you were to take it to the dealer they wouldn't be able to update modules within the car, you'd have to swap your old radio in. You can still individually flash modules with WinKFP yourself while the NBT is installed, though!

Pretty much any vendor who sells the NBT retro adapter will also sell you the NBT precoded to your VIN. I used a carsystems.com.ua adapter -- they have a lot of resellers, most popular being Neo who runs cust0mretr0fit.ro; Neo is super helpful to his clients, fortunately I never needed help but I can see it from his quick responses on forums to those with questions.

Note: the forum censored the website for some reason, probably because there's a sponsor who makes their own NBT adapter...regardless, just change each zero (0) to an O in the address (custom retrofit).

[Nerdking]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

Nope, no issues with coding whatsoever; I don't foresee the E9X getting any software updates but if you were to take it to the dealer they wouldn't be able to update modules within the car, you'd have to swap your old radio in. You can still individually flash modules with WinKFP yourself while the NBT is installed, though!

Pretty much any vendor who sells the NBT retro adapter will also sell you the NBT precoded to your VIN. I used a carsystems.com.ua adapter -- they have a lot of resellers, most popular being Neo who runs cust0mretr0fit.ro; Neo is super helpful to his clients, fortunately I never needed help but I can see it from his quick responses on forums to those with questions.

Note: the forum censored the website for some reason, probably because there's a sponsor who makes their own NBT adapter...regardless, just change each zero (0) to an O in the address (custom retrofit).

How much cutting did you have to do to complete the install? How hard was the install on a scale of 1-10?

[TheUnscented]

Hi, what is CIC vs CCC vs NBT?

JUst bought an E92 M3 without nav. Considered pulling a Nav dash out of a wreck and installing it on my nearly new looking 2009 (bought in Columbus, BTW. Looks like a big job. Is iDrive that great, or should I look for aftermarket solutions (EononGA5165F in console)? Don't mean to hijack your post but since I'm new, I cannot start my own. Any advice would be welcome, thanks!

[nolemons]

I've done the NBT retrofit this month and really love the system.
My car is 2009, had CIC from factory. I bought full NBT kit from bimmerretrofit here, they had a deal on the system at the beginning of the month and the kit turned out just under $2K. The only coding that was required was removal of SOS error from the KOMBI. They've offered to do it, but my friend has NCSEXPERT and he did it for me. For me everything is working, don't have any complaints. You should definitely do it!

[nolemons]

By the way, that same friend has an X5 and he is also doing the NBT retrofit this weekend. He went the other route, and bought from bimmer only the adapter and sourced the rest locally. He will be doing the install this weekend.