[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by Martyn76

Do your tyres give you any rim protection on the 19"s? Can't really see much from your photos

It's a concern for me if I moved from 18"s, M359s really suit the E90\91\92 though!

Also did you need spacers?

Car looks great btw!

Thanks mate Really happy with how it looks and think I made the right choice in alloys and tyres.

No spacers, to be honest they are not needed in my opinion.

With regards to the rim protection there isn't much (if any) - the front tyres 235/35/19 seem a bit little bit more protected than the rears on 265/30/19 rubbers but it is what it is I guess.

I was going to get the cheaper, slightly narrower M359 style alloys that CM Wheels sells (8.5" and 9.5" as opposed to 9" and 10") but the deeper concave of the Avant Garde is what I wanted so went for the wider alloys.

I've taken a few more pics for you:













I wouldn't hesitate in recommending these wheels and don't let the lack of rim protection put you off mate.

[Jat]

Very nice mate, reminds me very much of my old one (see my sig for a link).

Such a versatile car, I would have kept mine if we didn't have our third child.

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by Jat

Very nice mate, reminds me very much of my old one (see my sig for a link).

Such a versatile car, I would have kept mine if we didn't have our third child.

Thanks dude. Your old E91 was a cracker and it was one of the first threads I viewed on here when I joined the forum. Just been scanning through your build thread again and loving the front bumper, do you remember what you paid for it and from where?

[Jat]

Originally Posted by 2die4

Thanks dude. Your old E91 was a cracker and it was one of the first threads I viewed on here when I joined the forum. Just been scanning through your build thread again and loving the front bumper, do you remember what you paid for it and from where?

I got it from eBay, a few on here have the same ones.

This is the link to the seller I used, I had great service and after sales support.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-3-SERI...RmuHSk2KfzbUBg

There are some others on ebay too now, search E90 M3 Bumper.

[Phil99z]

Wrapped the aluminium section of my auto shifter in 3M Carbon. Really pleased with the end result.

[S4DNX]

Looking very smart mate

[Phil99z]

UPDATE: LCI Headlight swap and a massive thank you to RajB!

I really hate my standard pre-LCI halogen headlights and it amazes me why they don't come with xenon lights as standard or why the person that bought the car

originally didn't spec them and instead went for things like the steering wheel paddle shifters. I finally got round and managed to buy a pair of genuine LCI headlights for my E91. Was contemplating going down the 3rd party route and getting some DEPO ones and whilst I am sure they are fine I was concerned about light spread and also the quality of the halos etc.

Anyway the hunt was on for some genuine E90 headlights on ebay and sometimes you can grab a bargain but most of the time they are around £250 for a pair.

Contacted a load of places who were breaking E90's and the headlights were always gone. I found one (drivers side) for sale on ebay local to me and it had no bids as the seller advertised it as "BMW 318 headlight", think if they had put it as E90 headlight it would have some bids. Anyway, bid on it and won it for £85. They were based in Stourbridge so I drove to collect it. A few days later a passenger side LCI headlight popped up for sale. It was a different seller and again it wasn't advertised as an E90 headlight, the description just read "BMW 320d headlight". No one bid apart from me and I also won that for £85 plus £10 postage so £95 for that.

From there I set about buying new bulbs. Wanted to change the indicator bulbs from orange ones to silver ones that flashed orange. Taking the protective cover to reveal the indicator bulb was a real pain as they were in so stiff. Hindsight tells me to use a bit of WD40 but on the first one I didn't and used a bit of brute force and managed to snap off some of the plastic off the cover. Ordered a replacement for £7(!). Also ordered some new silver bulbs, got some Philips ones for £18 each which I think is expensive for an indicator bulb but it is what it is!

Next purchase was CREE angel eye bulbs which I bought from Amazon for £50 after reading the reviews and also ordered a new set of Osram Nightbreakers for the headlights. My old headlights had some Osram Nightbreakers in already so the plan was to take them ones out and use them in the new LCI headlights since 2 sets of H7 bulbs are required.

Fitting the bulbs was easy enough since the lights were not in. God knows how you are meant to do it when they are actually located on the car and I definitely would not want to swap the halo bulbs if the headlight was in.

I'd been in touch with RajB a while ago and he very kindly agreed to assist with installing the headlights since where I live it really isn't ideal to do any kind of work and he's only round the corner from me. Anyway, popped round yesterday and he set about it.

To be honest RajB did all the hard work! I was mearly a spectator throughout and assisted by passing the odd torx bit and holding back bits of plastic trim.

The install took about 2 hours and seemed relatively straight forward (although RajB might disagree!). Jack the car up for space, removal of headlight washer covers, undo all screws holding the bumper underneath and in the wheel arch and in the engine bay, disconnect foglights and that was about it. However there was one problematic screw which was buried and couldn't be reached so this required the wheel arch liner to be removed in order to get access to it. Once that was done it was a matter of swapping a few bulbs, then putting everything back together again with the new LCI headlights and testing the lights.

I'm over the moon with how they look on the car and how they have transformed the look. The OEM LCi headlights really are subtle and certainly help to make the car look fresher.

Once again a massive thank you to RajB for this as I couldn't have done it without you. Always good to meet another forum member - especially one who is so fastidious and analytical in their approach. Cheers buddy!

Ok so here are the pics:

[RajB]

Looking good buddy and thanks for the kind words. Good to meet you too and it was a straight forward job tbf.

Really improves the front end.

[S4DNX]

Looking good mate, if only I knew the LCI would fit Pre LCI I would of done the same instead of getting aftermarket ones

[imy]

These arent xenon? Look good all the same

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by S4DNX

Looking good mate, if only I knew the LCI would fit Pre LCI I would of done the same instead of getting aftermarket ones

Thanks mate. Like I said I was tempted with some 3rd party ones but cancelled my order at the last minute. Really glad I did as I like the subtle classiness of the genuine OEM LCI lights. If you can source a pair I would be tempted to sell the ones you have and put on some LCI ones

Originally Posted by imy

These arent xenon? Look good all the same

Thanks. No these are halogen ones so it was a straight swap with nothing else needed. The night breaker headlight bulbs whilst not as white as the CREE halos I think looks pretty good and is a good compromise in my opinion of style and light performance.

[btiratsoo]

Very tidy set up there fella. Almost the exact same wheels that I'm after except I'll go for anthracite and the narrower option due to the LCi having a wider track. Lovely motors aren't they.

I'm wanting to fit led angel eyes to mine but I'm worried now that it's going to be a pain reading that you wouldn't want to do them with the lights in situ. Was it really that bad?

Here is a pic of mine. First BMW after a lifetime of Golfs. Only a lowly 318d but I love it. 2010 business edition with M-Sport bits.

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by btiratsoo

Very tidy set up there fella. Almost the exact same wheels that I'm after except I'll go for anthracite and the narrower option due to the LCi having a wider track. Lovely motors aren't they.

I'm wanting to fit led angel eyes to mine but I'm worried now that it's going to be a pain reading that you wouldn't want to do them with the lights in situ. Was it really that bad?

Here is a pic of mine. First BMW after a lifetime of Golfs. Only a lowly 318d but I love it. 2010 business edition with M-Sport bits.

Your car looks sweet and they are great cars. I do love the performance of my 330i but I am massively envious of the MPG that your 318d will return.

The Avant Garde wheels I have are apparently a direct fitment to LCI models so it might be worth contacting CM Wheels to confirm this. The AG wheels have a fantastic concave and are worth every penny, so if they fit without any issues I would seriously consider them

The pain is that the LED angel eye bulbs are held in by two torx screws as opposed to being held in with the usual spring clip type thing that holds in bulbs I guess maybe with access through the little flap in the wheel arch you will be able to get to it. The white CREE bulbs are a worthy upgrade though.

Get a thread up with your car!

[btiratsoo]

Cheers dude. I will get round to it. Have you thought about a black wrap on the roof. Thinking it might look quite cool but not sure.

Cheers for the heads up about the LEDs. I've subsequently read that it's easier to do the nearside by removing the arch liner. Your wheels are spot on. I'll give the CM guys a bell and see what we can come up with. Looking forward to seeing where you go next.

Ben

[Phil99z]

Update time and this time itÂ’s the Alpine upgrade.

Picked up this little lot from eBay for an absolute bargain, It came with extra speakers and subs which I don’t need but I was only interested in the Alpine amp, mid-range, tweeters and door sails but the other stuff was included too, at the time of purchase eBay had a 20% off voucher off all purchases so got everything delivered for £155 - an absolute steal!


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/5dsiyy7mj/IMG_1600.jpg[/img]



Stuff arrived and all in good condition, apart from the person that I bought it from had completely butchered the wiring harness and it was cut very short. Instead of being about 5 meters long it was about 50cm.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/6mgekkzkr/IMG_1606.jpg[/img]



Had spoke to RajB with regards to the install and he was happy to oblige and I managed to download various instructions, pin out pictures, diagrams etc from various sources on the net.

RajB mentioned it would be a matter of soldering on wires to extend which is not only time consuming but tricky to identify which wire is which. He said it would be a 2 night install and mentioned we could do it in stages. Anyway, I ordered some new speaker cable and an amp wiring kit since the original earth and power cable were also severed and cut short. I did try and buy a replacement wiring loom as I managed to find the part number but they were discontinued a few years back by BMW.

The kit I bought was for an LCI and my car is a pre-LCI but since the wiring loom was cut short it didnÂ’t really make any difference.

So night one kicked off with removal of the front door trim and the installation of the new mid-range speakers, securing the crossover and the installation of the new door sails.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/43upjwduj/IMG_1625.jpg[/img]



Then from there it was taking the boot part to install the amp and get the soldering of the wire done to extend the loom and also labelling everything up. This single handily took the most time as there was 6 wires per side to solder, identify and label. Once one side was done the other was quicker as the identification is what took the time. All credit to RajB for being sat in a cramped car boot for 3 hours as he set about it! With the wires soldered we called it a night and left it that for the following week.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/e69hmmsrf/IMG_1634.jpg[/img]


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/myqgabdwb/IMG_1627.jpg[/img]



The new speakers were installed and powered off the head unit and the difference is night and day over the standard base speakers. So I could imagine just how good it would sound amplified.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/cwbo7kyzf/IMG_1626.jpg[/img]



I was contemplating leaving the standard subs in but then decided to change them. Wanted Logic 7 ones but they are so hard to get and not cheap either. In the end went for a pair of MB Quart QMW200, these are a straight fit and no need for spacers etc. Ordered from Amazon and came via a German company for £150 delivered.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/42g6cqmmz/IMG_1618.jpg[/img]



Comparison of MB Quart and base sub


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/4ycns6wbf/IMG_1620.jpg[/img]



Night 2 of the install was earlier this week and RajB set about removing the rear trim and side to run the wires through. The front seats were unbolted and lifted up and the subs changed too. Again the time consuming part was identifying which wire tapped into which wire. I wouldnÂ’t even know where to begin when I seen the wiring that RajB had to go through. IÂ’ve installed amps before but always via RCA - never had to tap into existing wiring looms before so this is most definitely alien territory to me. Guess the fact that the Alpine wiring loom wasnÂ’t complete didnÂ’t help matters either.

Anyway it was figured out and RajB set about it. Again the other side was quicker since he knew what was what.

Once that was done it was a matter of installing the subs, wiring them up and putting everything back together again.


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/fivs29fkr/IMG_1708.jpg[/img]


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/mel2ihgd7/IMG_1706.jpg[/img]


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/e6j4xhogr/IMG_1640.jpg[/img]


[img]http://s23.postimg.org/crcibnh23/IMG_1637.jpg[/img]



IÂ’m very happy with the sound and the subs pack a nice punch too. IÂ’ve got a CCC Professional head unit in my car and it hasnÂ’t been coded to HI-FI. Not sure if I will bother as I am overall happy with it as is. Maybe if I heard one side by side I would change my mind so will leave it for now.

Once again huge thanks to RajB for this. It was a very time consuming install and as ever RajB is very fastidious in his craftsmanship of measuring and checking the wires 2 or 3 times and then cutting once! Cheers again dude! Really appreciate it!

[RajB]

Nice write-up Phil and a pleasure as always. Was a bit more time consuming having to figure the wires and extend them all but now we've done this one it would be a much quicker affair next time.

Sound is excellent from this upgrade and tbh I do wonder even now why I bothered ripping mine out and upgrading again lol.

[m20b25]

Nice find on the alpine! Been looking for ages

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by m20b25

Nice find on the alpine! Been looking for ages

Yeah I got really lucky, the seller had mis-spelt the title of the advert, it was on a buy it now but I made an offer and got it. Despite the wiring loom it was a bargain since it included the door trims too.

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by m20b25

Nice find on the alpine! Been looking for ages

Yeah I got really lucky, the seller had mis-spelt the title of the advert, it was on a buy it now but I made an offer and got it. Despite the butchered wiring loom it was a bargain since it included the door trims too.

[Phil99z]

Finally got round to picking up my BMW performance diffuser from paint today. Very happy with how it looks and glad I went for the colour coordination in the end. Was originally going to leave it matt black but as RajB has mentioned previously you lose the look of it with all the black.

Will be going on next week! Pics to follow!

[otterolly]

you've done some nice mods there 2die for I especially like the audio upgrade and am looking at options for my e91 at the minute.

Job well done

[Phil99z]

Originally Posted by otterolly

you've done some nice mods there 2die for I especially like the audio upgrade and am looking at options for my e91 at the minute.

Job well done

Thanks dude but it's RajB's efforts with regards to the audio - I just buy the stuff!

I'm really happy with how my E91 is now. Got some air scoops ordered to fit behind the grills and then that will be it mod wise I think - although don't quote me!