new member, new love

[wht125i]

Evening all!

6 days ago I picked up my AW 2010 125i AT Coral Red. Wow. Love it. It has low kms, and hopefully is a car for the next decade.

I'm not new to the BMW family, but I am new to the 1 series family. Since last Saturday, and for a few weeks prior I've been look at mods to start with over the next few years until it's exactly as I want.

When I picked it up it was stock. My main interest in mods will be cosmetic and creature comforts... that might change in the future to get more performance...

Since mid June 14
- replaced the front indicator bulbs with Narva 'invisible' bulbs... which aren't invisible at all (I got suckered), but look purple and look pretty awesome
-

View post on imgur.com

- debadged the 125i (love the newd look, not so I can pretend I've got a different car)
- iPhone y adapter - 61122338491
- interior LED upgrade
- front and rear speakers have been replaced. Put in Helix Match MS 4X in the front door cards, Helix Blue B4X in the rears - great sound.
- wrapped the interior trim in titanium 3M to create strong contrast and brighten the interior.
- PS3s are on the rims. 225 and 255.
- SuperSprint rear muffler
- $88 rear spoiler in black to increase the contrast
- replaced side orange bulbs with chrome bulbs for $10. Easy.

In order of priority I intend to do the following
- M3/1M front suspension
- M3 rear subframe bushes or the power flex inserts.
- grocery gripper

- replace under seat speakers
- performance tune
- 51458051253 Alcantara Gauge Hood

[wht125i]

Well, that was a busy morning.

Intended to clean and replenish all the leather in the car... didn't get past the drivers seat. I knew it was dirty, you could see the coral red looking black on the surface, but didn't appreciate how dirty it was. Both pink micro fibre clothes were well and truly filthy by the end of the job.

So I had the product that I liked already, autoglym leather cleaner and leather care balm. So I spent an hour cleaning the seat properly. It was super dirty as the micro fibre clothes show, it took quite a while to do the job properly with multiple passes, and I haven't yet got a brush, but it's on order. Here are a few photos I wanted to share, showing starting point, progress, and final product. I think the sheen will drop off over night as the leather absorbs the product.

The leather seems to have faded somewhat overall, you can see the difference in colour between the thigh bolster and rest of seat... any one know if the leather is recoverable back to the red?

Starting with a filthy seat, you can see the dirt sitting on top, that the red is more grey than red, and that it doesn't look right.


Clean base, dirty bolsters


e.g. how dirty MF cloth actually was


Middle panel cleaned


Final look


Also, 1addicts.com sticker has been added

[TS135i]

Congrats mate, looks in great condition.

[kaitan]

congrats mate!! u will love the car!

[wht125i]

Thanks TS135i and Kaitan, been looking for a long time to find the car I wanted!

[Smiley1175]

Congrats on the car and well done cleaning up the seats.
I know you don't intend to look at performance mods just yet, but there's some very impressive gains available. Have you seen THIS THREAD

[BMW86]

Congrats and welcome.

Seems like an epic build you have planned...

Seriously though - I have the grocery gripper and it's pretty handy. I always hang my groceries on them and the plastic bag will break before it comes close to coming off. Actually I've never had a bag come off. Thinking about getting a grocery gripper on the other side too.

Another cool thing you might like is this http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E82-135...ses/ES2215430/

[wht125i]

Thanks for the comments Smiley 1175 and BMW86.

Smiley, that does look very tempting... I hadn't seen that thread&product yet. It might have to be added to my list for 2016! 2015 will be an exhaust that sounds better in the cabin... too quite after driving the e46 325Ci for the last 4 years.

BMW86, after a quick shop tonight it might be bumped up the list...

[wht125i]

Today the 125i badge was removed. As everyone says, super simple, heat up the number for 20s, dental floss the number off, remove the glue (mine just pealed off), remove the remaining gunk, top off with some wax. Job done. I did it because I prefer the unbadged look. No photo, but you'll see no badge on future photos.

Took the car to golf today, the boys are a wee bit jealous... good for my ego stroking.

[Anthony B]

Congrats on the car, I'm on the count down to picking up my e82. Very very jealous of the coral interior

[wht125i]

Thanks Anthony.

What are you getting? On order or on the hunt? I love the red, dislike the black wood trim though. My e46 had tan seats and tan trim on the A/B/C pillar & headliner which made a very light and bright interior, I loved it. The e82 has black A/B/C pillar trim & headliner which is nice... except I've had nicer

[Anthony B]

I pick up a lemans blue 135i this coming Thursday, if the white one I was looking at hadn't have sold I'd have acquired a coral interior.

[david.orr]

Welcome to 1Addicts! Enjoy your time here.

[wht125i]

Selling the old e46 and broke the boot handle above the number plate - it has been breaking for ages, but annoying it happened just as I'm selling. Anyway, the replacement parts are quite expensive in Aus and ECS Tuning is a lot less, so put an order in for that tonight...

Buuuttt it would be a waste of postage if that was all I bought, so now I'm getting new headlight bulbs (the current ones seem really dark compared with e46?), and the interior LED lights.

Headlight bulbs will be Ziza Super White (6k) and got them for low beam and high beam lights.

Interior LED lights are the Ziza master LED interior kit. Couldn't find many reviews, but wanted to make sure I made best use of the shipping cost. I liked how the photos looked when I found them online with a red interior

I'll take some before and after photos, and look forward to sharing in a few weeks.

[Nik]

Hi Wht125!

Call me a stalker, but your 125i wouldn't live a few spaces down from a perpetually dirty white m135i would it? I spotted the 1addicts sticker and thought "I never did sign up to that forum..."

Was admiring your car today. Quite a clean ride you have!

[Moocow]

interested in some Eibach Pro springs?
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=969289

[wht125i]

Hey Nik,

thanks for the nice comment. you bet that's me, I've spent many days driving slowly past your current and previous wheels. Love the look of your 1 series. When you see me down there tap me on the shoulder. Today my LED interior lights turned up from ECS, along with the 6k white headlight bulbs, so you might see me tinkering over the next few nights.

Thanks Moocow, pretty happy with current set up at the moment.

[wht125i]

I wasn't that excited by the original H7 bulbs in the headlights, they just felt dull, and they were high on my list of things to replace. So I bought a full set of Super White H7 Halogen Bulb when I was getting something else for the old car. Wasn't sure what I wanted, but figured 6k white and the promise of super white looked good enough on the picture scales.

Weirdly, I had the same feeling when I had the e46 with original bulbs, I just thought they were dull and then the mechanic replaced them with normal H7s and felt a heap brighter...

So they arrived in a week, and then spent an amazing amount of time trying to change them over. I just could either get the clip to release that holds in the H7, or I could, but then couldn't get it to re catch! Talk about painful experience. I couldn't see what I was doing, and it's the third time in a decade of changing bulbs that I've had to do this, so I've got little experience. I did high beam and low beam, but only have low beam photos.

I'm very happy with the new bulbs. They look white, they don't feel dull and much happier overall. I lined up my e46 which had good head light alignment and aligned the e82 lights to match, now I can actually see stuff. The e82 seems to be out by a mile from the factory. Again, weird, and remember having this issue with the e46.

Picture of new and old bulbs.


Before Picture


New and old bulbs


What new bulb looks on


Compare against wall

[wht125i]

Didn't take long after buying the car to realise I hated the interior lights. They were dull, didn't light much of the interior, and detracted from the overall fit and finish of the vehicle. Plenty of other posts on here showed what was available, and because I was already buying stuff from ECS, I put in a set of their Master LED Interior Lighting Kit by Ziza. Full plug and play, not work required, installation instructions on their website, too easy!

One of the things I loved in my e46 was the way in which the interior lit up as you unlocked the doors, it was elegant, and showed off the tan interior so nicely. It helped the head liner was tannish colour, and that the rear interior lights were adjacent to the rear headrests. The LED lights in the e82 now almost achieve this, and is a million times better than before.

- foot well is very well lit
- boot can see the corners now
- the light is blueish, so isn't harsh and looks great
- lights fad on and off still
- ties in really well with the handle LED, and the rear number plate LED

<photos to follow>

Boot before


Boot after


Behind before


Behind after


Front before


Front after


Side down before

Side down after


Footwell before


Footwell after

[Goombeh]

Congrats on the car bud!!

Wife's car is a 125i and every time I get to drive it, I can't help but say out loud.... "This thing is so... damn smooth...... this engine..... it's just incredible"

Every time..

I love that motor.

I wanted it to be white too but alas, she insisted on Black. Oh well, it's still damn smooth.

[wht125i]

Well I've been pretty quite on here recently... not many kms on the car, she's currently waiting for some TLC from the smash repair to undo what skippy did to me a few weeks ago.

6am, driving to Perisher, pre dawn, 100kmh, skippy thought I was the most interesting thing ever and jumped in front! Thankfully I was inured, the car came off pretty well too. I think skippy was just in the air, so he destroyed my RH headlight, bonnet and tore some of the right fender, and because he was moving didn't trigger airbags or come into windscreen.

I was super lucky, didn't run over it so no suspension damage. No engine issues, no rouge leaks. The radiator mount is damage but looks like easy fix with new part. The high beam headlight bulb works, along with fog lights, normal headlight filament was damaged.

No matter how you cut it, I got lucky. 2 new panels, new head light, new grill... and that's about it. Fortnight in the shop and she'll be back.

First mod on return? Getting rid of the run craps on front, and replacing with better gripping PS3s.

[kaitan]

Originally Posted by wht125i

Well I've been pretty quite on here recently... not many kms on the car, she's currently waiting for some TLC from the smash repair to undo what skippy did to me a few weeks ago.

6am, driving to Perisher, pre dawn, 100kmh, skippy thought I was the most interesting thing ever and jumped in front! Thankfully I was inured, the car came off pretty well too. I think skippy was just in the air, so he destroyed my RH headlight, bonnet and tore some of the right fender, and because he was moving didn't trigger airbags or come into windscreen.

I was super lucky, didn't run over it so no suspension damage. No engine issues, no rouge leaks. The radiator mount is damage but looks like easy fix with new part. The high beam headlight bulb works, along with fog lights, normal headlight filament was damaged.

No matter how you cut it, I got lucky. 2 new panels, new head light, new grill... and that's about it. Fortnight in the shop and she'll be back.

First mod on return? Getting rid of the run craps on front, and replacing with better gripping PS3s.

Unlucky mate but just glad your ok...i know the feeling that damn it's not your fault and why you are the one that have to pay but hey that's life and move on.

After reading the thread again i'm interested in changing my front lights just wondering how much u bought your white lights and what colour temp are they? Where can i get them?