So I completed the install this pas Saturday. My evaluation of this vendor is not very good. I would say on a scale of 1-10 they get a 2, maybe 3. Shipping was good, and people are friendly. I never got any attitude from them at all. I did however get empty promises that I would receive e-mails and never did. The Kit came in with no instructions whatsoever. I had to wait for the business to open to call them because the instructions on there website are password protected.
After reviewing the install instructions I did get, I realized they were for a 3 series. So I had to contact them again and ask what was going on with that. The service tech I spoke with was nice and tried to help me but didn't have the knowledge of the product to do so. He said he had a few pictures that would help me out and would email them. I received the 5 pics they have listed on the website with the kit. Which isn't a whole lot when you don't know where to cut. The 3 series instructions had different places to cut and different mounting points and brackets. So I was kind of at a loss with that. I got the bumper off and took pictures of where and how it looked underneath and sent them to the service tech. He told me he would talk to the fabricator that worked on developing the kit and outline on my picture where to cut and send it back to me. That never happened. I got tired of waiting and cut what I could see was cut on the website pictures of it fully installed. After going through the parts I realised I had alot of parts that dont belong anywhere. Here's a Pic.
So after the intercooler was in I was a little worried from all the left overs. I sent the service tech a pic of all of it and asked what they were for. He said they were for a different car and wasn't sure why they were in my kit. I also didn't receive a cap for the meth bung. So even if everything would have lined up and fit I didn't have a cap. A week later I received one.
THIS KIT WILL NOT FIT A STOCK MAY 2009 + CHARGE PIPE!!!!! The website says up to 2011. But i'm pretty sure they used an older 1 series to create this kit. So I was on the phone with them and sent pics back to show there is no way of installing this on my car. By that point I had already cut what was needed and had the intercooler and most of the piping installed so there was no going back. Big ups to Mike@N54tuning for helping figure that out and getting the right charge pipe ordered for me. When I finally got an e-mail back he showed me the kit for the N55 and asked if the piece they have for that would work. In the N55 kit they have the piping going all the way and replace the stock charge pipe. Why they didn't do it with this kit I don't know. So I had to explain to them the difference between the N55 and N54. I also had to tell them that they might want to fix the website because its extremely wrong with the years that this kit will fit. The mounting hardware was hastily done and attention to detail when it came to correct placement of mounting tabs was really bad. The top mounting bracket wasn't long enough to reach the mounting points. I had to slot the holes so it would fit. The same bracket had the tabs to mount to the top of the intercooler and where not spaced right so I had to slot one of those as well. It still ended up being pretty solid. I shouldn't have had to do all that. Unless your going to have a shop install this for you, I wouldn't buy this kit. I now have more knowledge about how to install this than the company that "developed this from the ground up" does. I don't think that's right. I'm not sure what the other intercoolers are doing for AIT's. I did some logs before and after. It was about 13 degrees cooler out during the before log, wont really worry about that. The before log showed an increase of 33 degrees on the stock intercooler during a 1-4 gear pull. From 96 degrees to 129 degrees. In 3rd gear the temp changed from 100 degrees to 122 degrees. The after logs showed an increase of 15 degrees through the same pull. From 96 degrees to 111 degrees. In 3rd gear the temp went from 98 degrees to 107 degrees. I'm extremely happy with that. I'm goiong to log again if I find a day that's closer to the same outside temp. And the temp went down alot quicker after the pull. So the product works, and looks like good quality materials. The workmanship on where brackets were placed is really bad. The knowledge of the 1series and how this kit fits in it is even worse. The company seemed to want to help but never really followed through with anything they said they would as far as assistance goes. I would not recommend this for the DIYer. The rubix cube of parts I got was really annoying and took up time I didn't want to spend figuring it out. So my overall review of CXRaing FMIC kit, if you can get the same results or close to it from another kit, go with the other kit. This only cost me $550 delivered and then spent another $300 to get the right charge pipe. So if you would need a charge pipe total spent is $850. Pretty sure there are similar options out there for around the same price that doesn't need cutting. If you want to know anything else about this kit experience, don't hesitate to ask.