What did you do to/for your 1er today?

[demas]

Scoped out a new development area in our neighborhood - but really just an excuse to get shots of the car - prior to a semi-spirited drive this afternoon.

[Afam28]

Has any here successfully removed the radiator fan…
I followed YouTube’s step by step instructions…
But I still felt resistance and didn’t want to damage anything to be safe, while trying to remove it…

I am removing the radiator fan to get easier access to the FMIC elbow on the turbo side…it’s not seated correctly and need to adjust the top section of the elbow but my hands are too big to squeeze by the radiator fan while in place…

[jdt10768]

activate: rear fog lamp ability !

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Afam28

Has any here successfully removed the radiator fan…

Yes, and it sucked. I wish I had tips for you. I just kept at it and eventually got it after some scraped knuckles and a good amount of swearing.

I vaguely remember a tab on one or both sides being a huge pain. I jammed something into them so they wouldn't close back up again / click and hold the fan in place. If that makes sense... if it doesn't then maybe you haven't noticed the tabs that lock it in place and that's what's up?

If it's out, consider belt and pulleys if they are remotely due. Helps a ton for the fan to be out of the way for them.

[Fishee]

Originally Posted by Afam28

Has any here successfully removed the radiator fan…
I followed YouTube’s step by step instructions…
But I still felt resistance and didn’t want to damage anything to be safe, while trying to remove it…

I am removing the radiator fan to get easier access to the FMIC elbow on the turbo side…it’s not seated correctly and need to adjust the top section of the elbow but my hands are too big to squeeze by the radiator fan while in place…

The biggest issue I found was with the rubber bushing that holds the charge pipe, on the left side of the fan (driver side). Suggest getting someone to help you. One person to jiggle and lift the fan, one person to pry the bushing with a long flat screwdriver.

[mkeiser]

View post on imgur.com

beginning of my brake upgrade... e90 328i rear calipers arrived and disassembled. Rebuild kit on the way. F30 335i front calipers should get here tomorrow. TBD on that rebuild kit.

[Donkeyshins]

Originally Posted by mkeiser

View post on imgur.com

beginning of my brake upgrade... e90 328i rear calipers arrived and disassembled. Rebuild kit on the way. F30 335i front calipers should get here tomorrow. TBD on that rebuild kit.

I've got 328i rears and 135i fronts which are fantastic. I still need to do the preventative caliper rebuild at some point (the ceramic is fine, but it's only a matter of time), and also have some 135i rear calipers in a bin. I think you're gonna like the 335i / 328i combo. Just make sure to code your DME for reinforced brakes.

[N55e82Simon]

Originally Posted by Fishee

The biggest issue I found was with the rubber bushing that holds the charge pipe, on the left side of the fan (driver side). Suggest getting someone to help you. One person to jiggle and lift the fan, one person to pry the bushing with a long flat screwdriver.

Yeah that one was tough. I also sprayed them down with wd40 which I think helped a bit. I did this when I changed my pulleys and drive belt. If you are going to remove the fans might look into tensioner and pulleys as well.

[Almuliman]

Retrieved my Euro light switch "cluster" from my European shipping address and put the 1er on a battery tender while I'm, well, in Europe.

I'm missing a whole month of late spring driving season
I'm getting my much cheaper light switch

[mkeiser]

Originally Posted by Donkeyshins

I've got 328i rears and 135i fronts which are fantastic. I still need to do the preventative caliper rebuild at some point (the ceramic is fine, but it's only a matter of time), and also have some 135i rear calipers in a bin. I think you're gonna like the 335i / 328i combo. Just make sure to code your DME for reinforced brakes.

I'm very excited! Although I probably won't be able to get everything installed until next year. I still need to pick up new summer wheels/tires and then figure out a winter setup that will clear the calipers.

I've got the DME coding on the list... also might pick up a 135i master cylinder if the 128i isn't up to snuff.

[Gray_Panther]

Iron remover and wheel cleaner are both out. So I ordered nanoskin iron remover and P&S brake buster, 1 gallon each.
My wheels really need it big time, the fronts are more dark gray than silver.

I gotta see about getting akebanos on all four corners next year.

[parameter416]

Originally Posted by mkeiser

https://www.amazon.com/TULALUX-compa...0CJY1V17B?th=1


may have to give this a shot...

i've used lamin-x in the past but wasn't thrilled with the results.

I ordered a set of these from Amazon. They were just delivered, so I took them outside to take a few cell phone photos.

Up close the quality looks just okay, but from a distance they look fine. Not sure yet whether I'll install them.

[mkeiser]

Originally Posted by parameter416

I ordered a set of these from Amazon. They were just delivered, so I took them outside to take a few cell phone photos.

Up close the quality looks just okay, but from a distance they look fine. Not sure yet whether I'll install them.

mine are set to arrive today... thanks for the initial thoughts. I'm sure we'll be on the same page.

[Fishee]

Originally Posted by Gray_Panther

Iron remover and wheel cleaner are both out. So I ordered nanoskin iron remover and P&S brake buster, 1 gallon each.
My wheels really need it big time, the fronts are more dark gray than silver.

I gotta see about getting akebanos on all four corners next year.

Recommend ceramic coating the wheels.
Helps immensely with brake dust release.

[ml26]

Installed a set of saddle brown sport seats from an e92 that I scored for $250 on FB Marketplace. Fantastic condition. The rest of my interior is Terra brown as they didn’t put saddle brown in e82s. The saddle is def lighter than the Terra, but I don’t care. I’ll prob be the only person who will notice.

Only issue is that the seat position sensor was different from e92 to e82. Even with unplugging the battery, had airbag and seatbelt fault. Ended up removing the e82 sensors, plugged them in, taped them together and zip tied them to the underside of the new seats and all clear!

Amazing what a difference sport seats make vs the “comfort” seats. They are FAR from comfortable. No support on the old ones. And they bounced soooo much. I thought that I had made a mistake on my suspension setup, or that the rear subframe bushings were the cause of all the bouncing I was experiencing. Turns out, it was 95% the seats. The comfort seats would give me 3 residual trampoline like bounces anytime I went over anything. Gone now. And I have side bolster support which was non existent.

If you still have the non sport seats in your car, do yourself a favor and swap them out ASAP.

Next up, I found an m3 rear subframe for a good deal in great condition and will be installing when I have time. Just need to get adjustable toe arms first.

[parameter416]

Originally Posted by mkeiser

mine are set to arrive today... thanks for the initial thoughts. I'm sure we'll be on the same page.

The more I look at them, the more I think they're okay. Comparing them to the ones at Racing24 I can see minor differences, but they don't seem significant. Hard to tell the quality from photos.

The price of the two is about the same, but the estimated shipping cost at Racing24 means that they're much more expensive, and they don't seem to ship at all to Canada.

[mkeiser]

Originally Posted by parameter416

The more I look at them, the more I think they're okay. Comparing them to the ones at Racing24 I can see minor differences, but they don't seem significant. Hard to tell the quality from photos.

The price of the two is about the same, but the estimated shipping cost at Racing24 means that they're much more expensive, and they don't seem to ship at all to Canada.

racing24 all in was about $125 for me so these are definitely worth the gamble at 1/3 of the price

[jdt10768]

ml26 those seats look great, nice score there. So the seat controls on the new seats don't function plugged into existing wire harness? and you are using the e82 controls attached underneath the new seats? There must be a way to make the e92 seat controllers work. Search tech articles?

[WrathOTM]

So after searching on eBay around 8 to 10 times over the course of owning my car, I finally found a silver-topped parking brake handle. The scrapper/junkyard listed it as a BMW E92 "Black Chrome" parking brake handle. So, lucky me then. Gonna need a new boot to go with it. That was yesterday BTW, NGK sparky plugs were done this morning and a gas cap is due in tomorrow. Also 99% sure my VC has a crack somewhere around the PCV system as there is oil/dust residue building up all around it and then some.

The handle was a bit rough but oh well. Does anyone know of a off-the-shelf silver paint that is close the silver BMW used?

[Gray_Panther]

Originally Posted by Fishee

Recommend ceramic coating the wheels.
Helps immensely with brake dust release.

Any coatings you recommend? I did wheel wax but it only lasts a short time but the shine was superb.
Won’t the hot brake dust cut right through the ceramic coating?

[Fishee]

Believe I used CQuartz.
Applied two years ago, still going strong.

Unlike wax, ceramic coat is a kind of self-applied, hydrophobic, thin clear coat.
Seems to have good longevity. YMMV.

[ml26]

Originally Posted by jdt10768

ml26 those seats look great, nice score there. So the seat controls on the new seats don't function plugged into existing wire harness? and you are using the e82 controls attached underneath the new seats? There must be a way to make the e92 seat controllers work. Search tech articles?

Thanks!

No, all the controls on the e92 seats work perfectly. Forward, backward, tilt, recline, side bolsters and lumbar. 100%.

I had to swap the seatbelt receptor from the old seat into the new seat’s harness, but that was easy.

It was the separate wire for the seat position sensor that controls the airbag that I had to just rig up. Easy enough once I figured out that that was what caused the airbag and seatbelt fault.