New E82 Owner (TX)

[djacinto]

Hello everyone,

So as the title suggest, I just purchased a 2013 128i SULEV from California and drove it back the 1,400 miles to Texas.

The car has 94,000 miles after the trip, is Black on Black, Carbon Black Metallic, so it looks lovely next to my Imperial Blue f32. The car is very well taken care of mechanically, the previous owner who's wife was the main driver of this, did much of the preventative maintenance such as OFHG, metal mickey mouse flange +coolant flush, transmission oil and filters, brake pads, rotors, fluid, and a blackstone report from 2019 a little into their ownership of the car

So, here is the list of things that need to be addressed, followed by things that i want to be addressed

Need to be addressed:
1. the driver window!!
-something is wrong with the driver side window not tucking in far enough into the seal to get a good seal. I feel it wobbling past 80-85 miles an hour and need to get that fixed. After doing some thread searching a couple fixes are to readjust the window itself, or lube up the seal/replace the seal.

Would like more assistance on that if anyone knows more

2. RFT to go flats
so the previous owner got the rear tires replaced last year, they're on bridgestone rft's. I don't recall the exact model off the top of my head, but the fronts are probably needing to be replaced in the next year. The rears should be on 225's according to the door sill sticker, but all tires are 205/50/17 so that will be changed. For now, stock wheels will do and we will be swapping to 225/45/17 Conti DWS 06 non-plus because there is a great close out price on them over the plus's, but who knows, maybe I'll splurge a little

3. headlights
I feel it necessary to do the xenon headlight swaps not just because of looks but because of safety. Last night as we were finishing our trip, we came through a few small towns where deer would cross, almost running into one, but we were going slow enough to avoid it. I know it's not nearly as easy as on the F chassis so I will take a lot of time and ask for a lot of assistance on that end

4. window tinting
self explanatory, there's no window tint and the sun was freaking burning us throughout the trip. plus it looks cooler (pun intended)

want to address:
5. Suspension
Since we live in Austin, the roads downtown aren't the greatest. I know we've got decent roads, but like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this will be for the girlfriend so I want it oriented towards comfort as much as possible. Current shocks and struts were very nice and composed, the m sport suspension is really solid and I'm sure it's got plenty of life on them. I do not want to do coilovers unless we find a good kit that has adjustable damping. Any rec's on that?

6. idrive AvinUSA swap
I did this on my f32, and love it. My girlfriend said she wants this because who doesn't want carplay? This will also allow us to retrofit the back up camera and a front dash cam, where both can work in tandem to record in case of an accident

7. arm rest latch
So I have seen a few threads in regards to people's latch for the arm rest breaking due to heat, poor design, or too much use. The latch on ours is not broken, and it seems to actually be from the bottom half where it latches into. The latch is very loose and requires very little effort to simply pull up and it lets go. We felt this over harsher bumps too where the latch would let go and the top would fly up. Not a huge issue but was a big annoyance when neither of us had our arms on it

8. full leather m sport seats
so we got the sensatech m sport seats and I love them. I don't want to swap them for the sake of getting "real leather" but rather they typically will have the adjustable back support as well. we currently have the heated m sports, so it's more of a diagonally up upgrade

9. deep polish
The paint isn't in the greatest condition, so I want to get that professionally done. I did paint correction on my car and it is not for me. I love cleaning and detailing everything else, but paint correction is just out of my league and patience zone. Also, there's also a few dents on the driver fender. Luckily, I found one on ebay for 150 bucks so we can either do that or find someone to PDR it. I don't know how much it normally costs so let me know which one is more cost effective!


And that's it! Feel free to add other standard of living upgrades or things you feel no e82 owner should be without. I'm excited to take this journey and hope you can be along the ride too

[apexwerks]

Following!

I haven't gotten to it in my thread, but I did complete a LED projector retrofit on my E82. It was a fiddly job but it wasn't too hard. All the aftermarket headlight units I could find came with halogen projectors, which are better than our reflector halogens (especially when fitted with HIDs) but still aren't nearly as good as a dedicated HID/LED projector. At least that's been my opinion/experience.

I'm glad to share what I found and what I learned if you're headed this direction. Otherwise the Depo's seem to be well regarded.

[gjm120]

Beautiful car if it's the one you linked in the other thread.

Comfort will improve a lot after you change to non run flats.

I don't know if this got mentioned, but I'd do an ATF/filter change pretty soon if you can.

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by gjm120

Beautiful car if it's the one you linked in the other thread.

Comfort will improve a lot after you change to non run flats.

I don't know if this got mentioned, but I'd do an ATF/filter change pretty soon if you can.

Thank you! Still thinking of a name too


The previous owner said he did it two years ago just as he bought it, at around 70k miles. Since we're going on 100k I'll do it as well again.

[Aceway]

Keep an eye out for E92 M3 front seats for sale. I had them on my old 335i and the previous owner of my 135i swapped in a pair as well. They're not a huge upgrade but they can be had for a few hundred dollars usually and look awesome. Adjustable side bolstering too. F82 M4 seats fit also but those are in the thousands so…yeah.

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by Aceway

Keep an eye out for E92 M3 front seats for sale. I had them on my old 335i and the previous owner of my 135i swapped in a pair as well. They're not a huge upgrade but they can be had for a few hundred dollars usually and look awesome. Adjustable side bolstering too. F82 M4 seats fit also but those are in the thousands so…yeah.

lol interesting you say that abotu the f82, i'd like to do that with my f32 but the bottom seat bolstering is too tight for my legs lol!

I will keep an eye out for the m3 seats though, that's a good idea, thank you!

[K9Leader]

Congratulations! Glad it worked out for you.

Yep, ditch the run-flats. My '99 Corvette had run-flats when I got it in 2010. I hated them and switched to conventional tires after only a few months.

My 2010 E91 was due for tires when I got it in 2018. It had the stock 16" wheels and I went back and forth on whether to go 17" or 18". Pulled the trigger on a set of 18" wheels and Michelin run-flat all-seasons (reasoning that this is a daily driver, yada, yada, yada). Big mistake! The pothole explosions were truly epic and, in less than a year, I switched to 17" Style 66 wheels (early 2000s M5) with Michelin conventional all-seasons. Big improvement - still handles great and has great grip but no more teeth-jarring over every little imperfection in the road.



I will never have run-flats on any car ever again!

Good luck and keep us posted!

[djacinto]

Alright quick question for xenons retrofit:

what all is needed for the retrofit? I don't want to do any sort of re-wiring if at all possible. As a 2013 model, does that mean I have something the pre-lci's don't that make it easier?

Here is a set i found on ebay, what shows if a set has everything I need (minus bulbs as I plan on finding my own)

Edit: where can I find depo v2 headlights? I feel like this will be the best option after doing more research

[gjm120]

Originally Posted by djacinto

Thank you! Still thinking of a name too


The previous owner said he did it two years ago just as he bought it, at around 70k miles. Since we're going on 100k I'll do it as well again.

If it was done 30k miles ago, fluid should be good for awhile. You're lucky that was done. It's either a pain/mess or fairly expensive.

[djacinto]

Ok starting with the projects, so let's try to address issue number 1: driver side window not sealing properly

Issue: at 80 mph+, driver side window feels wobbly, there is play in the window at the top, and sounds of wind and whistling fill the cabin. I know this is not mirror caps as checking passenger side, all across the seal, has no play at the same speed. Confirmed by having 2nd person driving and checking both sides.

Methods of addressing:
1. Push a 13mm OD fishing tube (noted by this thread)
Cost: 9 dollars based off a quick amazon search

2. Replace door seal, FCP Euro has it listed with their lifetime warranty
Cost: 127

3. Adjust window bolts to readjust window (leaning towards this one). Needs a special wrench for the bolts, seems least intrusive and most effective. here is a video of what seems to be a 1 series,
Cost: 85 for tool, 18 for suction cup

Anyone have any advice/feedback on this?

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by gjm120

If it was done 30k miles ago, fluid should be good for awhile. You're lucky that was done. It's either a pain/mess or fairly expensive.

will shoot for a 50k interval for the 2nd flush then. Afterwards, will cut it down to 30k

Did this in my f32 at 50k miles, wasn't the biggest pain, only was difficult due to being on my back the whole time after working under the car for 3 days straight

[gjm120]

Originally Posted by djacinto

will shoot for a 50k interval for the 2nd flush then. Afterwards, will cut it down to 30k

Did this in my f32 at 50k miles, wasn't the biggest pain, only was difficult due to being on my back the whole time after working under the car for 3 days straight

Worst part was the getting fluid all over the floor and me from dropping the pan

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by gjm120

Worst part was the getting fluid all over the floor and me from dropping the pan

I was so worried about that, quick jacks is going to be the move when i move out of an apartment. Not in the near future, but hopefully a garage is somewhere in the near future. Hell, even a rentable one!

[djacinto]

ok did a quick error scan of the car and these errors came up. I don't recognize any of them so does anyone have some insight?

[apexwerks]

Originally Posted by djacinto

ok did a quick error scan of the car and these errors came up. I don't recognize any of them so does anyone have some insight?

When's the last time errors were cleared? If it's been a while (most likely never) I'd clear them and see what comes back up in a week. From my experience, most of the KCAN errors are one-time things that happen if a seat module doesn't respond in the time allotted and aren't real errors.

FWIW I don't see anything there that raises an eyebrow.

[tracer bullet]

The window thing... Use the "good" side as a benchmark and study it. Then back to the bad side and compare. Is it simply not going all the way up? Or is it moving correctly and the seal just isn't pressing on it? I feel like you should be able to see which direction to head. Pictures / videos might help too.

[Gangplank]

Originally Posted by djacinto

Ok starting with the projects, so let's try to address issue number 1: driver side window not sealing properly

Issue: at 80 mph+, driver side window feels wobbly, there is play in the window at the top, and sounds of wind and whistling fill the cabin. I know this is not mirror caps as checking passenger side, all across the seal, has no play at the same speed. Confirmed by having 2nd person driving and checking both sides.

Methods of addressing:
1. Push a 13mm OD fishing tube (noted by this thread)
Cost: 9 dollars based off a quick amazon search

2. Replace door seal, FCP Euro has it listed with their lifetime warranty
Cost: 127

3. Adjust window bolts to readjust window (leaning towards this one). Needs a special wrench for the bolts, seems least intrusive and most effective. here is a video of what seems to be a 1 series,
Cost: 85 for tool, 18 for suction cup

Anyone have any advice/feedback on this?

Have you tried the window reset? There is a simple process for it. Just do search the forum or google. That might fix it before you go down the rabbit hole.

On the run flats I switched from the crappy Bridgestone Potenza —> to Michelin P$4 —> Firestone Indy 500 —> and now on a set of Bridgestone DriveGuard tires.

I can recommend the Indy 500. They are nearly as good as the PS4 and cost half as much.

That said I'm now running the DriveGuards and they are night and day better vs other run-flats. For my intended use as a DD summer touring car they are great. They ride very similar the the Indy 500 in daily driving. Not rock hard like most other run flats. (Note I'm on the Ohlins suspension so that might be helping quite a bit as well).

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by Gangplank

Have you tried the window reset? There is a simple process for it. Just do search the forum or google. That might fix it before you go down the rabbit hole.

On the run flats I switched from the crappy Bridgestone Potenza —> to Michelin P$4 —> Firestone Indy 500 —> and now on a set of Bridgestone DriveGuard tires.

I can recommend the Indy 500. They are nearly as good as the PS4 and cost half as much.

That said I'm now running the DriveGuards and they are night and day better vs other run-flats. For my intended use as a DD summer touring car they are great. They ride very similar the the Indy 500 in daily driving. Not rock hard like most other run flats. (Note I'm on the Ohlins suspension so that might be helping quite a bit as well).

Yes tried the window reset a couple of times. I can do it once more just too triple check I'm doing the process right. This is the thread I used to do it

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318228

As for the tires I think that's the ones we're on now, the Bridgestone drive guards. They're not bad, especially in comparison to my pirelli cinturato p7's but a run flat is a run flat and we definitely felt it during the ride.

I'd love to one day run some dedicated summers, but we'll be running a tire that has a much longer tread life and flexibility, dws 06 will be the way to go for now

[apexwerks]

I've been really pleased with the General G-Max RS tires on the last few cars we've had. I don't drive this in the snow, so I've started running summers year round. The tread wear and wet weather performance of the Generals is good, and the cost is reasonable enough that I don't give abusing them a second thought. I used to run Continentals exclusively, but I think I'm happier with the Generals on this car than the Contis.

[djacinto]

Alright so today we got a few of our "in case" things
-air compressor
-battery pack jump kit
-tire plug kit
-manual tire gauge

A few other things like a socket charger along with a tow hook front license plate holder. Pretty shitty one if you ask me, but I'll keep fiddling around with it


Also, here are some videos I got of the car's window today

Driver side 1

Driver Side 2

Passenger side 1

Passenger side 2

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by djacinto

car's window

That helps.

So - does it go down when you open the door, and back up when you close it? If so then it's just not understanding what the correct position is. Leads down one path. If it doesn't move, then of course there's some other issue like maybe the car isn't sensing that the door even opened.

[djacinto]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

That helps.

So - does it go down when you open the door, and back up when you close it? If so then it's just not understanding what the correct position is. Leads down one path. If it doesn't move, then of course there's some other issue like maybe the car isn't sensing that the door even opened.

Yes, it does the coupe drop, so no issues there. I think it just needs to be raised up, like the bolts holding the glass have loosened and are not holding the glass where it needs to be, I.e a couple mm higher up