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      07-12-2020, 03:38 PM   #1
Dazzlin
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Exclamation Total total newbie... Help and advice desperately sought :)

Hi everyone,

I'm almost certain the following statement has been uttered a million or so times in the past, so let me put you in the picture.

2009 135i owner. Driven in the summers. Complete factory spec.

Do my own oil changes, brakes, plugs (etc) - everything always going excellent.

Checked the brake fluid the other day and thought "Hmmm... might want to change that" -- so I looked online and saw a fab video of a guy using INPA to assist in a brake fluid change. Looked awesome!

I'm not a mod-hungry kinda driver, and I love that my car is still in factory spec.

Having said that, I would like to 'dip my toe' into the 'custom coding world' and would like to make the very small modification(s) of having my mirrors fold in using the comfort settings on the handle / keyfob and also to have the keyfob close up the windows on locking.

Herein lies the $64,000 question: WHICH SOFTWARE PACKAGE SHOULD I INSTALL AND USE?

I almost feel that I have watched every youtube video of someone loading a different set of applications, read more on the subject than I have ever read books in my life and - other than many personal preferences - I have yet to find any real consensus on "You should use this, and it'll work"

I've got myself the K+DCAN cable, a nice newish laptop I'm happy to install any OS on and after then my brain starts to hurt... The cable does work as I have managed to read a very small amount from my car - so I feel confident about that.

The cable came with the first versions of INPA.... 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 - which I closely followed a YouTube video and got connected but doesn't seem to work exceptionally well (my experience). Something about how the INPA version on the Laptop and the car were incompatible...

Then I downloaded "Mikes Easy BMW Tools" but couldn't get it to run (at least in my experience)....?

Bimmergeeks had a mocked up version of the BMW Standard Tools - which kinda worked, but I don't speak German... and it looks more stressful that perhaps it is? Whatever this is uses a newer version of INPA but I found myself using it a little but being completely unsure of myself...

Hopefully by this point you're seeing where I'm going with my story: I'm not a complicated kinda guy, not looking to custom map every inch of my car or reinvent the wheel... Just want a nice diagnostics application that will help me change the brake fluid (among other things) and the most relevant version of NCS Exper(t) that'll help me make the mods I'm looking for.

Can someone, anyone, say "I've got a similar car, this is my set up and it works. Download this [exact] package from [place], install it and do X, Y and Z"

Happy to follow any YouTube directions or anything --- but at the very least I'm looking for your experiences... What IS the newest / most stable / best software package out there that'll work with my (our) cars .

Very, very thankful in advance guys.


Dazza
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      07-12-2020, 03:44 PM   #2
nachob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazzlin View Post
Hi everyone,

I'm almost certain the following statement has been uttered a million or so times in the past, so let me put you in the picture.

2009 135i owner. Driven in the summers. Complete factory spec.

Do my own oil changes, brakes, plugs (etc) - everything always going excellent.

Checked the brake fluid the other day and thought "Hmmm... might want to change that" -- so I looked online and saw a fab video of a guy using INPA to assist in a brake fluid change. Looked awesome!

I'm not a mod-hungry kinda driver, and I love that my car is still in factory spec.

Having said that, I would like to 'dip my toe' into the 'custom coding world' and would like to make the very small modification(s) of having my mirrors fold in using the comfort settings on the handle / keyfob and also to have the keyfob close up the windows on locking.

Herein lies the $64,000 question: WHICH SOFTWARE PACKAGE SHOULD I INSTALL AND USE?

I almost feel that I have watched every youtube video of someone loading a different set of applications, read more on the subject than I have ever read books in my life and - other than many personal preferences - I have yet to find any real consensus on "You should use this, and it'll work"

I've got myself the K+DCAN cable, a nice newish laptop I'm happy to install any OS on and after then my brain starts to hurt... The cable does work as I have managed to read a very small amount from my car - so I feel confident about that.

The cable came with the first versions of INPA.... 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 - which I closely followed a YouTube video and got connected but doesn't seem to work exceptionally well (my experience). Something about how the INPA version on the Laptop and the car were incompatible...

Then I downloaded "Mikes Easy BMW Tools" but couldn't get it to run (at least in my experience)....?

Bimmergeeks had a mocked up version of the BMW Standard Tools - which kinda worked, but I don't speak German... and it looks more stressful that perhaps it is? Whatever this is uses a newer version of INPA but I found myself using it a little but being completely unsure of myself...

Hopefully by this point you're seeing where I'm going with my story: I'm not a complicated kinda guy, not looking to custom map every inch of my car or reinvent the wheel... Just want a nice diagnostics application that will help me change the brake fluid (among other things) and the most relevant version of NCS Exper(t) that'll help me make the mods I'm looking for.

Can someone, anyone, say "I've got a similar car, this is my set up and it works. Download this [exact] package from [place], install it and do X, Y and Z"

Happy to follow any YouTube directions or anything --- but at the very least I'm looking for your experiences... What IS the newest / most stable / best software package out there that'll work with my (our) cars .

Very, very thankful in advance guys.


Dazza
Happy to be the first to give you some advice. Welcome to the 1 addicts group. You posted this in the 1M forum and there are so few 1Ms compared to the regular 135i forum. So I would copy this this and post in the 1 series convertible forum. You will get 100 times more traffic there. Also as to coding there is some coding done on 1Ms but probably less than regular forums. Welcome again and best of luck.

This is the 135i forum:
https://www.1addicts.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=226
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      07-12-2020, 03:49 PM   #3
Dazzlin
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Hi Nachob,

Thanks for the reply. Will happily repost there. Not to confess (obviously) to being any kind of expert on anything to do with this car - but it does have "M" written on the runners as you open the car doors --- is that the same thing? Will the applications I'm looking for be any different for 'M' vs the 'regular 135'? (Is there a regular vs. different 135?)

True to my posting: Total newbie :/ :P
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      07-12-2020, 08:34 PM   #4
nachob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazzlin View Post
Hi Nachob,

Thanks for the reply. Will happily repost there. Not to confess (obviously) to being any kind of expert on anything to do with this car - but it does have "M" written on the runners as you open the car doors --- is that the same thing? Will the applications I'm looking for be any different for 'M' vs the 'regular 135'? (Is there a regular vs. different 135?)

True to my posting: Total newbie :/ :P
Dazzlin, the things you mentioned are probably the same on the 1M since they share 95% of the parts, but the 1M was only brought to the US one year and less than 1000 in the whole US and Canada so there is less traffic than the 128i and 135i forum. BMW has created a lot of confusion by putting tons on M logos on cars and I can understand the confusion. Just yesterday I saw a M235i with M badges everywhere, even the brake calipers and had seatbelt pads with Ms on them. What you see as far as the M badges on the door sills refers to an M-Sport which is to top of the Non M cars. They do some cool stuff to the cars and call them M sport and put M badges on it. M cars are designed by the M division in Garching and are different in many ways.

For example the M-Sport suspension in your is firmer and rides lower than a non-sport 1 series but it is still a steel tubed suspension. The 1M shocks are struts are all aluminum housings from the M3 and are firmer.

The body on the 1M is actually different. The sheetmetal is wider to accomodate bigger cross-drilled brakes and M3 calipers and wider wheels.

The steering rack in the 1M is different than the 135i, it is the same unit of the E90 M3.

The exhaust system is different, it's a quad exhaust.

The flywheel is lightened and the motor makes more power and comes with an additional radiator which was also added to the 135is later.

The wheels and tires are wider and use different offsets than the 135i and the differential is an M lock differential that can transfer power to the wheel with traction. The 135i is essentially an open differential stock.

There are a few other differences....the 1M was manual transmission only, all of them are slicktop with no sunroof and the only colors you could get were white, black and orange.

So the 1M is a souped up 135i but it's more than an engine tune there are differences in the body, underpinnings and driveline.

I hope that helps explain it a little bit.
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      07-13-2020, 12:19 PM   #5
eeghie
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For relatively easy stuff that you mention, and if you want to go the the old school coding route, you need that simplest of cables (that you already got) and to avoid errors related to coding cars that are newer than the NCS expert, go for Daten version 49 or later. For my 2011 car the version 49 was ok, so for 2009, it should also be ok. Step by step manuals should bevabundant, don’t have that.
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