PR, 2008 Alpine White 135i build thread

[BMWWorld]

More pictures in Guanica, PR

[BMWWorld]

More pics

[khoa@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by BMWWorld

Today I went to my all time favorite location in Puerto Rico. It's where I took the first photos of this car, in the Town of Guanica, PR. After almost ten months of ownership & sadly it's being the same amount of time since this town has been the epicenter of continues tremors & earthquakes here on the island. But I wanted to share some pictures of my car & the location. I'm by no means a professional photographer, & these are iPhone pictures. Hope that anyone that sees them, gets to enjoy them.

Hey man gorgeous ride you got there. That's some good photos with just an iPhone camera.

[BMWWorld]

Originally Posted by khoa@x-ph.com

Hey man gorgeous ride you got there. That's some good photos with just an iPhone camera.

Thank you very much my friend

[BMWWorld]

Today I did a little project I wanted to do for a long time now. After a few days I finally finished skinning these side mirror covers in carbon fiber. I was pleased with the final results, there's definitely room for improvement. But for it being my first time I'm happy with the outcome.

[FrostyDC4]

Very nice

[BMWWorld]

Originally Posted by FrostyDC4

Very nice

Thanks 🙏🏽

[BMWWorld]

Today I went ahead & painted the diffuser in mate black. I'm debating between leaving it mate or gloss. But it sure looks better than the worn grey color it had from the factory.

[BMWWorld]

Also installed the roof racks

[BMWWorld]

So I decided to go with the gloss look on the diffuser, so had my brother spray some gloss clear coat over it. I think it's coming along nicely.

[BMWWorld]

Loosing some weight

[2ndAmendment]

Clean car, great job cleaning it up. AW is the best color.

[BMWWorld]

Originally Posted by 2ndAmendment

Clean car, great job cleaning it up. AW is the best color.

Thank you very much. I'm doing small stuff to make it my own. I personally liked black cars more, since I'm more of a low key person. But AW has grown on me a lot, wouldn't change it.

[BMWWorld]

So after 4 months I've got back to my custom forged carbon fiber steering protect. I'd say it's 75% done, I think it'll soon be installed in the car.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by BMWWorld

Thank you very much. I'm doing small stuff to make it my own. I personally liked black cars more, since I'm more of a low key person. But AW has grown on me a lot, wouldn't change it.

My first 1er was Black Sapphire Metallic and was beautiful when clean and polished but didn't stay that way for long. Seemed like after a few days it was dusty again. White is classy and hides the dirt better. My wife has a Pearl White 370Z that hardly ever looks dirty even though it doesn't get washed all that often.

[BMWWorld]

Originally Posted by Esteban

My first 1er was Black Sapphire Metallic and was beautiful when clean and polished but didn't stay that way for long. Seemed like after a few days it was dusty again. White is classy and hides the dirt better. My wife has a Pearl White 370Z that hardly ever looks dirty even though it doesn't get washed all that often.

Yea, that's one of the drawbacks of a black car. Here in PR rains a lot (like every 2 days or so, most of the time), & my car rarely looked clean. White hides it really well, but I still give it a quick wash every time after I use it; just because it looks so nice when clean.

[BMWWorld]

So I've been working on this all afternoon & it's almost done. Tomorrow all the carbon work should be done with. After that I'll be taking it to an upholstery shop to get the leather cut to fit the sides of the steering wheel (taped on the photo lol). Then I'll get to sewing it all up & finally it'll be installed on the car.

[BMWWorld]

Today I installed a rear tire set of 255/35/18, loving it so far. It's somewhat tail happy & grips great. I wanted to go with 245/35/18, because it's "closer" to a "square" setup, since I have 225/40/18 up front. But after a week the 245s where getting difficult to find & also one of my old tires had some chunks of tire missing. I'm eager to put some miles on these tires.

BTW I'm loving the "chunky" look of the tire.

[BMWWorld]

Almost done with the forged carbon fiber e brake handle.

[BMWWorld]

So after seeing how my steering wheel & e-brake handle are coming along. I decided to do all the interior trim in forged carbon fiber. Today I took out the pieces & prepped them, tomorrow I'll start laying down some carbon fiber. I'm excited for the outcome.

EDIT: I know steel & carbon fiber when in contact sufre from galvanic corrosion. That'll be addressed.

[BMWWorld]

Today I took out the factory trunk spoiler, since on Thursday I'll be going to test fit the a M4 style carbon fiber spoiler.

Just for reference if anyone is going to do the same, I'll list what I used to do it.
- Heat gun
- Fishing cable
- Drill (for the roller)
- A "roller" to take out the adhesive tape (shown on pic)
- Polisher
- 3000 polisher pad (done by hand, with light pressure)
- Polishing compound

[BMWWorld]

Today I bought the F8X style trunk spoiler. It wasn't my favorite choice, but it was brand new & managed to buy it for less than retail. So I'm happy with the buy. It'll work until a get around justifying paying what BOCA asks for their trunk spoiler.

The pics are just test fitting it, I'll be applying a UV protectant clear count on it.