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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum My 2011 BMW 550ix "M5 conversion"
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      10-27-2014, 04:18 PM   #23
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Then I have finally started on the body convertion of my 550ix..

First parts off was the side skirts. Since some of the screws to unmount the fenders are under here, it was the place to begin



Then the bumper came off. I started with some unmounting of steel bars, some plastic parts, fog light and finally cutting in the plastic surrounding of the radiator to get it to fit the M5 bumper.
New M5 airducts was fitted and modified to fit a 550.





My biggest problem with this convertion is my Active Cruise Control radar. M5 are not delivered with this option. Since M5 have a completely different lower steel bar and it is this one my radar is attached too, I have to do some good modifications to it. After test fitting the M5 bumper, I also saw that the radar will hit my grill inserts in the M5 bumper So some thinking and a good plan hopefully will sort it out



Testfit of the bumper Look where bumper/fender meets. It is a lot wider this bumper



The fenders was easy to remove. Some screews on the top, one under the bumper, one under the side skirt, one inside the inner plastic wheels arch and two within the front door.





It will be a completely different car with this bumper


So then the M5 parts is shipped away to the paintshop. Just looking forward to get them back now
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      10-27-2014, 04:52 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by remmib View Post
Cool Z's. And I'm looking forward to see how the F10 turns out.

Thanks

Hoping it will turn out nice
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      10-27-2014, 11:36 PM   #25
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Off the a great start! Like night & day comparing the 2 bumpers
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      10-28-2014, 04:07 PM   #26
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Originally Posted by PR_F10_535 View Post
Off the a great start! Like night & day comparing the 2 bumpers
Yes, I think it will be quite a different car when it is finished
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      10-28-2014, 06:52 PM   #27
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Awesome progress, can't wait to see the finished product
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      10-28-2014, 08:58 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwZ
Then I have finally started on the body convertion of my 550ix..

First parts off was the side skirts. Since some of the screws to unmount the fenders are under here, it was the place to begin



Then the bumper came off. I started with some unmounting of steel bars, some plastic parts, fog light and finally cutting in the plastic surrounding of the radiator to get it to fit the M5 bumper.
New M5 airducts was fitted and modified to fit a 550.





My biggest problem with this convertion is my Active Cruise Control radar. M5 are not delivered with this option. Since M5 have a completely different lower steel bar and it is this one my radar is attached too, I have to do some good modifications to it. After test fitting the M5 bumper, I also saw that the radar will hit my grill inserts in the M5 bumper So some thinking and a good plan hopefully will sort it out



Testfit of the bumper Look where bumper/fender meets. It is a lot wider this bumper



The fenders was easy to remove. Some screews on the top, one under the bumper, one under the side skirt, one inside the inner plastic wheels arch and two within the front door.





It will be a completely different car with this bumper


So then the M5 parts is shipped away to the paintshop. Just looking forward to get them back now
Good job!!
I wanted to the same thing to my 650 cabrio. But it seems that it requires too many mods.
Probably just go for the M6 cabrio in the future.
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      10-30-2014, 03:23 PM   #29
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Thanks for nice comments. Yes, it require a lot more parts than I first thought
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      10-31-2014, 06:49 PM   #30
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Today I got my parts back from the paint shop

So got started on the Bimmer again...

Here`s the M5 bumper freshly painted


Since the M5 do not have Active Cruise as an option. It has been a little challenging to get it fitted in the M5 bumper.
I cutted the lower mounting bracket off since it wouldn`t fit the new flat M5 bar (look at the picture). Had to make a new one


The new mounting bracket was made of solid aluminum. I did it long to give extra support for the new M5 bar that is made of plastic (the old one is metal).


After some new black paint, this is how it turned out. A solid bracket that I was happy with


Some measurements later, I cutted a hole in the plastic mesh


So the finish product got like this


Had to buy the M5 engine undercover as well, this was not either a direct fit.
Did some new mounting brackets towards the center of the cover. Some cutting in the plastic was also done. This was because it hit some of the suspension parts.




Those nice fenders had also some work with them

First of all, the window washer tank was in the way for the new right hand fender. This is because the M5 airvent sits deep
So I fixed this with moving the tank a little closer to the chassi of the car.

The side vents have the indicators fitted on M5. The original indicator wires was then too short. Had to extend them and switch + and - to get the leds working.


The inner plastic wheels arches was different on M5 also. Also here it was some need to cut in the plastic. The pieces close to the engine was different, so had to go

After those mods, the fenders was a easy fit
New M5 mounting brackets was fitted almost everywhere behind fenders and bumper....

Here it is, almost done with 2014 M5 grille







The car is also lowered with 30mm Eibach Pro Kit at these pictures

Really have to do something with my wheels
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      11-01-2014, 02:14 AM   #31
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Looks great!!!

But please remove the "5" in the ///M5 badge on the grille and fender vents... It's not an M5 so it shouldn't be badged as one either. At least in my opinion

Will you use a M5 rear diffuser as well?
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      11-01-2014, 11:06 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boss330 View Post
Looks great!!!

But please remove the "5" in the ///M5 badge on the grille and fender vents... It's not an M5 so it shouldn't be badged as one either. At least in my opinion

Will you use a M5 rear diffuser as well?
Of course not, I have allready removed them. What I will do to the front grill, I haven`t decided yet. The "5" is gone either way. A new 550i logo is sent to the paint shop. Will be glossy black

For the fender badges, I have order a custom badge designed by my self
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      11-01-2014, 11:25 AM   #33
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Wow, I never understood anyone who does this to a car, especially in Norway.
The price difference between a 550 and an M5 is so small by the time you are done modding you might have bought a real M5.

Unless you got the car dirt cheap, and work as a mechanic with BMW and get parts for cost price..........

I really appreciate the work put into the car though, personally I'd just buy an M5 in the first place.
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      11-01-2014, 11:51 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwZ View Post
Of course not, I have allready removed them. What I will do to the front grill, I haven`t decided yet. The "5" is gone either way. A new 550i logo is sent to the paint shop. Will be glossy black

For the fender badges, I have order a custom badge designed by my self
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      11-01-2014, 12:05 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Noggie View Post
Wow, I never understood anyone who does this to a car, especially in Norway.
The price difference between a 550 and an M5 is so small by the time you are done modding you might have bought a real M5.

Unless you got the car dirt cheap, and work as a mechanic with BMW and get parts for cost price..........

I really appreciate the work put into the car though, personally I'd just buy an M5 in the first place.
The OP imported his 2011 550ix from Germany. He said that he ended up at a total of $ 130.000,- in Norway, or around NOK 870.000,-

The cheapest 2010 (one year older) M5 I can find on mobile24.no ends up at NOK 1.050.000,- with taxes paid. Most of them are around NOK 1.150.000 to 1.200.000 though (if you want a lower mileage one).

That means that the M5 is at least NOK 220.000 to 320.000 more than his 550ix...

I am pretty sure he doesn't spend 2-300.000,- on the body parts here...


And the difference between a brand new 550ix and M5 is even larger:

550ix starts at NOK 1.270.000,-
M5 starts at NOK 1.700.000,-

550ix costs 74% of a M5

In Germany the difference is:

550ix starts at EUR 75.000,-
M5 starts at EUR 105.000,-

550ix costs 71% of a M5


So, as you can see, the relative difference isn't that big

EDIT:
You could even buy an aftermarket M5 conversion kit for as little as $1600,-
http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1042869
http://www.x-ph.com/2011-2014-bmw-5-...onversion-kit/

Last edited by Boss330; 11-01-2014 at 12:28 PM..
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      11-01-2014, 01:34 PM   #36
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Last 550i i saw for sale was just about 1 million nok.

I guess this kind of conversion is easy 100.000 nok.
Just painting the parts is 20-30.000 nok.

So unless you have access to discounted parts, contacts to have paint and such done cheap, this kind of conversion will not come cheap.
For a normal person this project would easily end up around 1 million nok.


To me you end up buying an expensive car, using a lot of money to make it look like something it's not, and looking at the end sum, the difference to "the real deal" is not that huge.
And you are lacking the power and handling of the real deal.


But that's just me

I can appreciate the work going into this, even if it does not make sense to me
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      11-02-2014, 03:43 AM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Noggie
Last 550i i saw for sale was just about 1 million nok.

I guess this kind of conversion is easy 100.000 nok.
Just painting the parts is 20-30.000 nok.

So unless you have access to discounted parts, contacts to have paint and such done cheap, this kind of conversion will not come cheap.
For a normal person this project would easily end up around 1 million nok.


To me you end up buying an expensive car, using a lot of money to make it look like something it's not, and looking at the end sum, the difference to "the real deal" is not that huge.
And you are lacking the power and handling of the real deal.


But that's just me

I can appreciate the work going into this, even if it does not make sense to me
If he indeed ends up around 1mill then I agree that it would make more sense to buy a M5

He did say he needed X-drive though. Perhaps that's why he choose the 550ix, or perhaps the conversion is much less than your estimate... I did a conversion on my car and did NOT spend that much on paint, less than half of your highest estimate. And that was done at the paint shop used by BMW as well...
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      11-02-2014, 05:21 AM   #38
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at least you have the passion about modding the car! a good thread to subscribe, keep working man!
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      11-02-2014, 06:47 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boss330 View Post
If he indeed ends up around 1mill then I agree that it would make more sense to buy a M5

He did say he needed X-drive though. Perhaps that's why he choose the 550ix, or perhaps the conversion is much less than your estimate... I did a conversion on my car and did NOT spend that much on paint, less than half of your highest estimate. And that was done at the paint shop used by BMW as well...
I had everything from the windshield forward and the rear wheel arches repainted by BMW on my e46 m3 in 2009, that was 23000 nok, to paint a front bumper, two wings, side skirts and rear bumper today I imagine would be roughly the same price. Painting hasn't gotten cheaper in the last 5 years.

But like I said, I can really appreciate the work going into this car, and the use of oem parts makes this a quality build.
From my point of view it does not make sense financially, if it had been a 528 or 535 the economic part would be a lot more sensible.
But like I said, if the op has access to parts at cost price, works in a shop with access to all tools needed, and has friends or contacts to get things painted cheap, then this makes a lot more sense.
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      11-02-2014, 02:36 PM   #40
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Wow
This has been a nice big discussion about if it`s financially correct to do this with my car.

In Norway, it is much easier to sell a expensive big car with 4 wheel drive. The 550ix is the closest you will get to a M5 with Xdrive. So that`s the main thought about the conversion.

But of course, it is also a price question. As it was mention in some of the posts: I work in a great workshop (Ferrari & Maserati), have 30% discount on BMW parts. Have our own paintshop and do all modding myself

So it`s get a lot cheaper, but not cheap

The Rear M5 bumper will arrive from the paintshop next week, so then I will mount the sideskirts, the rear M5 bumper and diffuser
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      11-02-2014, 02:50 PM   #41
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Today I finally got time to mount my interior trim. They where painted perfect and I`m very happy with the result.

The color is from Mercedes, Obsidian black metallic. It's a very dark black metallic color. Perfect for interior

All the parts was detailed with sanding of dust and finally polishing step by step







After polishing, they where glued together with the alumimuim parts.



Really glad to get rid of those wood panels

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Last edited by bmwZ; 11-03-2014 at 03:03 AM..
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      11-03-2014, 12:58 PM   #42
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Looking good!
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      11-03-2014, 01:10 PM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwZ View Post
Wow
This has been a nice big discussion about if it`s financially correct to do this with my car.

In Norway, it is much easier to sell a expensive big car with 4 wheel drive. The 550ix is the closest you will get to a M5 with Xdrive. So that`s the main thought about the conversion.

But of course, it is also a price question. As it was mention in some of the posts: I work in a great workshop (Ferrari & Maserati), have 30% discount on BMW parts. Have our own paintshop and do all modding myself

So it`s get a lot cheaper, but not cheap

The Rear M5 bumper will arrive from the paintshop next week, so then I will mount the sideskirts, the rear M5 bumper and diffuser
I guess the 550ix and the m550xd is the closest you can get to an M5 with x-drive.

I figured you had a job like you do, for me, this would not be possible to do cheap, and I might as well buy the real deal. Even if I have x-drive now, I'm not sure I need it on my next car.

Good luck modding, will be interesting to see the final result.
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      11-03-2014, 03:39 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Noggie View Post
I guess the 550ix and the m550xd is the closest you can get to an M5 with x-drive.

I figured you had a job like you do, for me, this would not be possible to do cheap, and I might as well buy the real deal. Even if I have x-drive now, I'm not sure I need it on my next car.

Good luck modding, will be interesting to see the final result.
Yes, of course is the m550xd also close to a M5 with Xdrive

It is a very nice an special car you own. Congrats with that one

I think I will get my rear bumper this week. When it arrives I have to install it on the car. When I have done that, I have to do the exhaust Really looking forward to hear the true sound of the V8 Now it sounds like a Rolls Royce, too quiet
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