[Autobuffoonery]

Hello all,
I'm new to F10 5post and this is my first bmw, I just wanted to share my car with the new users and OG users. I used this forum and others to help me find the perfect bmw to suit my needs and the 550i m sport was within my budget and closely fit my performance expectations. I'm hoping what I'll be sharing will help other new owners with their questions about this car. My initial goals were to modify the look and performance, wheels & tires, carbon fiber exterior upgrades, lowering and power output.

I researched the car and my upgrades for about 3 months before finding a car that had most of the options I wanted. It had to be either alpine white or titianium silver metallic with black leather interior & aluminum hexagon trim, Sat with paddle shifters, comfort acces, cold weather pkg, summer shade pkg and mostly be an MSPORT. My car has a bunch more options and the one I wish it had was air cooled seats, the option I don't care for is dynamic handling pkg. The DHP doesn't allow for upgraded sway bars or coil over suspension so lowering will be limited to springs only. I chose the H&R sport springs and at first I was worried it wasn't going to be low enough but after I installed them the drop was perfect for me. They ride nice with no bouncing but I can't really feel a difference between normal, sport or sport+, comfort is a little smoother than the others but you can tell it's not the same as before the drop. I only put it in comfort when I have non performance minded passengers otherwise it's sport+ always.

I went with forgestar f14's, matte black in sizes 20x9 no concav and 20x11 super deep so I could run 275/30r20's in front and 305/25r20's in rear. I had traction problems out back and some front tire sliding during hard cornering so I wanted wider tires front and back. I'm happy to report the fronts don't rub anywhere or on anything but the rear tires rub slightly on the upper outside wheel well lip so till I figure out how to remedy that I'll be getting 295/25r20's for the rear. I was thinking about milling 4-5 millimeters off the rear rotor hat face to bring the wheels in closer towards the wheel well and also sending my rear wheels back to forgestar to have them change from +40 to +44 offset. That would give me roughly 8-9 millimeters more clearence and I think they would not rub. I let forgestar pick my offsets after telling them my tire choices and lowering spring set up, they said they would be aggressive and would most likely not rub. I'm not blaming them and it's really no big deal to modify the wheels and rotors, I'm not new to modifying cars and I'm sure it will work. Some of you might not be too keen on milling the rotor hat but there is plenty of materiel on the hat and I'm going to test it on the stock rotors which need replacing anyway before I get new rear cross drilled so they match the front( cross drilled only for looks).

I bought all my carbon fiber parts from Matt at rw carbon, they are decently priced and Matt was super nice. They have great customer service and he always responded quickly to my questions and concerns. I ordered the carbon fiber kidney grills, v style rear diffuser and v style rear trunk spoiler, and carbon license plate frame. The v style trunk spoiler is not on their website but I asked if he could get me one and he did without any prepayment which I thought was cool, I asked "what if I don't like it" and he told me they would eat the cost. That was good enough for me and when the first rear diffuser I ordered (3d style) didn't fit correctly he asked for pics of it installed showing it didn't fit right, he sent me the replacement v style for the same price and free shipping for my inconvenience and also the non stock rear trunk spoiler free shipping. I put everything on myself, the rear diffuser was a major PITA! It took myself and my girlfriends 2 sons to help me attach it to the bumper cover. I did not replace the rear bumper support piece with the correct m5 piece, I just cut mine to fit. It's only a piece of plastic that does nothing structure wise and no one will ever know, well........ except everyone reading this but I don't care I'm not a purist.

I asked a few shops about putting on my H&R springs but they wanted $800-$950 so I decided to do it myself. Once again no big deal it was a little time consuming, getting the spring pearches lined up with the mounting holes and using the spring compressor was the most difficult. I had my gilfriends son help me and we used an electric impact on the compressor which helped out a lot. A little advice for people thinking about doing this would be having a friend help, use impact on spring compressor, undo top A-arm from steering knuckle to get front springs back in super easy and remove rear wheel well liner to reinstall rears. This makes it a lot easier and will prevent any self inflicted damaged to your car or your self. I found a thread on one the forums to show how it was done, but no one mentioned my tips.

I pulled out the lower grills, side marker covers and reflectors and painted them myself, the lower grills were painted gloss black the reflectors and side markers the same color as the car. I bought the color matched paint from automotive touchup.com and it was perfect. The gloss black was rust-oleum professional. The painting wasn't that hard but I had to redo them all twice, I used 2k clear coat and for some reason after the first coat dried when I applied the second coat it shrank the first coats paint and it looked like shit. Everything was cleaned and sanded and I used plastic parts adhesion promoter since all parts are plastic. I also bought black & silver carbon fiber bmw emblems from Jb motoring, they are in Taiwan. I emailed Brian Tsai to ask about the emblems turning yellow like the ones from Amazon do and he assured me they won't and told me if they do he will send another set for free until they stop turning yellow. He also gave me free shipping which took about 7-8 days, they have been on my car for 3 months now ( car parked outside in Las Vegas heat) and they still look great with no yellowing.

The kidney grills were easy I just pulled straight out really hard and fast and out came the stockers and just popped in the carbon ones. The rear trunk spoiler was put on with 3m 20lb strength double sided tape.

This is my first bmw, so let me know what you guys think, also I could only add 1 picture. Can someone tell me how to upload more?

[Autobuffoonery]

Here's more pics.

[Autobuffoonery]

It seems I can only put 1 at a time.

[Autobuffoonery]

1 more....

[Autobuffoonery]

And another, I feel like a lame for replying to my own thread!

[SleevedCoyote]

Originally Posted by Autobuffoonery

And another, I feel like a lame for replying to my own thread!

Looks perfect!

More pics are appreciated though

[.BMW.]

Looks great!

Interested in the front wheel offset with 9x20" wheels and 275/30 tires?

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by ss0803

Looks great!

Interested in the front wheel offset with 9x20" wheels and 275/30 tires?

Front wheels 20x9 et+28 rear wheels 20x11 et +40
Front tires 275/30r20 Bridgestone potenza re760's
Rear tires 305/25r20 nitto envio's

[Autobuffoonery]

I'm going for engine performance next, I'm kinda interested in the Race Chip. I can't seem to find any good info on the Race chip, it seems to good to be true and there are no videos with dyno numbers to back up their claims. If anybody has one on the 550 please let me know if it's legit. I'm going to find out how much to dyno my car and if it's cheap enough I might buy the race chip and get my car dynoed. If it's BS I will send it back at their 20% restocking fee and eat the dyno cost. This won't happen any time soon as I'm still waiting for a real tune for the stock ecu.

Here's another pic.

[Autobuffoonery]

Pic of rear tire

[VB5ER]

Love the car. Fatty 305 is awesome. I like the fact that it isn't exactly flush, some may not but.....'merica. I'm running a 255/295 set up on 20's so to me the bigger the better. The all season nittos I have didn't come any bigger in the diameter I needed. Planning any interior mods. Did a wrap inside to break up the blk on blk interior. Used the diy on here and some y-tube for instruction. Here's a pic of the console. Anyway congrats on the awesome ride.

[550Reasons]

Looks good ! Glad to see another 550i with Megan Mufflers, I wish mine stuck out a bit out like yours, I didnt notice when the guy was installing since he had it on a lift.

[lsturbointeg]

Awesome! Love the build! Do u have a close up shot on those 305's for the rear from like a side angle and not directly behind like u have posted? I wanna see how the sidewall will look if it's rounded or more square. My rears will be 21×11 on 295's but i always wondered how 305's will be. Love all the carbon fiber components u did as they compliment each other very well.

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by 550Reasons

Looks good ! Glad to see another 550i with Megan Mufflers, I wish mine stuck out a bit out like yours, I didnt notice when the guy was installing since he had it on a lift.

I decided to go with the Magen's because they are a straight thru design and have a deeper tone, I don't care for the raspy sound of the other exhausts out there. The exhaust does have some drone at 2k rpm but with the radio on you can easily tune it out. It didn't want it to be too loud so all you hear is exhaust while driving, it's better than stock and when you get on it you can hear what was missing from the stock exhaust. My Megan mufflers were a universal type that I picked up from Th Motorsports for $298.00 shipped, the tips were welded directly to the muffler body with no extensions. I ordered them like this and had my exhaust guy cut off the tips and extend them to my liking. I had them extended 4 inches and didn't have them staggered so they all stick out the same, I was in the shop and I picked the position of the mufflers so I could get the tips exactly where, how far they stick out and how close to the diffuser.

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by 550Reasons

Looks good ! Glad to see another 550i with Megan Mufflers, I wish mine stuck out a bit out like yours, I didnt notice when the guy was installing since he had it on a lift.

Here's a clearer pic

[550Reasons]

Nice, yea me too, had it custom to the M5, but Forgot about sticking them a bit further out, not a big deal tho.

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1161535

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Awesome! Love the build! Do u have a close up shot on those 305's for the rear from like a side angle and not directly behind like u have posted? I wanna see how the sidewall will look if it's rounded or more square. My rears will be 21×11 on 295's but i always wondered how 305's will be. Love all the carbon fiber components u did as they compliment each other very well.

How's this, 305...

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Awesome! Love the build! Do u have a close up shot on those 305's for the rear from like a side angle and not directly behind like u have posted? I wanna see how the sidewall will look if it's rounded or more square. My rears will be 21×11 on 295's but i always wondered how 305's will be. Love all the carbon fiber components u did as they compliment each other very well.

Here's the 295 with slight stretch, thanks for the compliments!

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by VB5ER

Love the car. Fatty 305 is awesome. I like the fact that it isn't exactly flush, some may not but.....'merica. I'm running a 255/295 set up on 20's so to me the bigger the better. The all season nittos I have didn't come any bigger in the diameter I needed. Planning any interior mods. Did a wrap inside to break up the blk on blk interior. Used the diy on here and some y-tube for instruction. Here's a pic of the console. Anyway congrats on the awesome ride.

Thanks VB5ER,
At first I wasn't sure about the rear wheels sticking out a bit, but I think it looks aggressive and compliments the look I was going for. It looks way better in person. As for the interior my car has the silver aluminum interior trim which is what I wanted, I'm not sure I will do any interior mods.

[lsturbointeg]

Wow! those Megan's look pretty sweet! Are those 3 1/2" or 4" tips? The Megan exhaust they offer here from our site sponsors is about $700-850...I wonder how much different are those from yours? $298 for both mufflers with the tips...??? Nice! love the tire shots! How much more did u end up pay in for the $305's?

[mike@x-ph.com]

Welcome, amazing car

[Autobuffoonery]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Wow! those Megan's look pretty sweet! Are those 3 1/2" or 4" tips? The Megan exhaust they offer here from our site sponsors is about $700-850...I wonder how much different are those from yours? $298 for both mufflers with the tips...??? Nice! love the tire shots! How much more did u end up pay in for the $305's?

Thanks! The tips are 3 1/2" and they are the same mufflers, but I didn't get the axle back set up that cost $700-$850 they are selling. I just bought the mufflers, had the tips extended and my exhaust guy made the pipes to connect everything up. For the mufflers and installation I paid $450 which was what I was willing to lose if I didn't like how it sounded and had to buy something else. I bought the tires from discount tire direct, they were at the time the only place I could even find 305/25r20 in stock. I paid $768 with warranty and free shipping, they came in 1 day so far I've ordered my fronts and both sets of rears from them and shipping was 1 day all three times. But they are in Arizona so if your further it might not be the same.