[makkan00]

Originally Posted by teaston

How come only your outer tail lights are on though, shouldn't the ones on the boot lid be on too?

If you park the car and put the headlight switch to 1'o clock position then only outer tail lights turn on. Perhaps a feature from bmw to save battery.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by The Beast

Sorry, I meant up to 15mm rear. They quote that any more might mean the wheel sticks out...

I do not agree with what you have been told. You can easily have 20mm spacers at rear.
Reason why I stated this:
Remii has
9J X 44ET

And I have
10J X 38ET

When I calculate it comparing my wheels to his, my rear ones are sitting 19mm extra than his.

And my rear wheels are okish. They sit nearly flush except I tried to add 10mm spacers over the weekend. And then they stick out slightly (rubber and not the alloy).

So 18mm-20mm can be fitted with your wheels considering if you have 9J and ET44.

Again, it depends on drop and camber. If your car is not dropped and within OEM camber specs, then you should not have any issues with 18-20mm spacers at the rear.


I am going for
-15mm spacers at the front with 8.5J and ET 38 which will make it ET23 @ 8.5J.
-10mm spacers at the rear with 10J and ET 35 which will make it ET25 @10J.

I would strongly suggest you to take the measurements as it is reassuring what you can have.

PS: I have measured the space from the wheel arches to the rubber horizontally.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by makkan00

If you park the car and put the headlight switch to 1'o clock position then only outer tail lights turn on. Perhaps a feature from bmw to save battery.

Ah i see, the F30 doesn't do that.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by teaston

Ah i see, the F30 doesn't do that.

Engine should be off. Try it and it should do.
It was like this on my E9x as well so cannot see why will they do it different on F3x.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Engine should be off. Try it and it should do.
It was like this on my E9x as well so cannot see why will they do it different on F3x.

I just tried it, headlight switch on side lights, engine off, doors locked, both inner and outer stays on.

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by teaston

I just tried it, headlight switch on side lights, engine off, doors locked, both inner and outer stays on.

Strange. I will check mine.
When I checked it, its CIC on. Doors unlocked but shut. Engine off and headlight switch into 1'o clock position.

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by makkan00

I do not agree with what you have been told. You can easily have 20mm spacers at rear.
Reason why I stated this:
Remii has
9J X 44ET

And I have
10J X 38ET

When I calculate it comparing my wheels to his, my rear ones are sitting 19mm extra than his.

And my rear wheels are okish. They sit nearly flush except I tried to add 10mm spacers over the weekend. And then they stick out slightly (rubber and not the alloy).

So 18mm-20mm can be fitted with your wheels considering if you have 9J and ET44.

Again, it depends on drop and camber. If your car is not dropped and within OEM camber specs, then you should not have any issues with 18-20mm spacers at the rear.


I am going for
-15mm spacers at the front with 8.5J and ET 38 which will make it ET23 @ 8.5J.
-10mm spacers at the rear with 10J and ET 35 which will make it ET25 @10J.

I would strongly suggest you to take the measurements as it is reassuring what you can have.

PS: I have measured the space from the wheel arches to the rubber horizontally.

Thanks, so it's as simple as putting a level vertically against the wheel arch and measuring the horizontal distance between the tyre and the level?

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by The Beast

Thanks, so it's as simple as putting a level vertically against the wheel arch and measuring the horizontal distance between the tyre and the level?

Spot on.
Also, you should consider whether you want alloy to sit flush or tyre.

[FRG]

Originally Posted by teaston

I just tried it, headlight switch on side lights, engine off, doors locked, both inner and outer stays on.

I don't think the rears on the F30/31 are LED so maybe that's why. I presume the LED rears will be on the LCI. I can't believe BMW have been doing this with the 3 series since the E46.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by FRG530

I don't think the rears on the F30/31 are LED so maybe that's why. I presume the LED rears will be on the LCI. I can't believe BMW have been doing this with the 3 series since the E46.

The tail lamps are LED's, the rest are halogen. Makes sense really as the tail lamps are the only one that stay on for longer than a few seconds.

But i agree, they do need to start making pre LCI's with full Led's now!

[FRG]

Originally Posted by makkan00

Do you mind sharing where did you get your wheels from?

I am bit confused as my wheels are 10J with 38 ET.
So it should be 3mm difference compared to your however it can take 10mm spaces.

So mine or yours....one of our ET is not correct. 3mm difference should not allow you to have 10mm spacer.

Sorry, I missed this post.

I got my wheels from the Breyton UK dealer which is Wolfrace. They're Breyton Race GTS and I'm sure they're ET35 all round but I will check.

[remmib]

Originally Posted by teaston

Nice! AW looks amazing when it's that clean!

How come only your outer tail lights are on though, shouldn't the ones on the boot lid be on too?

Thanks, only the outer tail lights were on, because the engine was off and the headlight switch was turned 1 step to the right.

In hindsight I should have left the ignition on so the whole tail light would have lit up like normal.

[skipsmith]

Originally Posted by makkan00

I bought springs separately.
Fitment and tracking was nearly £300.
Springs were £150 (if I remember correctly).

Mak, can you remember where you got the springs from, the cheapest I can find them is £234 or £210 for H&R but they might be to low

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by skipsmith

Mak, can you remember where you got the springs from, the cheapest I can find them is £234 or £210 for H&R but they might be to low

Finally found them. For some reason they are not appearing in my purchase history

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3909920121...197%26_rdc%3D1

For some reason they have decreased the price further which might be good for you.

Just make sure that it is compatible with your car mate. It gives you subtle drop compared to M sports. Rears is similar to M sports height but may drop further in 4-6 months (experienced in the past).
Front may give you reasonable drop (1-1.5 inch). Mind you that it is to maintain comfort.

If you want your car slammed like what Americans do and if it is for show purposes, then h&r will give you better drop.

Good luck.

[skipsmith]

Cheers mate, just ordered them, as much as I like the American look the cars got to be practical too

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by skipsmith

Cheers mate, just ordered them, as much as I like the American look the cars got to be practical too

Indeed and hence I opted them.
Good luck!

[makkan00]

Update:
- Extended Climate Control fitted
- Complete performance pedals fitted
- Extended speedometer fitted but had few issues and will change it.

[skipsmith]

Big thanks to makkanoo, got my springs installed last week and I'm very pleased with the results, the handling is much better without losing any of the ride quality,plus the drop is just about right

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by skipsmith

Big thanks to makkanoo, got my springs installed last week and I'm very pleased with the results, the handling is much better without losing any of the ride quality,plus the drop is just about right

Looking really nice
I was contemplating the idea of getting roof wrapped and after seeing your car....Its YES!

[makkan00]

It has been long time since I updated this....

So weather was bit better so get the car washed. Got my camera out and sun disappeared. Took few snap shoots. Hope you like them.














As the weather is getting better, I am trying to keep the car clean and getting more compliments from every one. One this is for sure that these wheels have grown on me.
Ladies love these wheels and do not know why. All the girls / lades in my office loved wheels on my car.

Few bits and bobs planned;
1- M5 side fenders
2- M5 Wheels (to experiment if they look better)
3- M5 front bumper lip
4- Premium Sound installation

These things will take time as I hardly get time to spend on my own car

[makkan00]

Ok, sound system mod is on.

Ordered:
1- Gladen extreme kit
2- HDP5
3- Sound damping stuff
4- BMW OEM connectors to keep everything reversible
5- L7 rear shelf speakers
6- Cables to connect

And tomorrow I am going to order Audsion Bit one.

I know people prefer OEM sound system and it is less hassle. But those sound systems cannot beat these aftermarket sound systems once set up properly. I have heard individual sound system and that was Okish. I cannot say superb in terms of sound quality.

So my goal would be to set this sound system which is all hidden and appears to be OEM. And set the sound system to have 4 different settings on audison bit one
1- Focused to have SQL sound time aligned
2- Same as one but without time allignment
3- SPL setup
4- Perhaps slight equalizer added to setting one

[makkan00]

Update: Sound system installed. Copy pasted this from my other thread.

Most of you know me from my previous retrofits / sound installations on my car and many other cars. I have done few installations to name and examples are here;
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=741385
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=837089
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802157
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1088665

Background:
Since, I moved from E9x to F1x and this time I thought I would leave sound system standard. I use second car as my daily which has upgraded double din navigation and a dedicated sub. So each time when I get into F10, it sounds dull compared to my second car. I resisted as much as I could but audio bug hit me again and I was back to drawing board choosing my drivers/ amps. I decided to treat myself on my birthday by gifting myself decent sound system. Plan was to get everything ready and install it a day before my birthday.

Drivers / DSP / Amps:
I must say that I am big fan of JL Audio, JBL MS-8, Focals and Morels. All these names are well known in audio industry.
I wanted a bit different approach this time. I wanted drivers which are plug and play. After comparing MB Quartz, Gladen, Focal and few other kits which are plug and play for bmw, I selected Gladen. Rationale was a good dedicated review written by German company who highlighted that Gladen kit was best value for money when they compare Gladen VS MQ Quartz VS ION bmw 3 way drivers.
Gladen has extreme kit out for a while where mids are 3ohms and underseat subs are 2ohms. So, I bought Gladen Extreme this time and their Quadlock.
Next, which DSP to choose? I have had enough experience with MS-8 and how it sounded amazing. All my friends were impressed with MS-8 sound in my E91 and in Rudz E92 (with that super kit). Sound staging and beats are perfect and spot on!
I was tempted to try different DSP this time. I looked at Mosconi 6-8 DSP, Zapco Z8, Audison Bit one and few others to name. I also compared their specifications and software to see what I could do with them.
After brainstorming for few days I finalized Audison bit one as it gets excellent reviews. Other reason was that I had tweaked few Audison bit ten (bit one’s brother) for forum members and results were excellent. My initial thoughts were that it was nowhere near to MS-8 in terms of Sound quality but its mile ahead if you want SPL. I will write my final words on MS-8 VS Audison Bit one at the end of this article.
When it comes to choosing amplifier, I wanted to stick with JL 600/6 but giving 100 Watts to underseats was not adequate for excellent sound system. Other option was to have Mosconi 120.4 with DSP but then I wanted dedicated DSP then what mosconi 120.4 offered.
So search was on to try different amp. I wanted one amp to power fronts, rears and underseats. Then I came across Hertz HDP5 which is 5 channel amp. Four channels power four drivers and one channel is for sub. That is not a problem and I decided to run underseats in series and as one sub. The only drawback was to time align both subs at a single channel. Frequencies lower than 50hz are more ‘felt’ than ‘heard’ so this amp looked ‘built for purpose’ in my case.
So, I gathered all these items over time. One thing is for sure that audio upgrade is expensive game and if you do it over time then you can manage it better.
So first was Gladen extreme kit. Those new shiny subs get delivered and sitting at my place but I could not install them. Next was getting HDP 5 and lastly it was DSP. I was still not sure to spend extra money on Audison Bit one where I knew that MS-8 is more than adequate for my needs. Reluctantly, I pulled the trigger and opted for Audison bit one. One may argue that why not Audison bit ten as it has 5 channel output and it was adequate for my needs. My response is that I wanted something future poof if I wish to expand components in my sound system such as central speaker or boot sub. Other benefit is that DRC (remote control of Bit one) comes with Audison bit one complimentary whereas its add-on with bit-ten.

Needless to say that I had to order Quadlock, amp wirings, RCA wires, fuses and sound insulation.

So the kit consist of
1- Gladen Extreme kit
2- Audison Bit one
3- Hertz HDP5

Installation Day:
I started at 10 am. Mind you by this time boot trims were off as I had done it a night before. After inspecting the boot I found some space on the passenger side rear. That was adequate to accommodate amplifier however fitting DSP was a challenge.
I found some space on the passenger side rear quarter panel. A piece of wood was stuck to that quarter panel and DSP fitted. Amplifier was fitted where bmw fits OEM amplifier and similar to bit one, it was fitted on wood.
I must say that Audison and Hertz belong to same group and what a BITCH to fit wiring to these devices. I hate to say this but reality is that they make all the connector so difficult that wires come out of them easily. Just to give you example, Amplifier power wires was fitted 4-5 times and each time I moved the amp, they came out. It happened to Bit one wiring as well.
Anyway here is logistics of sounds system
HU coded to hi-fi --> 4 channels Quadlock --> Audison Bit one --> 5 channel RCA --> Hertz HDP5 --> 4 Channels running fronts and rears / 5 channel running underseats in mono mode.

Rear Speakers are from L7 sound system and they are getting 75W @ 4 ohms
Front components are Gladen extreme and they are getting 85-90W @ 3 ohms
Underseats are 2 ohms and mono channel can only take 2 ohm minimum. So I had to install them in series to get final impedance of 4 ohm and they are getting 380W (190W / each).

As you can see that each driver is getting more than what they should but as far as drivers are getting clean power and with the right crossover, they can take more power. Also having that extra watts give you headroom.

By the time I installed all the drivers and set gains with O-scope, it was 7pm. So 10 am- 7 pm and I could not tune the system and install the boot trims. Spending another 90 minutes in the car tweaking the sound system led to excellent results.
So to sum up the end result, it is awesome sound system. Very much like BMW individual sound system with excellent clarity and does not bottom out as BMW individual sound system does. Yes, Bit one is impressive to get ‘loud’ sound and keeps the sound stage at the top of dashboard.
With the correct crossovers and DSP you can set the sound system in a way that sound appears to come from the top of dashboard and not from the doors. Yes, I achieved that with Bit one.

























Now coming back to my earlier argument....MS-8 vs Bit-one.
My response is still same that
-IF your priority is SQ then there is nothing better than MS-8 (properly tuned). It highlights the beats which you never heard and other sound systems fail to reproduce. And with its central speakers giving you vocals and rears giving you ambiance, its a winner. It also comes with remote so passengers can play with it.
-IF your priority is SPL then Bit one is brilliant. It also gives you more flexibility where you can overlap the frequencies to augment certain frequencies.

Over all I am happy to say that this sound system exceeded my expectations and louder than my previous sound systems. Shame that I will miss SQ of MS-8.
Few comments for each audio component
1- Audison Bit one. Excellent, clear, loud and user friendly software. However power connector pins are fiddly and wires come out of those very easily.
2- Hertz HDP5. Crystal clear sound and loud! Very heavy amp and bigger than XD600/6 but does the job what it says on the box. Again wiring connections are fiddly. Setting gains and crossover (though I used active crossovers) are confusing.
3- Gladen Extreme. I have installed Morels, Focals, MB quartz, rainbow and alpine drivers. For bmw there is nothing better value for money than Gladen Extreme. I have earthquakes in my E91 having 200W fed to single earthquake (400W to both). I must say that Gladen subs are producing more bass than earthquakes at 190W and they are better at producing midbass. My only gripe is that Gladen tweeters are not as precise as Morel tweeters are and not sharp as Focals are. But they are best value for money.

I hope you enjoyed reading this!