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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums F10 / F11 5-Series Photos - Video - Media Spacegrau Family Wagon: F11 535i M-Sport 2011
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      12-25-2020, 02:33 PM   #1
M@rkus
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Spacegrau Family Wagon: F11 535i M-Sport 2011

Greetings from Finland!

I have enjoyed reading the topics on this forum for getting ideas from the other builds, so I also decided to share some pics of my family car.

I have owned the car now for about one and a half years and what I have found out so far is that the combination of adaptive drive, dynamic drive and four wheel steering is great!

Starting Point

The car had the following mods when it came to me:
-Nitro Speed 8.5x20 ET30 & 9.5x20 ET40 Gunmetal wheels
-Vredestein 255/35ZR20 + 275/30ZR20 tires
-Gloss black M5 look grilles
-Gloss black side turn indicators
-Maxton front bumper lip
-Tinted rear windows



There was also a higher power ECU program flashed that was made for catless DP but the previous owner had put back the original catalyst. So the existing ECU software was a bit too aggressive for stock hardware. Also there was no transmission control unit flash done, so it was not possible to have the full torque at 3rd and 6th gear due to transmission torque limitation function. I couldn’t either be sure if all the engine diagnostics would have worked as they should with that software.

At that point I got the ECU and TCU softwares flashed with the latest stock SW to change them later to something I could be sure would work properly and would match the hardware changes done.


Suspension Mods

First thing to do was to lower the car with Eibach front springs and to have a 20 mm drop at the rear by software.

Only front lowered:


And with 20 mm drop at rear:





Current Summer Setup

I didn’t like the color of the wheels being so close to the color of the car, so I switched the wheels and tires to a new set:
-Momo Revenge Evo 8.5x20 ET30 + 10x20 ET38 + 6 mm spacers in front
-Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 245/35ZR20 + 285/30ZR20

The Michelins are just great. Very good traction. This setup is good for now but I may still later change to something else with a bit wider front wheels.












Current Winter Setup

There can be lot’s of snow and ice in Finland during the winter season, so we need proper winter tires here. The tire setup for last winter had still the tiny 18” wheels which came with the car. I now bought a set of 19” Style 351’s but they still need some refurbishing before I will get new tires installed on them.

I took the Maxton front bumper lip off for winter not to get it destroyed in snow.









I also updated the interior lights with BMW OEM led set to replace the shitty blinking Chinese leds:




Performance Mods

After the first round of suspension and wheel updates, it was time to start with maintenance + performance upgrades.

I did the following set:
-Transmission oil change + new sump/filter unit
-Rear differential oil change
-New lower suspension arms in front
-New front brake discs and pads + wheel bearings
-New Rear differential bushes
-New propeller shaft rear disc
-New propeller shaft center bearing
-New engine mounts
-New Delphi ignition coils + Bosch plugs
-New Contintental/VDO water pump + Mahle thermostat
-New 1st lambda sensor, Bosch
-New MAF sensor (Continental/VDO)
-Wagner Tuning FMIC
-Custom made large diameter HJS 300 cpsi catalyst
-GFB DV+ diverter valve
-M5 rear mufflers + vacuum lines and solenoid (flap control with ECU)
-Bootmod3 Stage 2 ECU SW
-xHP Stage 3 transmission SW

GFB DV+


Original catalyst in a jig I made to correctly position the inlet and outlet connections + brackets:


Removing the original ceramic high cell density catalyst substrates:


Eccentric fit is needed for the new larger diameter HJS catalyst. Otherwise it wouldn’t fit with the transmission:


New self made eccentric cones in place:


Everything welded together + additional pressure and temperature measurement ports added:




Installed in the car:




Wagner Tuning FMIC:




M5 rear mufflers:


M5 OEM rear bumper diffuser parts


Set of stainless steel piping for muffler install:


Finding the correct alignment:


Ready for final welding:


Finally installed. M5 diffuser painted in Dark Shadow Metallic which is the same color as it was in the original 535i part:




I measured the exhaust system back pressure with stock mufflers and the M5 mufflers to see the difference. Quite significant drop. Unfortunately I didn’t get the fully stock exhaust system back pressure measured because I would have needed to first take the stock catalyst out and add pressure measurement ports. I anyway did a rough estimation about the stock catalyst back pressures based on catalyst diameter change, length change and changes in cell densities. It should be in the ball park and can be used to get a picture about the total drop with catalyst upgrade + rear muffler upgrade.


Last edited by M@rkus; 12-29-2020 at 09:24 AM..
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      12-25-2020, 02:44 PM   #2
Bounceme
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Very nice car, and cool mods
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      12-25-2020, 05:39 PM   #3
Rodride1
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Maxton front lip

Very nice build. Thanks for sharing. Thinking of the same lip for my 2015 535x-drive. Was it easy initial installation? How about the removal process? Appreciate your thoughts because I would likely change out like you have with change in seasons. I'm located in a far north suburb of Chicago.

Thank you for your time,

Dennis
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      12-25-2020, 06:53 PM   #4
asian
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Beautiful! Welcome wagoon buddy!

What does the gfb diverter do in terms of noise? Got vids of the sounds?
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      12-26-2020, 01:47 AM   #5
M@rkus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bounceme View Post
Very nice car, and cool mods
Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodride1 View Post
Very nice build. Thanks for sharing. Thinking of the same lip for my 2015 535x-drive. Was it easy initial installation? How about the removal process? Appreciate your thoughts because I would likely change out like you have with change in seasons. I'm located in a far north suburb of Chicago.

Thank you for your time,

Dennis
Thanks! The Maxxton front lip is mounted by screws or bolts from the bottom of the bumper. If you would only drill small holes and use plastic screws for fastening, then it would be very easy unistall. No tape or glue is needed for the fastening which makes it easy to remove. It didn't either leave any marks to the visible paint work.

In my case, 6 mm holes were drilled to the bottom of the bumper and 6mm bolts and nuts with washers were used. In this case I needed to remove the plastic trim under the engine to get access to the bottom side nuts of the front lip. So a bit more work and not fun to be done if you can't get the whole car lifted up.


Quote:
Originally Posted by asian View Post
Beautiful! Welcome wagoon buddy!

What does the gfb diverter do in terms of noise? Got vids of the sounds?
Thanks! No video clip available at the moment, sorry. The GFB DV+ may give a slightly louder sound but it's not worth installing just for sound. It's still recirculating the air inside the intake system, so it's not a blow off valve that would release the pressure to ambient. The main point is that the DV+ will keep the diverter valve reliably fully closed also with higher than stock boost pressure levels. Another point is that it's closing faster than the standard diverter valve.
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      04-11-2021, 07:16 AM   #6
M@rkus
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Valvetronic repair

Needed to do some engine repair due to having a drivetrain fault because of faulty Valvetronic system (too much deviation to target position). I replaced the shaft and the motor. Also put in M2/M3/M4 etc. spark plugs at the same time.

Now it runs fine again.















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      04-11-2021, 07:21 AM   #7
M@rkus
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Summer tires time in Finland

After the Valvetronic repair I had time to concentrate on some less important stuff. I changed the front springs to one step longer and stiffer, because the previous ones were too soft with the suspension in Comfort mode and hit the bump stops every now and then on bad roads. I also added the camber adjustment at the same time.

Old and new parts:




I bought a set of Style 373M wheels and tried them on:





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      04-18-2021, 03:32 PM   #8
SCZ4
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Very nice... OEM+

How come you don't have roof rails? I like it. Did you remove them?

Do you have any pictures from above?
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      04-24-2021, 12:52 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCZ4 View Post
Very nice... OEM+

How come you don't have roof rails? I like it. Did you remove them?

Do you have any pictures from above?
Yes, very much OEM+ look at the moment. The car has been originally ordered without roof rails. I don't have pictures from above at the moment. Maybe need to take some next time.
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      04-24-2021, 01:37 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M@rkus View Post
Yes, very much OEM+ look at the moment. The car has been originally ordered without roof rails. I don't have pictures from above at the moment. Maybe need to take some next time.
That would be great, thanks. If you want another OEM+ mod, I just fitted this spoiler today.
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      04-24-2021, 02:55 PM   #11
M@rkus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCZ4 View Post
That would be great, thanks. If you want another OEM+ mod, I just fitted this spoiler today.
Thanks for the pics. Would you have pictures with the spoiler in which the whole car would be visible?
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      01-23-2022, 03:09 PM   #12
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