My other half’s new daily; E88 BMW 125i cabriolet

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

B'stard Child said:

That looks good - I have the glacier silver trim but I quite like it - I like that it has a little texture

Waiting for a replacement rear box to arrive so I can "adjust the internals"

The back box is on the list at some point. I just need to find someone willing to do it for me.

Well if I can get this one neat and tidy and sounding nice (still within track limits) I'll start doing them as an exchange item

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Well if I can get this one neat and tidy and sounding nice (still within track limits) I'll start doing them as an exchange item

I’d be seriously interested in that. I think my friend Andy with his 125i would be interested too.

Nobody seems that interested despite it looking relatively easy.

I’ve tried to find a 135i backbox but they seem to sell for about a million pounds.

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

B'stard Child said:

Well if I can get this one neat and tidy and sounding nice (still within track limits) I'll start doing them as an exchange item

I’d be seriously interested in that. I think my friend Andy with his 125i would be interested too.

Nobody seems that interested despite it looking relatively easy.

I’ve tried to find a 135i backbox but they seem to sell for about a million pounds.

I gave up trying to find a 135i backbox - so gonna try and replicate the BMP box set up internally in a spare box from a 125i I bought from Latvia (of all places) - if it works nicely I'll do my original box for anyone else on an "exchange and beer voucher" basis

I quite like welding projects

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

I gave up trying to find a 135i backbox - so gonna try and replicate the BMP box set up internally in a spare box from a 125i I bought from Latvia (of all places) - if it works nicely I'll do my original box for anyone else on an "exchange and beer voucher" basis

I quite like welding projects

Count me in!

I can’t weld (well, I’ve never tried).

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

B'stard Child said:

I gave up trying to find a 135i backbox - so gonna try and replicate the BMP box set up internally in a spare box from a 125i I bought from Latvia (of all places) - if it works nicely I'll do my original box for anyone else on an "exchange and beer voucher" basis

I quite like welding projects

Count me in!

I can’t weld (well, I’ve never tried).

I'll cover it all in my 125i thread

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

I'll cover it all in my 125i thread

I’ll keep an eye out and will then come calling with a back box and beer!

[IAche]

I am definitely in for some back box work in exchange for beer tokens.

[Court_S]

Due to the eBay special alcantara being st, especially when compared to the stuff used by RSW that I have I decided that the best option was to just wrap the dash insert in carbon for now.

Removed the centre console which wasn’t too bad a job although it was a pig to get it over the handbrake. It was pretty grim under the console and trim. I was battling showers / hail so didn’t get too many pictures.

private image upload

The real fun though was getting the bloody thing back in. Bit of swearing obviously helped! Got to say I think it was worth it though, it’s a big improvement on the glacier silver trim.







The boss is happy too and thinks it’s a big improvement.

Next up is a detail and session with the DA polisher. I’m hoping that spring will turn up to let me do that. I need to fit my 330mm discs and brake carriers.

[B'stard Child]

That looks great - the cubby hole instead of an ashtray is that a BMW part that can be fitted to a car with an ashtray currently or do you need a cubby hole equiped centre console trim?

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

That looks great - the cubby hole instead of an ashtray is that a BMW part that can be fitted to a car with an ashtray currently or do you need a cubby hole equiped centre console trim?

Thanks.

It’s a BMW part.

Part number 51167136190. It comes with the rubber insert too. I paid £13 from Sytner, less than some chancers on eBay are charging. It’s way more useful than the ashtray.

The centre console needs to come out to for it, but of a faff but not hard.

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

B'stard Child said:

That looks great - the cubby hole instead of an ashtray is that a BMW part that can be fitted to a car with an ashtray currently or do you need a cubby hole equiped centre console trim?

Thanks.

It’s a BMW part.

Part number 51167136190. It comes with the rubber insert too. I paid £13 from Sytner, less than some chancers on eBay are charging. It’s way more useful than the ashtray.

The centre console needs to come out to for it, but of a faff but not hard.

Thank you - I am a smoker but don't smoke in the cars and door pockets aren't great to put a phone in so that's perfect

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Thank you - I am a smoker but don't smoke in the cars and door pockets aren't great to put a phone in so that's perfect

No worries.

The lack of storage is a bit annoying at times.

I need to swap the arm rest over too because he have phone prep which means there’s a holder for a phone in the arm rest which makes it useless for chucking stuff in.

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

B'stard Child said:

Thank you - I am a smoker but don't smoke in the cars and door pockets aren't great to put a phone in so that's perfect

No worries.

The lack of storage is a bit annoying at times.

I need to swap the arm rest over too because he have phone prep which means there’s a holder for a phone in the arm rest which makes it useless for chucking stuff in.

I didn't have that - just had a tray in there but bought the phone connection for an Iphone4 - fits perfectly - thinking I could use it to hold music - seems you need a different holder for phone to music.......... Bugger!!!

[Court_S]

One thing that’s bothered me since having the car is the paint; I’ve not had chance to get stuck into it since we collected the car and it was a bit rough to touch. Today we had nothing on and the weather was ok, so I got stuck I into it...

Citrus pre wash followed by snow foam
Washed and dried (two buckets, wash mitt, etc)
Then I applied a coat of Car Pro Trix and one of Bilt Hamber Korrosol and I was surprised at the amount of contamination it lifted.
Washed and dried the car again.
I then went over it with a clay bay (car pro medium grade with Angelwax clay kube)
The car was then polished; first with a green hexlogic pad with Menzerna 2500, followed up with a white hexlogic pad and Menzerna 3800.
Next up was a coat of Auto Finesse glaze
Then two coats of Dodo Juice Supernatural wax

It looks pretty good. There are still a few scratches, but it’s better than it was. No doubt another day with the DA polisher will improve it further.

The fall out remover doing its thing







Still quite a few stubborn tar spots, especially on the sills and round the rear wheel arches.



The car is generally in good nick for a 12 year old car but it’s picked up a few swirls and light scratches.

Top of the rear bumper before:



And after. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better.



Few pics after







The interior had a quick clean as it wasn’t too bad.



Next week, I’ll remove the front and rear seats to give the interior a proper clean. There’s quite a lot of crud under the front seats that I can get at easily.

I’ve sent the old dash trim to Royal to get trimmed in alcantara with silver grey stitching to match the other bits they’ve done. The alcantara I bought was crap.

Edited by Court_S on Saturday 20th March 20:35

[Court_S]

Nicked the keys to pop out to get some lunch etc yesterday. It was rude not to with the sun being out...













Downside is this morning on her way to work the tyre pressure and DTC lights came on again pointing to the steering wheel angle sensor playing silly buggers again. I’ll try and recalibrate it tonight but I’m wondering if it needs cleaning. There are a few dog hairs somehow caught in the speaker grilles for the hands free. I’m thinking that some dust / gunk has worked it’s way behind the covers and onto the sensor.

[d_a_n1979]

Court_S said:

One thing that’s bothered me since having the car is the paint; I’ve not had chance to get stuck into it since we collected the car and it was a bit rough to touch. Today we had nothing on and the weather was ok, so I got stuck I into it...

Citrus pre wash followed by snow foam
Washed and dried (two buckets, wash mitt, etc)
Then I applied a coat of Car Pro Trix and one of Bilt Hamber Korrosol and I was surprised at the amount of contamination it lifted.
Washed and dried the car again.
I then went over it with a clay bay (car pro medium grade with Angelwax clay kube)
The car was then polished; first with a green hexlogic pad with Menzerna 2500, followed up with a white hexlogic pad and Menzerna 3800.
Next up was a coat of Auto Finesse glaze
Then two coats of Dodo Juice Supernatural wax

It looks pretty good. There are still a few scratches, but it’s better than it was. No doubt another day with the DA polisher will improve it further.

The fall out remover doing its thing







Still quite a few stubborn tar spots, especially on the sills and round the rear wheel arches.



The car is generally in good nick for a 12 year old car but it’s picked up a few swirls and light scratches.

Top of the rear bumper before:



And after. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better.



Few pics after







The interior had a quick clean as it wasn’t too bad.



Next week, I’ll remove the front and rear seats to give the interior a proper clean. There’s quite a lot of crud under the front seats that I can get at easily.

I’ve sent the old dash trim to Royal to get trimmed in alcantara with silver grey stitching to match the other bits they’ve done. The alcantara I bought was crap.

Edited by Court_S on Saturday 20th March 20:35

That's come up really well IMO

[Court_S]

d_a_n1979 said:

That's come up really well IMO

Thanks.

I think the paint is quite flattering as in it hides marks far more than her previous black car.

It needs a bit of paint; there’s a ding in the drivers door right in the crease which the local PDR guy said he can’t touch. There’s a small ding above the headlight but it’s right in the end of the panel so the paint with probably split. I’ve had a quite which seems sensible enough, but I think I’ll prioritise the double din install.

[cerb4.5lee]

You've really got it looking nice. It looks great.

[IAche]

Court_S said:

Thanks.

I think the paint is quite flattering as in it hides marks far more than her previous black car.

It needs a bit of paint; there’s a ding in the drivers door right in the crease which the local PDR guy said he can’t touch. There’s a small ding above the headlight but it’s right in the end of the panel so the paint with probably split. I’ve had a quite which seems sensible enough, but I think I’ll prioritise the remap.

FIFY

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

You've really got it looking nice. It looks great.

Thanks Lee, it’s getting there.

IAche said:

Court_S said:

Thanks.

I think the paint is quite flattering as in it hides marks far more than her previous black car.

It needs a bit of paint; there’s a ding in the drivers door right in the crease which the local PDR guy said he can’t touch. There’s a small ding above the headlight but it’s right in the end of the panel so the paint with probably split. I’ve had a quite which seems sensible enough, but I think I’ll prioritise the remap.

FIFY

Ha ha. And there you were the other day saying how the screen has a bigger impact on a daily. I’d like to get both done this year, but we’ll see how many spanner’s the car chucks in any such plans.

But more digging on the warning lights with Carly / Google and it looks as though the rear off side speed sensor is faulty. I’ve ordered a pair of Bosch ones (didn’t want to wait for Autodoc) so I’m hoping that’ll clear the errors and it’s not the relucter rings.

Edited by Court_S on Monday 22 March 21:25