My other half’s new daily; E88 BMW 125i cabriolet
Discussion
B'stard Child said:
I like the silver trim - the texture is much nicer than brushed which is so easily marked
What is this heater blower recall and how did you find out about it?
It was posted on BabyBMW.What is this heater blower recall and how did you find out about it?
Check here:
https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/footer/quick-links/bmw-ve...
I’d imagine yours is affected (seems to be most). There were a fair few E8x 1 series in the workshop when mine was in this week.
Before fitting the wheels today, I washed out the wheel arches. Quick shot of the rather shagged bump stops
12 years of crap. I’m sure my neighbours are well chuffed with all the crap washed out and into the road....
The nice, shiny wheels are showing up the wheel carriers and callipers, so I’ll pain them over Easter assuming that the weather is ok.
Wheels look good though.
Popped out this afternoon to check the tyre pressures and took the scenic route home with the roof down.
Ive got to say, I really like the car. It drives really well and makes a glorious noise if you rev it out. It’s feeling better with some use and the odd Italian tune up, it wasn’t really used much in the last year. It makes a lively little ‘wumpf’ noise when you blip on down shifts.
12 years of crap. I’m sure my neighbours are well chuffed with all the crap washed out and into the road....
The nice, shiny wheels are showing up the wheel carriers and callipers, so I’ll pain them over Easter assuming that the weather is ok.
Wheels look good though.
Popped out this afternoon to check the tyre pressures and took the scenic route home with the roof down.
Ive got to say, I really like the car. It drives really well and makes a glorious noise if you rev it out. It’s feeling better with some use and the odd Italian tune up, it wasn’t really used much in the last year. It makes a lively little ‘wumpf’ noise when you blip on down shifts.
B'stard Child said:
Thanks for that link - just checked using the VIN "There are no open safety related recalls or technical enhancements on this vehicle."
Interesting. My mates 125I is affected and there are a number of guys on BabyBMW having to get theirs booked in (all engines). What year is yours?beambeam1 said:
Ooh, wonder what price they are going for? Would match my E91's alcantara interior if it fits...
Wells look brilliant. The car is really coming together nicely now, really enjoying this progress thread.
Thanks for the kind comments. Wells look brilliant. The car is really coming together nicely now, really enjoying this progress thread.
They’re £65 from Cotswold but their wont fit the E9x cars unfortunately.
My fitness had to settle for a red Mishimoto too. They’re pretty hidden so it’s not too obvious. Sound nice though.
Car was cleaned quickly and topped up it’s another coat of Sonax BSD until I get round to detailing it properly (might break out the DA polisher next week if the weather is ok). Nipped out of a bottle of wine to go with Sunday dinner. Rude not to get the roof down...
On the way back a bird shat on the car whilst the roof was down....it hit the wind deflector and splatted all over the interior. Bloody thing.
On the way back a bird shat on the car whilst the roof was down....it hit the wind deflector and splatted all over the interior. Bloody thing.
CJM36 said:
Car is looking fantastic so far, never mind once you've had the DA over it! Also the DIY paint job on the mirror cover is excellent!
Thank you. The grey paint is very good at hiding the swirls / light scratches that it’s picked up over the years.The bits I’ve painted don’t look too bad if I say so myself!
I think I’ve managed to source a pair of brake carriers so at some point I’ll swap to 330mm discs in the front ready for a remap.
Popped over to my mate Andy’s this morning to fit the Bilstein B4 dampers that he’s just removed from his 125i (he’s swapped to B8’s). The B4’s have done maybe 15k, so should still be loads better than the original dampers which have now down 83k.
The bump stops were royally shagged (more so than I thought)
The dampers were both dated 2009 and were pretty crusty
They were generally pretty easy to do but access isn’t great with it being a cab plus there was a bit of faffing getting the right size spanners (it’s always the one you need that is missing....in this case the 6mm). We had to make an emergency trip to Sytner for a new guide support because the elastomer had come detached from the top piece and had break for it into the depths of the car somewhere.
It felt better on the drive home with a bit less back end wallow through compressions etc. At some point this year I’ll do the front dampers and springs. The suspension bushes generally looked good when we had a nosey.
I’ve managed to source some brake carriers to run 330mm front discs which have been painted ready for fitting (ran out of time today).
These will get fitted in the coming weeks along with some bigger discs (the 300mm ones look a bit lost in the 261’s with them being so open).
I’ve also sourced a set of anthracite / grey interior trim so I can finally launch the glacier silver stuff which I hate. The new stuff will get wrapped at some point, but it’ll hopefully look better when I swap it over tomorrow (time depending).
Hoping for a dry weekend next weekend so I can break out the DA polisher, polish it and get sone decent wax on.
The bump stops were royally shagged (more so than I thought)
The dampers were both dated 2009 and were pretty crusty
They were generally pretty easy to do but access isn’t great with it being a cab plus there was a bit of faffing getting the right size spanners (it’s always the one you need that is missing....in this case the 6mm). We had to make an emergency trip to Sytner for a new guide support because the elastomer had come detached from the top piece and had break for it into the depths of the car somewhere.
It felt better on the drive home with a bit less back end wallow through compressions etc. At some point this year I’ll do the front dampers and springs. The suspension bushes generally looked good when we had a nosey.
I’ve managed to source some brake carriers to run 330mm front discs which have been painted ready for fitting (ran out of time today).
These will get fitted in the coming weeks along with some bigger discs (the 300mm ones look a bit lost in the 261’s with them being so open).
I’ve also sourced a set of anthracite / grey interior trim so I can finally launch the glacier silver stuff which I hate. The new stuff will get wrapped at some point, but it’ll hopefully look better when I swap it over tomorrow (time depending).
Hoping for a dry weekend next weekend so I can break out the DA polisher, polish it and get sone decent wax on.
Edited by Court_S on Saturday 6th March 14:25
I’ve finally had enough of the glacier silver interior trim which I think looks like fish scales. I tracked down a set of grey trim that was in good condition for not much on eBay last week and I’ve decided to try and replicate the M Performance trim in my M140i by wrapping it. A few eBay purchases later and I had my first attempt at vinyl wrapping trim....
I know it might be a marmite change, but I think they’ve turned out well. I’ve also ditched the ashtray for the open topped box which will my much more useful for chucking phones in etc.
The dash insert will be wrapped in alcantara which I’ve persuaded my other half to stitch some silver grey thread across to add some detail. Looking forward to getting the trim fitted at the weekend because I really hate the trim it currently has!
I know it might be a marmite change, but I think they’ve turned out well. I’ve also ditched the ashtray for the open topped box which will my much more useful for chucking phones in etc.
The dash insert will be wrapped in alcantara which I’ve persuaded my other half to stitch some silver grey thread across to add some detail. Looking forward to getting the trim fitted at the weekend because I really hate the trim it currently has!
beambeam1 said:
Good work! That looks really well. I like it.
Thanks, I’m pretty pleased with it. Better than working too! Usget said:
They look delicious, have you got the recipe?
not checking your suspension for 83k seems to be the recipe fastbikes76 said:
Nice one on the retrim ! That scale effect silver trim is not nice at all, I think the Matt carbon effect is much easier on the eye
It’s bloody awful. She quite likes it but it bothers me massively. I think this will look much better too. 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. Waiting for a replacement rear box to arrive so I can "adjust the internals"
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 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 quite like welding projects
I can’t weld (well, I’ve never tried).
Due to the eBay special alcantara being s
t, 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.
t, 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 uploadThe 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 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 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.
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.
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
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