E91 Straight Six Bearding

[meddler]

Maph7 said:

BMW are out of order letting these go NLA so soon after production, newest E91 being 12 yrs old. Considering they are

The badge part of mine fell off a couple of weeks ago, leaving the chrome back plate on there. I tried finding one, but could only find tatty used ones or really expensive one at circa £160.

Cleaned up the chrome back plate and bought one of these: P/N 36136758569 on ebay for £6.25. It is a genuine 70mm self adhesive BMW wheel badge, slightly smaller than the original 72mm but looks good IMO. I have bought another one as a spare in case these go NLA as well.

Thanks, I’ll look into that. Do you have a photo of how it turned out?

[Court_S]

RiccardoG said:

Strange, I generally find BMW excellent for older cars parts availability. Hope they're not changing that too now...

I’ve found that too. Even obscure bits of trim have been relatively easy to get hold of.

[Maph7]

meddler said:

Thanks, I’ll look into that. Do you have a photo of how it turned out?

[Swervin_Mervin]

Court_S said:

RiccardoG said:

Strange, I generally find BMW excellent for older cars parts availability. Hope they're not changing that too now...

I’ve found that too. Even obscure bits of trim have been relatively easy to get hold of.

There are a few bits I've come across that are NLA. Mainly trim bits.

[Swervin_Mervin]

meddler said:

Swervin_Mervin said:

I actually managed to get one a few months back, just before they stopped them.

But I haven't fitted it yet and now wondering whether I want to until I maybe ever reach a time where I might get the bodywork tarted up. Knowing there are none left ironically leaves me not wanting to fit the one I have

I'll take it off your hands if you like

This is an annoying situation. A new boot badge was meant to complement my new exhaust tips

From my cold dead hands

[MajorMantra]

Maph7 said:

Good effort, that looks better than I imagined from the description.

[meddler]

Maph7 said:

That's a good fix - thanks. I'll do the same if I emerge empty-handed from a deeper search to find an original one!

Speaking of which...

Swervin_Mervin said:

From my cold dead hands

There's always a price

[Court_S]

meddler said:

Don't know if this is a known fact, but I just heard that BMW no longer makes the E91 boot badge (part 51147166076). Which is kinda annoying because mine has suddenly decided to fall apart.

Has anyone had luck sourcing an original one, or if not, a decent replica?

That’s annoying. I lucked out replacing mine last summer then!

Are there any eBay specials available?

[stevesuk]

Mr Tidy said:

I'd rather have an E91 than any X1, so I'd just keep it. Even if it throws up an unexpected bill every years or so (mine does) that is going to be cheaper than depreciation on a newer car! Well that's my justification for keeping my shed anyway.

The X1 we were looking at has sold, so looks like the E91 lives on for a while longer, as there's nothing else in our price range that I would consider a suitable replacement.

200 mile road trip today, which should be a good shake down. RAC card at the ready

[helix403]

Maph7 said:

BMW are out of order letting these go NLA so soon after production, newest E91 being 12 yrs old. Considering they are

The badge part of mine fell off a couple of weeks ago, leaving the chrome back plate on there. I tried finding one, but could only find tatty used ones or really expensive one at circa £160.

Cleaned up the chrome back plate and bought one of these: P/N 36136758569 on ebay for £6.25. It is a genuine 70mm self adhesive BMW wheel badge, slightly smaller than the original 72mm but looks good IMO. I have bought another one as a spare in case these go NLA as well.

Top tip re the badge, thanks. I used to do something similar when I had E46 Tourings.

[Mr Tidy]

stevesuk said:

Mr Tidy said:

I'd rather have an E91 than any X1, so I'd just keep it. Even if it throws up an unexpected bill every years or so (mine does) that is going to be cheaper than depreciation on a newer car! Well that's my justification for keeping my shed anyway.

The X1 we were looking at has sold, so looks like the E91 lives on for a while longer, as there's nothing else in our price range that I would consider a suitable replacement.

200 mile road trip today, which should be a good shake down. RAC card at the ready

Hope the road trip went well.

[stevesuk]

Mr Tidy said:

Hope the road trip went well.

Thanks - no problems to report. No more smoke, and 38 MPG average over the trip. I wonder now whether perhaps the smoke was just part of the Italian tune-up it clearly needed

I'm beginning to think that its a lot easier to keep what we've got, rather than pursue the minefield out there. Our requirements seemed quite simple. All I want is an X1 with front leather sports seats (because we've got them in the E91, and they're lovely), power folding mirrors and LED or xenon headlights (again, because we have both on the E91). Not bothered about petrol or diesel, can be flexible on colour.

BMW used approved - our local dealer (two branches) has just one X1 in stock. Looking elsewhere (at all dealers, not just BMW), there's not a single car within a 200 miles radius that has what we want. If I compromise, what's out there for around £15-16k is a minefield of cars with missing service history etc. We could be in for a long wait I think.

[to3m]

I got rid of my 330i last year due to it turning into a project because of the usual N53 stuff and a bonus electrical fault. But I've been missing it, so I'm slightly tempted to go and look at this: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16940262

But - what's the warning light on the dash in photo 5? Is that the seatbelts sign? Broken passenger occupancy sensor, or does it just come on and stay on anyway if you're running the engine with the seatbelt unbuckled? I can't remember!

The radio screen looks like it has seen better days too. Is that an easy fix? Does it matter much? I never listen to music in the car, and the E90 speakers are st anyway, but would it interfere with playing with the settings or anything? I don't know what the repercussions would be here. My 330i had iDrive so I've never used the E90 radio.

[JakeT]

Looks a nice spec that to be fair. Xenons, upgraded audio, heated electric seats with lumbar too.

The radio can be fixed, it’s a couple of hundred pounds to do it, but I probably would. There’s a lot of on board computer stuff that lives in there, plus I’m just like that. I’d use it as a bargaining point.

You’re right on the dash light. It’s the belt light. Stays on until the drivers seatbelt is buckled.

[Court_S]

The stereo fault is common, ours does it as it gets warm as did my old 330i.

I’ve never got round to sorting it on either car. You could try a used head unit, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll be much better.

[RiccardoG]

to3m said:

... I'm slightly tempted to go and look at this: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16940262

Looks nice to my eyes, like the colour combination and its somewhat rare to have the beige interior with silver exterior. Xenons and some other good options too.

Rear center console quite worn though, easy fix?

[bodhi]

to3m said:

I got rid of my 330i last year due to it turning into a project because of the usual N53 stuff and a bonus electrical fault. But I've been missing it, so I'm slightly tempted to go and look at this: https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16940262

But - what's the warning light on the dash in photo 5? Is that the seatbelts sign? Broken passenger occupancy sensor, or does it just come on and stay on anyway if you're running the engine with the seatbelt unbuckled? I can't remember!

The radio screen looks like it has seen better days too. Is that an easy fix? Does it matter much? I never listen to music in the car, and the E90 speakers are st anyway, but would it interfere with playing with the settings or anything? I don't know what the repercussions would be here. My 330i had iDrive so I've never used the E90 radio.

If it's anything like the radio in my 1 Series then as long as it can produce sound then the electronics through it should be fine - mostly the PDC and Invoice Bongs get played through it. It can be used to display info from the OBC but it isn't critical for that afaik.

Still should be an easy fix - mine packed in completely and was about £300 for my guy to fit a "new" one. Given the number of E8x and E9x reaching EOL at the moment there should be a few about. Worst you might have to deal with is a code saying it's not the original stereo.

[christhreadgill]

Needs an MOT now …

[pmorg4]

christhreadgill said:

Needs an MOT now …

Excellent! Have you scheduled it yet? I bet it'll be exciting getting it back onto the road

[christhreadgill]

pmorg4 said:

Excellent! Have you scheduled it yet? I bet it'll be exciting getting it back onto the road

Not yet, but my brother in law runs a Bosch centre so I’ll just drop it in at some point. Few little bits to sort yet; front PDC to be fitted, fog bulbs, and all my heat shields got dented being stored and now foul the prop, so need a bit of fettling to avoid the “knock knock knock”.