[eljay]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

Wow - that is impressively awful. Shame you are on the wrong side of the Gulf of Maine (do you guys call it the Gulf of Nova Scotia? ), I have the exhaust from my '11 e91 that was taken off at less than 3K miles that I would just give you to get it out of my garage.

If you will be in Maine post-pandemic, it is yours for the taking.

Thanks. I appreciate that!
The killer is the downpipe side. Perhaps a shop can just weld the leak for now while I figure out what to do longer term as I want to retain cats.

[rt7085]

I had the same issue. I tried to "fix" it with clamps. It held for a bit but there is a slight leak again. The issue sis that the studs are pretty much gone so the mid section can slide versus the downpipes causing little gaps. Funny think is that when it is hot it seals. I will have to put a next exhaust on in spring.

[eljay]

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I hope yours was a blessed and peaceful one.

[eljay]

The E91 got some gifts too.

[ome91]

Originally Posted by eljay

Alright, well, I manage to install some quick driving feel parts.

OEM Stainless Steel pedals:


And ZHP shift knob:
x


As others said, the knob makes a real difference in driving. I love it.



I was also going to wrap my spare Sport steering wheel, but the folks I bought it from sent me the wrong stich pattern. It's not too far off (dark blue instead of light blue), but I want factory OEM M pattern, so I have buy another set.

In the meantime, I manage to find one of these babies!


I'm just waiting for a Euro intake to show up and then I can't wait to install them and get a tune!

Heyoh, fellow Canadian here, I'm having some trouble finding a place to buy that ZHP shift knob from, found some eBay stuff but I'm not too sure about quality

[eljay]

Originally Posted by omareabbasi

Heyoh, fellow Canadian here, I'm having some trouble finding a place to buy that ZHP shift knob from, found some eBay stuff but I'm not too sure about quality

Hello and welcome to the thread!

I'll have to look. I did buy it from eBay, but it isn't a $20 China item. I paid more for it and it looks genuine, so I hope it is. It certainly has held up well so far and I highly recommend this upgrade.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by eljay

Hello and welcome to the thread!

I'll have to look. I did buy it from eBay, but it isn't a $20 China item. I paid more for it and it looks genuine, so I hope it is. It certainly has held up well so far and I highly recommend this upgrade.

Not sure if they ship north of the border, but leatherz.com has ZHP knobs at a good price, and if you want one without the ///M symbol, they will do that for you for about $30 extra. I've had one on my wagon since it was on the turntable at BMW Welt. And believe me, the BMW car presenter person will look at you funny when you yank the shift knob off your brand new car.

I really should get one for my convertible too.

[eljay]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

Not sure if they ship north of the border, but leatherz.com has ZHP knobs at a good price, and if you want one without the ///M symbol, they will do that for you for about $30 extra. I've had one on my wagon since it was on the turntable at BMW Welt. And believe me, the BMW car presenter person will look at you funny when you yank the shift knob off your brand new car.

I really should get one for my convertible too.

That must've been priceless!

[eljay]

I have resolved my sound issue and the "SOS Malfunction Error".
As diagnosed previously, it was indeed a failed radio amplifier.
As a tip before you start taking the rear panels apart and ordering the MOST adapter for troubleshooting, simply take the amp out of its bracket (just slide the two tabs under the amp out and lift the amp) and with radio on, see if you can see a yellow light inside the amp at the end without the connectors. Red light there is your fiber optic line, yellow light is the amp's status LED. Mine was dead, so I could've stopped the troubleshooting then and ordered a replacement amp.

Here were some other clues.
Corrosion on the underside of the tow hook, which means water was sitting under it:


In this picture, you can see a dried water/dirt along the plastic trim (bottom right) that covers the rear hatch/bumper sill.


And another view.


The rusty dust you see is from a rusted screwdriver bit that was sitting there. Sounds like someone has tried to do some disassembly there and lost that bit and it rusted when the water got in there from the above path/leak.

And here are the damaged (right) and replacement amp (left). YOu can where the water dripped onto the amp and inside and under it.



I checked the tail lights and there's no evidence of water coming in anywhere and seeing the traces above, my theory is that a spill happened in the hatch and ran along the sill down to the amp. Pretty poor design that it would take any accidental water from rain/snow/spill and channel it right on top of the amp. So, be very careful with any spill on that hatch sill in your Tourings!

One issue down...

[Tambohamilton]

Does yellow status indicate the amp is good or bad? Sorry, just not 100% clear from your post

[eljay]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Does yellow status indicate the amp is good or bad? Sorry, just not 100% clear from your post

If there's no yellow, it's dead. If it's steady, the MOST network is fine, so no sound likely means some problem with the board parts in the amp. Blinking yellow means that likely some other MOST unit is faulty as the signal is not doing a full lap around the network.

Here's where I got my smarts on this: http://www.bavlogic.com/?p=3837

[eljay]

Here is what showed up under the tree.

Edit: is the image visible? Not sure if it uploaded as I cannot see it. I'm using the Bimmerpost app.

[Tambohamilton]

No image that I can see...

[eljay]

The app images have rarely worked for me. So, here it is hosted.

[eljay]

Before I get the bumper painted, I have some decisions:
- The fog light lenses are very tired. I will see if I can bring them back to life or if I'll need new ones. I will also fix the damaged passenger side grille.
- I am leaning on getting the sidemarkers blended in and painted over. for a clean Euro-bumper look.
- The other debate is whether I should cut out openings for the headlight washers. I have them on the car currently and I think they are useful in winter when roads are salty or there's freezing rain and ice build-up, the headlights get a nice spray.

[eljay]

I had a heated Sport steering wheel + air bag sitting on the shelf since I installed the front Sport seats as they came from the same car.
After experiencing the heated wheel, I knew I couldn't give that up, but the stock wheel is not that great. So, I decided to add a leather wheel cover with M Sport perforated sections and M tri-stitch.
The first kit, I received had the incorrect thread colors on the leather. It would still look OK , but I wanted ///M replica, so I got another kit from Mewant.
I finally got a chance to add it to the wheel and stitch it up!
It worked out great. There are some pointers I would add for anyone thinking about this:
- apply double-sided tape (provided in the kit) to the area where leather wraps around the tricky bits like at 3/6/9 o'clock. I didn't as I wanted to make sure if I mess up, I can remove it easily and re-apply or replace the cover in the future. I shouldn't have worried and just applied the tape. The results is that my 3/9 o'clock positions have the leather a little loose. Nothing terrible. I am a bit of a pefectionist and it doesn't bother me to the point that I would remove it and redo it. If it did, I would.
- count the number of stitches on the leather on both sides of the leather cover. I started the bottom section and when I got to the part where leather transitions from smooth to perforated, it was way off. When I counted the stitches, the blue side had 6 more than the red! So, I removed the thread and started all over again, this time skipping one blue stitch at the beginning and ended up getting it close at the transition.
- you will need about 3 feet of thread for the short sections and 6 feet for the top long section
- it took me about 3 hours with the wheel out of the car. I can do it faster now that I understand how to tie it on both ends.

Progress:


Misaligned stiching:


Much better:


All done:





I have also added M3 wheel trim. I bought from a member here who claimed it was all original. As you can see, it looks much darker and I think he removed the soft-coating. Sigh. At some point, I will get a new one. For now, it's good.
And I added an OEM alcantara shift boot!

The result is a Sport wheel with M Sport style leather cover and M stitch pattern that is thicker than regular Sport wheel and is heated!


And didn't have time to clean the car.

Back to deciding on the bumper options. I sooo wish I could paint car parts at home.

[4 Doors]

This looks great and I am jealous as I have the M-Sport wheel but no heated option! You took the project on and completed it with detail, I love it! Can you still feel the heat through the wrap?

[eljay]

Originally Posted by 4 Doors

This looks great and I am jealous as I have the M-Sport wheel but no heated option! You took the project on and completed it with detail, I love it! Can you still feel the heat through the wrap?

Thank you!
Yes, I tested the heat this morning and works just like before. It was needed with -7C outside!

I sold an M Sport wheel that I thought of installing, but decided that heated feature has to stay.

I must say that the oval contour of the M Sport wheel is nicer. My wheel makes up for it a little bit by being thicker as the wrap is applied over the existing wheel cover.

[neilvan]

Originally Posted by eljay

Back to deciding on the bumper options. I sooo wish I could paint car parts at home.

I have an M-sport car and got the reflectors filled in when I got it painted; Wellllll worth it! For the fog lights you can refinish them with a headlight kit OR 04-07 E60/E61(non-m-sport) have the same fog lights if there is a good used set near you.

For the steering wheel trim I stripped my stock M-sport wheel trim(as they all bubble) and painted it with an outdoor flat paint; Looks 100% oem and will be way more durable

[ryanful]

Originally Posted by neilvan

I have an M-sport car and got the reflectors filled in when I got it painted; Wellllll worth it! For the fog lights you can refinish them with a headlight kit OR 04-07 E60/E61(non-m-sport) have the same fog lights if there is a good used set near you.

For the steering wheel trim I stripped my stock M-sport wheel trim(as they all bubble) and painted it with an outdoor flat paint; Looks 100% oem and will be way more durable

Do you remember any specifics about the paint you used (brand, colour, vendor)?
I am debating between repainting vs wrapping the trim....

[neilvan]

Originally Posted by ryanful

Do you remember any specifics about the paint you used (brand, colour, vendor)?
I am debating between repainting vs wrapping the trim....

I'll check when I'm home; I grabbed it at Canadian Tire.

I liked it so much, I did a spare 06 E90 sport trim for my fathers 335 and my E61 M-sport trim. Removing the stock coating without sanding is worth it but a time consuming bitch though.

[eljay]

Originally Posted by neilvan

I'll check when I'm home; I grabbed it at Canadian Tire.

I liked it so much, I did a spare 06 E90 sport trim for my fathers 335 and my E61 M-sport trim. Removing the stock coating without sanding is worth it but a time consuming bitch though.

I'd like to know too! Thank you in advance.

I recall seeing Krylon flat paint mentioned on various forums, but it would be nice to hear something tried and true from a Cdn Tire shelf!